Bree -- Paint-dropping

Inn-yard

An open air inn-yard is enclosed in the center of the Prancing Pony\'s compound. The yard is ringed in by the north and south wing of the Pony, and the eastern section of the building, which is set back into Bree-hill. On the fourth side bordering this yard is an archway, beyond which lies the Great East Road. The stables, which comprise the lower level of the south wing, are accessed through a set of large double doors.

Obvious exits:

Kitchen leads to Kitchen.

Downstairs Hallway leads to Short Passage.

Double Doors leads to Stables.

Archway leads to Under the Archway.

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

Real time: Sun Aug 03 14:36:08 2008

Bree time: Early Morning <09> on Sunday of Summer - August 6,1444

Moon Phase: Waning Crescent Moon

Breelands Weather

The early morning summer air is very hot and dry around you. The sky above is a glorious pale blue with only specks of white cloud floating around.

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[Keldean(#23332)] It\'s still morning, but already the day is hot. There\'s no breeze to speak of in the inn-yard and the sun is baking down on the paving stones of the walkway. Keldean is sitting in the dried grass near the stable, doing absolutely nothing. One side of the stable is half-painted, and there is a bucket of paint with a brush in the grass next to it. The youth has his shirt pulled off, his shoulders and back sunburned where there was no tan, but it\'s preferable to wearing the hot garment.

Out from the cool of the Pony a figure steps - who should it be but Torebras Bywater? The Mayor\'s head is no longer bandaged (he\'s wearing his dark-green hat, the brim turned down slightly to shade his head from the sun), but he still has a rather impressive-looking bruise on his left temple. He ambles slowly down, panting a little as the baking heat hits him. \"My, my. Looks like it\'s going to be another scorcher,\" he mumbles to himself ... and then he catches sight of that resting figure. *Ahem* He clears his throat. \"Good morning, Master Pinewick.\" He tilts his face slightly as though looking down his nose, though that places his focus on the dusty ground.

Keldean looks slowly up at Torebras, squinting as the sun blinds him. His auburn hair has lighter streaks that are becoming prominent, his time outdoors giving him natural highlights. \"Good morning..\" He says in a far from enthusiastic tone.

That lack of enthusiasm is shared, judging by the way Torebras purses his lips. \"I .. ah, trust you\'re getting on well with the work Nob\'s been setting you?\" He eyes the half-painted stable and Keldean with equal suspicion.

Keldean has a growing scowl on his face. \"Yeah.. sure. I\'m out here roasting in the sun, painting the entire stable by myself. It\'s swell.\" The teen complains, his tone sarcastic.

Torebras raises one eyebrow - or tries to. The movement must have caught his bruised head, for he winces and lifts a hand to touch his temple gingerly. \"Come, come, Master Pinewick,\" he reprimands in an attempt at a fatherly tone. \"It is only meet and just that you make restitution to the staff of the Pony for all the trouble you\'ve caused. We can\'t just left folk wander round town taking other folk\'s property!\" He sounds quite outraged at the thought. \"And you\'ve /still/ to give a proper explanation.\" Sweat is appearing on his forehead and he fidgets with his shirt-collar. My, it\'s hot out here.

[Keldean(#23332)] \"Proper explanation about what?\" Keldean asks, shifting to move closer to the side of the stable as the shadow he\'s sitting within slowly recedes. \"I told you that bandits took the wagon and pony, while I was out collecting wood -for- Nob.. doing my job.\" His brown eyes are full of bitterness. He\'s gotten a lot of practice at lying over the last couple of months.

Torebras snorts, then out of politeness tries to change it into a cough. \"A likely story. What would bandits want with a pony and cart? What would they want with you?\" His lips purse once more, his lack of respect for young Keldean all too apparent. \"Seems more likely to me that you and that Seeker fellow fancied a little jolly. A little trip into the Wilds - one of those madcap \'adventures\'. Am I right?\"

[Keldean(#23332)] \"They didn\'t want anything to do with me. I had to follow them.. quite a long way, too. You should be grateful. I don\'t know why they wanted the cart.\" Keldean picks at some dried paint on his arm, scraping it free with his nail. Then the teen looks up sharply at the mention of Seeker, his attitude hardening. \"You don\'t know what you\'re talking about. You never believe what anyone tells you, do you?\" He demands. Nevermind that Keldean has never once told him a truth.

Torebras blinks at that. \"I believe what I\'m told by those who are /respectable/,\" he tells Keldean, with plenty of emphasis on that last word. He reaches into a pocket and pulls out a plain white silk handkerchief, which he uses to dab his damp forehead. That gives him a moment to think. As the handkerchief is lowered, he barks out, \"Very well, young man. Since you claim you\'re telling me the truth, tell me this. Just how did you wrest the cart away from bandits single-handed?\"

[Keldean(#23332)] The teen already has this alibi prepared and answers smoothly, \"The troll attacked. I was the only one that was able to get away..\" As Keldean thinks back on the fight with the troll he can\'t help but shudder at the memory. \"He ate them, I think. All I know is that they got drug into the cave and didn\'t come back out.\"

\"I see.\" Torebras narrows his eyes and regards Keldean distastefully, as though the youth were something the cat dragged in. \"Interesting.\" The single word drops like a stone. \"Hmm, and did you say you were alone during this pursuit?\"

Keldean buys time by grabbing up his discarded shirt and wiping his face with it, his gaze on the ground as he rapidly thinks. Trust the mayor to start asking deeper questions -now- for the first time. \"Most of it. There were some elves that helped me.. Giliath, and his wife, Caelwen.\"

Torebras, amazingly, appears to be listening. \"Elves,\" he repeats. \"Giliath and his wife Caelwen.\" He makes a passable attempt at the Sindarin names. \"Tell me, where are these elves now? I trust they were not devoured by this voracious troll?\" He manages to keep his voice level, but can\'t quite erase the veiled scorn in his words.

[Keldean(#23332)] \"They helped me after the troll, when I was -hurt-. It attacked me, too.\" He still has fading scars on his chest, though they are quite faint now. \"Then I came back with them to Bree. They went on west though, said they were going... to the sea I think.\" Keldean goes on with his explanation, not about to give Torebras the satisfaction of admitting dishonesty at this point.

Torebras stands stoically under the baking sun. A single drop of sweat starts to trickle down his round face. A fly buzzes past, but he doesn\'t even blink. His round brown eyes are focussed on Keldean. \"A most /unusual/ tale. Haven\'t you forgotten something, Master Pinewick?\"

Keldean considers the question carefully, frowning as he goes through all the details he\'s devised. \"No.. not really.\" Then it occurs to him, and he adds in, \"I was heading back here with the elves, and the cart and pony.. Oh, and their horse. They didn\'t need it and I couldn\'t just leave it out there to get eaten by a troll. Then after I said goodbye to Giliath, I saw Cordelia and walked the rest of the way back with her.\"

Torebras lets out a dry little chuckle. \"Ah, the lovely Miss Wood. I suppose you\'ll claim the fact that she disappeared exactly at the same time you did is pure coincidence?\" He doesn\'t wait for an answer, but chooses this moment to press home another point. \"I may never have travelled myself, but I do know /something/ of the world,\" he claims. (Others might debate that view.) \"Trolls, I am told, think with their stomachs. No troll would have wasted time eating fully armed and armoured bandits with a nice fat pony standing by.\" His objection made, he glares triumphantly at Keldean, ignoring the heat.

[Keldean(#23332)] Clever hobbit. Keldean frowns, thinking fast, \"The pony wasn\'t by the cave.. the bandits went down by the river\'s edge after they set camp. The troll\'s cave is down under the bridge. I snuck down after them to see if they were going to swim, I thought maybe then I might have time to steal the pony back.. I was going to leave the cart.. it would have been too slow.\" The teen has his idea now and mashes the constructed story in amongst all the rest. \"That\'s when the troll came out. It started yelling about food and grabbed the first bandit and slammed him against the stone of the bridge..\"

Keldean watches Torebras\'s reaction carefully, remembering how queasy the hobbit got before, \"And then he reached for the second one.. but saw me when I was trying to get back up the gravelly embankment. That\'s how I got all cut up.\"

Torebras, as predicted, winces at Keldean\'s graphic description. It doesn\'t stop him thinking, though. \"I seriously doubt that an unarmed youth could escape a troll if armed bandits failed. In fact,\" he pauses and gives Keldean a long, hard, stare, \"I seriously doubt you\'ve even seen a troll. Looks to me more like you\'ve tripped and fallen. Running from /something\', perhaps.\" Suspicion echoes clear in his tone. Belatedly he realizes he\'s hot and pulls out his handkerchief again, to clear the perspiration from his flushed features.

[Keldean(#23332)] \"He grabbed my foot and drug me back, then the bandit was running to see if his friend was still alive.. I don\'t think he was. There was a lot of blood.\" Keldean grimaces, \"He let go of my foot, dropped me on my head. I blacked out.. I\'m not sure what happened exactly, but when I came around, I heard the one man screaming from the cave. I ran away while the troll was.. busy.. I hid until morning. Trolls don\'t come out in the daylight, they turn to stone.

\"Hrmmm.\" Torebras voice comes from behind his handkerchief. \"So if we were to send a rider east until they came to this bridge of yours, they\'d find a troll turned to stone?\" Quite who the Mayor could send is open to debate. He\'s unlikely to go himself, given his discomfort with all things equine.

[Keldean(#23332)] \"I never said the troll -did- get turned to stone.. I said I hid until morning. It\'s probably hiding in it\'s cave. If they go in the dark it\'ll eat whoever you send.\" Keldean responds. \"As soon as it was light out I grabbed the pony and cart, and the bandit\'s horse, and I ran. That\'s when I met Giliath. He saw that I was hurt and helped me.\" The elf would have -such- a look of disapproval if he heard all of this.

The handkerchief comes away from Torebras face, and the Mayor gives a little smile as one particular guess of his seems to strike lucky - at least, it isn\'t denied. \"What a pity this helpful Elf did not see fit to come with you to Bree.\" The scepticism dominating his tone is sharp as a blade. \"Surely you cannot just have expected to walk back into town?\" He awaits the tale that this question will surely prompt, neatly folding his handkerchief as he does.

[Keldean(#23332)] \"Where else would I go? I had to bring back Nob\'s pony..\" Keldean frowns at that smile on the mayor\'s face. The hobbit probably doesn\'t believe a thing he\'s saying, which truly cheapens the fact that he -did- run into a troll and it was horrifying. The entire trip had been horrifying.

\"I see. A laudable sentiment, indeed.\" Torebras, alas, doesn\'t sound entirely convinced. \"Don\'t you think it might have been better if you hadn\'t run off in the first place? I understand from Nob that you were already on your second chance.\" He tilts his head up so that he can look disapprovingly down his nose again.

[Keldean(#23332)] \"What am I supposed to say? I already offered to pay him.. he didn\'t want that. You act like I robbed his money box! I did the best I could and no one seems to care about that.\" Keldean is growing frustrated. Sure, he\'s been lying, but he had his reasons. \"I\'m doing the work just like he wanted so just.. leave me alone.\"

\"The best you could would be not to have run away from your employers, young man!\" Torebras barks. \"Frankly, I\'m surprised Barliman and Nob decided to take you back on. You\'re lucky you\'ve not found yourself outside in the Wild with neither food nor clothes! Just you think on that.\" He pauses long enough to tug at his collar - this wretched heat! - then adds condescendinglly, \"Oh yes, your work. Don\'t let me keep you. I think I\'ll just have a little smoke in the fresh air before I head back in.\"

[Keldean(#23332)] \"You think you\'re so perfect?\" Keldean demands, shoving up to his feet as his temper heats up. \"All you do is stand around, you never help anyone with anything.. Some mayor you are! I could have sold the pony and the cart.. I could have done a lot of things!\"

Torebras raises his eyebrows - and lets out a muffled, \"Ouch!\" \"If I were you, young man, I\'d watch my temper,\" he tells the youth evenly, though he can\'t help rising to the bait. \"Unlike you, I spend my days on important business. Public works, trade matters, negotiations - and do you have any idea of the paperwork? No, I thought not. Now, good day to you.\" He potters crossly off toward an angle of the wall that offers some welcome shade, then sets about the business of filling his pipe, with many a glance in Keldean\'s direction.

[Keldean(#23332)] \"Don\'t forget smoking, eating, and gossiping!\" Keldean retorts, then gives the paint bucket a solid kick in frustration, sending the thick liquid splattering against the wall of the stable. The teen storms off, heading away from the inn and towards one of the alleys behind it. Torebras\' pipe is filled by now, but he stops short of placing it in his mouth, which falls wide open. \"Really! Well I never!\" He eyes the paint-splattered stable for a moment then sighs, and stomps off back up the stairs and into the Pony, calling out, \"Mister Nob? Are you there? Do you know what that boy has done now?\" Better hope it\'s his fellow hobbit\'s day off.