Having harvested flame crystals from the Balrog's lair and quenched the lava, Kael let his gaze circle the cavern and finally settle on the massive black stone platform at the center.
Its surface was seared and scored with deep claw marks.
"This must have been where the Balrog rested," he said, stepping closer. "Gandalf, do you think this stone hides a secret? It withstood the Balrog's fire without melting."
Gandalf had noticed it as well. He nodded. "Even mithril cannot endure such heat forever. For this to remain unmelted is remarkable."
He tapped the monolith with his staff and sent a pulse of power through it.
Cracks veined the surface. Then, like an eggshell, the black crust flaked away to reveal a shimmer beneath.
The dark layer had only been a hardened skin of magma. What lay beneath was the true core.
Catching the glimmer, Kael leaned in. Gandalf's eyes widened; he struck the stone again, harder.
With a ringing shock, the outer shell split and fell away.
Before them stood a raw mass as tall as two men, silver-white and whole. A gentle radiance flowed across its surface, like starlight made solid, flooding the chamber with pale light.
"Is this mithril?" Kael breathed.
Mithril reflected silver, yes, but it did not glow of its own accord. Did it?
Gandalf was awestruck. "No, not mere mithril. This is the Mother of Mithril."
"Mother of Mithril? What is that?"
"It is the foundation of Khazad-dûm, the source from which all mithril here springs. While it endures, Moria's mithril will never truly be exhausted." Gandalf brushed the surface with reverent fingers. "Marvelous. The Balrog's fire did not destroy it. It fed it, made it purer."
"By itself, this Mother Mithril is worth more than all the veins together."
Kael's eyes lit with wonder.
A treasure greater than treasure.
"Gandalf, may I take a few chips, or would that harm it?"
"A few, yes," Gandalf said. "But spare the rest. It is Moria's root. Greed would be ruin."
With care, Kael used Aeglos to pry off a fist-sized flake from the shining mass. He did so twice more before Gandalf raised a hand.
"No more. Beyond this we risk harming it. If the mithril dwindled because of us, that would be a fault we could not forgive."
Kael stopped at once.
He divided the three pieces: one for himself, one for Gandalf, and one he intended for Balin.
Gandalf accepted a shard this time and tucked it away. When Kael spoke of gifting the third to Balin, Gandalf frowned.
"The Mother of Mithril is not a simple prize. It is the bedrock of Moria. Even Balin, wise as he is, would struggle to resist its pull, as the Arkenstone once bound Thorin. If word spread, even with a clear mind, he would be compelled to take it for the Dwarves' keeping. That would be the Mother's misfortune, and could doom the veins."
Kael fell silent.
Some things are better left untempted. The Mother touched the lifeblood of Moria. However generous Balin might be, he could not entrust it to another. And once in mortal hands, it would invite accidents and calamity. Middle-earth had learned that lesson before.
"Keep the last piece," Gandalf said softly. "Better yet, find a vein near Weathertop and bury it deep with a few flame crystals. In time, it will begin to yield mithril."
Kael's eyes brightened. "Truly?"
Gandalf nodded. "It is the Mother. It seeps its essence into stone. With the right conditions, it can slowly transmute ordinary metal-bearing rock into mithril, or feed an existing vein. It will be slow, perhaps a gram a year, yet steady. It will also draw and settle certain energies, forming a natural field that is good for the land."
Kael was moved. When the Dwarves had raised Hogwarts Castle, they had found a small iron vein under Weathertop—too meager to mine. Now it could be turned, slowly, to mithril.
He tucked the third shard away without further protest.
"Now, one last task," Gandalf said, clapping his hands. "If we leave it exposed, the Dwarves will quarry it someday. Help me hide the Mother so well that no one can find it."
Light flickered in his eyes, as if he could see the future paths before them.
"Hidden, it can go on making mithril without end. Exposed, it invites ruin."
He lifted his staff and began an ancient chant.
Kael drew his wand, traced runes across the Mother, and layered spells: Notice-Me-Not, Disillusionment, Confundus, and a Fidelius-like binding. He wove secret into secret, shrouding both nature and place.
Even a reborn Balrog, he thought, would never find it now.
Gandalf brought his chant to a close and drove the staff into the rock.
The cavern shook. The floor split open into a deep cleft. The Mother of Mithril sank into the chasm. The stone knit over it once more.
Gandalf exhaled, wiped imaginary sweat, and smiled. "There. No one will trouble it."
"We should go. Balin will be fretting."
Kael nodded, and they left the lair.
As they climbed the molten corridor, Gandalf collapsed the chamber behind them, erasing all trace of the Mother's resting place.
They rose on their brooms to the cliff's edge, where Balin and Arwen waited.
Seeing them, Balin's shoulders loosened. Arwen hurried to Kael and looked him up and down.
"Kael, are you alright?"
He softened and smiled. "I am fine. Do not worry."
While they spoke, Balin turned to Gandalf. "Well? What lies below?"
Gandalf laughed. "All settled. The lava was merely the after-rage of the Balrog's power. Kael and I have stilled it. It is cooled and safe."
Balin let out a long breath. "Good news indeed. Thank you, both. I did not know how we would manage without you."
"That is not all," Kael added, grinning. "Better news. The lava below was melted mithril, very pure. You can smelt ingots without the trouble of mining."
Balin's eyes shone. "Truly? Then that is splendid."
With his worst worry gone, he led them back to the feast with a lighter step.
Two days later, Kael, Gandalf, and Arwen took their leave. Kael chose the western road, after sending Arwen back to Lórien through the First Hall hearth. Gandalf did not return to the Golden Wood. He flew out the eastern gate toward Fangorn. With the Balrog fallen and Moria's orc-host broken, Saruman had lost a strong hand. Desperate players take desperate gambles. Gandalf would ask the Ents to keep a closer watch upon Isengard.
Kael's western path had two aims: to regroup with Smaug at the gate and to visit one more place he had yet to check in.
At the west gate, they took wing for home. Over the ruins of Eregion, Kael asked Smaug to circle. The dragon tilted his head as Kael leapt down where the Rings of Power had once been forged.
The chime came at once.
[Hogwarts Check-in System: Location—Eregion. Check in?]
"Check in."
[Check-in successful—acquired: Goblin Forging Craft.]