The Green Dragon Inn - Part 3

[Elora]

When Derufin stepped past Silvanis and changed the odds considerably, Vanwe had all but abandoned her strategy to try to talk her way out of the predictament. Her expression became one of startlement as he stepped forward and took her wrist into his hands. He held it easily and gently probed. There was no anger in his hands and confusion whirled around Vanwe.

"No," she softly replied in surprise. At least, not yet. Derufin released her and she grasped to make some sense of events. Why had he named her a lady when it was clear to see her rank was far from such lofty heights? He had given her the blanket and food? Perhaps she would not loose her hand.

"I... I can pay for the bread," Vanwe added as he studied her. Her eyes slid to where Silvanis still held the contents of her pouch. He was watching intently, having read the names and notes on the pape he had. Self consciously, she plucked at some of the straw that had remained with her after her tumble through the hay in the loft above. The idea that a beggar had anything of value with which to pay for food should have had Derufin amused or puzzled.

"I have three coppers," she said in a firmer voice, straightening a little. They were her last three, but if it kept her hand attached to her wrist then it was a small price to keep herself whole. "And I would not have left with your blanket."

In demonstration of that statement, she removed it from her shoulders and noted the state it was in. Vanwe's cheeks coloured faintly as she shook at it and she offered it to Derufin with an earnest smile, taking a small step forward. Silvanis still had not moved. He was looking carefully at her face and fear lanced through Vanwe that like many others he had mistaken her for her mother.

Yet even as she stood uncertainly in the stable with two men who could easily haul her away for squatting, theft and her mother's crimes, something else occured to Vanwe. He had given her the blanket and bread. Puzzled, she gazed at Derufin with her head cocked to one side. Such kindness mystified Vanwe.

"Thankyou, sir. I really can pay," she said. "If three coppers are not enough, then I can work."

Vanwe had no idea how much bread cost, for she had never purchased it before which was why she had thought she had not purchased the current loaf in question. And she could indeed work. Despite her slender size, the villagers had soon learnt how their elven fosterling could be put to use and so kept from the mischief her mother found.

She tried as best she could to smooth her hair into some semblance of order, remove the straw and dust from her cloak and dress and somehow create the impression she was more reputable than her appearance may suggest. From beneath the detrius of the stables and a hard road from Harad, Vanwe endeavoured to smile as best she could for sometimes people responded well to her smile and Derufin did not seem angry. That little she could understand. Yet her eyes slid to Silvanis who had remained silent and motionless. He had an intent expression on her face and Vanwe could not but wonder whether she was again to run afoul in a wide world that was no longer an elven demense and dangerous for the cast off daughter of one of Sauron's most notorious allies.

Perhaps, if all else fails, she would need to run. In storm she could try to loose them. Another study of Silvanis faded that hope somewhat. He did not look to be someone easily lost in storms or wilderness. How could she have come all this way to be cornered in a stable? She should never have left the village.