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Old 04-23-2004, 03:29 PM   #133
Orual
Speaker of the Dead
 
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Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Superbia
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Orual has just left Hobbiton.
Ravion's Ramblers: Ravion

Ravion was feeling fairly good about himself. He had made up with the boy, and now that problem was out of the way. There was nothing that made a journey less pleasant than quarrelling within the group. This wasn't going to be an easy journey anyway, from what Ravion could see, so there was no sense in making it harder.

Ravion heard a sharp noise followed by an even sharper pain. His right hand flew to the base of his skull. What was that? He glared behind him at Gond. The horse looked at him impassively. "Watch what you kick up, beast," Ravion muttered, playfully shoving Gond's head to one side. The horse snorted and looked unimpressed.

Ravion rubbed his head and frowned. It was actually unlikely that Gond had kicked up a pebble that would have hit him on the head. Perhaps it was an acorn, or some other kind of nut? He looked up at the trees quizzically, squinting. One moment too late, he heard a whistling sound and turned his head quickly--just in time to catch a pebble on his cheekbone.

His head whipped back from the impact, and another pebble caught him on the back of the head again. He stumbled and tripped on a root protruding out into the road that he would have seen otherwise. He brushed aside the hand that Raefindan offered to help him up.

He stood and dusted himself off, letting the moment linger to make Aeron nervous. He turned slowly and faced Aeron. He had taken a breath to start his tirade when he saw Gwyllion glance at her hands, then wipe them off fiercely on her skirt.

Ravion knew that his face was probably turning red, in addition to the small spot of blood that had pooled by the place where the pebble had hit his cheek. "Aeron. Gwyllion. I brought the two of you on the condition that you would behave. Does this look like behaving to you?" He gestured to his cut. "I'm going to survive. I'll be fine. It doesn't even hurt anymore. But that is not the point. What you did--Gwyllion--was irrational, immature, and dangerous. You could have done worse with that pebble than hit me. Picture, if you would, this situation: you throw the pebble. You misfire--really, it is not that difficult to imagine. You hit Gond's back foot. I have Gond's lead wrapped around my wrist. Gond panics, bolts. I break my forearm as I am dragged along. Raefindan moves to help me, gets kicked in the stomach by Gond. Perhaps suffers some internal damage. Mellonin runs to see if Raefindan is all right, trips over a tree root and--"

"I think I understand your point," Gwyllion said quickly, swallowing hard. Ravion smiled grimly.

"My intent is not to intimidate you," the Ranger said. "I want to make sure you know the possible consequences of your actions. Maybe for a while it will mean that you act less. This would be a good thing, perhaps. Rangers are trained to try to see every possible end to your action. You have heard, of course, of Bilbo Baggins? He invited the wizard Gandalf for tea one day. The rest, as they say, is history. There is no way he could have known that that invitation would have had the consequences it did. I do not expect you to be able to foresee unforseeable ends. I have high standards, but I try to keep them realistic. I do, however, want you to think before you act. Or I will tie you both to Gond and ride you straight back to whoever Aeron stole that necklace from." He glowered at the siblings once more, then went back to Gond.

Last edited by Orual; 04-28-2004 at 09:01 PM.
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