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Sondo awoke at dawn in high spirits. It was a beautiful day - the sun was shining in a cloudless sky. A touch of dew lay over everything and the birds were singing in the trees. This was his adventure, his dream, so why should he feel down-trodden about it? Even Sassy could not dampen his mood, partially because he was simply ignoring her presence in as many ways as possible. The other hobbits were in various stages of wakefulness, but he was the first to get up and start moving around. He was soon joined by others, who helped him build up the fire and start roasting some meat for breakfast. Those who still were not up were soon drawn to the fire by the scent of food. It wasn’t exactly an ideal breakfast, being that they had no eggs or bacon or muffins or any of the other traditional breakfast foods, but all in all it tasted fine.
As leader, Sondo’s cheery mood was mirrored in the other hobbits, who generally seemed encouraged by the new day anyway. The morning activities of eating and reloading supplies were spent in light banter and conversation. Sassy stayed largely on the periphery, suiting Sondo fine. In fact, he hoped she felt a little left out, as payment for forcing herself on them like this. He was soon distracted from her by a question concerning the arrangement of supplies on the raft, and paid her no more heed.
Soon, they were ready to sail again. They performed a quick check to make sure nothing was being left behind and put out the cooking fire before loading onto the raft again. He felt that it was his duty to keep the morale high, since it would make for a more enjoyable day as well as safeguard against mutiny (the thought of which scared him a good deal more than he would admit, even to himself). So as soon as the raft was underway, he spoke up.
“Fellow adventurers! We got off to a rough start yesterday, but this day and all following will be better. Soon, we will be entering into lands completely strange to us, and then will our adventure truly begin. If we want, we may even go all the way to the Sea! Few hobbits have ever seen the Sea, and even fewer have come home to tell of it. We could be heroes!” He wasn’t sure where that part about the Sea had come from, but it sounded good. He did not really understand just how far away that was, having only seen brief glimpses of maps outside the Shire, but it sounded good, and most of the hobbits seemed to be buying it. He continued, “And it all starts here. In only a few days we can start making trips away from the raft rather than sailing farther downstream for a day and seeing what we can. After all, that’s what adventures are for!” He really did not know where his adventure was going. It seemed that most of the heroes in stories had some kind of quest, like Old Mad Baggins, or Isengrim the Mariner. He did not have a purpose, but perhaps one would present itself along the way.
His speech was met with general approval, especially from the hobbits who were characteristically more optimistic. Oh, but it was a glorious day for adventuring!
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