The Golden Perch Inn

[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.

[Folwren]

"Well," Dick said slowly, walking back to her with reluctant steps, as though uncertain or unwilling to say what he was about to say. "I asked, because...well...as you are just visiting, I doubt you'd know anything about it."

Aeron had that look on her face that said, 'Try me.' So Dick did. He leaned his elbows on the table and leaned closer to her.

"Some weeks ago, our cook disapeared without a trace. The only thing we could figure out was that the night before she left, she had received a letter. But althogh we sent people after the letter carrier to ask him if he knew where the letter came from or what it contained, we got no news that could help us. We searched for a while and did our best at finding her, but even all the guests at the inn who were Big People and even an elf or two couldn't find her. I was wondering...hoping...that if you'd been in the Shire long, perhaps you'd heard of her."