Bad dreams?

At the Sign of the Prancing Pony(#27261Rto)

The Great East Road bends around the southeastern corner of Bree-hill. The Road leads away to the west and southeast, and where it sweeps past the foot of the hill there sits a large three storey inn. The inn is reached by a wide cobblestone pathway, with two wings that run back, away from the Road to the east, on land partly cut out from the hill's lower slopes. As a result, the rear second-floor windows of the inn are level with the ground. A wide arch leads to a courtyard between the two wings. Above the arch is a lit lamp and beneath it swings a large signboard: a fat white pony rearing up on its hind legs.

Obvious exits:
�Cobblestone Pathway leads to Before the Prancing Pony.
�Broad Way leads to Broad Way - North Bree.
�Market Way leads to North Market.
�SouthEast leads to GER: Centre of Bree.
�West leads to Great East Road.

================================== Bree Time ==================================
Real time: Wed Apr 29 23:21:08 2009
Bree time: Before Dawn <05:03:24> on Sterday of Autumn - October 22,1446
Moon Phase: First Quarter Moon

Breelands Weather
The before dawn autumn air is cool but pleasant around you. The dark sky is overcast and dreary.

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It's a cold October morning (or nearly-morning), and there's a nip of frost in the air. The sun is just beginning to peek over Bree-hill to the east, hampered by great swathes of cloud that swaddle the town like old, torn blankets. The resulting hues of scarlet and mauve are pretty - Brandebras Bywater doesn't seem quite awake enough to appreciate 'pretty', though. He's yawning as he trots down the road from the hobbit smials, the collar of his coat turned up and a couple of small milk cans slung round his neck.

[Nob(#16122)] Lek doesn't seem to appreciate morning very well either. He is sitting huddled up on the doorstep of the Pony, his arms wrapped around his skinny knees, blinking sleep from his eyes. But there is plenty of action in the inn itself, smoke drifting up from chimneys, shutters being flung open, someone bustling about the stableyard...

Brandebras lowers his hand from his mouth and gazes round, bright hobbit-eyes fixing on Lek. "Good morning - um, it /is/ morning now, isn't it?" he queries anxiously. "Looks like folk are awake and all that." He nods toward the smoke rising from the inn behind, and shivers a little at the realization he's out on the cold street.

[Nob(#16122)] Lek nods, blearily, when he realizes someone is addressing him, and pries himself off the step to open the door for the hobbit. "Morning," he says, and shivers. His half-closed brown eyes go to the innyard where the man there has started chopping wood. The ringing of the axe echoes off the innwalls, and bounces off the mountain behind - so much for anyone who might have wanted to sleep in!

The hobbit peers up at the bleary-eyed lad. "Are you all right?" he asks, sounding worried. And then, confidentially, "And do you think Nob would let me have some milk? Ma's come to stay, and if she finds out I've run out ..." He lets his chattering voice trail off, implying Dire Things.

[Nob(#16122)] "Milk," Lek repeats dumbly. He blinks rapidly several times, then nods uncertainly. "'m fine," he mumbles. "S'posed t'bring in wood for th'fires, only they never chopped it..." This doesn't quite explain why he is waiting for the wood out here instead of inside where it is warm. He shakes his head as if trying to clear it. "Lots of milk."

"Oh, that's good," Brandebras responds, without actually going in. "The milk, not the wood, that is." He squints at the mumbling Lek again. "You don't look fine. Did you have a bad dream?" He's all agog at the thought.

[Nob(#16122)] Bad dream. Lek shivers again, and it might not be just from the cold. He looks over his shoulder with something approaching dread. But he nods. "Aye. Dream." But could a dream explain his hollow eyes and the nervous glances? Possibly, possibly... then again maybe not.

When he thinks he might be on to something worth talking about, Brandebras is nothing if not persistent. "What sort of dream?" he asks now, hopeful. "And," he hops to one side to peer past Lek. "There's no-one behind you."

[Nob(#16122)] The boy stares at Brandebras until it seems surely he won't answer. Like an idiot or someone who is deaf, and didn't hear the question. Then he comes to some decision, and in a low voice says, "Something... in the dark. Crying, all the time, and... and howling. Chasing me." He shudders, and looks like to faint until the loud clear ring of the axe brings him aware of this present morning.

"Wh-what?" Brandebras isn't sounding quite so confident now, morning or no. "You don't think there's a wolf got into town, do you?" He's just a little paler, and his milk-cans clink together as he shivers.

[Nob(#16122)] "Wolf?" Lek repeats, then shakes himself a little further awake with the spilling into the courtyard of the sun. "Naw, ain't no wolves around here," he says, sounding a little more his normal breezy self. With the coming day, his pallor seems less.

Lek's reassurance seems to help a little, for the clanking of the milk-cans stops. "That's good. I wouldn't want to meet a wolf, you know," Brandebras confides. "I think I saw one once, but it was far away." And probably just someone's dog into the bargain.

He hasn't quite given up his haranguing of Lek yet, though. He peers up again at the lad, then suggests, "If you can't get to sleep at night, my Ma always says a hot toddy works wonders. You could try that." He puts on his best Helpful Smile.

[Nob(#16122)] Lek brightens. "Oh yeah!" he says enthusiastically, then droops. "I ain't old enough," he says sulkily. "Nob wouldn't let me." The mention of his employer reminds him of the wood he is supposed to be fetching and he peers around the corner of the building.

"But it's for Medicinal Purposes!" Brandebras tells his companion sagely. "That's different. I'm sure Nob wants you to get a good night's sleep." He notes the direction of Lek's glance and wonders, "Are you looking someone?"

[Nob(#16122)] "T'see if he ain't done with that wood yet," the boy explains. He gives the hobbit a conspiratorial grin. "I'll tell 'im you said so. For that medisnal stuff."

Brandebras seems quite unfazed by that suggestion. "You do that," he agrees. "I suppose I'd better go and see Nob about that milk ... wait. You said /Nob/ was chopping wood?" His eyes are round, his mouth open - and no, he hasn't actually bothered to look and see who's in the yard doing the chopping. The thought of Nob in a blaze of wood-splitting glory is far more entertaining.

[Nob(#16122)] "Nob?" Lek sounds outraged. "I never! It's that feller, the one as works round the stables." He points. "Slow as a fat cow, he is." Then he adds, fairly, "Strong though. Lookit him chop it!"

"Oh." Brandebras' disappointment is all too obvious from the way the corners of his mouth droop. He's not downcast for long, though. At Lek's comments (and after taking a passing glance toward the man in the yard), he comments. "That's what Big Folk are for. Uh ... really Big folk, I mean." Belatedly he realizes he's talking to one.

[Nob(#16122)] Lek grins cheerfully, his exuberance reasserting itself with the coming of full day. He doesn't seem in the slightest bit offended, but nods agreeably. "The bigger , the better," he says, "and better him than me!" And with that, he skips around the corner, to reappear staggering under the weight of an armful of freshly-chopped wood. Pushing the door to with his foot, he goes inside, leaving it open for the hobbit to follow.