Benia was awakened by the early afternoon sunlight shining in through the window beside the fireplace. She had overslept!Still sleepy and a little stiff from sleeping in the armchair all night, she rose and stretched. Absently, she tightened the overhand knot of her amber hipscarf. As she did, something fell out of its folds and on to the rug. She bent down to take a closer look.
It was a small stone, red, darker than red, almost black. It reminded her of fire and dried blood, and of evil things whose names were best left unspoken. She drew back from it in horror, a sharp trill of fear playing down her spine. Where could it have come from? She knew she had not had it on her when she arrived at the inn the day before because she had taken her scarf off for a moment in her room before going down to the common room for the evening. Someone must have slipped it to her there, but who? It had been a busy night in the common room with lots of comings and goings. She had been so immersed in her conversation with Gilly that she had not paid close attention to her surroundings. She regretted it now. To her knowledge, stones like that came from only one place... Mordor. She had only seen one once before, years ago, during the time she had spent in the desert after the death of her mother. She had found it in amongst a pile of the bleached white bones of her kinsmen.
Going to the corner where she had stashed her belongings, Benia took a long, narrow dagger out of her pack. For an instant, she turned the tooled scabbard between her fingers. Then, deciding, she tucked it into the back of her hipscarf. It was no longer safe to run about unarmed, not even in the Shire. Going to the door to the bedroom, she opened it a crack and peeped in on Gilly, who had overslept as well. She was awake and sitting up on the edge of the bed. Benia decided not to mention the stone.
Once they had exchanged good mornings and good afternoons, Gilly announced her intention to return home to freshen up and check in on her family. She and Benia made plans to meet again later in the day. Once Gilly had gone, Benia went to the washbasin and pitcher of cold water on the table in the bedroom. She washed her face and reapplied the kohl to her eyes. Then, she brushed out her hip length black hair and replaited it into a single ropey braid down her back. The stone troubled her deeply.
She needed to know who had given it to her and why.
[ May 30, 2003: Message edited by: Ealasaid ]
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