The Green Dragon Inn #11 - The Last Chapter

[Primrose Bolger]

Anunsew & Keleth

‘Look what the wind blew in,’ said Buttercup, nudging Ginger on the arm. ‘Two of the Big Folk have come in from rain it looks like. And just in time for supper.’

The Innkeeper, Aman, was busy with other customers as one of the men came up to the bar and asked, in a rough voice, ‘What are we having tonight?’ Ginger smiled up at him prettily a she listed off what was for supper. ‘There’s chicken stew, sir,’ she said. ‘And fresh bread with butter and jam. Cider or ale or both if you’re thirsty. Then warm apple crisp to fill in what holes are left in your appetite.’

She topped off his mug of ale, then showed him to a table. His name was Anunsew, he told her as they walked along, a lonely traveler from Gondor. Now Ginger had heard of Gondor. Some large, Big Folk city in the south, she thought. And she seemed to remember the King, himself, lived there. Once Anunsew had seated himself, Ginger fetched him a basket filled with hot bread, a small crock of butter, and a pot of strawberry jam. A generous bowl of good smelling chicken stew came next for the hungry looking man. ‘Now will there be anything else?’ she asked him.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Buttercup made for the table where the other man had seated himself. Keleth he called himself, she found out. A wanderer it seemed and from far away Gondor. ‘Can I fetch you something to drink, sir?’ she asked, saying there was cider, and ale, wine, and water, and tea of course for those who fancied something hot. She rattled off the supper menu to him, saying she would be glad to fetch him some. ‘You look half drowned, poor man,’ she said eyeing him. ‘Something hot would make you warmer . . . pick up your spirits. What do you say to a bowl of stew hot bread to go with it?’