[*Varda*]

Poppy smiled and sat down on a chair, her legs dangling off the side, nowhere near the floor.

“Great,” she muttered to herself. “I really must see the Innkeeper about getting hobbit-friendly seating…I could break my leg climbing off and on these chairs.”

Noticing the strange glances Nuru and Rie gave her, Poppy turned pink.

“Oh, I’m just wandering,” she said. “After leaving Castle Maladil, I didn’t feel like going straight home, so I took a…detour…through Gondor, to see a bit more of Middle Earth. And please, call me Poppy. Miss Took sounds far too formal for the likes of me!”

“Anyway, that’s enough about me!” Poppy laughed. “Tell me, Nuru – it’s all right to call you that, isn’t it? – what brings you here? And do you have any interesting stories to tell? We could do with a few more of them around here. And perhaps you could give us a hand with the party celebrations!”