The Green Dragon Inn #11 - The Last Chapter

[Kitanna]

Deva woke up only to find Peony already awake. That was no surprise to him she was almost always up and moving about before he was. He quickly got dressed and headed downstairs. The dwarf looked around and spotted Peony sitting at a table with an elf woman.

Deva wandered over to say good morning. "Deva!" Peony exclaimed, "Join us?"

"No, no, I will leave you to your friend, Peony." He nodded to Gwenneth to acknowledge her. "I will take my breakfast and meet up with you later in the day."

"Would you like to join us on a ride?" Peony asked.

Deva just shook his head and walked off.

Peony returned her attention to Gwenneth. "Both your parents are travellers? My mother would never travel the lands, she has never even set foot outside of Gondor." Peony pulled her hair out of its ponytail letting it fall back into her face.

"Sorry about Deva being so unsocialable. Once he's eaten he'll be in a better mood."

[Eowyn Skywalker]

"Indeed," said Willow, thinking over what Farren had said.

"I didn't find any mythical creatures, but I decided to stay a while. So here I am today, talking to you," finshed Farren, as Willow thought deeply over all that had been said.

Willwo distantly heard the door open as someone came in, but she was deep in thought with what had been told to her. "Then," she began, "it seems that your life was as hard as mine. A life by the seas, and then to traveling. Seemingly though, your's was harder than mine." Willow smiled, and allowed herself time to think over all that had been said. "No, there are no mythical creatures here, unless us hobbits could be called that to you, and your people."

Farren smiled. "No, your folk are not mythical to us." She smiled, and Willow smiled with her.

"I hope that I did not bring up memories that were too painful for you," Willow said softly. "I know how much the past can hurt."

Memories. In the sunlight dancing with her mother, suntouched plants around them. Her father swinging her up into his arms, laughing as she giggled away. At night, her father fiddling as the stars rose up over the black velvet sky...

Willow wiped away the memories. They were too painful for her to think of now, with both of her parents dead from a strange sickness, and her now here, in Hobbiton, among friends. There was no need to go running off, crying, in fear, and from shyness that had set in since they had gone. "Do your memories pain you to recall?" Willow asked softly. "Is there a hollow in your heart, that in the black of night pains you to the bitter core." A bitterness was in the hobbit's voice as she spoke, she knew first hand that of which she spoke.

[starkat]

" Avaro naeth. Don’t worry about it. My oldest brother can be pretty grumpy until after he has had his breakfast.” The younger of my brothers can be pretty grumpy too, she mused.

“Yes, my parents are travelers. My mother weaves rugs and my father is a wood carver. They travel so that they can sell their goods.” Taking a drink of water Gwenneth paused for a minute. “If they were able to stick to their traveling schedule, they should be in Rohan by now. Unless of course they stopped somewhere along the way,” she smiled.

“Do you have any siblings? You told me about your parents, but you did not mention any brothers or sisters.” Gwenneth looked across the room at where Deva was eating, “How did you meet Deva?”

[Firefoot]

Lily returned a couple of hours later. She was slightly flushed from the activity and Clover had a thin sheen of sweat covering his body. When she reached the stable she dismounted and removed her saddle. She walked Clover around for about five minutes so he could cool off and left him in his stall with fresh hay.

"Eat up, boy. You earned it," she said. Lily walked back towards the Inn. I wonder if Willow, Mira, or Daisy is up yet?, she thought. She went inside and looked around for her friends. She smiled, spotting Willow talking to a woman at one of the tables. But before she walked over there, she went to get second breakfast. She didn't get a lot, just enough to tie her over until the next meal. Then she made her way over to where Willow and the woman were sitting.

"Good morning, Willow," she said cheerfully. "And good morning to you too," she said to Willow's companion. "My name is Lily Thistlewool." Lily sat down next to Willow, and noting the serious expressions on both their faces wondered vaguely what they had been talking about. She hoped she wasn't interrupting.

[Kitanna]

"I have two older brothers. One is a guard of the Citadel and the other has moved to Rohan and become a farmer. I do not see them as often as I would like, but I guess that's the way the world turns."

Peony looked over her shoulder for a second to see Deva eating his breakfast. "As I said my father is a wanderer and he met Deva on one of his adventures years before I was born. Deva is a close family friend and volunteered to take me across the lands. Though one day I'm hoping to be able to go out and explore on my own.

"My mother would have me return to Minas Tirith and marry, but I can't say good-bye to the open road."

[starkat]

“My mother has similar hopes that I will find someone on my journey as my brothers did and settle down. I don’t know though. At the end of my sister’s journey she had decided that she no longer wanted to remain in Middle Earth and sailed from the Havens." Looking down at her hands, Gwenneth continued, “That to is one of my choices, but I hope to travel for many years and make many new friends along the way.”

With a slightly embarrassed look on her face, Gwenneth pushed a stray strand of her hair out of her face. “Would you tell me more about your horse? You said that he was raised in Minas Tirith. Did you know him as a foal or after he was trained?”

[Kitanna]

Peony smiled, she loved her mare Surefoot so much. "Her name is Surefoot and she is about three years old. She was a present from my oldest brother. I raised her for the most part, but my brothers would help me every now and then." Peony remember breaking Surefoot. Such a fiesty horse who was almost impossible to break. No man could do it. Surefoot only trusted Peony to ride her.

Peony hoped Surefoot was alright in the stables over the night. "And your horse? You said he was from Rohan? How did you come across him?"