[Child of the 7th Age]

The crow was on the verge of falling asleep in the rafters, but kept one ear open to hear the news. The hobbit seemed upset. He was stomping around in circles.

"There's two different things here. First, there's how I feel. Would I ever want to live in a place where everyone spent their day ploughing? Bah, I can't imagine a more miserable fate. Anyone living there is bound to shrivel up within a few years. I can see it now. They'll be more concerned with serving tea out of golden cups than seeing the world or adventuring."

"But, if you're asking me whether it would be easier to defend the hobbits if they stayed in one place, that's a different story. Of course, it would be! What I want to know is this, are these messengers any good at what they're doing, or are they just small bungle heads sent out from the Shire by even bigger bungle heads. I'm willing to cooperate if they can convince me they've got some wits about them and can follow through on promises they've made."

Earendur replied, "Your name carries some weight in these parts. Has anyone approached you to talk?"

Perry shook his head and laughed, "No one's beating a path to me. But I will give the Shire credit for one thing. Every village in these parts looks after its own kind--Stoor, Harfoot, or Fallohide--but the Shire is the first to suggest that different clans can live together. And that's no small thing. Within a day's walk of where that poor family was, there was a Fallohide village in the woods. If that village had been willing to look beyond the label "Stoor", that poor fellow might have had a home and be alive today."

[ September 11, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]