[Amanaduial the archer]

"It is strange, the kind of people the Shire has in its inns and taverns in these days."

Aman smiled and nodded with feeling at the dwarf's words - he'd hit the nail right on the head. She thought she recognised him, and it hit her a moment later as she departed from the table - that dwarf was the trouble maker who had stopped in her...well, it must be over a month ago now. Picked several fights so he did...she cast a glance in his direction, but Thorin seemed absorbed in his conversation with the hobbits, and he had thankfully left his axe at the door - excellent. He caught her eyeas she looked at him and smiled from beneath his voluminious beard, and Aman replied to this with a smile of her own. Turned over a new leaf then, she hoped.

There was a clatter from the other side of the room, causing Aman to look around quickly from the bar where she desposited the dirty glasses she had just picked up. Her eyes found the source in an instant, and she saw the Gondorian girl on her knees on the floor, slightly curled up as if in a protective position, evidentally having fallen over.

The noise, amidst so many others in the noisy common room, didn't attract much attention, but Aman began to move across it quickly towards the table. Elentari, if it was indeed Elentari, and the Innkeeper was pretty sure it was, got there before her though, gently helping the girl up. The blind girl said something in muttered thanks, then spoke again to Elentari, asking her to describe everything about her.

"Well, Elentari is about...ooh, 5 feet 9 inches, slim in build, clear green eyes, beautiful silky blonde hair-"

As Aman spoke, arms folded, Elentari turned around, surprised, her mouth open as if to protest, and the girl's eyes worked up to the approximate area of Aman's face.

"Aman!"

"-and a habit of making friends over a summer of travel and then not being seen for five years." Aman ended, one eyebrow raised, then smiled. "Hello Elentari."

The elf laughed and, standing, embraced Aman joyfully, and Aman returned it, patting her friend on the back and for a few moments they were simply caught up with their reunion, speaking quickly and merrily to each other, before Aman remembered the blind girl and realised she must be confused. Remembering her manners, she stopped and turned to the girl, not knowing how bad her sight was and so not knowing whether she could make out silhouettes and light and nodded her head to her.

"Good day, miss." Her voice was warm and kind, but not at all patronising. "I do apologise for not introducing myself - my name is Aman, I'm the Innkeeper here."

"The Innkeeper?" The girl smiled tenatively, nodding her head slightly to Aman, her unseeing eyes remaining in the direction Aman's voice came from. "My...my name is Finduilas. Please...sit down."

Aman did so, sitting near to the girl so her face was not far from the girl's own. Finduilas took a moment, then raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You are not one of the little folk at all."

Behind them, Elentari laughed. "No indeed. She is one of the Rohirrim - the horse people!"

Aman smiled at her friend, and Finduilas's expression remained puzzled. "From Rohan then? But why are you here?" She paused, then sighed wistfully. "Blonde hair then, maybe? And green eyes...?" She stopped, her face sad. Aman understood, or understood as much as one who couldn't truly know could. Gently and carefully, she took the girl's hand in her own and guided it up to her face. Finduilas seemed surprised, then ran her hand slowly over the Innkeeper's slim, high boned face.

"Brown hair actually, but streaked with blonde. And yes, green eyes - clear, bright and perceptive, I'm told...."

She talked clearly but softly, filling in the details of her appearance for those few moments that Finduilas couldn't possibly gather, but the girl could find quite alot from those moments. And in this gesture, Aman hoped she had put the girl at ease - that she had made a friend.