[Novnarwen]

Nova hurried out of the door, holding a huge plate with food in her hands. Fried potatoes (!!?!!), fried tomatoes and juicy mushrooms were the only things she had been able to make. She frowned, as she thought about what the others might have brought with them. She was a terrible cook, and she knew that. She had tried though, but still, she knew she had failed. The look of the potatoes, tomatoes and the mushrooms revealed quite a lot. Oh, how embarrassing, Nova thought, wondering if she should just leave the food at home and pretend that she had brought something. It seemed like a good idea, but she wasn't really sure. What if someone asked? What could she possibly say; that she had made something and placed it on a table? Maybe she could pretend someone else’s' dish was hers! Yes, that was a good idea . . . But what if that 'someone' told the same person, that had asked Nova about her food, that the food Nova had pointed out was his or hers?. She would be in a really tight squeeze if tha happened. That, indeed, would be embarrassing. Nova decided to bring her food, nevertheless, and stand the embarrassment. If it didn't taste very well, she would go and hide her plate, so that no one could 'mock' her for her terrible food.

As she was about to walk down the sloping path, leading to the Party Field, a new idea popped into her head. She hadn't tried tasting it, so she didn’t really know if it was that bad. She grinned, but didn't really like the idea of tasting her own food either. She dropped the idea, she was better off not tasting. If somebody fell sick after trying the fried tomatoes, the mushrooms or the potatoes, she would indeed be grateful for not trying first. After all, she wanted to attend the party.

***

The Party had already started, as assumed, when Nova, dressed like a Hobbit, showed up. Nervous and anxious about leaving her food at one of the tables, she quickly trudged over and placed it in one of the ends. Hopefully, no one would get harmed. Out of the corner of her eyes, Nova soon discovered a plate, a plate with cookies with huge chocolate chips. "Those are familiar," she muttered. She looked around, before taking one to thereafter push it into her mouth. "Yummy," she bellowed. The Hobbit wannabe realised that some people had turned to look at her, and she grew red and wandered off.

She opened her mouth to take another bite of the delicious cookie, before she realised that it was Orofaniel's work. I knew it! she thought, eating the rest of it. Well knowing that someone she really knew had arrived, she went looking for Orofaniel.

With eyes, constantly on guard; like a hawk, she wandered around at the field. She saw a whole lot of people she knew from the Role-Playing section, but also others, who she had just seen on the "Who's Online?", (which indeed was a really awesome function at the Forum.) Nova went silently by herself, admiring the gigantic Party Tree. Slowly, she found her way towards it. Nova enjoyed reading all the Birthday Greetings, which were nailed to the tree-trunk. When she found Oro, she would ask her friend if they were going to nail their birthday greetings together. Yes, that would be fun. The Hobbit, by appearance, tried not to bump into too many, but people gathering around the tree made it impossible for her to read all the notes. She would have to continue later.

She settled herself by the stage, seeing Pio, the Moderator, sit nearby.