[Imladris]

Lira smiled at Esgallhugwen and writing a label and pasting it onto a bottle, she set it upon the shelf with a satisfied sigh. "Your company is pleasurable, Mellon Esgallhugwen." She laughed merrily and took another bottle in her hand. "What you say is true. The land of the Halflings is one of purity nearly untouched by evil and what was touched has now been made clean again." A smile curled about her lips. "And Ithilien is recovering," she said. "The elves have made a home there under Legolas son of Thranduil. It is a fair and pleasant land and, if you go there under the spell of twilight, you will hear the singing of the elves and you will see them dance across the grass in grace." She sighed wistfully, glanced at Esgallhugwen, and said, "But you would know of that, since you yourself are of the Fair Folk."

Esgallhugwen laughed in her turn and they, forsaking the Common Tongue, the two began to converse with each other in Elvish: Lira telling Esgallhugwen of Mirkwood, Lothlorien, and Imladris before the War. Suddenly, Lira held her hand up to silence Esgallhugwen and said, "Listen! There is some disturbance in the Inn." Lira turned and smiled. "But it sounds as if a great bustle were commencing to honor the new innkeeper. I wonder how soon she will arrive. We must have these bottles of merriment labelled by then."