[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Hilde laughed until she started coughing as she thought again about the question Pio’s had poised. Me play or sing? “Gads yes, I do to be sure, but let’s just say I have never been encouraged to pursue it!” she had answered with a grin. A bit of an understatement, really. And after Hilde had offered her a handful of homemade chidwa (heavily laced with red pepper) and a purple pill to go with it, or rather before it. Pio had sauntered off, with Hilde staring at her ankle trying to figure out just how to pronounce ~*~P~*~ . She was never much good at foreign languages!

But now that she had finished sorting out the trinkets on the table, untangling chains and matching sets. She looked at them appreciatively; they did look pretty authentic to her eye, despite the comments on the Barrow-wight taste in fine jewelry these days. But just as she was trying to decide if the were genuine article or simply neo-Cardolan, perhaps Numenorian or rubbish, a cat closely followed by Codijune whoshed by. And as Ealasaide scurried past quickly gaining on the animals. Hilde/GIN called out, “Hey Ealasaide! What to you make of these?” But Ealasaide seemed to have her hands full and held up a finger as if to signal that she be there in a minute.

Getting an uncomfortable feeling that these things had not been meant to be left out, Hilde scooped up the baubles and dumped them in an empty spittoon that looked remarkably like a golf trophy, sitting under the table. Picking up the spittoon, lest anyone actually attempt to use the thing, she set it on a high shelf, next to the hardback copy of Tolkien’s letters and the autographed Alan Lee print. She squinted trying to read the inscription on the side of the brass cup. Well I'll be, she thought, Bandobras Took! The old-wight's been hitting the Shire flea-markets!