[Child of the 7th Age]

Hawthorne Brandybuck

Hawthorne had been put in charge of washing up the supper dishes. She had never seen so many dirty plates and bowls in her life. She'd needed tub after tub of hot soapy water in order to get everything clean. The skin over her fingers was all shrivelled up, the same way it looked when she went swimming for the entire day. Only, this time, there had been no swimming or fun, only an endless pile of work.

Hoping that she was finished for the night, she had tried to slip out of the kitchen when Ruby wasn't looking. But the keen-eyed hobbit had caught her escaping down the hall, nabbing her by the collar and dragging her back inside. Ruby had promptly given Hawthorne a half a dozen tea towels and said that the Bucklander must dry each and every dish that she had washed.

This seemed preposterous to Hawthorne. Why couldn't they simply let the dishes sit out and dry in the nice cool air? Just set them on top of the table and chairs and counters. Ruby had impatiently pooh-poohed this idea, explaining that the kitchen was too small to leave hundreds of items all scattered about. Everything must be dried and carefully put away for the morning.

With considerable reluctance, Hawthorne had spent the rest of the evening doing what Ruby asked. Now, she was finally free. Hawthorne took a minute to drop by the pantry checking on ingredients and then went outside to locate the chicken coop. She wanted everything to be perfect when she came down to the kitchen the next moring to make her little surprise. How pleased Ruby and Buttercup would be if she had finished cooking breakfast before they even went downstairs!

She'd gone out for a moment to find a seat in the Common Room and have a cup of honeyed tea. She propped her feet up on another chair and listened to all the conversations going on around her. She could hear a commotion that was going on upstairs. Apparently, someone had experienced a nasty fall, and others had gone to help.

By this time, many of the folk had cleared out of the Common Room and retired to their chambers. Hawthorne was just about to do that when she spied an interesting looking fellow who went by the name of Aldwine, or so some of the guests told her.

He had a pen and notebook and was taking down stories that people were telling him. Most of the stories were very sad indeed....tales of Elves and Men who'd faced terrible hardships and grief. Hawthorne would have liked to speak with him, but she wasn't sure what to say. In any case, all the hobbit stories she knew were quite silly or adventurous, and didn't sound anything like those that other people were reciting. Surely this serious fellow would not be interested in hearing about a hobbit girl from Buckland, and the stories her grandmother had passed on to her.... But she was extremely curious as to exactly who this gentleman was and what he was doing, especially since she liked stories.

Hawthorne sidled over to his side, tugging at his sleeve. "Excuse me, Master Aldwine. But why are you writing all that down in your notebook? Where do you come from, and what tales do you keep in your book?"

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 2:03 AM January 30, 2004: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]