[piosenniel]

‘Of course I will stand up for you! You should know better than to have to ask.’ Pio wrapped her arms around her friend, and grinned. ‘There is one minor consideration, though, that we need to take into account.’ Cami frowned at this two edged answer. ‘And that would be . . .?’ she detested it when the Elf started thinking too critically about a problem. It usually meant some chart or map would be pulled out and the solution to the problem dissected and plotted.

Pio raised her eye brows at Cami, as if discerning her line of thinking. Smiling, she pulled the vellum calendar from beneath the counter and spread it out before them. Her finger ran down the page to Lótessë, the month of blossoms. ‘Here’s where we are right now.’ she said, eyes fixed on the calendar, her index finger on 20 Lótessë. ‘This is 21 Thrimidge, here in the Shire. In forty one days it will be Loëndë, Midsummer’s Day. That is the day the twins will be born.’

It was Cami’s turn to raise her eyebrows at this statement. ‘That exact day?’ Pio nodded her head and went on. ‘In a month’s time Mithadan will be here. And I have sent out messages to Bird, also. Though I have not heard back from our wandering friend as yet.’

‘Messages?!’ sputtered Cami. ‘I’ve seen you write one letter in all the time I’ve been here. What messages? Do you sneak out in the dead of night to put them in the Shire Post box?’

This sort of message, Cami. Though I must admit even it has its limitations. No matter how I tried, I could not find you in the time to which you had gone.

Pio withdrew the osanwë link and resumed speaking normally. ‘So, what sort of timeline are we working on for you and your wedding to Maura? Surely Auntie Cami will be here to hold the little ones for a little while.’ She glanced briefly at her friend’s face to gauge the answer to this question. ‘Mithadan is bringing the quilt, Cami. I should like you to carry back the memory of the little ones asleep on it.’ She waited for the thought of that to sink in and hook her.

‘We could plan it now, and then carry it off a little while after Midsummer’s Day. Give me enough time to actually be able to “stand up” for you. What do you say to that? Or are we in some sort of hurry to make this all happen very soon?’

She pulled a blank sheet of parchment from her writing box, with a quill and a bottle of black ink. Placing it in front of Cami, she dipped the pen in the inkwell and handed it to her. ‘I think we should make a list and start doing what we need to do to see this accomplished.’ Pio watched as Cami wrote ‘Wedding List’ in her fine script at the top of the page , leaving a space just below it to write in the date once it had been determined.

Cami’s attention was focused on the task before her. She did not see the perplexed look cross Pio’s face. ‘How in Arda, am I to hide this from Mithadan and Bird?’

[ January 24, 2003: Message edited by: piosenniel ]