Mayoral suspicions

Healing House - Main Room(#19284RLa)

The main room of Bree\'s Healing House serves as a living area for the healers that live here. All of the colors of the furniture, rugs and walls are in earthtones - terracotta reds, mud browns and moss greens. There is a calming effect here, promoting a sense of peace and wellness. To the right is a large hearth where a cozy fire crackles and a pot of comfort food can usually be found. In front of it is an overstuffed couch that is large enough for human guests, but not too imposing in size for hobbits. Near the hearth is a cupboard of cooking utensils, pots and pans, plates and cups and the usual tea things. A small table with chairs can be found here as well as a large cabinet of drawers to store medicines. Overhead in the rafters, bunches of herb bundles can be seen as they hang to dry.

The back of the room has been set aside for the apprentice healers. Partitioned off are three little areas each complete with a cot, clothes press and a trunk for personal items. To the left you see a wooden door and an arch with a curtain across it. The arch leads into the infirmary and the door to the senior healer\'s private room. On a table by the door lies a fat leather-bound book. You may Look at it if you wish more information of various herbs and their properties.

There is a note tacked to the wall (for those who can read... those who cannot can Call the healer). Otherwise, Read the note.

Obvious exits:

Healer\'s Room, Curtain to Infirmary, and Front Yard

================================== Bree Time ==================================

Real time: Sun Feb 01 14:24:46 2009

Bree time: Before Dawn <05> on Mersday of Winter - February 3,1446

Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous Moon

Breelands Weather

The before dawn winter air is cold and dry around you. Heavy snows fall down from the nighttime sky. The moon is above the horizon and in its waxing gibbous phase.

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[Keldean(#23332)] Brenden Ferny, Mayor, Defender of Bree, Socialite, and all around likable guy makes his way into the infirmary. He\'s wearing a long gray winter coat that looks new, over brown vest and cream shirt combo with brown pants. His mop of brown curls hangs around his face where a shadow of day\'s lapse in shaving is evident. There\'s a smile on his face as he looks around, brown eyes searching the room. \"Good morning.. I\'m looking for the hobbit, Bywater? I heard he was brought here last night after some strange business with one of those rangers?\" He asks of a nurse, then smiles his thanks when she points out the hobbit\'s bed and makes his way across the room.

Hobbits are amazingly resilient creatures. Young Brandebras Bywater, brought yesterday half-drowned and half-frozen, is this morning sitting up in bed, a mug of something steaming hot clutched in one hand. His brown curls are sweaty, and his face flushed, but he doesn\'t look likely to expire on the spot. At the approaching footsteps he asks hopefully, \"Can I have some more honey, please? This doesn\'t taste very nice - oh! It\'s you! Good morning, Mister M-\" The words are cut off by a terrific sneeze.

[Keldean(#23332)] Brenden narrows his brows at the initial mistake in identity, then graces the hobbit with an entirely phony smile as the correction is made. \"Good morning, Master Bywater.\" He answers in a barely friendly tone. \"Is your recovery going well?\" The mayor asks, then immediately poses another question without waiting for a response, \"What happened last night? I\'ve heard some interesting rumors.\"

Brandebras\' sneeze has the unfortunate result of slopping some of the hot, herbal-smelling liquid out of his mug and onto the coverlet. He yelps, and his already flushed face turns just a little redder. \"You won\'t tell the healers?\" he pleads. \"I mean .. uh, thank you for coming to visit, Mister Mayor. I\'m feeling much better. My toes don\'t hurt nearly so much, and I\'m not so shivery, though my head\'s all stuffed up, and ...\" Foolish Brenden for asking a question.

Belatedly the Mayor\'s final words sink in, and he asks interestedly, \"What rumours?\" The mug is set down on his bedside table so that he can swipe at his nose with a much-used-looking red spotted handkerchief.

[Keldean(#23332)] \"Something about you diving for gold in a pond or such.. Just tell me what happened, Bywater. Okay? I have a lot of things to do today.\" As if. Brenden shrugs off his coat to hang over the back of a chair, then sits down. He gives another smile to the hobbit, an attempt at being encouraging.

The infirmary is its usual efficient self - healers come and go, bringing broth to this one, changing bandages and stripping the bed in the corner. They politely avoid disturbing young Brandebras Bywater and his guest - the Mayor of Bree, no less!

A pity that. Brandebras lifts his steaming mug to his lips, and grimaces. \"Ugh. This tastes horrid.\" He sets it down again, sniffling, then blinks up at Brenden as he tries to collect his thoughts. \"Well. I was out skating, and that ranger Grey was there - he\'d cut a hole in the ice!\" The flushed-looking hobbit sounds quite outraged. \"And then along came that woodcutter fellow, Mr Hollyhewer, and he said-\" At that moment a loud sneeze interrupts him. Poor Brenden, he may well need all day to get a full tale out of Brandebras.

[Keldean(#23332)] \"Go on.\" Brenden says in a flat tone, crossing his arms and settling back against the chair. There\'s a mild expression of irritation on his face as sneezes keep interrupting Brandebras, but he maintains his calm for the moment.

Brandebras does not go on - not at first. He\'s too busy making use of his less-than-clean handkerchief. After a moment he draws a deep breath and wonders aloud, \"Where was I? Oh, Mister Hollyhewer. It was him! All his fault! He said there was treasure down there, so I was going to take a look. I skated toward Mister Grey, and then - then I was in a big hole, with water all around me. It was so cold ...\" He does his best to look pathetic.

[Keldean(#23332)] \"So.. Someone told you there might be treasure, and you thought to steal it away for yourself? Is that the way it was? You realize that such things found in Bree are property of the people as a whole, not just any one person.. don\'t you?\" Brenden speaks in a bland tone, but his brown eyes are sharp. \"And consorting with rangers? After all the cheating of your brother, I wonder if you\'re not equally troublesome, Master Brandebras.\"

[Ada(#23113)] A sneeze that would seemed to shake the thick paned wavy glass set into the sashed windows greets Ada. She lowers her red scarf and shakes out her curls from under her newly adopted coif. Her cloak, a fine blue wool covers an equally well woven winter dress of sienna, a compliment to her warm brown hair. She sports just a spot of lace and has added some to her bodice which is cut modestly but well.

She addresses a healer, \"Have you seen my...\" then spots him herself talking to a hobbit. She nods politely to the hobbit. \"Brenden - I was told I might find you here.\"

Brandebras blinks. \"I wasn\'t stealing anything!\" he protests hotly. \"If I\'d found any treasure, it would have come straight back to Bree. But there wasn\'t anything - I think. Maybe someone else should go and take a look? I might have missed it - I nearly drowned!\"

At the appearance of someone else, Brandebras\' brown eyes fix on the newcomer, and he raises a hand to wave weakly in her direction. Unfortunately it\'s the hand holding the germ-ridden handkerchief.

[Keldean(#23332)] Brenden looks over when he his sister arrives and gives her a small nod before his attention returns to the hobbit. \"Sure you weren\'t. Your brother was a criminal, robbed the town blind when he left.\" The mayor stands up from the chair. \"I\'m keeping an eye on you, Bywater. What was the ranger doing there? Skating as well?\"

[Ada(#23113)] Ada\'s pleasant expression is shadowed by a frown for her brother. But she recovers a social smile. \"Brother? Is Torebras your brother?\" she asks, inviting herself into the conversation.

\"That\'s not true, Mister Mayor,\" Brandebras protests, his flushed face eager and his eyes bright. \"Torebras must- must have made a mistake, that\'s all.\" The assertion is made with eager innocence. A moment later he adds, \"And I told you, Mister Grey had cut a hole in the ice.\"

At Ada\'s query the young hobbit nods vigorously. \"Brandebras Bywater at your service, Ma\'am.\" He attempts to make a bow, and only succeeds in dislodging one of his pillows. Just as well his mug wasn\'t in his hand.

[Keldean(#23332)] \"It is true. There wasn\'t a copper penny in the coffers when I took his place as mayor.\" Brenden counters. \"It\'s a good thing he packed up and left for the Shire, because otherwise I might have had him thrown in jail.\" Ferny reaches for his coat and pulls it back on. \"What pond were you at?\"

[Ada(#23113)] \"But, of course, when my brother leaves his office, though I couldn\'t imagine that happening, the coffers will be overflowing with money\" she turns to her brother, \"Leaving so soon?\" And in the same voice, apt for a tea party asks the hobbit, \"So what did happen to you young Brandebras? Dunked by rangers?\"

\"It\'s the one just south of Staddle, between it and the main east road,\" Brandebras supplies helpfully to Brenden. \"Are you going to speak to Mister Grey? I suppose I should say thank-you to him for saving me.\" His voice trails off doubtfully and his brows crease as though he were trying to remember the exact sequence of events. To distract himself he reaches for his mug, no longer steaming, and takes a large gulp. \"Ugh!\"

It is at that point that Ada\'s words reach his ears, and he splutters half a mouthful out again. His sweaty face grows red as a beetroot, and as he starts coughing and choking he can only shake his head in the woman\'s direction.

Brenden looks over at Ada and gives her a warm smile. \"I have a busy day. Did you need something?\" His tone is far more personal with his sister, compared to the way he spoke to the hobbit. At Brandebras\'s question he glances back. \"Possibly. I have a suspicion that I know what\'s really going on here. Stay away from that pond, Master Bywater.\"

[Ada(#23113)] Ada\'s expression is mild as she blinks looking from her brother to the hobbit. \"My brother has a special relation with the rangers.\" She nods then adds, \"There was a young lady looking for you, Brenden. Your wife seemed to take umbrage at that, can\'t imagine why.\"

For the next dozen heartbeats or so, Brandebras is in no fit state to answer Brenden at all. When he does manage to draw in enough breath to speak, he answers forlornly in a quavering voice, \"I don\'t think I\'ll be going anywhere for the next while, Mister Mayor. Why? What\'s in the pond?\"

At Ada\'s comment he turns his round-eyed stare instead. \"Special relation ... like cousins or something? I didn\'t know the Mayor had Outsider blood in him!\" Excitement at that thought brings on another sneeze, though this time he manages to muffle it in his sodden handkerchief.

The hobbit\'s coughing fit has drawn a healer\'s attention, for a motherly-looking woman bustles over and picks up the fallen pillow, tucking and fussing until Brandebras is settled to her liking. \"There now, Mister Brandebras - why, haven\'t you drunk your medicine yet? No wonder you\'re coughing.\" She tuts loudly, then looks over towards the Mayor and his sister. \"I think Master Bywater here needs a rest,\" she tells them, without bothering to consult \'Master Bywater\' for his opinion.

[Keldean(#23332)] \"If there\'s treasure, it should be properly retrieved.\" Brenden states in an official sounding voice. \"And there isn\'t.. \" He trails off, considering, then seems to alter what he was going to say. \"There isn\'t anything to worry about, Master Bywater. Just keep your nose clean and you\'ll be fine.\" That conscending smile is back, as if he\'s reassuring a child.

The mayor looks back to his sister and smirks. \"She\'s imagining up far more than is really going on, sadly. I\'ll talk to her when I have time.\"

[Ada(#23113)] \"Treasure, ah,\" Ada murmurs. \"That explains so much and here I thought my brotherr was on a goodwill visit to you.\" She studies the hobbit\'s face, a small smile twisting her lips until she shrugs. \"Well, dear brother, you will have to tell her that yourself. She was quite pretty and quite well dressed. Not at all the class of woman...\" she allows the sentence to hang.

\"But I\'m not tired. Really!\" Brandebras protests to the healer in a hoarse squeak. At Brenden\'s words his round face takes on a worried expression, and he swipes earnestly at his reddened nose with the filthy handkerchief.

The matronly healer opens her mouth as though to debate that, but a call from across the room distracts her at the crucial moment and she bustles away.

Left in peace, Brandebras is quite free to do what he does best - speculate. In this case on a mystery woman\'s identity. \"A young lady - you mean Mistress Tassleberry? Or maybe it was Miss Wood?\" His bright eyes dart from one Big Person to the other as he observes the results of his guess, over the top of his handkerchief.

[Keldean(#23332)] \"I meant, I\'ll talk to me -wife-.. Ada.\" Brenden answers his sister in a testy voice. \"I\'m sure the girl that was looking for me was searching for the Mayor. That is my job now, though you seem to forget that and assume the worst all the time.\" He buttons up his coat and glances back towards the hobbit once, \"Stay out of trouble.\" Then looks back to his sister. \"Why don\'t -you- go hang on some young, available, men instead of scrutinizing every other girl in town?\" He moves to pass her now, heading for the door.

[Cordelia(#24827)] Brenden may be leaving, but Cordelia is arriving, pushing back a brown wool cloak as she enters, and shivering from the cold. She stamps her feet, rubs her hands, and looks about.

[Ada(#23113)] Ada smiles triumphantly, the smile of someone who has scored a definite hit and then sniffs at her brother\'s invitation. \"I\'m sure he won\'t be among any of your crowd, dear brother. Have an enjoyable conversation when you get home.\"

She had only loosened her scarf and cloak and carefully wraps herself in preparation to follow on her brother\'s heels. She passes Cordelia on her way out with a deep nod, \"Good morning to you Cordelia. It\'s a cold one today.\" She is out the door cold air lingering from the newly opened door.

Brandebras gives his nose another swipe for good measure - surely it\'s clean enough for the Mayor now? - and answers Brenden with a weak smile and a polite, \"Thank you so much for coming to visit, Mister Mayor! It\'s nice to see people. And you too, Mistress Fiddlehead.\"

At that point the matronly healer of earlier bustles back, and the young hobbit is soon far too preoccupied in drinking that half-cooled mug of herbal remedy under her gimlet eye to watch his departing guests further. \"That\'s it,\" the healer encourages. \"That wasn\'t so bad now, was it? Now it\'s time for a little rest.\" She pushes the flushed hobbit down on the pillows, tucks the coverlet in a little tighter and soon the reluctant prisoner of the healers is drifting off to sleep.