[Nurumaiel]

Nuru sat for a few minutes, a puzzled frown on her face. Then she stood. She knew what she had to do now. That was quite clear to her. "I hope you won't mistake me for being rude, but I've finished and I'd like to go get a little rest from my journey."

"Of course," said the man. But what she really means is that all my talk bores her. "Do you have a room yet?"

"No, but I'm planning on staying with a young hobbit friend of mine who's here. Thank you for the drink," she said with a smile. "After a little sleep I'm sure I'll be quite refreshed." And then she hastily retreated.

Oh yes, she knew what she had to do. She had to tell Rie all that had been said by her twin, and leave Rie to decide. It wasn't anybody's choice but hers. She could choose to continue hiding, or she could come out and make herself known. But whatever Rie's decision was, Nuru thought as she hurried up the stairs, she knew that there was only one place she was going... and that was to bed.


Don studied Rie carefully as she sat down on the bed with a little sigh. Something unusual was up, more unusual than it had been before. Don was determined to find out what it was, so she set her jaw and stepped forward, tapping Rie on the knee. "Hello, Don," was the answer, but Rie remained with her head bowed, not even looking at the little hobbit girl standing patiently in front of her. Or impatiently. Don tapped Rie's knee even harder and said loudly, "I need to talk to you, now."

Rie looked up with a little smile. "All right, Don, go ahead. What is it you want to say?"

"I just wanted to ask you something... what's wrong? And what's so good? You looked happy and worried at the same time. Did you see something out there?"

[ April 17, 2003: Message edited by: Nurumaiel ]