[littlemanpoet]

"So, tell us, Falowik," Denegal smiled, "how have you been so lucky as to find that elusive sentiment - love?"

Falowik had taken an immediate liking to this rather young man in his odd footwear. He smiled back. "May I sit down?"

"Of course!" said Denegal. Thenergal and Sherman grunted their willingness as well, and Falowik sat down among them.

"Lucky? Nay, I was blessed. I did not look for love, had no thought for it. An accident brought me to this very place months ago. I was a wanderer north of here, an exile from Bree, which is a tale for another time. I lived in the wild, for there was no one there to mistrust. One day I stumbled upon a foul deed, and witnessed a man taken against his will by ruffians. He saw me as he was being taken away, and with his eyes begged me to do what I could. Almost, I did nothing. But I came to the Shire and reported the crime, and was brought here by one of their shirrifs. That night I met Uien the Elf lady, and straightway she became as a loadstone to me; she drew my mind, my eye, even good words came from me ... a rare thing in those days. But I did not seek her out. I was rough-spoken and thought all folk were untrustworthy and troublesome. I left the inn and stayed outside. I do not know to this day what sent her out of the inn to me where I sat under the night sky. But come she did, and touched me who shrank from another's touch. Somehow she was drawn to me as much as I was drawn to her, and to this day it is a wonder to me."

As Falowik had sat and talked at greater length than he ever rememberd having done, the Tinumir hanging from the necklace he wore could be seen glinting with its own light in the afternoon shadows. Falowik noticed their eyes drawn to it.

"She gave me this, and wears its twin. I braided the five strips of leather that form the neckpiece; she made this by her Art, capturing starlight within the stone. Even now she knows through hers that I think of her, and she of me. So yes, Denegal, I am lucky. I deserve none of it."