[Maegaladiel]

Nahai cast a thoughful glance at the ceiling. She took a swig of her cider, but a moment later images of Morwyn's story popped into her head, threatening to force her into another peal of laughter. She tried to hold back her giggles, her cider halfway swallowed.

"Laugh now and that will come out your nose," Morwyn said with great amusement. This only pushed Nahai farther towards the brink of laughter, but she managed to swallow without choking. Her face red from contained chuckles, she flapped her hand in front of her face.

"Sorry," she said. "My story isn't quite as funny, but it was particularly embarassing for me." Taking a drink of her cider (sucessfully, this time) she began her tale.

"As I've said earlier, I spent most of my childhood living at my uncle Beorn's house. He is usually a loner, caring more for his wonderful animal friends than the dealings of elves and men, so I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been for him to suddenly have another human in the house. But he was always very protective of me, and underneath his gruff exterior, he held a soft spot for the little child that had been dropped on his doorstep one night.

"Aside from his sheep, horses, and dogs, Beorn kept a great many bees. Not normal bees, mind you, these were giant things, twice the size of your thumb. Honey made up a great part of our diet in those days, and almost every day, Uncle Beorn would go and collect some honey from their hive.

"One day, I was out playing in the fields. It was late afternoon, but not late enough for the evening meal. I was getting hungry, so I decided to eat some honey instead of trying to sneak something from the pantry.

"In bear's form I went to the bee field, as I could not reach the opening to the wooden bee-house Beorn built as a human child. I reached into the box, and had almost achieved my goal, when one of the worker bees decided I was clearly unwelcome and stung me! Surprised, I jerked back quickly, lost my balance, and fell into the side of the bee house! The box toppled over, spilling honey everywhere. By this time, many of the bees in the field had noticed that something was amiss. I was sitting on the ground in the middle of the mess, alternating between licking honey off my paws and licking my bee sting. That was all the evidence the drones needed to chase me all the way back to the house."

Nahai laughed to herself, remembering the incident.

"Of course, it wasn't funny at the time. After I went inside, uncle Beorn was furious to discover that I had upset his bees and nearly destroyed the wooden bee house, not to mention ruined a month's worth of honey. I wouldn't go back into that field for weeks, for fear that the bees would have their revenge upon me!"

They both laughed.

"Breakage and entry!" Morwyn feigned a gasp of shock. "Nahai, you are a naughty bear!"

Nahai grinned. "At least I don't go stealing pies for ghosts!"

"No," retorted Morwyn, "You are a home-wrecker instead!" They both burst into laughter.

Nahai could not remember a time when she had a conversation like this. She felt like a couple of girls giggling over a game of truth-or-dare. It felt good, almost as though she was making up for all the social time she missed as a child. If only it could always be like this.

"Did you like that story?" She asked, her laughter now at a point where it was safe to take another drink. She waited for the woman to reply.