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When Lily entered the Inn by herself, she did not feel like joining the jovial crowd in the common room. She could see that Marcho and Bingo saw her enter because they had tried to wave her over, but she pretended not to see them and hurried up the stairs on the other side of the room. The tantalizing smells of food followed her up, but she cared not for food right then. In fact, she felt sick. Posco had gone after Blanco, which was understandable, but all he had said was "I hope I will see you when I return." What was that supposed to mean? She wished she could sleep, but she was much too restless and despite the busy day she did not feel tired. For the first time since that morning, she looked down at herself. Her dress was splattered with mud, and there was a small tear in the hem. Her hair was tangled, and the wreath of flowers Posco had given her... it was gone! Panicked, she looked around the room as if it might have fallen off there. It must have fallen off when she climbed into that tree, she realized. It was like the last brick that broke the cart, and Lily fell down onto the floor right there and sobbed. Not loudly that anyone downstairs or in adjacent rooms could hear, but the soft, heart-wrenching tears of someone who is utterly hopeless.
When no more tears would come, she chanced to look up and saw Marcho's letter lying on her little dresser. She felt the inclination to burn it, or at least rip it to tiny shreads. Something stopped her, however, and she put the letter into her bag where she would not lose it. Suddenly she laughed. If things really were as bad as they could get, they could only get better. She did not know how they could, but certainly they would not get better while she sat up here. It strengthened her resolve, and the first step would be getting herself cleaned up. She changed her dress; it would have to be washed and mended later. She brushed out her hair as well, and washed her face with the water in the basin. She now felt much better, and returned downstairs into the Common Room.
She spotted Peony and Hal sitting together in at a corner table first, and Lily felt a wave of jealousy that she quickly subdued. She did not want to interrupt them, as they seemed very comfortable in each others' company. She saw Blanco and Marcho sitting together at the same old table by the fire, and since they were the only others that she recognized, she walked over there.
"Is everything all right?" asked Bingo. "Where are Blanco and Posco?"
"You mean they haven't come back yet?" asked Lily. "We got separated from Hal and Peony, and Blanco insisted on looking for them. We split up, and when Posco and I got back here we saw no sign of Blanco so Posco went to find him. They should be back shortly." She had purposely dodged his first question, and Marcho seemed to sense this by the look he gave her, but he passed over it in silence. She was not terribly keen on spilling her troubles out to them, and half-wished that she had one of her good hobbit-lass friends from Bree here to talk to, or perhaps her aunt. She felt slightly homesick, but that was a futile wish. Besides, if she went back to Bree she might never see Posco again. There was little more conversation between them, and they settled in to wait for the twins to return.
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