[Mithadan]

If Mithadan was surprised that his cooking, such as it was, had been absconded with, he was more surprised to hear that Daisy had locked herself in her quarters due to some upset about Pio's "will". We wandered up to the deck still wearing a dirty apron and proceeded to the gangway leading down to the crew's quarters. Ignoring a catcall and laughter from Angara about his appearence, he passed down the stairs to find an annoyed Bird leaning against the wall.

"This is all Child's fault," she complained. "If she had not been so eager to get a share of Pio's belongings, Daisy would not be behaving so. And to top it off, that fool Elf Tule has joined her in her little rebellion."

This last startled Mithadan. Tule had not even known Pio. What mischief was this? "Bird," he began. "First, I hardly count Daisy's actions as a 'rebellion'. Everyone, myself included, is upset about Piosenniel's death; this is merely an overrreaction. Second, Child is hardly the greedy type. With the possible exception of her choice to join the Gondolin Hobbits, and even that decision was well-reasoned in most respects, I don't know of a more level-headed person than Child. I suggest you speak with her to find out her motives."

He proceeded down the hall to Daisy's quarters, trying hard to ignore his memories of its former occupant. He knocked gently on the cabin door.

"Go away!" came the response. "You can't have her things."

"Daisy," he answered. "I am less concerned about Pio's possessions than I am about lunch. We're hungry out here."

"Then go make some more," she retorted.

"It took me quite long enough to assemble the first batch, thank you," he responded with a small laugh. "I'm no cook. But Daisy, I know nothing about this 'will' and don't care much about it either, save one thing. We are all struggling to deal with Pio's death and honour her memory. I ask you to consider that there may be no better way to honor her than to hear her parting thoughts for each of us and learn from what gifts she had to give. They were her's, after all, and if she wants to pass things on to her friends we must honor that desire and fulfill her will. I don't think there's one of us here who wouldn't rather have Pio here with us than receive some trinket in her memory. But since we can't have her we should..." He choked a bit here. "We need to have her memory because we loved her." He cursed himself silently for failing to keep his emotions in check. "Just think about that please." And with those words, he walked quickly down the hall, entered his cabin and shut the door behind him.

[ August 22, 2002: Message edited by: Mithadan ]