U — Udrin’s Design

 

The elven wizard quietly guided events toward Ulthuan.

Udrin rarely raised his voice, and he almost never explained himself.

To most people in Padua, he appeared to be a wandering elven wizard with a patient temperament and a habit of watching more than speaking. He studied ruins, asked thoughtful questions, and occasionally performed feats of magic that reminded everyone just how much he wasn’t telling them. It was easy to mistake his quiet presence for detachment.

That would be a mistake.

Behind the calm surface boiled something far more deliberate. Udrin’s choices, where he traveled, which relics he studied, which dangers he chose to confront, all fit together too neatly to be coincidence. Each discovery about Karitamen’s legacy, each confrontation with the strange forces gathering around the Avon, seemed to nudge events along a subtle path. And that path led in only one direction: Ulthuan.

Whether he admitted it or not, Udrin appeared to be guiding the party toward the elven homeland, step by careful step. He didn’t bring it up overtly, but arranged circumstances so that, sooner or later, the road west became the only sensible choice. Why he believed the answers lie there, or what role his companions were meant to play once they arrived, remained frustratingly unclear.

But one thing about Udrin was certain: he never moved pieces on the board without already knowing where he wanted the game to end.