"Where did I put that wand?", Uthar thought frantically to himself. "I remember I had it when I removed the curse on that Tadpole of a student, but what happened to it after that??? Ok, I must think about this logically, I can't panic just because my life depends on that wand. Now, where did I use it last?"

"I had the wand with that curse business, but after that...I remember hearing a knock at the door...but when I opened it there was no one there, except for a solitary crow. 'Nevermore' I believe it called itself.

"Lets see, after that I went back to the kitchen, but on the way I noticed the fire was out...so I took my wand and cast a few fireballs to warm up the place. Then there was the stew. Made some delicious kender soup, with just a touch of ginger root. But then I noticed it was getting cold again so I went to put some wood on the fire.. That done I looked around for some matches, but couldn't find them so I...doh!!! How could I be so dumb! I used the wand to light the fire, but forgot to remove it! My precious wand! The source of all my powers! Burnt to a crisp! Now how will I survive? What use is an elf without magic powers. I'm sure no good as a fighter! Oh me, oh my. What am I to do?"

The future healer then did a most uncharacteristic thing, he broke down and cried. He wept for himself in a great wave of self-pity. He wept because his wand was gone and with it his power. He no longer had a purpose in life. He had been a healer and remover of evil spells, yet it wasn't he that did it, it was the wand. That little piece of wood which he had used to start his fire!!!