Aleia returned to the inn after a refreshing ride through Bywater. A few hobbits had given her odd looks, but when they saw she was of their kind they smiled at her and waved.I have forgotten how charming these hobbits are! Aleia thought, and smiled and waved back.
Upon riding through the courtyard, she spotted Gilly chatting with another hobbit. She waved and called "Hello!", and Gilly called and waved back. When she reached the stables, Aleia gave Skeet to Derufin, who grinned and said, "Back so soon?"
"I just couldn't stay away," Aleia called over her shoulder. She re-entered the inn and said to the barkeep, "I'd like to have the same room as before, please."
"Thought you were leaving, what with your 'sack all packed up. Why'd you change your mind?"
"Oh...I just felt like staying a little longer," she answered. When she got up to her room, she eased her rucksack off of her back and sighed, rotating her shoulders, glad to be rid of the weight. Aleia went back downstairs into the Common Room and sat down, ordering an ale. As she gladly gulped it down, she noticed a dark-haired lass sitting by herself at a table.
"Might as well try for some company one last time," she muttered, and got up. Aleia approached Madea and said, for the third time that day, "Would you like to chat with me a bit, lass?"
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"There's a big...machine in the sky...some kind of electric snake...coming straight at us."
"Shoot it," said my attorney.
"Not yet...I want to study its habits."
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