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Old 04-21-2011, 04:12 PM   #224
Pitchwife
Wight of the Old Forest
 
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Unattended on the railway station, in the litter at the dancehall
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Pitchwife is a guest of Galadriel in Lothlórien.Pitchwife is a guest of Galadriel in Lothlórien.Pitchwife is a guest of Galadriel in Lothlórien.Pitchwife is a guest of Galadriel in Lothlórien.Pitchwife is a guest of Galadriel in Lothlórien.
"If I am speaking too much of our admittedly overwhelming history, which truly does drench everything in Gondor with its taste, perhaps we should speak of something else. Did you find that Rollan gave you the advice you sought yesterday?"

Coldan winced; he would have preferred to avoid that topic a little longer. He wondered whether any of the other players had talked to Amdír about what had transpired at the common room the night before, but concluded it was unlikely - he hadn't seen the carpenter around after nuncheon yesterday, and nobody else from the troupe had been up and stirring before they had left this morning.

"You're a shrewd man, Amdír", he said, looking at his companion curiously. "If we hedn't set out so early, you vould probably hev been told a few stories about my deeds or misdeeds yesterday afternoon and evening, and none of zem too complimentary, I suppose." He sighed. "I don't know, Rollan's advice may hev been sound enough, but I'm afraid I hev made a rather poor job of putting it to practice. At least his vords gave me ze courage to speak my mind to Asta, vich in itself is a big step forward; unfortunately, my mind happened not to hev ze most appropriate zoughts in it at ze time."

He gave another, deeper sigh and decided he might as well have it all out and ease his heart without further circumlocutions.

"To give you ze long and short of it, ve hed a nasty quarrel. I complained about her flirting viz Aldarion, and she got all upset and called me an Easterling. Vat you may not know is zat vere I come from, zat is about ze vorst zing you can call a man, and it's not unusual for it to lead to a knife in ze insulter's entrails. Vich is, I guess, hard to understand for you, seeing zat many of us, like myself, do indeed hev Easterling blood somevere in our ancestry; but ve don't mention it, pretending to be pure Men of ze Vest - much like you Gondorians, in a vay; for ze peoples of Rhûn hev been our deadliest enemies for more zan a zousand years, and even now ze Dark Lord is gone and zey no longer vorship him, zere is still unrest and ever so often skirmishing and plundering along our eastern borders.

Anyvay", he resumed, "Asta knew exactly vat she vas saying; and I got into a cold rage and told her I vould none of her no more. I don't remember ever feeling so miserable in my whole life as in zat moment." He paused and shook his head about himself. "So I did ze logical zing and vent straight to ze common room and did my darnedest to get plastered senseless. Cue for Aldarion to turn up and complain to Branor and zat lordling, Sador, about how I hed unjustly blamed him for our trouble viz ze play; vereupon I took my anger and frustration out on him and challenged him on how he vas dealing viz Asta." He paused again, trying to make sense of the story he had just told. "Zis may sound crazy to you, but even zough I was mad at her, I still vanted to make sure zat if she preferred him to me, he vould treat her fairly.

Ze argument got heated, and ze only reason it didn't come to blows vas Asta herself showed up and stopped us. And zen ze strangest zing ever happened - she apologized to me for vat she hed said earlier; and I sort of did ze same, or at least I hope I did - my memory is a bit hazy zere. And - " He stopped himself just in time; he was not going to be so indiscreet as to mention her dried tears to anybody. "Vell, never mind. Anyvay, I hev no idea how she feels about me now, and about ze whole affair. I hardly know any longer how I feel myself."

He turned his head to look at Amdír. "I don't really know vy I'm telling you all zis, Amdír, except zat you'd hear most of it from others soon enough. Ve heven't talked zat much in ze past, alzough ve've known each other for zree years now, and I know much less about your own life beyond your dealings viz our company zan I'm beginning to zink I should like to. But zere is somezing in your face and talk zat inspires trust and confidence. Lord Cirdacil has lost a better man zan he vill ever know."
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