[Mithadan]

Mithadan raced out the door and turned toward where the noise had been heard. A passing thought occurred to him; this was the first time that he had ever moved faster than Piosenniel. He smiled grimly as he rounded the corner of the Inn, by now painfully aware that he was unarmed.

Looking ahead, he saw a series of Hobbit children in rough clothes dropping from a second story window. Then a larger Hobbit slipped through the broken pane and fell to the ground. Mithadan was on him immediately, tackling the figure and pinning the Hobbit beneath him. In an instant, a whirlwind of children descended upon him scratching and biting any patch of available bare skin. Another seized a nearby stick and began clubbing Mithadan on the head with the makeshift weapon.

Piosenniel came up quickly from behind with knives in her hands. "Enough!" she cried. "Stop this foolishness!" Even as she shouted, the Hobbit beneath him wriggled and yelled "Get off me! Let me go!" Mithadan froze as he recognized the voice, and as the children retreated he rolled away from the Hobbit and stared at him in astonishment.

"Gamba?" he asked incredulouly...