[Child of the 7th Age]

Hawthorne Brandybuck:

Hawthorne slipped inside the back door of the Dragon and hastily ran through the kitchen, being careful not to stop or get in the way of Ruby or Buttercup. Whenever she could, the young hobbit had made a point to detour safely around the stove and ovens, but this time she was carrying a large number of pails and gardening implements, and it would have been awkward to walk all the way around. Once she had made it into the Common Room, Hawthorne gave a sigh of relief. Her face relaxed into a broad smile as she made her way through the front of the Dragon and continued on to the small chamber under the stairwell that Aman had recently assigned to her.

Like most of the other guests and staff, Hawthorne was amazed at how quickly the new Inn had gone up and how handsome the new building looked. Everything looked clean and neat and tidy, with floors highly polished and walls newly whitewashed. Her own herb and salad garden that she'd established in the rear of the courtyard was coming along nicely. The tiny plants were poking their sturdy heads above the ground. She'd worked hard to keep the beds free of weeds, and to make sure there was a wide assortment of medicinal and culinary herbs.

As she dumped down the gardening tools in the corner of her room, she ran over to the cupboard to retrieve her fishing pole. Now that the greater part of the building effort was over, Hawthorne spent most of her time helping out in the gardens or wandering down to The Water to catch fish to supplement the Inn's dinner menu.

In any case she wanted to make sure and spend a good part of the day off the grounds of the Dragon. She'd heard a number of rumors that Cook and her entourage were just a short ways distant, and might even make it back to the Inn by late afternoon. Everything Hawthorne had heard about Cook had made her extremely reticent to meet the great lady. Ruby and Buttercup had tossed out several grim comments indicating Hawthorne would not have long to live once Cook reigned supreme over the kitchen again.

Just as she was about to scamper down the corridor and bolt out the front door of the Inn, her old boss Regin Hardhammer approached and asked for her help in planning the party that was scheduled to begin later that evening. Despite her reluctance to stay at the Inn or run into Cook, Hawthorne didn't want to let Regin down, so she promised that she'd return shortly to help. She'd been careful to volunteer her services for decorations and entertainment rather than having anything to do with the preparation of the meal.

For now, however, she grabbed up her fishing pole again, and two nets that she'd made, running down in the direction of the Water.