Higher and higher Annabel's cloak flew within the wind's unrelenting grasp, out of the forest and then over a great sea. If someone had been standing on the ground looking upward, and there had been sufficient light, the cloak might have been seen as the tiniest speck in the sky. It was taken higher even than the most magnificent eagles fly in its journey over that endless water.

Turned, twisted, and tortured in every manner imaginable, most cloaks would have torn and shredded into many pieces. Annabel's cloak stayed intact, however, for it had been hand-sewn by Noordan's finest tailors. So even with the torture it endured, the cloak held together and protected all the contents entrusted within it.

Finally, the wind began to abate and the cloak started its long descent downward. Now miles above that expansive sea, the cloak could have plummeted through the air until it plunged into those great depths. But it didn't. It was spread wide to glide upon the wind, controlled and guided by Annabel's wand. The wand knew it would not be able to return to Annabel on its own, but would need someone to help it do so.

To achieve that, the wand first had to find something solid for the cloak to settle upon. Otherwise, it would end up hundreds of fathoms deep in the ocean. If that happened, then nothing could save it. So the wand searched all the while the wind carried them. It sensed many places to touch down during the journey, but the wind would not abate enough to allow a landing.

Slowly losing altitude using a huge s-shaped glide path, the wand could sense nothing upon which to land. It probed non-stop in every direction until it finally found what it had been seeking... a solid surface in the great sea. The wand directed the cloak to reconfigure itself... raise one side and lower another, open one side slit to allow air to move through that side more rapidly. Thus guided, the cloak turned in the correct direction.

Continuous small adjustments were made to various folds and creases as the fickle wind continued to change both speed and direction. But the object the wand targeted was nearing with each second. Finally, the cloak came to rest, draped on the surface as a towel might rest on a towel bar. The wand sensed that, though the wind was still blowing, the cloak was secure.

Relieved now from the task of making a safe landing, the wand began seeking some form of intelligence. It found it nearby at just about the same time the intelligence discovered the cloak.