[piosenniel]

‘So Miz Piosenniel has collected herself another stray, has she?!’

Amaranthas laughed , a dry dusty sound that wheezed out of her like a long, sustained note from an old squeeze box, the kind the tinker would play as he walked along to draw his customers’ attention. Pio stepped forth, a look of concern on her face, as the laugh seemed to roll out with no intake of breath to replenish it.

The laughed dissolved into a cough, and Amaranthas waved the Elf back, nodding to her that she was alright. ‘Come in! Come in.’ wheezed the old Hobbit, pointing the way to the parlour. Pio led the way, having visited before, followed by Laurie, while Amaranthas shut the door securely.

‘That’s a good girl. Your mother did a good job of raising you!’ Amaranthas had come to the table and sat herself down as Pio busied herself brewing a fresh pot of tea, and rooting through the cupboards for two more cups. Cups in hand, she nosed through several more cupboards before asking, ‘Now where is that seedcake you told me you always bake midweek? I am famished!’ Amaranthas chuckled and pointed out the bread drawer to the left of the stone sink with her hawthorn cane.

Laurie had remained standing after the old Hobbit sat down. Amaranthas pushed out a chair from the table with her stick, and tapped on it, encouraging her to seat herself. ‘Laurie of the Mark, is it? Let me see your face, girl.’ She leaned forward and placed her fingers, light as the wing of a bird beneath the startled young woman’s chin. ‘I don’t bite,’ she said, ‘despite what you might have heard.’ Pio coughed once and kept her eyes on the loaf of seed cake she was slicing.

‘You’re a pretty thing, aren’t you? Sturdy like one of those fine horses from the Westfold, too. Fine boned, and spirited.’ Her dark eyes held the gaze of the girl, and a look of recognition passed over her features, and she smiled, wrinkling her face all the more. ‘A little fey, if I might add.’ she said, turning to Pio to affirm her assessment.

Pio, piling the thin slices on a small plate, hesitated for a moment, then turned to where the Hobbit and the young woman sat. Her eyebrows arched at Laurie, in anticipation of her answer. ‘Perhaps we had best let Laurie tell us whether you have hit the mark, Amaranthas.’

Plate in one hand and a pot of gooseberry jam in the other, Pio plunked herself down at the table, and poured the steaming tea for all of them. She passed round the seedcake and jam, and the pot of honey to sweeten the tea. Piling a generous spoonful of jam on the slice of cake in her hand, she raised it to her mouth.

‘Go ahead, Laurie.’ she encouraged, just prior to taking a bite, ‘Tell Amaranthas about her “fey” remark. She is rarely wrong, you know. Or so I have come to find out.’ She chewed thoughtfully on the cake for a few moments. ‘Of course, there is always a first time, is there not?’