Looking at his transformed reflection, Kael couldn't help feeling utterly fascinated by the possibilities before him.
The Metamorphmagus talent made his physical form feel like warm modeling clay, constantly malleable and responsive to his conscious will. Every feature could shift and flow according to his desires.
If he traveled to Rivendell and Lothlórien looking like this elegant elven form, most elves probably couldn't distinguish his true identity even if they spoke with him directly.
Of course, though he now possessed these remarkable Metamorphmagus abilities, this talent still required dedicated practice and experimentation to master more deeply.
Like now, he could only alter surface features such as hair color, skin tone, and facial structure. His voice remained completely unchanged, and his height couldn't be modified either, which limited the disguise's effectiveness.
But the higher one's mastery of Metamorphmagus became, the more dramatic the transformations possible. Not only could appearance change completely, but even height, gender, and apparent age could be altered at will.
One could say Metamorphmagus represented the magical equivalent of Mystique's mutant abilities from distant realms.
He could become old or young, even female if necessary, and no magic could forcibly revert these changes against his will. It was arguably the most powerful disguise talent imaginable.
Having acquired this incredible ability, Kael felt his eastward journey would proceed much more smoothly than originally anticipated.
Then Kael spent the remaining hours before dawn experimenting with transformations, practicing different faces and expressions until he felt confident in the basic techniques.
The next morning, Kael formally bid farewell to King Thengel in the golden hall of Meduseld.
Despite Thengel's sincere attempts to persuade him to extend his stay and experience more of Rohan's legendary hospitality, Kael politely declined, explaining his pressing need to continue eastward.
But before departing the palace, Kael spoke quietly with King Thengel for several minutes, then left with a knowing smile playing across his features.
Only the grim-faced King Thengel remained behind, sitting pensively upon his carved throne while ordering servants to immediately summon his chief advisor, Háma.
Háma, who had embarrassingly drunk himself unconscious while attempting to intoxicate Kael the previous evening, was still nursing a terrible hangover when royal messengers summoned him to the palace. He arrived in a confused daze, his head pounding with each footstep.
"Your Majesty, you sent for me?" Háma asked with obvious confusion, struggling to maintain proper respectful posture.
King Thengel's gaze had turned cold and penetrating, making Háma increasingly uneasy, though he dared not speak without permission.
After what felt like an eternity of oppressive silence, King Thengel finally spoke with quiet authority.
"Háma, I believe I have treated you exceptionally well during your years of service. So why did you choose to betray both me and our beloved Rohan, secretly colluding with Saruman to deliberately incite hatred between our people and the Dunlendings?"
Hearing these shocking accusations, Háma's face immediately changed color as he hastily attempted to defend himself.
"Your Majesty, I am completely wronged! My loyalty to you and Rohan has never wavered for a single moment. How could I possibly conspire with that traitorous wizard? Someone with malicious intent must be spreading lies to create discord between us. Please don't believe such obvious slander!"
King Thengel remained completely unmoved by this passionate denial, stating matter-of-factly, "This information came directly from Wizard Kael himself. Do you seriously believe he would fabricate such detailed accusations without cause?"
Háma felt his heart skip several beats, his expression cycling rapidly through shock, fear, and desperate calculation as he replied through gritted teeth, "Your Majesty, please don't trust that wizard's poisonous words. Those savage Dunlendings serve him now as their new master. I killed many of their raiders who terrorized our innocent border settlements. He must be seeking petty revenge by slandering my good name to you!"
"Is that your explanation?" King Thengel's gaze intensified, boring into him with oppressive directness that seemed to pierce his very soul.
"But besides revealing your role in creating artificial hatred between Rohan and the Dunlendings, Wizard Kael also informed me that you planned to control me using slow-acting poison on Saruman's explicit orders, helping that traitor seize control of our entire kingdom?"
Háma's pupils contracted violently as raw panic flooded his features. He shook his head with desperate fervor.
"Your Majesty, you must believe in my absolute loyalty! That wizard is deliberately slandering me with these outrageous lies! I've never had any contact whatsoever with Saruman. How could I possibly conspire with such an obvious enemy? That wizard clearly has ulterior motives! He must want you to eliminate loyal ministers and weaken Rohan from within, making it easier to seize our territory for himself. Don't allow yourself to be deceived by his clever manipulations!"
King Thengel showed no interest in listening to further excuses, coldly raising his hand in a gesture of absolute authority.
"Whether your loyalty is genuine or false, I will know the truth very soon. When you arrived this morning, I had already sent trusted soldiers to thoroughly search your private residence. I expect we will have concrete results momentarily."
As if summoned by his words, the searching soldiers returned to the throne room carrying several suspicious items.
"Your Majesty, these are secret letters we discovered carefully hidden within false walls in Advisor Háma's private study, plus this bottle containing suspicious green liquid that appears to be poison."
Seeing these damning pieces of evidence displayed before the entire court, Háma's face instantly drained of all color. He collapsed to his knees in abject terror and despair, his body trembling uncontrollably.
Those letters and poison had been known only to himself, hidden with the utmost secrecy in places no casual search should have discovered. How had they been located so easily and quickly?
King Thengel accepted the letters with steady hands, reading through their contents with an increasingly cold expression. The chill emanating from his royal presence grew heavier with each passing moment.
The entire palace hall fell into deathly silence, filled only with the soft rustling of papers as the king methodically examined each piece of correspondence.
Reading these detailed exchanges between Saruman and Háma, Thengel snorted with cold disgust, throwing the letters down before his fallen advisor and fixing him with eyes like winter ice.
"Do you have anything else you wish to explain before I pass judgment?"
Háma realized his situation was completely hopeless. All his carefully constructed lies had crumbled to dust. He trembled in pure terror as he desperately begged for mercy.
But Thengel remained unmoved by these pathetic pleas, directly ordering soldiers to bring the bottle of green poison and place it before the condemned traitor.
"Drink it," the king commanded with finality.
Meanwhile, Kael had already departed Rohan and didn't witness the kingdom's internal reckoning, though he could easily guess the inevitable outcome.
Kael hadn't initially expected Saruman to have planned so extensively far in advance, not only secretly manipulating Dunlending hatred toward the Rohirrim but also successfully planting his agents within Rohan's highest levels of government.
This Háma had been Saruman's most highly placed subordinate within Rohan's power structure. Even while stationed at the dangerous western borders, he had continuously cooperated with Saruman to provoke conflicts between Rohirrim and Dunlendings, ensuring the cycle of violence never ended.
Even after Saruman's treacherous nature was completely exposed and he was forced to flee to Mordor in disgrace, Háma had continued working secretly for his true master, plotting to control King Thengel through poison and seize control of the entire kingdom, then use Rohan's military might to reclaim Isengard.
But Saruman hadn't anticipated Kael making this unexpected visit to Rohan's capital, and Háma certainly hadn't expected Kael to possess Legilimency abilities that allowed him to detect hostility and read memories directly, discovering the entire conspiracy.
Thus, Saruman and Háma's carefully laid scheme was completely destroyed in a single morning.
Kael could already imagine Saruman's hysterical fury when news of this failure reached Mordor.
However, ruining Saruman's political plot had been merely incidental to Kael's true purposes. He didn't dwell on it for long.
Leaving Rohan's capital city of Edoras far behind, Kael immediately employed his new abilities to transform his appearance completely. He now resembled an ordinary Easterling traveler, his elegant robes replaced with plain, travel-worn clothing that wouldn't attract attention.
Only his height and distinctive voice couldn't yet be altered through conscious effort. But even those most familiar with him would struggle to recognize him immediately when meeting face to face.
Rohan's eastern border was marked by the great Anduin River. Beyond that mighty waterway lay the forbidding Ephel Dúath mountain range, with the dark realm of Mordor lurking east of those peaks.
Mordor served as Sauron's primary stronghold, not only gathering every conceivable variety of dark creature within this massive den of evil, but also housing creatures so powerful and terrifying that their true nature had never been recorded by mortal scholars.
Moreover, Sauron's all-seeing Eye constantly monitored every square mile of Mordor's territory. No movement, however small, could escape that burning gaze.
Here, Kael's caution increased dramatically with each mile traveled.
Though not under Sauron's direct administrative control, this entire region still fell within his sphere of influence and manipulation.
During Sauron's previous periods of greatest power, these eastern lands had all been ruled directly by the Dark Lord, who had used his corrupting evil to twist many Easterling tribes to his purposes.
Even after Sauron's catastrophic defeat in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, numerous Easterling tribes continued swearing loyalty to their fallen master, remaining mentally enslaved by his dark teachings.
Sauron's influence had deep roots throughout these lands. Some tribes still worshipped him as a deity, building crude shrines and offering bloody sacrifices in his name.
Kael completed his transformation into a rough-looking Easterling nomad, cast a powerful Notice-Me-Not charm around himself to avoid unwanted attention, and carefully blended into the Easterling population. He moved cautiously between different tribal settlements, always presenting himself as a simple traveler seeking trade opportunities.
Looking at the surrounding black-haired, yellow-skinned Easterlings, Kael felt no familiarity or cultural connection despite any superficial physical resemblances.
These particular Easterlings possessed waxy yellow or olive complexions with prominent cheekbones and rough, savage temperaments shaped by generations of nomadic survival. They were completely different from any people of his previous existence.
Like a shadow moving through firelight, Kael traveled between tribal settlements, secretly seeking any information about the mysterious Blue Wizards or the legendary location of Hildórien.
But disappointingly, the common Easterlings possessed no knowledge whatsoever of Hildórien, humanity's supposed birthplace. Under centuries of Sauron's corrupting influence, they had been taught to consider Sauron himself as the divine creator who had brought them into existence.
Ordinary tribal members also knew absolutely nothing about any Blue Wizards operating in their territories.
Only after Kael specifically sought out high-ranking tribal leaders and carefully employed his Legilimency abilities on their unguarded minds did he finally begin hearing fragmentary news about the Blue Wizards' activities.
According to these scattered reports, somewhere in the Dorwinion region near the great Sea of Rhûn, there had been confirmed sightings of blue-robed wizards actively organizing local populations to resist Sauron's forces and their collaborators.
Finally obtaining definite information about his targets, Kael no longer lingered among the suspicious tribes and immediately set course for Dorwinion.
Throughout this extended journey across hostile territory, perhaps because these nomadic settlements didn't meet his system's specific requirements, the magical check-in system never responded with new rewards.
But considering the logic involved, if every random location could trigger system rewards, Kael would have exhausted all available benefits long ago instead of needing to undertake this dangerous eastern expedition.
The Sea of Rhûn was Middle-earth's largest inland body of water, formed by the convergence of multiple river systems. The River Running flowed down from Lake-town's region, while the Redwater descended from the Iron Hills, both ultimately merging their waters into this vast inland sea.
Dorwinion occupied the northwestern shores where these rivers fed the great lake. The region had earned fame throughout Middle-earth as a premier wine-producing territory, renowned for creating excellent strong vintages that could intoxicate even elves with their potency.
Among connoisseurs, Thranduil, the Elvenking of the Woodland Realm, particularly favored wines originating from Dorwinion's sun-blessed vineyards.
These precious wines typically traveled along the River Running to Lake-town, where merchants repackaged them in sturdy barrels before shipping the cargo to the Woodland Realm via raft or barge.
The former Master of Lake-town had once controlled this lucrative wine transport route, accumulating tremendous wealth through his monopoly on this trade.
Dorwinion encompassed vast plains blessed with hot, dry climate conditions perfectly suited for grape cultivation on an industrial scale.
Flying high over Dorwinion on his enchanted broomstick, Kael surveyed extensive vineyards stretching beyond the horizon below. Occasional figures of vineyard caretakers were visible among the orderly rows of grapevines, going about their daily work with obvious skill and dedication.
This unexpectedly peaceful and prosperous scene genuinely surprised Kael, who had prepared himself for a much more dangerous and hostile environment.
He hadn't expected to discover such tranquil and obviously thriving communities in these far eastern regions supposedly dominated by Easterling raiders and Sauron's corrupting forces.