The Green Dragon Inn - Part 10

[Galadel Vinorel]

Galadel was only half paying attention to the scene with Snaveling as Roa moved away from their table. Her gaze, rather, was focused upon the five musicians in a corner of the inn who were gathering together to sing and dance. While watching them, the elf ran her fingers slowly over the flute that now lay in her hands. Making her mind up, Galadel quickly finished her ale and stood up. Crossing the room she approached the group. They turned to look at her as she came up to them.

"Pardon me," said the elf of Lothlorien, nodding her head slightely to them, her golden hair falling slightly over her shoulders as she did this, "But I could not help to overhear your conversation. I was wondering if you would mind me playing with you all as well. My fingers have become restless from not playing my flute for a while. Is that allright with all of you?"

Galdel smiled at all of them in turn, watching the changing expressions upon their faces, while one of her right fingers moved unceasingly over the wooden flute that she now held within her smooth left hand. And so she waited until one of them finally answered her.

[Maeggaladiel]

"An adventurer!" said Eleniel, impressed. "Well, I am pleased to meet you, si-- Isaac!" She caught herself mid-"sir."

"As for Arrow and I, we're on business. I'm a merchant from Laketown, and every year I travel the world looking for merchandise to sell." She pointed to the saddle bag at her feet. "Some of my smaller merchandise I carry with me," she said, "And the rest will be delivered to my shop via caravan."

Arrow nudged the bag with his nose, as though showing off his loot to Isaac. He wagged his tail proudly.

"Arrow's my travelling companion-slash-guard dog." said Eleniel with a smile. The way the dog was licking Isaac's fingers made it impossible to consider Arrow as guard dog material.

Eleniel dug through the bag for a moment. She pulled out a blue box made of tin and pried off the lid. For a moment, it looked as though it were filled with diamonds.

"Rock candy," she explained. "Bought it yesterday. Would you like a piece? It's on me." She held the tin out to him, taking one herself and popping it into her mouth. Arrow barked and she tossed him a piece of her bread.

"You're getting quite spoiled, dog," she said, wrinkling up her nose.

[Firefoot]

Lily was feeling quite pleased after Willow had said she played well. She glanced up to find Aman to tell her their choices, but she seemed to have left the room. Lily shrugged. It could wait a couple of minutes.

A petite Elf who introduced herself as Kyria came over to them and asked if she could sit down. Willow welcomed her into the group and Lily smiled at her.

"You're an elf. What brings you here?" Willow asked her. Before Kyria could answer they were joined by yet another Elf. "Pardon me, but I could not help to overhear your conversation. I was wondering if you would mind me playing with you all as well. My fingers have become restless from not playing my flute for a while. Is that all right with all of you?" Lily for one was quite surprised. She hadn't realized how much attention their music was getting. She knew it had been heard by the other people, of course, but she hadn't realized that anyone was really listening. Lily looked the Elf up and down.

"Sure, why not?" said Lily. "We were just getting ready to play. The songs we've been playing; do you know those? Oh, and one more thing, I don't believe I caught your name." Lily hoped she hadn't sounded to flustered - she was rather surprised by how fast everything was happening and overwhelmed all the new people she had met that night. She turned back to Kyria. "Do you play an instrument too? Or would you prefer to dance and sing with Daisy?"

[Archsage Isaac]

"You're getting quite spoiled, dog" Eleniel had said as Isaac took a piece of the candy from her tin using the hand that her dog hadn't been licking. Isaac laughed a bit at her. "Ah, I see. I suppose that he's got another side to him, it's just hidden under alot of layers of nice. Yeah, I believe that..." he muttered, the dog still licking his fingers. Isaac rubbed the dog's head who was still wagging his mithril tail happily.

"So, Eleniel, you're a merchant? That has to be interesting." he said, once again splitting his attention between the conversation in the middle of the inn, the dog that would lick his fingers when he stopped rubbing his head, the group of girls in the corner and Eleniel. "Sorry if I seem kind of distracted, I'm really not used to being around this many people, I am used to being alone in my travels..." he added with a slight smile.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Snaveling was caught off guard by Aman’s request for help with the ale, but he recovered quickly enough that he doubted anyone noticed. He could tell that Aman saw much more than she pretended, but he felt confident that she would not interfere with Toby’s fiction – not that it had been all that convincing, really. Snaveling knew the debt of gratitude he owed the hobbit, and had they been alone he would have clasped the little fellow to his bosom. As it was, he had to content himself with a meaningful look. “Yes,” he said to Aman, “I’d be happy to help with the ale.” The sentence, coming from him, sounded odd even to his ears. Together the Man and the Innkeeper moved to the cellar. At first, both Toby and Roa moved to follow, but Snaveling waved them off saying that he was sure he and Aman could handle the barrel themselves. In truth, one look at Toby was all anyone needed to see that in his state, stairs were not a good idea – as for Roa, Snaveling was still not entirely ready to face her yet, so soon after his shaming before Toby. As an after-thought, Snaveling turned to Pimpernel and asked him to go out to the tailor and bid him wait until Snaveling were done here. The hobbit lad nodded once and ran out the door.

For the third time since Snaveling had been at the Inn, and for the second time that night, he descended the steep stairs into the cellar. He was relieved, when he got to the bottom, to see that the wreckage he had wrought the last time he was here had been cleared away, although there remained a faint stain of wine on the floor. Aman led the way toward the barrels, but when they neared them she stopped and turned to face him. For a moment she regarded him in the dim light cast by the solitary lantern. Before she could speak, Snaveling said, “You did not bring me here simply to help with the ale, did you my Lady.” It was not a question. Aman remained silent, but Snaveling could tell that he was right. The noise of the merry makers came through the thick floorboards above their heads and settled to the floor like the dust from the shuddering beams.