Gilly
“Tell me Mrs. Banks,” he said after examining the newly sharpened knife. “How is it that a hobbit of the Shire would have a close friendship with a woman of Harad?”
“Yes, it is odd, isn’t it?” Gilly said, wishing he would put the knife back down. Somehow she couldn’t quite think straight while he held it. At last she blurted out, “Mr. Kaldir, pardon me, but I really can’t piece my thoughts together with you holding that knife so, not after last night by the cave. But if you are curious about it just ask plain and I’ll tell you. I sharpened it so that I could use it better for cooking as well as fend off the company you are looking for. It will probably just put a hole in my pocket for all my trouble." Kaldir looked at her with narrowed eyes and Gilly could not tell what he was thinking or even if he had heard her, for his face betrayed nothing. “Really now Sir, no harm’s come to you while you slept, has it?” Kaldir wiped his wrist against his scarred face, a frown flickering briefly across his features. To the hobbit’s astonishment he handed the blade back to her.
“The dream?” she asked, placing the knife out of sight and quickly pouring him another cup of tea.
“What of it?”
“Nothing,” Gilly said not wishing to intrude on his thoughts. Best to get his mind off of it though, and she began to wonder if it were wise to tell him about Benia and herself, as he had asked. On one hand it didn’t seem a good practice to tell a bounty hunter about such things even if it had happened such a long time ago. It was a good deal more personal than a conversation about tracking like Miss Benia had suggested. But on the other hand maybe he would treat her friend less harshly if she could present her in what she would consider a more favorable light. And then again he didn’t seem to take to kindly to unanswered questions.
“ So how did Miss Benia and I become such fast friends? There’s a story!” she said avoiding the man’s stare. “Though I would hardly call her a woman of Harad even if she looks it. Well yes, she sings like a desert bird now and again, but she is only half so, her father being from here abouts somewhere.” The hobbit hazarded a look at Kaldir to see if she could see a reaction in him, but he seemed to be looking inward and so she felt a bit bolder. “Her family really didn’t fit in nowhere except the Shire were we all didn’t know about the troubles in Mordor until there was no missing it. That is were I met Miss Benia and her family, in the Shire.”
The hobbit paused, thinking Kaldir no longer interested. He sat at the fire with his eyes closed and the warm cup held pressed against his face. “That must have cause no little uproar from what I know of hobbits.” He said unexpectedly, turning to look to her.
Gilly laughed, “It would have had they knowed about it!” She winked at the bounty hunter and explained, “ That Jack Nightshade, he was a clever one, he got them in and my family hid them on our farm. You see it was all in secret”
“Could they not stay here?”
“I imagine with Old Jack toting around a Haradrim wife and little one, they probably thought that he was up to no good, a spy or something, gone over to those rascals down south. But it weren’t like that, Miss Benia’s mother came from good folk as didn’t take to Sauron, so no matter where they went no one was happy with them, not even the Nightshades I don’t reckon, and they always had folks like yourself trying to catch up with them, begging your pardon. Not exactly the kind of company most would like to have about.”
“Hmm…,” the bounty hunter murmured.
“She doesn’t mean to be rude Sir, really. She got a kind heart, just the way she’s grown up that makes her a bit unpredictable. But you can't blame her for that.” Gilly couldn’t help but wonder if Kaldir ever asked himself why a person should have a bounty on their head. Then clasping her hand to her mouth wide-eyed she recognized that even though this man looked a ranger she had no knowledge of where his sympathies lie. She had naturally assumed that he was on the side of the rangers in the War, but it didn’t make sense his chasing Benia and Naiore. Perhaps he was actually friendly with the Haradrim.
“What is it, Mrs. Banks? You look alarmed.” He said languidly.
“Might as well jump in with both feet if I’m to drown,” she said. “I just realized that here I’ve been rattling on and I have not any idea which side you fought on during the War. Please tell me your sympathies didn’t lie with the Dark Lord, or I may have just as well slit my own throat and Benia’s too. Oh what a thought!”
[ November 18, 2003: Message edited by: Hilde Bracegirdle ]
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