The stone!

Looking down, Belloc found it lying in a shallow pool of water. Leafy green it was now, cool and gentle to the senses. Dazedly, disbelieving, Belloc picked up the Summoning Stone and studied it intently. After a moment he was roused by running feet. It was Celedhan.

"Well done!" cried the elf. "The enemy has broken and is routed, and none too soon. We have escaped with only some minor injuries. Now, let us be away while we have time."

"I," said the wizard, raising an eyebrow in consternation at his own lack, "have done naught."

"Naught? Nothing at all? Then t'was Anest?"

"Nor was it me," said Anest, coming around. He stared at Lily in wonder.

"Then what force intervened on our behalf?" said Celedhan, casting an uneasy look about him.

"I believe," said the wizard, an unfamiliar humbled wryness creasing his features, "that this rightfully belongs to you." He extended the beautiful thing to Lily, whose eyes widened in alarm. She made no move to claim it.

But at last, her look of alarm changed to one of wonder as she saw what the stone had become. "It is not the same! I sense no evil! Have you reforged it, as Anest told me you might?"

"It was you," said Anest. "You have changed it."




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