[Aylwen Dreamsong]

“I can pipe for a few songs if it is needed. What about the dulcimer, mandolin, drums, or the fiddle? Can we find all those things here in Edoras?” Aylwen asked Child, who nodded as he eyed the banners that had been put up by the seamstress assistants. Aylwen was not used to Edoras and it’s simplicity, and thought it was even more confusing than the intricate and ever-changing streets of Minas Tirith. Child sat in one of the wooden stools by a table, and Aylwen sat comfortably cross-legged on the floor, which she noticed had begun to gather dust. She made a mental note to take care of it before the party.

“Yes, they will be easily found here. It seems the leisure class has been growing through the years. Entertainers will not be hard to find. However, many of their songs will be about old knights and tales that have become legends…the songs will hardly be the cheery tavern songs that might be expected for a party,” Child informed her, somehow keeping one eye on the assistant innkeeper and the other eye on a stranger who walked into the inn with several kegs of ale in tow.

“I can help with that, I'll teach them a few songs. If they're even half-decent minstrels it won't be too hard to learn a few good tavern songs," Aylwen assured the harpist. Her final words were slightly cut off by a sharp and rhythmic knock on the open doorway of the Inn. Aylwen looked up to see a tall, lanky man in the doorway with a wooden box in one arm and four like boxes stacked by his feet.

"Can I help you?" asked Aylwen cheerfully, standing up and starting to walk over to the man. It was most likely deliveries for the party, but Aylwen was still curious as to what the deliveries were.

"Flowers for the White Horse Inn, ordered by a Miss Bêthberry," the man answered in a nasally voice. Aylwen nodded and went over to help unload the crates. She waved the man off once all the boxes were picked up and set on one of the tables, and then sighed.

"What do we do with them, Child?" Aylwen wondered aloud, looking over to the bard and then back to the boxes. The assistant innkeeper was no herbalist, and knew little of flowers. She could barely even name two or three of the different kinds of flowers in the crates.

"Use your imagination?" Child suggested, though it sounded like more of a question than a solution. Aylwen nodded, and grabbed a few white flowers in her hand. She pulled a stool from a nearby table and positioned it by one wall and under a banner. Aylwen was able to reach the hooks and tassles that held up the green "White Horse" banner when she stood on her tip-toes. She fastened a few flowers around the top corners of the banner and then stepped down from her stool.

"I don't know that much about fashion and matching colors or whatnot," said Aylwen bemusedly, "but that looks good enough to me."

Aylwen repeated the process with the remaining banners, and was surprised to find that there were still three boxes full of flowers left. With these remaining flowers she made centerpieces for all the tables after dividing them up almost evenly.

"Right. Flowers, check. Now on to the floors," said Aylwen in a sing-song voice to Child.