Therian liked this Samwise quite a lot. More than he had ever liked Branor, at any rate.
"Branor," he asked, "Can I buy you another drink?"
Get him drunk, was the idea. Drunk enough that later, at rehearsal, he would flub his lines. I am the Thing, and I have returned! The King, I mean, I am the King, and I... it... Brinn, yer so pretty, did I ever tell you yer so pretty?
Therian snickered into his mug. "So, Master Samwise, if you do not mind me asking, how..." Therian considered his phrasing carefully. Meriadoc might still be a girl, after all, but it did not seem quite right, somehow. "How would you describe Mary? As... manly?"
"Ah," Sam swigged. "More like hobbity, though taller'n most."
That was unhelpful. "But... Mary... was Mary... at times in touch... with a gentler side?"
Sam raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Always got on well with the wee ones. My own girl Elanor is a favorite of Merry's. Always going on about playing Nine and Riders with Merry and Pip..."
Therian was at a loss, and the others seemed equally perturbed. It would not do to admit to Master Sam that they had no idea at all who this Meriadoc person was. Therian changed the subject. "Prince Peregrin, we know quite a deal about, since he is so well famed hereabouts, but Gimli... would you say he and Legolas... Well, were they quite close? With each other, I mean?"
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