Did the first part of the Quest to find the phial (probable misspelled that) I thought a courier was supposed to give a note to start the quest to repair it while you were in windhelm? Is that not right?

I recieved the quest from the helper in the shop [ the white philer] to save the life of his mentor

without spoilers, for me, the courier showed up after I finally visited the leader of the greybeards. try to get to that point and see if it triggers for you.

You need to have most of the MQ done before he will show up, the reason why is you need the clear sky shout... That's all I'll say

Thanks guys I'll try it