The Golden Perch Inn

[Folwren]

That was more like it! Dick thought, nodding to himself. He thought that perhaps if the man was willing to be a customer he might not be so bad after all.

"Yes, we've got rooms available, and we have food, too, of course. I'll get you something directly."

"Prim," he said, bustling up to the counter. "See that the gentleman in the corner gets something to eat." He grabbed another mug and began to fill it.

"Just as soon as I get this 'ere young lady's order, then I'll go," Prim replied. "You did want something to eat, didn't you?" she asked Aeron.

Dick 'humphed' and then bustled off again to take the ale to the stranger in the corner. "The food will be coming directly. You've come many leagues, you say. What's your name?"

[xMellrynxMaidenx]

The young ranger found her attention being pulled from one halfling to the other; though she never directly looked at the man who had entered. Shady character he was, but she recognized him to be of the Dunedain same as herself, for he wore the same star brooch that was clasped at her own neck. Though this did not cause her to let her guard down, her senses heightened to become more alert than she had been before the Dunadan's entrance.

"A few pieces of buttered toast with perhaps a few slices of bacon, if it's not too much trouble, friend."

Aeron gave the female hobbit a smile, folding her hands in front of her on the countertop. "But I don’t believe it’s good to do anything on an empty stomach.” The young woman chuckled to herself, resisting the urge to shake her head at the hobbit. It was one of the things she found amusing about the halflings; their love for food. Bottomless pits, she called them, though only in jest.

[Folwren]

Ibin heard Arandon out without saying a word. He returned the ranger’s gaze with narrowed eyes and a crooked smile. He prepared to answer when Aeron began speaking, and he stopped again to hear what she said.

"My father is not ashamed of me and what I do, he is proud of my dedication and honour to my people. I have shown the equivalent courage and valor to the Dunedain that a male Dunadan has, can you say the same for your kindred?"

“Are you implying something about my courage, girl?” he asked, his voice very quiet.

“See here!” Dick piped up from behind the counter, “I think things have gone on quite long enough!” Really, he had thought that for some minutes now, but had not been able to find his voice, or even find a place where his voice might be heard. But now that he started talking, he found more courage to continue. “You’ll either go sit down somewhere else or leave this place altogether.”

Ibin never shifted his gaze from the two rangers. His lips curled in a laugh before he slowly stood up and, taking his pot of beer, he turned and sauntered off to one of the tables near the fire.

[Flame of Udûn]

Arandon heard the hobbits words and suddenly realised how foolish he had been allowing his emotions to run away with him like that, he knew he must take some time to calm down. he began to move towards the door before turning 'please accept my humblest apologies master hobbit I did not mean to cause such problems for I was at fault as much as the man who riled me, I will take a few minutes to calm down outside.'

With that he pulled his hood up and wrapped his cloak tightly round his chest and walked out the door. He had intended once outside to go for a walk in an effort to clear his head yet now here it took all his strength to get around the corner into the stable where he slumped down and sat a while unable to get the image of his sisters dead bodies out of his mind.

[xMellrynxMaidenx]

Aeron did not take her eyes off of the man until he was seated at a table and away from the bar. She turned back around, her eyes now watching Arandon walk out of the warm Inn and into the cold November air outside. Aeron chose to remain where she was at, having not been as riled as the male Dunadan. She looked at Dick, offering him an apologetic smile.

"I too am sorry for adding to the trouble that was beginning to brew inside your peaceful Inn."

Aeron rested her forearms on top of the bar, her body relaxing for the time being. She truly was glad the small verbal altercation did not turn out to be a physical one.

"If there is anything you bid me to do, I will."

Aeron had, as she stated, added to the slowly growing chaos and felt she owed the halfling that much.

[Folwren]

“Please accept my humblest apologies, master hobbit, I did not mean to cause such problems for I was at fault as much as the man who riled me. I will take a few minutes to calm down outside.”

Dick nodded curtly to Arandon, though he did not hold him at fault at all. His eyes reverted back towards Ibin and the scowl did not leave his face as he made certain that the man wouldn’t try anything further now that Arandon had gone back outside. ‘I can always call him back in again,’ Dick told himself. ‘I don’t think he’s going far.’

“I, too, am sorry for adding to the trouble that was beginning to brew inside your peaceful inn,” Aeron said..

Dick’s attention snapped to her, and then his expression softened. “Don’t be, my dear, it wasn’t your fault at all. That scurvy scallywag was insulting your honor, and there wasn’t much you could do to help that, was there? You can’t very well change yourself into a man. People have no respect now adays.”

Aeron did not look completely convinced. “If there is anything you bid me to do, I will,” she offered.

“I don’t think there is anything that you could do for me, but thank you for the offer. I will remember it.” He turned away, and then paused and turned back again. “I say - did you say you have been wandering the Shire area for long? Or are you just recently visiting?”

[xMellrynxMaidenx]

Aeron had already been watching his retreating form, smiling at his warm reassuring words. When he paused to turn back around and look at her, her eyebrows jutted upwards in curiosity.

"Just recently visiting, I thought I might do a bit of traveling whilst I'm here before I return back to my duties in the wild."

Though, truth be told, the arrival of another Ranger in the Shire had piqued her interest enough to want to do more than just go sight-seeing inside the borders of the Shire. It had, in fact, began to make her wonder if the dear hobbits here were in any sort of danger. Aeron quickly pushed that dark thought to the back of her mind, still watching the innkeeper with intrigued eyes.

[Flame of Udûn]

He watched as the barman walked up to the bar he considered once again the female Ranger only a very small number of women who became rangers and he had never met one of them he was very curious about her.

'Thank you I am most grateful I've not eaten for days not properly at least my name is Arandon though many of the Rangers have decided to call me Faerandir the Ghostly Wanderer though it is a name I prefer not to use.' In a manner he hoped sounded offhand he added ' tell me what do you know of the female ranger at the bar' he hoped to conceal his curiosity at what even to his eyes (which had seen much) rather piqued his interest.

[Folwren]

"I don't know a thing about her, actually," Dick said. He turned to look towards Aeron, following the ranger's hooded gaze. "She just came in a few minutes before you. Never seen her before, and I didn't get around to asking her her name. I thought you might know her, as I thought you were one of them rangers, too, but maybe not. I've been wrong before." And he turned an even more suspicious look on the dark figure, if that were possible. If he wasn't a ranger, what was he? Why was he here? Was he dangerous?

"Why do they call you the Ghostly Wanderer? You're not a ghost, are you? You're as firm as the rest of us, surely."

--

Primrose

"A few pieces of buttered toast with perhaps a few slices of bacon, if it's not too much trouble, friend."

"Tis no trouble at all, I assure you," Primrose replied. "It's my job," she added, half under her breath as she pattered away to the kitchen. She deftly speared two pieces of bread and put them over the fire to toast. Before coming out to the common room she had finished frying up a frying pan full of bacon, and of this generous stock she drew out four thick and crispy slices and laid them on a plate. She reached across to the toasting fork, plopped the toast onto the plate and buttered the pieces generously.

"Here you are! Hope it is to your liking." She leaned her elbows against the counter while Aeron took the plate and began to eat. For a few seconds, Primose watched her without saying anything. "Mr. Boffin seems to be getting along capitally with yonder fellow. I saw you looking at him a few moments ago. Do you know him?"

[xMellrynxMaidenx]

After swallowing a mouthful of the deliciously buttered toast, the young female glanced out of the corner of her eye to the dark corner in which the strange man sat, studying him for a few moments once more. She slowly turned her head back to the food before her, taking a small sip of her beer. Eyebrows furrowing, more so with curiosity than frustration at not knowing the man's identity, Aeron looked at Primrose, shaking her head.

"Nay, I do not, which makes him that much more peculiar."

She spoke more quietly now, still trying to focus in on the stranger's conversation with Mr. Boffin. It was not as odd as it seemed though, the young ranger thought quietly to herself, because even she had not met all of the remaining Dunedain, save for the couple she had crossed paths with in the wilderness or grew up around in the Angle. This did not lessen her wariness of the man, however, it made her even more aware and alert; if that were possible.

[Flame of Udûn]

As the Hobbit spoke he noticed the gaze of the young ranger pass over him and could tell she was wary 'It is always the same whenever anyone meets me' he mused, his ways of acting always put people on their guard but that was how he prefered it he never had any wish for friendship and always found himself happier when alone.

He chuckled at the Hobbits question 'No i can assure you I am no ghost the name comes from a number of things but i suppose my love of solitude is highest amongst them along with my ability to hide myself from all but the keenest eyes when I have need.'

[Folwren]

"Indeed," Dick said, with a something like a sniff. "We hobbits aren't bad at disappearing when we need to, either. Usually you great big folk are so loud in coming that we can make off in a twinkling. Even if I am an innkeeper and may be better fed than most, I myself am not bad at avoiding people when I wish."

His words were met with another of the ranger's silent pauses. Dick felt he had been rude, and although he wasn't in a very obligatory mood and although he did not happen to like this particular customer very much (his dark appearance and quiet evasiveness put him on edge), he sought immediately to amend it.

“I do hope you find some company in there round abouts that you don’t mind being with. As my grandmum always used to say, ‘Them as sit by themselves in a corner wither away until they die by themselves.’ Why, I once knew a hobbit, Toby Harfoot, by name, who used to go off fishing all by himself. What came of him, no one quite knows, but one day he never came back. Some say a fish pulled him right into the river and he drowned. I say, it would never have happened if he hadn’t stuck around by himself all the time. It’s not healthy for a body, I say. Why don’t you come over and meet the lady ranger?”

[Flame of Udûn]

Arandon mused on the words of the Hobbit before answering
'Solitude is only dangerous for those unable to keep themselves well. Yet there is great wisdom in your mother's words for one cannot spend a lifetime alone and I do, when able return to the encampments of the Grey Company away in the north and it is not only to recieve orders and give information that I go.'
He took a deep breath before continuing 'I think perhaps that my earlier words were somewhat ill considered for it is not that I love solitude but it is more that I choose to be alone for reasons I refuse to divulge.'

The ranger paused once again taking great care to consider his next move, always he was cautious ever wary of what result his actions would have. He once again let his gaze fall upon the ranger at the bar then he spoke aloud his thoughts 'Too often have I allowed caution to govern my movements and though it has kept me well enough it has also led me to miss many an oppertunity. So yes I shall go and meet her for though I have heard tales of female rangers never has chance allowed me to meet one.'