|
The tables were pushed together, and they were ready to begin.
"Ladies and gentlemen," announced Aman, "We are priviledged tonight to have some extra entertainment for this party - a group of musicians to play for us. I present to you, to celebrate a new era of this Inn, Misses Willow, Daisy, Mira and Lily!" Lily blushed at the applause as Aman helped the hobbits up onto the table. Lily surveyed the room quickly, with an unaccustomed feeling of height over the Big Folk. Many of the patrons of the inn were watching them expectantly, waiting for them to begin. Lily gave one more glance at her fellow musicians, seeing in their faces a touch of nervousness and anticipation combined with just the right amount of confidence and excitement to promise a stellar performance.
"Where shall we begin?" Lily murmured to the others. "A slow one to start maybe? Like the one Willow played?" The others nodded their assent, and Willow did the honors of beginning the song. Lily joined in a few beats later, and she could hear the others doing the same. The sound of fiddles and flutes and Daisy's clear voice rose over any other noise in the inn, and at a point unknown to Lily, she became completely ignorant of anything else happening in the inn, aware only of the harmony of their music and her fiddle. She played as she had never played before, and the music became her all, the only thing that currently mattered. When the song ended, she was almost shocked to find that she was still in the common room surrounded by many other people. A big grin lit her face when she realized what they had accomplished. It had been perfect.
|