Celebmornie began to doze and Fin turned his attention to others in the Dragon. There were still plenty of people around and Dwarin was still working hard, keeping the Dragon running. To pass the time he looked at each person there, each character was different. A dark man of Umbar still sat in the corner, eyes glowering. Would that every change? Nuramaiel, who had recently stood and performed, was now sat once more. She looked as if she was trying to forget the last few minutes.
“Don’t know why,” Fin thought, “It was pretty good.”
There were some hobbits in the corner, Brandybucks if he remembered rightly, but they were much more subdued than before, the ale had finally got to them. Some were still leaning on their elbows in a feeble attempt to look awake but most had given up and were sleeping, heads on table, snoring loudly. Fin watched as the man from Umbar snorted angrily at them. One rose his head slightly and murmured something, vaguely sounding like a threat but in the middle of it, his head slumped back down to the table. Fin resisted the urge to laugh as the man grimaced, “lighten up,” he thought.
The most interesting patron by far, was the shady figure in yet another corner of the inn, (the Dragon seemed to have many corners). From all appearances the person seemed to be a dread Wight but to Fin’s surprise he was writing in a notepad.
“Very unnatural for an unnatural being,” Fin mused.
Dwarin bustled past on some other errand designed for the maintenance of his business and that got Fin wondering, “how many kegs of ale did the place have?” Customers had been buying all night. As if on cue, the doors opened and a group of four dwarves entered, each carrying a large barrel each. They dropped them down beside the bar and their leader called in a loud voice, “Dwarin!”
One or two of the hobbits were roused but mumbled only a few words before falling back down onto the table surface. “What?” a voice called from one of the back rooms.
“Your ale is here!”
Dwarin came bustling back, face red and blustering.
“Back entrance, Nari, back entrance!”
“Humphh.” Nari looked displeased.
“Oh, well bring it through here then,” Dwarin compromised, and the dwarves picked up the kegs and carried them behind a still muttering innkeeper.
As he was thinking, a new maid entered and ordered some food. Fin sidled over to her and sat down. “Hello, are you new here? What do you think of the place?"
[ December 04, 2002: Message edited by: the real findorfin ]
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