On Patrol (Continued from Let's Go to the Prancing Pony)

[piosenniel]

Holly took back the mug from Bird, and refilled it from the pitcher on her bedside table. Handing it back to Bird, she then poured a cup for herself.

Sitting down crosslegged on the end of the bed, she proceeded to describe the meeting of Gandalf and the Rangers and the topics they had discussed. She told Bird of her own encounter with the flocks of dark birds last year and of the great map of this and the surrounding areas the Rangers had made of unusual sightings and dark occurrences.

Bird sat in silence, turning each morsel of information over in her mind, and then filed each away.

When Holly mentioned the Ranger, Agluchel, and his mission to deliver certain letters, Bird sat up a little straighter in her chair and leaned forward. 'Do they have any idea who destroyed that particular letter?' asked Bird.

Holly assured her they didn't, but then repeated the awful thing that Gandalf had said about the creature of darkness who did it. 'That's when I knew I had to get back to check on you and let you know what had happened,' said Holly, 'but with the shell game fiasco and all I hadn't got a chance to tell you until now.'

Bird steepled her fingers under her chin, and asked, 'And why were you with that Ranger when you came back?'

'Well, I made friends with him during a break in the meeting at the cabin, and he offered to show me the way back.'

'Oh, Holly, you have the most amazing talent for attracting "friends"!' snorted Bird. 'First Olo, now a Ranger!'

Holly choked on her sip of wine, coughing so hard her cheeks turned quite red, or so was the excuse she gave for it. 'Olo? Whatever do you mean?' she asked innocently. 'And as for the Ranger, he seemed much more taken by a certain fiery spirited gamester than by me.'

She poured them each one last cup of wine. 'And besides, you are certainly much more of a challenge to him than any simple hobbit. Frankly, from what I saw, I think he likes that!'

'Hmmph!' came the reply from Bird. 'But what of my last question to you - what does Gandalf intend to do and where are we going?'

'I'm afraid the wizard is as closed mouth as people tell of him. He didn't reveal any plans, nor did he say where we might be headed.'

'Perhaps then we should get some sleep.' said Bird, yawning widely.'If we get up early enough, we can poke about and ferret out some information from someone.'

'The cook!' said Holly, 'That's who we should see. That woman has her finger on just about everything that goes on this Inn. I'll bet she'll have found out something!'

The two said their goodnights and crawled in under the covers. Holly was asleep almost as her head touched the pillow. But Bird lay there quietly for a long time - thinking.

[ August 15, 2002: Message edited by: piosenniel ]