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“Well, alright,” Léof replied. His first instinct was to say that he really shouldn’t, he should work on tending the horses. But it was not as if they needed immediate attention; many of them had been tied down somewhere, and none of them would go far – it had been a long ride from Edoras and they were tired enough to stay put and graze. He couldn’t do anything until the kids dug up the ropes he needed, anyway. “That sounds fine,” he added, warming to the idea.
“Great,” said Stigend. “Between the three of us, we ought to be able to carry it back here, if we do find one. Now, where did Garstan get off to…?”
As if summoned by the mention of his name, Garstan promptly walked up. “About ready to go look for that ridgepole?” he addressed Stigend.
“Quite ready,” Stigend answered, “and Léof’s going to come with us while he’s waiting on the boys to unpack the rope.”
“Great,” said Garstan. “Let’s go, then.” As they started walking toward the ruins, Garstan turned to Léof and asked, “What do you need the rope for?”
“Yes, you do need a fair amount of it,” said Stigend.
“I was going to set up a picket line,” Léof explained. “I don’t know what kind of condition the fencing here is in, and until they can be released into some kind of pasture or housed in stalls, they need more space from other horses and more room to move around in than just tying their leads to the wagon will allow.”
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