After a meal the birdlike scholar asked, "What became of your lost love?"

"She was lost," said Feldon with a deep sigh, "and it was beyond my power to bring her back. It was beyond my desire. But I had a chance to say good-bye."

"That is what you truly wanted?" asked the scholar.

"That is what I truly wanted," said Feldon.

The scholar spent three weeks in Feldon's library and then left, but he promised to send interested students to the grizzled man's home. Every so often some would-be scholar or mage would appear, and Feldon, remembering his promise, would let the wizard go through the library. Over dinner he would tell his own story of what he had learned about magic.

Sometimes the aspiring mage would listen politely, sometimes intently. Occasionally, after everyone had gone to bed, a mage would creep down and find Feldon sitting by the fire. The flames twisted into the form of a smile, a soft and knowing smile.

And Feldon, the ancient wizard, seemed to be content.