[Child of the 7th Age]

To be truthful, Andreth had forgotten a lot of the reason why she was supposed to be in the castle. She knew it had something to do with her dear departed relations and how they should be packing their things and heading to different shores. But, somehow, being a ghost was so much fun that all of Andreth's common sense had fled.

There was still a tiny voice of caution in the very back of her mind which was issuing a stern warning. If you stay like this too long, you'll never get back to the other Andreth again. And, if you think real ghosts have fun, you'd better think again. The only reason this is fun is that you still have enough life energy and laughter left to run rings around most of the other ghosts in this palace. But all that will fade if you're not careful.

Andreth should have paid closer attention to that voice, but she was having such a good time she had no intention of doing so. Andreth didn't like the harsh sound of Bird's words, even though she couldn't understand their full meaning, so she flew down to her and tugged hard on several locks of her raven hair. The next time you're nasty to me, I'll tie it all in knots!

Then she hovered in front of Holly and did a little curtsey. The problem was she couldn't quite undersatand what Miz Holly was saying. All her words seemed horribly jumbled. Still, she knew her friend intended to explore the castle, and it seemed easier for Andreth to get around quickly without fear of attack. So Andreth thought she might try to go into the rooms first, one at a time, and see if anything interesting or dangerous was there.

She took out an embroidery cloth and hastily stitched a message. "I check rms. U stay." She held it in front of Holly's nose, hoping she could see it. Then she got out her guidebook from beneath her sash and flipped it down to the hobbit, making sure it was open to the page that looked like the back hallway. "Don't know if this is any help, since it's written in Quenyan, but you never know." She didn't think Gandalf would mind if she gave the book to Holly, since he seemed to place a great deal of trust in her himself.

She surged ahead of the group, yelling back a warning for them to stay there, then turned abruptly to the left, going straight through the stonework with ease. She hovered perfectly still in the middle of the room, glancing purposefully from one side to the other, making sure to take in all the sights so that she could report back to Holly.

[ February 17, 2003: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]