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The party Snaveling heard Toby say. He paused in his tracks and turned toward his friend. Looking down at the fellow he stood there with his mouth agape. "The party?" he repeated.
"Yes yes yes," the gentlehobbit's words came as fast as they could. "The party tonight, to honour us for rebuilding the Inn. There's to be ale and wine and the best leaf; nobody has a party like we in the Shire, so you must stay. . ." and he trailed off into silence.
The party, Snaveling thought. The idea of going to a celebration seemed ludicrous to him, given what had just transpired. He looked across the yard to where Roa sat with Val and Galadel. Roa avoided his glance, while Val returned it with venemous bile. The Elf woman looked at him with distant pity and merely nodded to him, as though in acknowledgment of some pact or private understanding. Snaveling looked back to Toby. "You wish me. . .to stay?" The Halfling nodded his head vigorously. "But," Snaveling stammered, "I have been dismissed" dismissed? "I mean, released by Roa; I am free to go."
"But where in this Middle-Earth will you go, " Toby cried with apparent desperation. "I thought you wanted to get some land hereabouts and settle down. How many times in these past few days have I heard you talk about the lonely years you've spent alone in the Wild? I know that we Shirefolk can appear ridiculous and small to some from the Outside, but you've seen that we are a good sensible folk to live with."
Snaveling could not believe what he was hearing. "But," his thoughts were whirling. "But, I could have killed Roa, I. . ." He caught back a strange strangled knot in the back of his throat. "How could you possibly want me to stay?"
Toby looked at the ground and said very softly, "Because you are our friend." He looked up into Snaveling's eyes once more. "All of us, you stupid Man. Me, Galadel, Roa -- maybe not Val, not yet at any rate, but he'll come around." He smiled and Snaveling had to join him. "Just come to the party tonight. I'm sure that you can find a way to fix this with Roa. She's in a fury now, but as my old father used to say 'If it's breakable it's fixable'."
Snaveling looked at the Halfling in silence, then turned and looked down the Road. I have done Roa a great wrong, he thought, at the very least, I should try to find some way pay that debt. Even as he thought this, there came to him as a distant echo, like the memory of wind in the night, the sound of birdsong in a valley, and for a moment he caught a fleeting glimpse of stone patio in the sun, perfect for smoking. Where is this place? But the vision was gone. He shook his head and turned back to Toby.
"All right, Toby, I will stay for the party and try to find a way to speak with Roa. I have no hope that she will forgive me, but no-one will be able to say that I did not try."
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