Birdie was whistling through her teeth with delight, thinking how far up she had come up in the world to be a one eighth owner of such a fine vessel. She thought of all the wonderful things they could carry on their ship to the far ends of Middle Earth; pipe weed from the Shire, honey from the Beornings, lumber from Dale, horses from Rohan...
Should they hire an Elven crew to sail her? Birdie reluctantly let this idea pass. Elves were wonderful sailors, but you never knew when they might up and quit to head West. Turnover would be a nightmare.
Pio strolled over and asked Birdie, "What will you use for a weapon Birdie? Do you intend to go into battle wielding the sword of Maeglin again?"
"Nooo," said Birdie, "I have a feeling it might be unlucky for me against the Blue Wizards. Might turn in my hands or something. I'll just stick to my faithful sling. It's gotten me out of plenty of scrapes in the past."
"And see," Birdie held out a handful of rough, crystalline stones, "I found plenty of ammo in the hold. Must be ballast stones or something."
Pio's face went white, and she gulped, then spoke" Uh, Birdie...those aren't ballast stones. Those are uncut diamonds!"
"Really!!???" said Birdie looking at the stones with curiosity. "Well, you know what they say: 'Diamonds are a girl's best friend.'" And with that she sent two diamonds whizzing through the air, to bury themselves in the side of the mast.
"Hey Child!" hollered Birdie happily. "What do you think we should call our new ship?"
It was at that moment that the storm struck.
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