[Nurumaiel]

Hamson sat at a table, taking in the delicious smells of food cooking and trying to ignore the hunger in his stomach. Since he had paid all his money for a room, he had had none left to purchase even a small breakfast. What was he still doing at the inn, anyway? He should have been home by now after escaping Melilot. Except for that one minor problem... he hadn't escaped Melilot.

He risked a glance at her, careful that she would not see him. She was sitting at a table across the room. Her blue eyes were still alive with excitement, her freckled cheeks flushed and triumphant. So she had won that round. Hamson shrugged and began tracing patterns on the worn wood of the table, smiling softly. Well, he had other plans. Maybe the first one didn't work, but that wasn't the end. He would get rid of Melilot. He'd escape somehow.

But the night before... A frown came to his face as he thought back to it. How could she have possibly known what he was scheming? He hadn't spoken to anyone at the inn, besides to get a room for the night, and he hadn't mentioned his plan then. It was impossible. Melilot didn't read his thoughts, did she?

The evening before Hamson had gone up to his room as soon as the sky became completely dark. Poor Melilot had been so infuriated when he had told her good night in a too-innocent voice. He had even gone so low as to kiss her cheek. He had pretended to head off to his room, but in reality he had ducked behind a table while she wasn't looking at him. From there he could see all her actions. She had gone up to the counter and, trying to sound reasonable, asked if there were any rooms available. When the answer was 'yes,' the look of triumph on her face was extreme. "Well, reserve a room for me," she said. "I'll be back to take it soon, and don't worry, I'll pay." Then she had swept out of the inn.

Hamson had gone to his room and sat awake on his bed until midnight came along. Positive that Melilot would have claimed her room and gone to sleep by that time, he jumped the short distance out his window. Chuckling with wild delight, he had run around the corner of the inn towards the road. Oh, what terror had run through him when, upon turning the corner, he had found Melilot, hands on hips, grinning insanely at him. Thinking about it now, he wasn't quite sure if the terror had been from actually finding her there or from the madness of her grin.

"Hamson Cotton, what are you doing out here at this hour?" she had demanded coolly, looking up at the sky.

"I think I should ask you that," Hamson had gasped weakly. "What are you doing out here."

"I don't see what business that is of yours," Melilot replied, turning her blue eyes back to him. "But, Hamson, I'm dying of curiosity."

"Then die, and good riddance," Hamson muttered, trying to step past her. She slid over so she was in front of him again, and Hamson began to wonder if he were dealing with an insane hobbit or a snake in disguise.

"Were you running away?"

In a desperate attempt to get free from her, he had said, "Melilot, you're a pretty girl. You don't want my old hole out in Buckland. You want a hole somewhere civilized, like here in Bywater." He could have kicked himself. How weak and cowardly to bribe her!

She ignored him. "Were you running away?" she asked again, stepping closer, an evil glint in her eyes.

A little silence, then, "I was escaping," he grumbled at last, deciding stubborn silence wouldn't free him.

"It's the same thing."

"No, it's not. If I ran away it would be because I was afraid of you. Escaping from you means I'm trying to be free from captivity." His sulky matter disappeared and his eyes flashed defiantly. "Melilot Sackville-Baggins," he said in a low, deliberate voice. "I wish you would disappear."

"I'm not disappearing until you give me that hole," she nearly spat at him. "And then I'll be disappearing into it, and you will be disappearing out of it."

"Go throw yourself in the Pond," Hamson muttered, not caring if he were being rude or not as he shoved her aside and strode past her. He had stalked over to the door only to find that it was locked. He supposed if he knocked someone would answer, but he didn't want to cause the trouble. It would be just as easy to climb back through his window. Retracing his steps, he was just climbing in when he heard Melilot call out, "Oh, Hamson, the door is locked and I need to get inn."

He grinned cruelly, and before disappearing into his room called out, "G'night, dear! Have sweet dreams!" Then he had closed and locked the window so she couldn't climb in and punch him around. You never knew with Melilot. Normally she acted like the perfect lady, but when she was angry she had one of the hardest fists in the Shire.

Now as Hamson sat in the Green Dragon inn the following morning, tracing patterns on the table he was sitting at, he grinned and called out the the young hobbit lass sitting across the room from him, "Melilot, did you have a good sleep?"

She stood up and walked slowly towards him. When she reached his table and set her hands on it and leaned forward till she was just an inch away from his face. "Hamson, go jump in the Pond," she snarled. "I hope you drown."

"Mel," he continued in a honey-sweet voice, "do you have money for dinner."

"Yes, I do," she replied, glancing at him. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," he said. "I don't." He looked hopefully at her, but she shook her head with a mock expression of sadness on her face and returned to her own table. Chuckling to himself, he called out to her that he was going home to get some money. He didn't mention the other thing he was going to get. If the lad had any sense, he would have run for it while he had the chance, but he had begun the war with Melilot and now he wanted to finish it. At his home, he grabbed enough money for dinner and two more days at the Green Dragon, and, exiting through the kitchen door, his mother didn't even notice her pepper disappear.