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Aylwen accepted the flowers, her face bright and smiling uncontrollably. She had enjoyed her little welcoming committee, her cheeks flushing violently red and her eyes lit with simple happiness. Motan scrunched her eyebrows together at Aylwen and the flowers for a moment, and the Innkeeper wondered what the girl wanted her to do. Motan sighed deeply, and Aylwen grinned her understanding. Lifting the flowers up to her face and inhaling, Aylwen smelled the scent of the colorful plants. Satisfied, Motan giggled with youthful enthusiasm. Aylwen opened her arms and hugged both the young girls.
"My, my! You both have grown so much!" Aylwen observed when she had released the little children from her embrace. "If I should ever leave again, I would come back to see you both off and married with little Motans and Mereflods of your own!"
"But Aylwen!" Mereflod protested in a dignified, but somehow angelic little voice. "You've not been gone that long! We could not get married so fast!"
"I am sure that soon enough boys around Edoras will beg to differ!" Aylwen smiled at both of the girls, thinking of Hearpwine and the local boys and their infatuation with Mae.
"Papa will scare them away," Mereflod replied with certainty in her voice.
"I do not doubt that, either, little Mereflod. Now, Have you two been keeping an eye out for the Inn while I was gone?" Aylwen asked, her voice suddenly stern as Mereflod nodded gravely and Motan stifled her fits of laughter. "Making sure the men stayed polite and held their drinks? Making certain that Goldwine and all the horses were fed? Ensuring all the patrons good food and good times?" Aylwen paused, noticing that the girls' faces had become blank during her checklist. The Innkeeper laughed and pat both girls gently on their golden heads. "It was a joke. I am proud of both of you for taking care of your flower patch! You are both learning the values of good responsibility. When you work hard, you get something lovely out of it, like these flowers. Now...how have things been in my absence?"
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