"Oh no, we could not kill you now," said Aeron, grinning, "we like you too much to do that."
Raefindan, with a wan smile, clambered to his feet and began a half hearted sort of packing. As Aeron moved to help him (why wait for the Ranger's order?), he asked, "You have a strange word for a nose rag."
"Yes," Raefindan wheezed.
"Cleanex," Aeron said, winking at him.
"Cleanex," Gwyllion echoed. She tittered and then sighed. "What I would like to do is to stay abed with a roaring fire and a nice cup of hot tea."
"It is a bit hard to stay abed when one is travelling," said Aeron. "Besides, who would like to waste the day like that? The whole wide world is a game and it is not going to be played by lying abed. Why, the pieces would become dusty, the board would rot and the game would be lost without you ever playing in it."
Gwyllion frowned, cocked her brow, frowned again, cocked her borw, and said, "So I am a mere pawn in the course of things, eh?"
"Yes."
"I feel so unimportant now," said Gwyllion, sighing.
Aeron laughed and said, "Better a piece than a stick of wood." Life was made to be lived. Not sitting stagnantly on the side lines.
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