The gate to Bree creaked open revealing a tall dark man, which was an unusual appearance for the men of Bree, standing with a wondrous smirk upon his face. “Hello young Hobbits,” he said with a smile. “It has been a long time since we have heard any word from the Shire folk. I trust all is well at your homes in the Shire?”
Tom stepped forward with a stern and serious look on his face. “No, all is no where near well at the moment, and if it were, we probably wouldn’t be paying a visit to your humble town at this moment in time,” Tom stopped for a second and sighed. “But,” he began once again. “Due to the recent bad weather there was a huge shortage of food supplies, and the Hobbits of the Shire decided they would need to send out some brave Adventurers to retrieve some food. The Adventurers being us. We are sorry if you feel that we are intruding slightly and you may think that we are stealing the food in some way. But trust me, these are desperate times in the Shire at the moment and we need help.”
The gatekeeper stood shaking his head at Tom’s last remarks. “No of course we don’t think your intruding,” He began. “Well I don’t at any rate, and to be honest its good to see some travellers around here, we haven’t seen any for some time and gate duties have been so boring as of late. I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard you knock at the door!” He laughed and took in a deep breath.
“As for your question, we would be most glad to help you. I can’t say that we have excess supplies at the moment… But we have enough to fill your wagons as well as looking after our people. Follow me to the storage areas.”
The Hobbits pulled all their wagons along and followed the doorman to the supply rooms while talking about their journey and hardships to him. He looked terribly upset as Tom told of the attack of the wild dogs and the death of their friends. After a short walk, they reached the supplies and filled their wagons to the brim with food and drink. The Hobbits grinned while looking at all the food that they would take back to the Shire, and they thought about being back at their own homes, in the warm.
Well,” said Tom as he put the last bag of supplies on the wagon. “We have completed the first half of our task and now we must journey back home, but I say now that the way back will be harder than the way here as we will be hauling all these supplies along with us, and we need our strength. Therefore I have decided we will rest at the Prancing Pony tonight. Let us drink and be merry!” And so the Hobbits did have a merry night, but they never forgot the valour of both Meri and Estelle for helping the others until the very end. Modoc decided that the remaining Hobbits would toast to them at the end of the night, and so they went to their beds thinking about the two brave Hobbits that lost their lives.
The next morning they all awoke early and were now eager to finish their journey. The Hobbits had a short breakfast and then went to collect their supplies and wagons from the inn yard and began to make their through the town. Some of the villagers bade them farewell as they heard of their deeds so far, but the gate keeper seemed most concerned with their welfare.
“Good luck,” he said while looking at each one of the Hobbits. “And I hope that the journey back will be a lot safer than the part you have already travelled.” He smiled and opened the large gates before them. The Hobbits looked down the long road, with trees lined down both sides and their hearts and spirits rose. They now knew that all they had to do was get back, and a large part of the journey was over. And they were determined to make sure that the death of both Meri and Estelle was not in vain.
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