[Horse-Maiden of the Shire]

Aleia smiled. "Well, you see, the Shire is quite simple. We eat, we sleep, we garden, and we have the occasional party or two. At our birthday parties, it is not uncommon for the birthday-hobbit to give out presents to the guests. Not large, garish presents, but small trinkets that are charming to have on a mantlepiece."

"If you are not yet bored by my efforts, I shall tell you of my family, as you have told me of yours. I come from a relatively small family, what with my father Meilo Took and my mother Jasmine Burrows having only three children: myself, my sister Abbigale, and my brother Meibo. We were not wealthy and we were not hard off--we were in the middle. Two years ago, my mother passed away and that is when I decided I was tired of the conventional hobbit life and that I wanted to become a traveller."

At this point Aleia got a far-off look in her eyes, of old anger and pain.

"I had seen what traditional life did to you. You became predictable, blended in, became one of the crowd. I didn't want that. I guess you could say I was a rebel. I wanted to be unique. I wanted to have my own personality. I told my father that I wanted to become a traveller and go all over Middle-earth. He was sullen and tight-lipped after I told him this, and he quietly asked me why I would want to do this. I was the youngest of my siblings, and they wanted to do no such thing. They wanted to be like everyone else and stay at home in the Shire."

"I continued to tell my father that no matter what he did, I would eventually go off on my own. If I had to run away, I would go. Finally, though it was in reluctance, he agreed to let me go and not to disband me from our family. I wasted no time in getting myself ready. I took my favourite pony, Skeet, and a few provisions and a bit of money. This was when my mistakes began."

Aleia shook her head suddenly, as if clearing away sleep, and laughed. "That is probably my darkest tale as of yet. The others are humourous. Would you care to hear one?" Madea nodded vigourously. "All right then. One day, I was riding about near Esgaroth (where I was going to pick up provisions, as I was tiring of wild meat)..."


"...and then I found out that it had been a young girl all the time! It made me feel like such a fool and I left as quickly as possible," finished Aleia. She laughed with Madea as she remembered her adventure at Esgaroth.

"So, Madea...what have your travels brought you to find?" she asked, leaning back in her chair.

[ June 17, 2003: Message edited by: Horse-Maiden of the Shire ]