Leaving the treasure-filled vault, Kael made his way to the sprawling garden that crowned Weathertop's heights.
Kael's garden was a sanctuary filled with countless rare flowers and exotic plants from across Middle-earth.
Athelas grew in abundant patches throughout—with its remarkable ability to heal injuries and ease pain, the people of Hogsmeade village below the mountain valued it as life-saving medicine.
Whenever someone fell seriously ill, they would make the difficult climb up the mountain, requesting Athelas from their lord.
Kael never refused these pleas, even attempting to transplant Athelas down to the village so people could harvest and cultivate it themselves without the arduous journey.
But clearly this miraculous healing herb had extraordinarily demanding growth requirements.
It could only survive and thrive in natural environments with abundant concentrated magical energy and perfectly suitable temperatures.
Atop Weathertop, not only did the castle itself possess inherent magic—every brick and stone meticulously inscribed with ancient runic symbols—but powerful magical creatures like dragons, great eagles, basilisks, and giant spiders also resided there permanently, creating overlapping magical fields that saturated the air.
More importantly, two divine trees existed on the mountain—the sacred White Tree and the towering Mallorn tree.
Especially the White Tree, a direct descendant of the legendary third-generation White Tree Nimloth, possessed extraordinary concentrated magic that made Weathertop's entire environment vibrant with supernatural life force.
So whether Athelas or other rare flowers with demanding growth conditions could all flourish magnificently atop Weathertop's blessed heights.
In Kael's carefully tended garden, besides the ubiquitous silver-green Athelas, there grew never-withering Elanor—small golden star-shaped flowers that seemed to capture sunlight; pure white Simbelmynë that bloomed like tiny stars; and the Entwives' legendary flowers that grew in perfect circles, blooming simultaneously in eight distinct colors throughout the seasons.
Various intoxicating fragrances intertwined naturally, carried by gentle mountain breezes throughout the entire castle and its grounds.
Everyone who breathed in these mingled scents felt instantly refreshed and clear-headed, unable to help but feel intoxicated by the natural perfume.
This garden's current breathtaking beauty was largely due to Arwen's devoted care during her visits. She even specially drew blessed water from Lady Galadriel's fountain pool in distant Lothlórien to water the White Tree, Mallorn tree, and delicate garden flowers.
This loving attention made the garden vibrantly lush with beauty that rivaled even Lady Galadriel's legendary garden in the Golden Wood.
Kael crossed through the fragrant garden to reach the base of the magnificent Mallorn tree.
The Mallorn tree stood incredibly tall—much taller than the neighboring White Tree, reaching skyward over a hundred meters high.
Its massive trunk possessed a diameter exceeding ten meters, requiring twenty to thirty adults linking hands to encircle it completely.
It was the tallest living structure atop Weathertop besides the ancient stone tower of Amon Sûl itself.
A carefully crafted spiral staircase wound gracefully up the trunk's exterior, leading directly to multiple platforms built throughout the tree's branches.
Each major branch extending from the Mallorn's trunk supported elegant white marble platforms with beautiful pavilions and delicate towers.
Kael climbed the spiral stairs steadily to reach the tree platforms. Golden leaves surrounded him on all sides. When blown by gentle winds and illuminated by afternoon sunlight, they sparkled brilliantly like captured stars, dyeing all of Weathertop in shimmering gold.
Even the low clouds drifting through the sky were tinged with golden color, making Weathertop appear divinely blessed and radiantly golden.
The Mallorn tree also housed Kael's private palace chambers. During leisure time, he would come here to rest peacefully, listening to the soothing rustle of leaves, feeling refreshing breezes on his face, while overlooking the mountain slopes below and the distant lands beyond.
But Kael had not come to rest this time. He proceeded directly to the Mallorn's highest accessible point with purposeful steps.
There stood the largest platform of all, supporting a huge nest constructed from branches and soft materials.
Thorondor currently resided in this impressive nest.
This nest had originally belonged to the Great Eagle King before Thorondor's arrival, but as Thorondor's enormous size rapidly surpassed even the ancient Great Eagle King's proportions, the original occupant could no longer comfortably fit.
So Thorondor had later expanded and rebuilt it into an even larger giant nest suitable for his massive frame.
Currently Thorondor rested quietly in his nest—his frozen wing still preventing proper flight. Smaug had helped transport him carefully to the nest upon their return.
Seeing Kael approach, Thorondor made affectionate calls of greeting, flapping his huge uninjured wing while trying valiantly to stand in respect.
"Easy now, don't strain yourself. You're injured and need rest. I've brought food to help you recover," Kael gently stopped him from moving unnecessarily, then unceremoniously dumped an entire evil dragon corpse from his expanded space box.
In this recent Battle of Isengard, Thorondor had suffered the most serious injuries of any companion. Kael had decided to use nutritious dragon meat to properly reward him and accelerate healing.
He certainly had nothing else in such abundant supply except dragon meat after the battle.
It was perfect for nourishing Thorondor back to full strength.
Seeing the evil dragon corpse laid before him, Thorondor's keen eyes brightened with hunger and anticipation. He immediately used his wickedly sharp hooked beak to tear open the dragon's tough body, feasting heartily on the rich meat.
Kael watched Thorondor with genuinely gentle eyes. Among all his magical pets and companions, he valued Smaug and Thorondor most deeply.
He valued Smaug primarily for the dragon's tremendous power and strength, which significantly enhanced his own military foundation and capabilities.
Thorondor, however, held a special place. Kael had personally raised him from a tiny abandoned eaglet near death to become today's sky-dominating great eagle.
And regarding loyalty, Thorondor proved the most faithful of all his companions.
He was even the only pet not bound by any magical contract or oath.
Because Kael firmly believed Thorondor would absolutely never betray him under any circumstances.
Like this recent battle facing the ancient frost dragon—when Thorondor witnessed what he believed was Kael being devoured by the frost dragon, mistakenly thinking his beloved master dead, he had directly attacked the colossal dragon recklessly despite the impossible odds, resulting in one wing being frozen solid.
But with Smaug swallowing the powerful dragon crystal this time, the golden dragon's strength would grow exponentially more powerful over the coming years.
The existing power gap between Thorondor and Smaug would inevitably become even more disparate and pronounced.
Kael personally did not mind Thorondor's relatively modest strength—he could easily support Thorondor's needs anyway without expecting him to become overwhelmingly powerful.
But Thorondor clearly did not share this perspective. After suffering injury in battle, he had become noticeably dejected, even feeling he had dragged his beloved master down, becoming anxious and genuinely worried the master might eventually abandon him as useless.
After all, in this pivotal battle, Smaug had contributed most significantly, and Herpo had also performed brilliantly with his deadly gaze. Though Cerberus's and Aslan's individual strength was not particularly prominent, they remained clearly favored by their master.
Even those not particularly intelligent fire dragons had contributed significantly to victory, killing many enemy evil dragons in combat.
Only he had performed merely adequately, even suffering serious injury near the end, losing his only truly impressive ability—flight itself.
Thorondor's troubled thoughts naturally could not escape Kael's perception through their bond.
Hearing Thorondor's melancholy inner voice, Kael found it simultaneously amusing and genuinely heartbreaking.
He felt Thorondor's anxious mind was essentially staging an elaborate family drama:
Smaug represented the outstanding accomplished eldest child, Herpo was the brilliant talented third, while Cerberus and Aslan were the adorable lively younglings receiving attention.
Only mediocre middle child Thorondor was being overlooked and ignored, wallowing in dejected self-pity.
And he himself, the master, was cast as the unfair patriarch favoring some children over others.
Kael felt genuinely amused by his own vivid imagination constructing this scenario.
But seeing Thorondor's genuinely dejected emotional state, Kael began seriously considering Thorondor's future development path.
Besides possessing considerable intelligence and keen eyesight, great eagles were essentially enlarged eagles, fundamentally lacking inherent magical talents like dragons breathing fire or basilisks possessing instantly lethal gazes.
Their impressive massive size provided definite advantages when facing humans, orcs, or even elves, capable of causing significant physical damage.
But when facing true dragons or even lesser sub-dragons, those size advantages vanished entirely.
So recalling his previous successful magical transfiguration experiments creating phoenixes and giant bears, plus his ongoing Animagus phoenix evolution plan,
He thought perhaps similar magical transfiguration could help Thorondor evolve further into a more powerful and capable magical creature.
While contemplating various transformation evolution possibilities, the vivid image of a Thunderbird automatically sprang prominently to mind.
In the magical world, Thunderbirds were exceptionally rare, extraordinarily powerful magical creatures that rivaled even phoenixes in capability.
Thunderbirds resembled great eagles in basic form, but could sense approaching supernatural dangers, create devastatingly powerful storms, and release concentrated lightning attacks.
Legendary magizoologist Newt Scamander had once heroically rescued a male Thunderbird named Frank from illegal Egyptian traffickers, planning to return the magnificent creature to Arizona's natural habitat.
But later, due to the Obscurial Credence causing catastrophic magical incidents throughout New York City that threatened to expose the entire magical world to ordinary people,
To make New York's ordinary citizens forget all witnessed magical events, Newt had released Frank the Thunderbird. It created a torrential rain covering the entire sprawling city, mixed with potent Swooping Evil venom, successfully erasing ordinary people's memories of magic.
If anyone asked what magical transformation suited Thorondor best, Kael genuinely felt Thunderbird was absolutely ideal.
If Thorondor could possess authentic Thunderbird abilities to create devastating storms and release lightning attacks, his combat strength would undergo earth-shaking changes.
The only significant problem was Kael possessed only basic conceptual knowledge about Thunderbirds, not knowing the intricate Thunderbird magical circulation systems required for transformation.
Successfully finding or reverse-engineering Thunderbird magical circulation patterns would be like winning the lottery—extremely unlikely.
"If only I had access to an actual Thunderbird specimen to study! Even just detailed anatomical drawings would help tremendously!" Kael sighed with genuine frustration.
Though realistic hope remained extremely slim, Kael had no intention of simply giving up on this promising idea.
So he carefully shared this transformation concept with Thorondor, asking sincerely if he would be willing to undergo such experimental magical transfiguration.
Hearing Kael's ambitious thoughts for his future, Thorondor immediately regained visible vitality. Desperately eager to grow significantly stronger and more useful, he could barely wait to immediately become the legendary Thunderbird Kael described—commanding wind and rain, releasing devastating lightning, and becoming the true undisputed King of the Skies.
Well, seeing Thorondor displayed absolutely zero hesitation about the risky procedure, Kael could only file this project in his future plans.
He thought about asking Gandalf for crucial assistance later.
After all, they had previously designed phoenix magical circulation systems together successfully, making his Animagus evolution plan actually feasible.
This time designing Thunderbird magical circulation, he could again collaborate with Gandalf while also consulting the wise Elrond for additional insights.
But this ambitious matter remained still distant, not requiring immediate urgent action.
So Kael carefully filed it in his mental notes, refocusing his primary attention back on his Elixir of Life brewing progress.
In the well-equipped potions laboratory, after a full 24 hours of careful low-heat brewing, the liquid had transformed into deep red nearly approaching black.
Kael retrieved three rare pink pearls, grinding them methodically to fine powder in his mortar with practiced motions.
Then he carefully added the pearl powder to the simmering cauldron, stirring clockwise exactly four complete times.
These were not ordinary common pearls but rather tears from this world's mermaids—the Oarni—magically transformed and crystallized.
These precious pearls were generous gifts from the ancient Shipwright Círdan, who maintained friendly acquaintance with Oarni mermaids living in the distant sea, thus managing to obtain pearls formed from their tears.
Originally Nicolas Flamel's recipe required Selkie mermaid scales specifically, but Kael had found an effective substitute—pearls formed from Middle-earth mermaid tears.
After adding the shimmering pearl powder, Kael added carefully measured dragon blood, chanting ancient words while stirring clockwise exactly seven times, then continuing the gentle low-heat brewing for another full 24 hours.
After another complete day passed, Kael carefully removed the Philosopher's Stone from the bubbling pot.
The Stone showed absolutely no visible changes, not even feeling hot to touch despite hours immersed in boiling liquid.
He stored the precious Stone safely, then removed the heavy cauldron from the heat to allow gradual cooling.
The cauldron's liquid had now turned brilliant bright red.
Kael constantly stirred the cooling potion to prevent unwanted layering or separation until it was completely cooled to room temperature, then carefully poured everything into a glass separatory funnel for one full hour.
Then he extracted only the lower concentrated liquid layer, pouring it back into the pure gold cauldron.
He added finely ground dragon bone marrow, reheating carefully while constantly stirring until reaching a rolling boil.
Then he immediately extinguished the magical fire completely to allow cooling.
The finished potion had turned a jewel-like translucent red, looking extraordinarily beautiful and precious.
Thus, the legendary Elixir of Life was finally complete.