[Child of the 7th Age]

Cami tried to deal first with Narello. She placed an arm on the boy's shoulder, but feeing his entire body tense up, she immediately drew it back. How strange! This child reminds me of the Elf Noldor, the one whom Andreth introduced me to, who'd had such a difficult path in life.

Cami found it unnerving to be around a child who'd had all of his childhood wrung out of him. But she tried to put that thought to the back of her mind, All she could do was treat him fairly now. "Yes, Narello, could you possibly go out to help the lad in the stable? We need to tidy things up there, as I'm expecting a lot of folk to come over to the Inn the night of the party , and some of them will want to stable their horses and ponies. After that, you're free to leave, but I hope you'll stay around for the party tomorrow."

Finally, Cami turned to Luinien and Tarondo, and smiled at their suggestion to help with cobweb demolition. She nodded her head in agreement with their plan. After hearing that Arawyn would be able to provide the musical entertainment, Cami heaved a sigh of relief, hurled herself down into a chair, and decided she'd best retire for the night. The flurry of activity had completely exhausted her, since she was still getting over her broken ribs.

As she went slowly down the hallway and crawled into bed, a final thought came to mind. Mistress Piosenniel may be in later tonight. I had only expected to get a volunteer or two, but it looks as if the whole thing has exploded. I hope she won't be too angry about giving away so many free dinners.

But at least there were a few things that could be said in her defence. The Inn was beginning to look fantastic, cleaner and finer than it had looked in years, with the fine decorations still to go up. And at least they'd picked up that hundred bottles of wine which was no small thing. Cami crossed her fingers and hoped that her friend would be in a good frame of mind.