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Old 04-28-2004, 05:45 PM   #186
piosenniel
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Gondor

A few days later found Pio down at the docks. She passed from ship to ship, greeting the captains, asking for news of what was passing at the ports they had put into on their latest travels. Good tidings for the most part, save for the storms and squalls that bedevil any ship which has to brave them. But at the last ship, The Scuppered Gull, the news she heard from Faragaer disturbed her. There was nothing specific in the detail, just the feeling he had gotten from the small luggers that worked the Southern coast.

The main port in Umbar had a guarded feeling they felt, relations uneasy between the Corsairs and others not of Umbar. Going on these reports, Faragaer told her he had elected to land at a small cove farther south of the main city. A less used place, he told her, near where the mountains come down close to the sea. ‘The old tars used it in the times long before the new King and his Peace.’ He pulled out his book of charts and showed her the position. Something familiar niggled at the back of her mind as she looked at it. The old, captain’s log she’d borrowed from the library. The Sandpiper, that had been the name of the ship. She would have to read more closely what the captain had said about the southern coast in earlier days.

Pio asked after Radagast and his companion, and was told they had gotten off safely at the cove, and were moving north toward the city with a small caravan of merchants who had come out to trade with Faragaer. Faragaer laughed, thinking of Rôg and his unfortunate stomach, and related several amusing stories concerning him to the Elf. Wine was offered round by the First Mate and talk fell to personal topics. Yes, Pio’s children were fine and she was sure they would love the chance to sail down to the bay on one of the shorter trips that Faragaer made along the little trading docks on the river. Faragaer’s own wife was expecting her second baby, and Pio accepted the invitation to pay her a visit while the Captain was away. The focus was then turned on Haladan, the First Mate. The tips of his ears crimsoned with their good-natured ribbing. Had he announced his intentions yet to that girl’s father? Lyssa, wasn’t that her name? And when would they be receiving their invitations to the handfasting? Haladan bore it with good will. Politely telling them his business was his own, if they pleased. He ended his request with a wink, and Pio and the captain fell to laughing at this unspoken comment.

It was late in the afternoon when Pio returned home. The children under the care of cook for the day came running out to greet her as she rode up through the gate. They milled about her, their little voices vying for her attention, their eager fingers slipping into her pack for the promised treats.

‘Any news of Mister Mithadan,’ said cook, shooing the children off to suck on their honey and violet candies. ‘Not yet,’ returned Pio, shaking her head. ‘An old friend once said that no news was good news, and I am hoping that holds true for this.’ Rubbing the back of her neck, she thought of the rumours she’d heard from Faragaer; then, reminded herself that the Star would be home in a short span of days.

‘Something smells good!’ she said, changing the subject. ‘Yes, we’ve been busy,’ cook said, laughing at the mouthed ‘we?’ from Pio. ‘The children picked through the lentils and cleaned them. Isilmir and Gilwen gathered the vegetables from the garden to stew with them. And Cami, with her sweet tooth, helped me roll out the pastry for an apple pie.’ Cook nodded her chin at the littlest girl, who had obviously finished her few pieces of candy, and was looking quite hopefully at her brother, a person of greater restraint than she. Pio laughed and looping her arm loosely about cook’s shoulders led the way into the house . . .

Last edited by piosenniel; 05-03-2004 at 01:39 PM.
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