Bread-and-suspicion for breakfast

Bree Market - South(#24374Rto)

This section of Bree is known locally as Market South. There are shops lining both sides of the road, selling a variety of wares and services. Here, at the southern end of Bree\'s Market two roads meet, one from the east and one from the north. The market is rather noisy and filled with activity, as people buy, sell, trade or simply browse the goods available here. Along with the items for sale, different aromas from the foods being sold blend together to add another dimension to the market.

Obvious exits:

Large Wooden Door leads to The Longhole.

Sewing Shoppe leads to Sewing Shoppe.

Alleyway leads to Large Field.

Bakery leads to The Bakery.

East leads to Bree Market - East.

North leads to North Market.

Produce Display(#23715ez)

A large white sign is nailed across the top of this stall, rather crudely lettered, \"PRODUCE DISPLAY\". It is divided into four sections, each displaying a neat array of baskets, plates or jars: vegetables, fruit, baking and jams. Each entry has a small pile of coloured pebbles lying beside it and at one end of each stand is a large ceramic jar to be used for voting. Here you can drop a pebble to vote for the entry you think is best. A small white card beside each item tells who entered it.

The pebbles are colored red|orange|yellow|green|blue|purple|brown|black|grey|white|striped.

For information on how to vote, type Voting

[Produce Display(#23715)->Brandebras]

BAKING ENTRIES

1  Boldibad Bolger\'s cheese bread

2  Ma Bywater\'s blueberry pie

3  Rosemary Gamwich\'s Scrangas

4  Miss Oth\'s Herb Bread

To view an entry, type \'VIEW BAKING\', where is the number for that entry.

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

Real time: Sat Dec 12 17:05:55 2009

Bree time: Dawn <07> on Highday of Autumn - September 2,1448

Moon Phase: First Quarter Moon

Breelands Weather

The dawn autumn air is cool but pleasant around you. The sky is clear and the sunlight shines brightly.

===============================================================================

[Uannve(#23880)]

The busyness of Bree\'s southern end of the market is usually not so peaked at this hour as it is this fine morning. Dawn has risen in soft splendor and softer hues and warn sunlight now falls across the shops, booths, and stands set up all throughout the place. A steady breeze sways the tops the trees seen from the market and overhead specks of white cloud float on by, their shadows following along beneath them.

\"Now that is a fine specimen,\" a particularly keen-eyed hobbit mother says as she stands surveying some vegetables on display. \"It is a shame I cannot purchase the field they were produced in. Oh, I forget, these are mine!\" She chuckles, smiling around at those that look on as well.

Others mill about, many others. In fact, the hobbit population seems to be out looking for a free breakfast among all of the food items put on display. There are more than just hobbits here though in fact, there are even strange, tall folk that, were it not for the pleasant feel of the competative atmosphere and pleasant morning, might put most on guard.

Brandebras Bywater is among the hobbit population that has found its way to the marketplace this morning. He passes by one of the tall folk, giving the strange-looking fellow only a glance. Normally any tall dark stranger could expect to be accosted with, \"Are you a Ranger?\" followed by, \"Do you have any good stories to tell?\" Today, however, the young hobbit\'s focus is solely on the produce display - or, more correctly, the baking stand. He is not alone - while one lone hobbit sits behind the vegetable stand, smoking a pipe and with his furry feet up on a nearby barrel, three Breefolk, two big and one little, are manning the baking display.

Brandebras jostles his way through his fellows, standing on tiptoe in an effort to see what\'s there. \"Have you tasted Ma\'s blueberry pie?\" he asks the air at large. \"She baked me an extra one to have at home. It was very good, you know.\"

[Uannve(#23880)]

Uannve manuevers through the crowds towards the same, towards the baking stand and the three Breefolk manning it. \"We\'re going to get to see Momma\'s bread on display,\" Uannve says in her strangely accented Westron amidst the bustle. She holds a young, three-year old boy against her stomach, head on her shoulder, and another boy, about five, holds onto her dress and walks along beside her. Neither look much at all like her.

\"How come Caoimhe doesn\'t have to come!?\" Elfaroth, the older, complains. \"This is going to be so-o boring!\" He drags a stick along with his other hand.

Brandebras\' query doesn\'t seem to get much response, other than a couple of nods from hobbits with mouths too full to respond and a grumpy, \"I will, iffen there\'s any left ...\" He wriggles his way past a hobbit-matron with half a dozen hungry-looking hobbit-children in tow, ducks beneath a fellow a carrying a huge marrow, and comes within sight of Elfaroth and his stick. Looking across at the five-year-old, he shakes his head and exclaims eagerly, \"Food\'s never boring!\" Then his round brown eyes shift toward the figure beside the boy - and he stares.

[Uannve(#23880)]

Elfaroth glances at the comment made in his direction, and looks startled when he realizes it is aimed at him. Or at least, he supposes it is. Still holding onto Uannve\'s dress he adds, \"Yes it is. Food just makes it so you can do more fun things. He pulls his stick up and grasps it with both hands. \"Like fight orcs!\" he shouts. He gives a mighty, little roar then. \"I\'ll rend your head for your body!\" he shouts to air at large.

\"Elfaroth, not right here,\" Uannve intervenes, taking hold of the stick Elfaroth was in the throws of demonstrating with --his demonstration was aimed at the air and an imaginary foe of course, but it is stopped nevertheless. \"He\'s a hobbit, food is all they think about,\" Uannve adds, looking upon Brandebras, particularly his apple-cheeked features.

\"Say!\" Elfaroth begins to Brandebras with interest, putting his stick back on the ground, \"have you ever seen an orc?\"

A few of the more genteel Breefolk look in the direction of Uannve and her charges and tsk softly others, the progenitors of large families themselves, simply offer resigned smiles.

Brandebras, however, does seem to be thinking of something other than food. At the \'orc-fighting\' demonstration he jumped back with a squeal, eliciting a complaint of, \"Do you mind?\" from the hobbit-lass behind him, and still he\'s gazing at Uannve, a rather worried expression on his face. Something is tickling at the back of his mind, something about a sword ...

Still, there\'s no sword to be seen today. \"I-\" He keeps looking back and away from the woman, as though he\'s afraid he\'ll get in trouble if he does not answer. \"I haven\'t,\" he tells the boy reluctantly. \"I think I once saw a troll though.\" Looking beyond the boy, he asks Uannve with nervous politeness, \"Were you going to see the baking display too?\"

[Uannve(#23880)]

\"I was,\" Uannve answers, eyes continuing with Brandebras.

Elfaroth, not waiting his turn, says with mouth agape, \"A troll!? Momma, he\'s seen a troll!\" he declares, turning around to Uannve with eyebrows lifted up. He turns back to Brandebras, and where he was going to say more about orcs, he keeps his quiet now for a moment, quite impressed.

\"Do you have something on display?\" Uannve asks, again watching the hobbit, having glanced around briefly.

\"Do you want to play orcs with me sometime?\" Elfaroth asks Brandebras in a soft voice. \"That\'d be rather fun. You could play a troll since you\'ve seen them.\"

Brandebras basks in Elfaroth\'s admiration, puffing out his chest a little and holding his head high. Then he notices the disapproving glances cast by Breefolk Big and Little in his direction, and his rosy cheeks grow a few shades redder. Uannve\'s question seems to take him by surprise. \"I- no. I don\'t bake. Ma keeps cooking things for me to make sure I don\'t starve, and there\'s two good bakeries in town ...\" As he rattles on, he almost seems to forget that he\'s talking to an Outsider with a hole in her lip and an invisible sword. \"Ma\'s blueberry pie is there, though. It\'s very good. You should try it.\"

At Elfaroth\'s question he looks somewhat taken aback, then shakes his head then states primly, \"I\'m a bit too old for that now. And I\'m very busy - I carry messages and run errands for folk.\"

A jostle from a fellow stall-patron sends him into the front line of assembled hobbits, ready to sample the wares. He reaches out a hand for the plate labelled \'Bolger Cheese Bread\' just as someone snatches the last piece.

[Uannve(#23880)]

\"I will look for it,\" Uannve tells Brandebras, veiling any betrayal of her interest level.

\"Oh,\" Elfaroth says, a bit dejectedly in turn. He watches Brandebras even after the hobbit is jostled to the front. \"Momma, how come I can\'t be a messenger? I\'m pretty much as big as him. Maybe not as wide though, but that doesn\'t matter. I bet I\'m faster!\"

\"Perhaps, but messengers aren\'t warriors and I thought you wanted to be a strong hero,\" Uannve remarks to Elfaroth while shifting Eiliant in her arms. \"Yummy, sweet food!\" she tells the younger then with interest in her voice. \"Doesn\'t that sound exciting?\" she adds, looking into the groggy boy\'s awakening eyes --it\'s been a long morning for them likely. \"Ah, right there,\" Uannve tells Elfaroth a moment later. \"There\'s Mommy\'s bread.\" She points but Elfaroth has gone back to watching Brandebras while acting out sword-like movements.

[Produce Display(#23715)->Brandebras]

Herb Bread: Miss Uannve Oth

This loaf is as tall as it is long and has the scents of two aromatic herbs: dill and caraway. The top of the loaf is slightly burnt with the rest of the loaf a rich copper hue. Where it is cut, the loaf is cream-colored and a soft, flaky texture speckled with a wealth of green and brown herbs. Squares of complimentary cheese surround the loaf on a green cloth.

Brandebras does not turn round as Elfaroth\'s complaints come from behind him - who knows what the hobbit is thinking? His hand is already reaching for the next plate of bread - firm-crusted, herb-speckled, and the pieces of complimentary cheese no doubt help to sway his decision. But as his fingers close round one particular morsel he hears Uannve\'s words and his hands jerk back. \"This bread is - yours?\" The last word comes out as a squeak.

One of the Breefolk manning the stall, a tall thin woman who surely can\'t have suffered from a surfeit of baking herself at any point, looks across the hobbit-heads to Uannve. \"/Miss/ Oth, wasn\'t it?\" She emphasizes the title. \"And aren\'t those the children of Seeker and his wife. Such a lovely young couple.\" Her smile is bright and brittle, and she wears insincerity like a garment.

[Uannve(#23880)]

\"They -were- a wonderful couple, weren\'t they?\" Uannve responds, a smile coming easily upon her countenance as she meets the eyes of the thin woman. She nods then, but in the moments following an overtone of uneasiness has crept into Uannve\'s demeanor, which altogether drains the smile from her face when Elfaroth asks: \"What about Pa?\" He looks up at Uannve, and their eyes meet without any smile shared.

Uannve rubs the young boys head before her eyes return to the thin woman. Gazing at her with this same drained countenance, she swallows. \"Let\'s go find some orcs,\" Uannve tells Elfaroth quietly, and they turn to leave their spot in the line that continues milling ever closer the baking stalls.

Were? The thin woman\'s eyes almost pop out of her head. \"Excuse me? I don\'t quite know- I mean- You\'re not saying there\'s been an accident?\" She sounds quite shocked. Her lack of knowledge is, perhaps, a mark of her and Bree\'s affection for this \'lovely young couple\'.

Brandebras, caught underneath the meeting of eyes, does the first thing that comes naturally and nibbles at the piece of bread in his hand, quite forgetting it was baked by a suspicious Outsider. His eyes brighten immediately, and the worried expression clears. Noone can be uncheered by fresh herb bread and cheese!

[Produce Display(#23715)->Brandebras] You are given a small square of bread. Woh! It packs a taste bud punch! Caraway and dill, in healthy quantities, bring the soft, flaky bread alive, and your tastebuds will crawl with that herby, aromatic flavor for a while! If you take a piece of complimentary cheese, it has a sharp flavor.

[Uannve(#23880)]

\"No, they\'re just fine,\" Uannve says in a measured tone, turning around with Eiliant in hand to look again at the thin woman. Elfaroth follows the turn of her dress as well, awkwardly. \"I\'m just out with two of their kids for the day,\" she answers. She kneels down to Elfaroth then and adds softly, perhaps overheard by those nearest, \"See that lady talking to us? I think that\'s what that hobbit meant about having seen a troll before. She\'s rather tall and has a mean look, right?\"

Elfaroth looks at the thin woman for a while, determining she is indeed tall compared to him. \"I thought you said trolls were fat?\" Elfaroth remarks loudly.

\"I didn\'t say she was a real troll,\" Uannve explains, \"just that I don\'t think hobbits really know what trolls look like, and they might mistake her for one.\" Elfaroth stares.

The watching woman continues to stare at Uannve while it\'s unlikely she hears much of Uannve\'s soft speech, it is hard to miss Elfaroth\'s. \"Ahem.\" Her gaze is stony, and she tut-tuts. \"Really. Some people have no decency!\"

Brandebras has finished his herb bread by now, and blinks in the direction of Outsider woman and child. \"Trolls are /big/,\" he tells Elfaroth seriously. \"The one I saw looked almost like a tree.\"

\"That\'s cos it was a tree,\" someone who\'s previously heard Brandebras\' troll claim remarks loudly, to the accompaniment of guffaws and sniggers.

The hobbit colours. \"And the herb bread\'s very good,\" he adds, truthfully, \"though I didn\'t like the cheese so much.\" With that he turns back to the baking stand. The Bolger cheese bread has been replenished, but instead of sampling that he reaches instead for one of the little loops of fried dough labelled in mystifying fashion \'scrangas\'.

[Produce Display(#23715)->Brandebras]

Scrangas: Miss Rosemary Gamwich

Little semi-round loops of dough, pinched together at the ends and fried in oil, are arranged neatly on an oval pewter tray.

[Uannve(#23880)]

\"See, Momma, he saw a real one. He didn\'t think she was,\" Elfaroth continues after Brandebras words, looking again after the hobbit. While Uannve is looking a little blankly the opposite way from the thin woman, Elfaroth moves after the hobbit and up where Uannve\'s bread is. \"If it\'s very good,\" he states to the thin woman, \"can I have a piece? But no the cheese. I hear it\'s not so good.\" He looks up at the thin woman expectantly.

Uannve, with Eiliant still in hand, stands up now, slowly, and looks back toward Elfaroth only enough to check where he is, but finding him, they stray up to the woman. Uannve\'s countenance is blank.

\"Thank you,\" Uannve adds, after Brandebras, but late, \"about the bread.\"

[Produce Display(#23715)->Brandebras] You bite into a crisp piece of dough. When tasted, first one feels a delicious slightly chewy sweetness, which far from being overpowering, is barely detectable. Upon chewing, the sweetness becomes stronger, while a faint taste of butter seeps into the mouth.

\"Mmmph,\" Brandebras mutters in Uannve\'s direction, his mouth full of the so-called scranga. By dint of much chewing and swallowing, he manages to clear it enough to murmur, \"Sweet.\"

The thin woman frowns toward Uannve, then looks down at Elfaroth reprovingly. \"Young man,\" she says disdainfully, \"in my day, children were taught to say \'please\' and \'thank you\'.\" She hovers over the tray, as though to defend it from mannerless young boys. \"And,\" her gaze shifts right, \"you\'ve already had some of that pie, Mister Bywater. Only one piece per person.\" Brandebras\' hand, which had been reaching for the sticky blueberry pie, jerks guiltily back.

[Uannve(#23880)]

\"Well, can I have some pie then?\" Elfaroth asks, missing the point.

\"Please, say please, Elfaroth,\" Uannve instructs from a little ways behind. \"I\'m sorry,\" Uannve says at large, \"he manages to have my manners, doesn\'t he?\" There is an easy smile that comes to Uannve\'s face with this.

\"Please,\" is all Elfaroth adds. After another moment Elfaroth adds, \"I want some pie.\" Having his attention drawn to it by Brandebras, this is where Elfaroth\'s attention stays.

Elfaroth is not the only one missing the point. \"And savoury before sweet,\" the thin woman adds, not deigning to respond to Uannve\'s apology. She hands Elfaroth a piece of herb bread, complete with cheese.

Brandebras, turning round in time to see Uannve\'s smile, offers a nervous one of his own in return. \"I sometims don\'t remember to say please and thank you,\" he admits, \"and I\'m all grown up now.\" Well, almost one wonders if Brandebras will ever be quite \'fully grown\'.

[Uannve(#23880)]

\"I doubt anyone minds such coming from you, young hobbit,\" Uannve tells Brandebras, her smile persisting. \"Your eagerness for food is \'please\' and \'thank you\' enough, and your easy opinion of it makes us eager to receive a good one from your kind.\"

\"I wanted pie,\" Elfaroth complains to the thin woman, his brow falling. He exhales and mutters, \"Thanks.\" If it\'s sincere, it still sounds depressed and maybe even sarcastic. \"Is this the same bread you make all the time?\" Elfaroth asks after turning around back toward Uannve. Not giving her time to answer however as he finds himself alongside Brandebras. \"We should be friends at least. Deal? We both like pie and you\'ve seen a troll.\"

Brandebras\' round face is solemn now as he shakes his head. \"Torebras always says it\'s very important to keep to the proprieties,\" he tells Uannve. \"I just - well, forget sometimes.\" His cheeks redden at the confession. Elfaroth\'s offer leaves him blinking - but then suddenly he grins, and bows. \"Of course! Brandebras Bywater, messenger and errand-runner at your service. Pleased to meet you, Elfaroth.\"

Hobbits have healthy appetites, and Brandebras is no exception. Now that he\'s barred from the pie, his gaze slips toward the jam counter instead. \"Look, there\'s jam tasting too!\" he exclaims eagerly. \"I think I\'ll go and try some - oh, and it was nice bread.\" This last is directed toward Uannve.

As he attempts to leave, the thin woman steps round the side of the baking stall to hiss something in his ear. \"Mister Bywater,\" her gaze fixes on Brandebras, \"if I were you I would start making enquiries about the whereabouts of that man Seeker and his wife. Those poor innocent children, cooped up with that, that ....\" Words fail her, until at last she settles on the mild and innocuous-sounding \"Outsider.\"

Brandebras gazes wide-eyed up at her, then nods and flees before anyone else can ask him to do anything.