Birdie had morphed back into her human form - prompting Levanto to comment: "I don't know why you bother." - and she was following Pio and Veritas up the tunnel. She was dressed only in her skivvies, and had left her sling on the ship, so she pried a few rocks from the tunnel wall, and tying them in a rag, made a make-shift mace.
She wondered what they would find at the end of the tunnel. Veritas had insisted she had seen "Gollum". When it was pointed out to Veritas that this was impossible, she retorted "Well, I saw Maeglin on the ship, and I would have thought that was impossible as well."
Birdie doubted that whatever they had seen was "Gollum", or even Gollum-like. Gollum would not have used a stink bomb against his enemies. His teeth and long, grasping fingers were always enough for him. And this "nixie", as Levanto called him dismissively, did not want to seem to hurt her, but only get away with it's fellow halfling.
Fellow Halfling? Birdie also wondered about Levanto's explanation. "Hobrims. Probably just a silly name the Mer-Folk came up with, to describe a silly race. Hobbits can't become "Sea-Hobbits"...can they?" She would have to discuss this with Child, when she saw her.
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