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When the afterglow of the western sunset fell upon the Grey Havens, the Great Eagle carried Kael to this place.

The Grey Havens sat at the mouth of the River Lhûn where it entered Lhûn Gulf. The entire gulf was like a giant arrowhead thrust deep into the continent, interrupting the Blue Mountains and pointing toward Eriador.

The Grey Havens was also the terminus of Eriador's East-West Road, facing the other terminus, Rivendell, from afar.

The Grey Havens' buildings were distributed on cliffs on both sides of the harbor, mostly constructed with massive stones. Lighthouses stood on both sides of the harbor, the tallest structures in the Grey Havens.

When night fell, the lighthouses emitted bright, warm light that could penetrate mist and guide ships from thousands of miles away.

Many vessels were moored in the harbor. Tall sailing ships and exquisite small boats swayed in the harbor, creating a unique landscape.

Kael surveyed the entire Grey Havens from the air, then had the Great Eagle land on the road outside the port.

The elves in the Grey Havens had already noticed the Great Eagle's presence, but as Great Eagles were messengers of the King of the Valar and friends of the elves, no one was afraid. Instead, they looked up curiously at the visitor.

This place gathered all elves wishing to sail to the Undying Lands of Valinor, one of the most concentrated centers of elven activity on the entire Middle-earth continent, bringing together Noldor, Sindar, Silvan, and other elven races.

The Great Eagle flapped its wings, dispersing the harbor's mist while moored ships swayed continuously in the rising waves.

Kael jumped down from the Great Eagle's back, just landing on the ground when a silver-haired elf approached and asked in the common tongue. "Traveler from afar, what business brings you to the Grey Havens?"

Kael returned an elven courtesy and answered in Elvish. "I am the wizard Kael, come from Weathertop's Hogwarts Castle, here to visit Lord Círdan."

The silver-haired elf understood, also returning an elegant courtesy and switching to Elvish, saying politely.

"So the Lord of Amon Sûl honors us with his presence! Westward-bound elves have brought tales of your deeds. Seeing you today, you indeed live up to your reputation! I am Galdor, Lord Círdan's secretary. Unfortunately, your timing is poor. Lord Círdan recently sailed with a group of elves to the Blessed Realm and has not yet returned."

Círdan wasn't here? Kael was somewhat surprised.

"How unfortunate!" Kael said with some regret. "Lord Elrond entrusted me to deliver a letter to Lord Círdan. I didn't expect his absence."

Hearing Kael had Elrond's letter, Galdor treated him with even more respect.

"Wizard Kael need not worry. You can stay in the Grey Havens for some time. Based on past experience, barring accidents, Lord Círdan should return within a month."

"Then I'll impose upon your hospitality!" Kael said.

Though he couldn't meet Círdan immediately, he wasn't too disappointed. After all, his journey's main purpose was finding Mercury of the Mind. Visiting Círdan was secondary. So whether Círdan was present didn't matter much.

At Galdor's invitation, Kael entered the Grey Havens, this seaside harbor city.

The Grey Havens had towering defensive walls built from stacked massive stones or carved directly from entire mountain faces, difficult to scale. Elven fortresses on the cliffs were easily defended and hard to attack.

The harbor's interior waters were spacious, accommodating many ships. But the exit channel was narrow, leading to Lhûn Gulf waters. Fortunately, lighthouses on both sides could guide harbor ships to safely depart in sequence.

The harbor was perpetually shrouded in mist, giving the Grey Havens a mysterious atmosphere.

Galdor led Kael to rest in a cliff building called the "Ship-house."

The entire ship-house was carved directly into the cliff face, containing many floors and rooms. It served as temporary lodging for elves bound for Valinor.

The rooms weren't large but were simple and elegant, reflecting elven architectural style, with a large terrace overlooking sailing ships below and the endless sea beyond.

With evening approaching, Kael didn't rush to seek Mercury of the Mind but sat on the terrace, enjoying the sunset and watching elven sailors return by ship.

As for the Great Eagle Thorondor, Kael needn't worry. He flew directly to rest on nearby Blue Mountain cliffs.

The Grey Havens' elves were mainly Teleri, closely connected to the sea and especially skilled in shipbuilding and navigation. Círdan was an outstanding representative, called "the Shipwright," long responsible for preparing vessels for westward-bound elves.

The Teleri also excelled in music and poetry, with beautiful voices that often echoed ocean sounds with rhythmic cadence.

Sitting on the terrace, Kael listened to the beautiful melody of sea and Teleri elven songs intertwining, like heavenly music.

The next day, Kael strolled to the docks.

Elven ships came and went constantly. Elven sailors piloted vessels toward the sea or transported supplies to Forlond and Harlond at the other end of Lhûn Gulf.

Forlond and Harlond were seaports on the northern and southern coasts of Lhûn Gulf, belonging to Harlindon and Forlindon respectively.

Both Harlindon and Forlindon belonged to Lindon, located west of the northern and southern Blue Mountains. The former ruler was High King Gil-galad, but after his fall in the Last Alliance, Círdan took charge.

However, Círdan retained the title Lord of the Havens without claiming kingship, so he was only lord of the Grey Havens and the Lindon region.

As the only point connecting to western Valinor, the Grey Havens held extraordinary significance, bearing elves' final attachment and memories of Middle-earth.

This attachment and memory, though intangible, had undergone qualitative change through countless ages of accumulation.

Kael crouched on the circular steps by the dock, looking at the silver-tinted water before him, scooping some in his hand.

The seawater was clear and transparent in his palm, but Kael could sense intense mental fluctuations within: reluctance, attachment, memories, hope, and other complex emotions.

"Elves board ships here. Only by releasing all attachment to their homeland can they journey unburdened to the Blessed Realm beyond," Galdor appeared beside Kael, narrating slowly.

"So over centuries, Lhûn Gulf has borne westward-bound elves' final attachment and memories of home, gradually tinting these gulf waters silver."

He sighed. "When my heart yearns to journey forth, I too will leave my memories of Middle-earth here, then sail unburdened to the Blessed Realm."

Hearing this, Kael marveled at creation's wonder.

He looked at this silver seawater with bright eyes.

This was his journey's purpose. This seawater bearing countless elven mental beliefs was the source of Mercury of the Mind, one of the Three Principles for creating the Philosopher's Stone.

Of course, simply collecting a bucket of seawater wouldn't suffice for making the Philosopher's Stone.

Though this silver seawater contained mental power, it needed extraction and purification to obtain the purest Mercury of the Mind. Only then would it become material for the Philosopher's Stone.

So Kael explained his purpose to Galdor.

"Secretary Galdor, would you mind if I extracted mental essence from Lhûn Gulf's seawater to create magical material?"

Galdor was somewhat surprised, then smiled and shook his head, indicating no objection.

"Please proceed, Wizard Kael. The emotions saturating this seawater are too intense. They trouble us elves as well. If you can reduce them, we'd be grateful."

With Galdor's consent, Kael felt unburdened.

He faced the seawater, inserted his wand into the water, and chanted incantations.

Invisible magical power flowed from his wand tip, spreading in all directions through the water in invisible ripples.

Countless elven emotions and memories deposited in the water gathered as silver points of light, converging toward Kael's wand tip and finally forming a silver thread.

Kael took out a crystal vial and stored this silver thread within.

The silver thread flowed like quicksilver, glittering with starlight, clearly extraordinary.

This was Mercury of the Mind.

The pure materialization of mental power.

Mind was intangible. Only a special place like the Grey Havens could deposit such concentrated mental power, allowing Kael to collect sufficient Mercury of the Mind.

Of course, just this single thread was far from enough for creating the Philosopher's Stone. He needed to collect much more Mercury of the Mind.

This was time-consuming and tedious work.

Simultaneously, the surrounding seawater from which Kael had extracted mental power quickly lost its silver color, becoming ordinary seawater.

Seeing this, Galdor was surprised and delighted.

Though the silver seawater was beautiful, it was saturated with intense emotions. If elves accidentally fell in, they'd be affected by these emotions, becoming melancholy and even abandoning their desire to sail west.

Now seeing Kael drain the emotions from the seawater, though only a small portion, the effect was significant.

Galdor offered a small boat to let Kael sail throughout the gulf, facilitating extraction of Mercury of the Mind everywhere.

Kael didn't refuse Galdor's kindness, accepting an exquisite white swan boat.

But he declined the elven sailors' help, sitting alone in the white boat and using magic to control the vessel across the water's surface.

He half-reclined in the boat, extending his wand into the water, stirring the surface playfully while chanting incantations, and periodically extracting silver threads from the water and storing them in crystal vials.

Passing elven sailors watched him curiously but restrainedly, none approaching to disturb him.

This continued until sunset, when Kael finally stopped his work.

The white boat moved windlessly, sailing toward the dock like a homing bird.

After a day's labor, Kael's crystal vial contained a shallow layer of Mercury of the Mind at the bottom.

At this efficiency and speed, about one to two weeks would be needed to fill an entire bottle.

But Kael was quite satisfied with this.

After all, without the Grey Havens as a natural "Pensieve" preserving countless ages of elven emotions and memories of Middle-earth, when would he be able to collect Mercury of the Mind?