[Imladris]

Lira rose to her feet and scratched Corn under his ebony beak, while he made soft croakings that Lira compared with a kitten's purr. She must be on her way, though first she must thank the innkeeper and pay her reckoning for the room. Making her way slowly towards the inn, she whispered, "Wait here, Corn, in the branches of that elm," she added as she flung her arm upwards, launching him into the air. Upon her fair skin, two lines of blood began to ooze, the unwitting work of Corn's sharp claws. Ignoring the scratch, she entered the room and waited for a brief instant while her eyes adjusted to the dim interior. Esgallhugwen was speaking with a dwarf man -- wait, woman. Lira frowned slightly in dislike -- she had never really cared for dwarves.

Lira did not see Aman in the Common Room, so she drifted towards the kitchen and peered into it. Two babes slept peacefully beside a small fire place, wrapped in a comfortable quilt. Lira slipped into a nearby shadow as an elf maid rushed by her, and, after she had passed, Lira again peered into the room and saw that another elf was speaking to Aman and the Cook.

Waiting patiently for a break in the conversation, Lira's gazed travelled to the babies who were now playing quietly in the quilt. She leaned against the post and watched them, a smile playing about her lips, her blue eyes twinkling with fascinated joy.

"Lira?" asked Aman, who had now noticed her, "is anything the matter?"

Her words jerked Lira back to the kitchen, and turning, she said, "Yes. I regret to say that I must leave and travel North, but I want to pay my reckoning. Forgive me for interrupting you and..." her eyes flicked to the other elf and asked a question to Aman.

"Mistress Piosenniel," Aman laughed as Lira dropped a curtsy.

The Innkeeper named a sum, which Lira fished from a leather bag and handed it to her. "I will return," said Lira, as she left the kitchen.

Skipping gracefully towards the stable, she packed her now dry green dress, and leaped to Merkaliel's back and cantered down the lane.