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Old 06-05-2008, 05:04 PM   #329
piosenniel
Desultory Dwimmerlaik
 
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Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Pickin' flowers with Bill the Cat.....
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Pio drew her blue wool cloak tightly about her as she pushed open the heavy door. The rough hewn oak of the Star’s door felt comforting, familiar still beneath her fingertips though it had been many a year since her path had taken her to this Inn.

It was eerily silent within as she entered, just as it had been that first time she’d come here. She peered about, but nowhere as she looked around could she discern the figure of the Innkeeper, Rim. No flash of his thin blue sash in light or in shadow caught her trailing gaze. His grey clad staff still ministered to the Inn’s needs, she noted approvingly, even in Rim’s absence. The pale, wood-paneled floor was spotless. On each clean and uncluttered tabletop burnt a fiercely bright candle. And at the far end of the common room above the fireplace hung the great iron plaque inscribed with a list of names engraved in a flowing script.

Pio handed her cloak to one of the servers, waving away his offer of a glass of wine. ‘Here, come help me,’ she directed him, making her way toward the fireplace. ‘Lower down the plaque, won’t you,’ she went on. ‘I’ve got a bit of polishing to do on it.’ ‘And.....’ she muttered a little more quietly to herself.....’something to put on it if I can figure out the trick Rim used to do so.’

As luck, and a few glasses of wine now accepted, would have it, the plaque polished easily and just as easily lent itself to being writ upon. ‘Clever old fox, that Rim,’ she chuckled to herself. Pio stepped back a pace, giving a critical eye to her handiwork. ‘Not bad, eh?’ she said, nudging the silent server at her side. For his part he gave her a deferential nod, though she wondered if she had really seen one of his eyebrows raise slightly at her familiarity.

The plaque was raised up once again to its place above the fireplace. The light from the sconces to either side of it made it gleam brightly, especially the newly ‘graved name. ‘Now all we have to do,’ Pio went on, ‘is send out the errand-riders to announce the party.’ She reached into the worn leather pouch that hung from her belt. ‘Here, I’ve written this up already.’ She pulled out a much folded piece of parchment and smoothed it out on a nearby table top -

***

Come one, come all, you denizens here and in far lands!!
All those who enjoy the reading of a good tale and the playing out of one.

A new name has been added to the list of storytellers in Gondor:


~*~ littlemanpoet ~*~

Come and give your congratulations to this wonderful wordsmith!

~*~ Free drinks/ free food/ & plenty of good company ~*~


***

‘Just send this out, won’t you dear,’ Pio went on, handing the parchment to the server. She clapped her hands and motioned others of the silent retinue forward. ‘Big party! Make sure there’s plenty of the good stuff for the partygoers. And, oh, yes, see if you can dig up some of those nuts.....those ones from the south.....pistachios. They’re good with ale.....and I have a taste for some of the good brew from Stock.’

Pio sat herself down on one of the stools at the bar and accepted the mug of dark ale that appeared quietly in front of her on the deeply polished bar top. She hummed low as sipped at it, every once in a while giving an expectant glance at the door.
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