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"First off," said Harreld, eyeing the hallway with spleen, "I'd like to know what Garreth thinks he's doing going down the boarding hall when he knows he has a home and bed of his own not a five minute walk away."
"I dare say he might not be able to make it that far tonight," offered Falco.
"Then I'll make sure he works an extra hour on the morrow to pay for his extra bed!" Harreld's frown slowly turned to a grin with his thought. "And then I can sneak down here while he's busy, and do some courting!" He eyed Saeryn meaningfully, his smile broadening in what he apparently took to be a dashing look, but with the stout drooled down his chin and beard, made him look like a boy with dirt from the back yard all over his face.
"So treat us to a tale, Harreld!" Eodwine said.
Harreld's eyes popped open. "Me! I'm not the tale teller. That's Garreth."
"Since he is unable," Eodwine remarked, "the task falls to you. Come!" he gestured disarmingly, "tell us how you came to be a blacksmith, if nothing else."
Harreld opened his mouth stupidly, and was about to hem and haw when the Inn door crashed open and one of the guard of the Golden Hall came running to their table.
"Eodwine! News! The man they call Rand is camped just outside of Edoras. We would not let him pass without word from the King; 'twas the only thing to hold him at bay!"
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