[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Rorimac turned when he heard the sound of door opening. What he saw indeed stunned him. A big bearded dwarf stood in the door. Rory opened his mouth wide but immediately reminded himself to close it. A dwarf! When the innkeeper told him about strange customers visiting the Inn, he could not imagine fully how actually seeing such a... thing... would affect him.

Speechless, he observed the bearded stranger as he put away his large axe and then walked to the bar. Now, there is something worth examining deeper, flashed through the carter's head. But before he could react, soft footsteps were heard outside the door and in the next moment, an elf stepped into the room. The thoughts of lilac painted smials in Tuckborough and newly paved roads to Waymoot vanished from Rory's mind at once. Something unspeakable was happening here and he was at it! Amazed, he could not think of anything but the moment. He was so tall! He was dark-haired and he did not look very pleasant, yet in something he was fascinating to the curious hobbit. Rory did not know what was happening around him, not even he noticed how the red-bearded mountain marched around, speaking with the server. He just gazed at the elf.

Suddenly, the newcomer moved and something broke. Rory's mind was back at his normal self. He looked over his shoulder to see the dwarf and the server speaking about something. He was torn: surely the two were not speaking about anything usual. He could easily slip in and listen to their dialogue. But this far, it seemed to him that the server was speaking more and the dwarf was only listening. The carter hesitated. He turned his attention to the elf, who moved to the corner and sat down. Rory noticed that his cloak is bloodstained, and he noticed also the sword the elf was carrying. Chills ran down his spine. Now the elf did not seem as fascinating to him as he seemed a moment ago: the hobbit's only wish was to stay away from him, and as far as possible. He looked over his shoulder once more, and then he decided.

"Excuse me," he said, taking his newly refilled mug, and leaving the innkeeper alone he sprung to the discussing couple. Being all ears, he listened to talk of the dwarf and the hobbit, storing everything he heard in his memory so that later, he could bring that up in some other inn.

However interesting what he heard could have been, Rory was aware of the fact that time is moving and that he cannot spend whole day at the Golden Perch. And yet, he would rather hear something more from the dwarf himself. When there was a pause in the dialogue, Rory immediately became aware that it is his opportunity to intervene.

"Pardon me, mister Dwarf," he said, looking upwards to the red-bearded stranger, "I see you have come from afar." Actually, there was nothing to tell Rory that this assumption of his was true, but that much was clear to the hobbit that no dwarves lived in the Shire. "I am Brandybuck, Rorimac Brandybuck, from Pincup, you surely heard of that place, haven't you? It is really impressive to meet someone that... erm... I mean, someone from outside... and you have to know, is anything interesting happening out there?" As most of the hobbits, Rory divided the world into two parts: the Shire and "outside". It was clear, of course, that the world "outside" is unbelievably dull and alien as much as it was dangerous, but there was still a good chance that something interesting - like strange news from Bree or another, to hobbits unknown part of the world - could make a good topic to speak about with artless and sedate hobbits. Breathless, the carter watched the dwarf, awaiting eagerly whether his question is going to meet with success.