Birdie put her feet up on the table and waved the hand holding the ginger cookie in the air. "Holly Stoor the Tinker Lass? Now there's a tale. Not many halfling ladies would do the things that dear Holly has done."
"Her dad and ma had a little store in some backwater little hamlet in the South Farthing...Hiccup?...Pinesup?..."
"Pincup." corrected Olo gently
"Aye! That's it. Pincup. Well, when Holly's ma and dad passed on, Holly had the store for her own. But as is often the case, her family didn't actually own the building where the store was at. It was on the land of some folks called the Sacksville-Baggins. A grasping group of kinfolk who apparently own half the farthings, and are working on the other half."
"So one day their son and heir comes riding up on his pony and announces that the family plans to raise the rent on the sorry little place. Now of course, Holly was barely making ends meet with her little business, and of course, that weasely son was willing to negotiate, seeing as he had had his eye on our Holly for some time."
"Well, Holly seemed to be in a fix: either take up with that scheming Sacksville-Baggins, or close shop and go live off the kindness of distant relations. But since neither of these things suited Holly's nature, she chose a third way. She threw the key in that boy-o's face, and told him to take his building and to the Void with him."
Olo laughed uproariously at this part. "So she took to the road, did she?"
"Ai-ya, packed up what little stock she had on that pony of hers and took to the tinkering life. Hasn't done badly at it, and she travels quite freely around the Westlands; that is, in the areas where it's not too dangerous to go."
Bird reached for another cookie and poured another glass of wine. "Now you'll also notice that Holly is a right-fair limner. Has been since she was a small lass. She could probably do a lot better with her drawing then her tinkering if she tried, but aside from the odd inn sign or baby portrait, she doesn't get much work in that line. People who have the silver pennies for a good cooking pot seldom have the extra scratch for a drawing, no matter how good."
"I suppose she could go to a larger town or city, and work her craft there." said Olo
"Well, Elves and Dwarves pretty much have the market in those places. People in those large cities want art, they'll say: 'I want something Elven' or 'Get me a dwarf smith!' Not many of them are looking for Halfling handiwork, though I'd hold Holly's art up against any of those other races."
"So there you have her tale. I've known Holly for a few years now, having met her through my own wanderings. A better friend and companion you could never meet. And more traveled then most of your folk, I must say."
Bird reached for the wine jug again. "But of course, she's not as well traveled as me."
[ July 31, 2002: Message edited by: Birdland ]
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