The Great Kettle Mystery - V. Gossip and speculation

Common Room(#32029RM)

This large and rectangular room serves the purpose of Common Room for the Prancing Pony. Large windows along the western end of the room peek out over the Great East Road which runs outside the Inn. There are long tables with bench seats for the patrons in the centre of the room. Nestled into the wall is a large fireplace with several bundles of wood piled next to it. Overhead, lamps hang down from roof beams, but their light is dim and half-veiled in smoke. The corners of the room are wrapped in shadow.

Obvious exits:

Out

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

Real time: Sun Oct 04 15:28:51 2009

Bree time: Midnight <02> on Trewsday of Winter - February 8,1448

Moon Phase: First Quarter Moon

Breelands Weather

The midnight winter air is cold and dry around you. Snow piles on the ground around your feet.

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[Aphria(#17221)]

The bad weather outside has made for a very busy day in the Inn. And so even at midnight, Aphria is still hard at work helping to clean up. Though the poor girl looks more than a bit tired. Even pressed into helping carry out trays of food and such for some of the waitresses at the particularly crowded tables. But right now she is scrubbing up a spill that was just made by a particularly raucous group.

Late as it is, the majority of folk are either headed home already or about to. A few call out cheery (in some cases over-cheery) goodnights in the general direction of the Inn-staff as they leave. One fellow, neck twisted back so he can view Aphria at her work, almost trips over his long scarf and has to be yanked away by a comrade. \"C\'mon, Billy ...\" Then the door shuts, they\'re away and for a moment there is blessed silence.

Or almost-silence. Over in the corner, just near where Aphria is industriously scrubbing, there is the sound of faint snoring. A youngish hobbit slumps in an angle of the wall beside the fire, a crumpled piece of parchment in his fingers and a half-drunk mug still on the table before him.

[Aphria(#17221)]

As Aphria starts to realize that sound isn\'t just the creak of the boards and the sound of the scrubbing, she looks up towards the hobbit, \"Sir? Sir?\" The first time gentle, the second time a bit more loud and complete with an upwards lilt of her tone of voice. Then she gets out the towel to start drying the spot so no one slips and falls!

The first, soft call, is completely ignored. At the second the hobbit lets out a loud snort and jerks his head up suddenly. \"I\'ll have eggs and mushrooms for breakfast, thankyou,\" he mumbles indistinctly, and then his head droops forward again. The twitching of his eyelids, though, suggests that he\'s at least half-awake now.

[Aphria(#17221)]

\"Sir, it\'s getting late.\" Comes the young teenager\'s voice. \"Shouldn\'t you be getting home to bed or up to a room if\'n you got one here?\" She asks, and sounds as tired as she looks. Probably not used to being kept up for the late shift! \"Sorry to be waking you up like this an all. But the chairs and walls can\'t be that comfy.\"

\"Huh?\" At the insistent young voice, the hobbit forces first one eye open and then the other. He reaches a hand up to rub the sleep away, and seems quite surprised to find a piece of parchment there. \"Must\'ve been writing something,\" he mumbles, stuffing it in his pocket without really looking. He squints blearily at Aphria. \"Do I know you?\" His gaze wanders round the room, then snaps back to the girl before him, aghast. \"Wait - you mean I missed supper?\" Outrage quivers in every curly hair of his head.

[Aphria(#17221)]

\"It\'s almost midnight sir. Though still something cooking.\" Aphria says, \"Not much left though. Been so many people visiting because of the snow, not going home to their villages and spending the night\'n all.\" She sits up and then stands up along with her bucket of cleaning supplies. \"Should be a really pretty day tomorrow though! Might even be a fun one, snow seems really wet.\"

[Aphria(#17221)] \"And oh! I\'m Aphria Methven.\" She quickly remembers to add in introduction.

The hobbit brightens slightly at the explanation. \"Then it\'s not too late for me to have a little something? I can\'t walk home on an empty stomach! Maybe you could get me- that is-\" He hesitates, eyeing the bucket doubtfully. \"You do work here, right?\"

When the introduction is given, the hobbit beams and manages a little bob without actually getting up off his corner stool. \"And I\'m Brandebras Bywater. Messenger and writer.\" His speech pauses, and his brows furrow. \"Methven - now what does that put me in mind of? Something to do with some missing kettle?\"

[Arabella(#19996)] \"I don\'t think anyone by the name of Methven has stolen a kettle,\" pipes up a cheerful, young female voice. It\'s a late night for Bella to be here, but she\'s been visiting with her sister, and somehow got talked into helping Hazel clean up the kitchen. The young woman tucks her long dark hair behind her ears and blinks at the hobbit. \"Isn\'t it a bit late for you to be here still?\" she wonders, grinning.

[Aphria(#17221)]

\"Yeah! That\'s me. I\'m the one who saw the thief running off.\" Aphria chimes brightly at her name being mentioned. \"Came right back here to tell everyone since I was just on break and getting some air then anyways. And I do, not a waitress though - I help clean and cook. But I can tell one, or just go get it meself.\" Then she smiles over towards her older sister. \"It\'s been so busy they needed my help. Or I\'d be in bed. Hopefully I\'ll get to sleep a bit later tomorrow before my shift.\" She says sheepishly.

\"I didn\'t say she stole it, Miss!\" the hobbit protests in Bella\'s direction, peering up at her. And I .. uh, I fell asleep.\" His cheeks are rosy from perhaps more than just the heat of the fire.

At Aphria\'s cheery explanation he blinks, then fires off a barrage of questions. \"You saw him? What did he look like? Was it a him or a her? You ought to watch out,\" he adds, \"or else you might get,\" he pauses for dramatic effect, \"framed. Like I was.\" Alas, he doesn\'t take the hint about the late hour. \"Could you ask them to get me a bowl of whatever\'s cooking, please?\" He slides forward on his stool to peer into his mug, and on seeing it\'s still half-full he takes a quick gulp, grimacing. \"Ugh. Mulled cider isn\'t as good when it\'s cold.\"

[Arabella(#19996)] \"You saw a theft? A thief?\" Bella asks, intrigued. She rubs a bit of flour off her nose and sniffs, then grins at the hobbit again. \"It\'s a good place to fall asleep! But who framed you?\" If there\'s one thing Bella loves, it\'s gossip, and the scent of it makes her sit up a little straighter, gives a brightness to her green-brown eyes. She eagerly waits to hear more of the story.

[Aphria(#17221)]

\"I did! Bella!\" She says before quickly saying \"I\'ll go get it.\" Rushing off to the back and returning without the bucket she had, and instead with the soup for the hobbit. Then she says, \"It was kinda hard. Was far away. Cloaked. I\'m not even sure of the age, was so quick, just saw it run around a corner.\" She sounds a bit sad and even ashamed about that fact.

Bella is not the only one who likes a good gossip. The hobbit, young Brandebras Bywater, grins at her. \"Well, it was like this ...\" The words drag out into silence, and it\'s not until Aphria returns that he continues. A storyteller always appreciates a good audience.

\"A few days before, Mrs Molly Kettleston had lost her best stewpot. Vanished in the night, she said. Then, one sunny morning, I woke up and - there it was! Right in the middle of my dining-room table. Well, I knew the right thing to do would be to take it back, but whenever people saw me with the pot they said /I\'d/ stolen it. Can you believe it!\" He rolls his eyes at the vagaries of gullible folk. \"I was put behind bars. Locked up in some dank dark cell!\" Never mind the fact that the Breeguard building is both light and airy, and even the infrequently used holding cells are comfortable. \"But when the Breeguard looked at my house, they found some footprints. A Big Person, with booted feet. So they let me go again.\" The words fade into silence - quite a long silence in fact - as the hobbit tests whether his stew has cooled enough to eat. It has.

[Arabella(#19996)] Bella is just the sort to be taken in by such a tale, so she\'s biting her fingernails and leaning against the bar for support as she listens. \"Dank and dark? Oh, was it horribly cold, too? Did they feed you stale bread?\" she wants to know immediately. \"Who could have done it? It couldn\'t have been Mrs Kettleston herself, could it? Aphria, what do you think?\" The dark-haired girl looks between the two, biting her lower lip as she puzzles it out.

[Aphria(#17221)]

\"I don\'t know!\" Aphria says, not sure just what is going on with this now. It\'s a genuine mystery, and her eyes are quite wide. \"That sounds really weird they\'d put it in your room too!\" She tries to say. Then she looks over towards Bella and wonders, \"Why does the thief steal kettles too? That doesn\'t make any sense. Or are kettles worth a lot?\"

\"We-e-ell.\" Brandebras hesitates it has clearly been impressed upon the young hobbit that one should always be truthful. \"The food wasn\'t that bad.\" In fact, the Breeguard\'s pantry stocks were considerably lower after his visit. The unkind whisper that that was the real reason for Brandebras\' release. \"And I don\'t know who did it. But have you seen Mrs Kettleston? She\'s fa- uh, she\'s very healthily built.\" His round face flames. \"So I don\'t think it could have been her. And it isn\'t just kettles.\" He looks earnestly at Aphria.

[Arabella(#19996)] Bella has obviously missed much, she guesses, as she looks between her sister and the young hobbit. \"Oh, -everyone- knows about Mrs. Kettleston,\" the girl replies cheerfully. \"But Aphria...when did you see this thief?\"

[Aphria(#17221)]

\"Really?\" Aphria\'s eyes remain wide at this. \"I didn\'t think there\'d be good food in a jail. Weren\'t you afraid? Those sound like they would be really really scary! Did you think they were going to \'ang you or something too. What do they even do to thiefs?\" She asks. \"I\'m really glad they didn\'t do whatever it is to you, since you didn\'t do it!\" Then she looks back to Bella again and says, \"Just after I got back from Archet. It was near Sarah Rootwhistle\'s place.

[Arabella(#19996)] Bells rises suddenly, announcing, \"It\'s well past my bedtime, and I won\'t take the road at night, not with a thief about!\" She exits the common room and sets about finding a room to sleep in tonight.

\"Hang me?\" Brandebras\' face goes quite pale, save for the reddish stains left by the soup in the vicinity of his chin. He seems to find it hard to swallow for a moment.

As Bella\'s questions bring forth more information, he fidgets, then pulls the crumpled piece of parchment back out of his pocket. \"I should make a note of this,\" he declares. Once the rest of the conversation has faded (and Arabella gone - he doesn\'t even seem to notice, so busy scribbling is he!), he tosses in some information of his own. \"It\'s not only kettles that have been stolen. I lost my special pen and ink-bottle that Torebras gave me. It turned up in the Pony weeks later! And I heard the Pony was missing a serving dish. Oh, and some lady said she\'d lost a brooch - it was never found though.\"

[Aphria(#17221)]

\"Is that what they do?\" Aphria asks, she sounds like she really has no clue at all what they do to thieves. \"Oh no. It was special to you? And a brooch? And Mrs. Rootwhistle\'s kettle was really special to her too!\" She exclaims as she connects all the dots together. \"Everything sounds like it was important and not valuable. That seems even more mean!\" She looks like he jaw is close to quivering.

Brandebras does not answer that first question. He sucks thoughtfully on the piece of charcoal he\'d been using to jot down information, not seeming to notice its taste. \"Important but not valuable,\" he repeats, admiringly. \"I hadn\'t thought of that.

After a moment he goes on, \"Someone really ought to catch that thief. We can\'t have folk\'s property disappearing and reappearing. It\'s just not .. right. Maybe if you- if someone had something important and valuable it could be used as bait.\" His cheeks redden at the slip.

It\'s getting late now, though, and the soup is all gone. Brandebras stifles a yawn, then rummages in his purse for a few coins and lays them prominently on the table. It would never do to become known as the Soup Thief, too!

[Aphria(#17221)]

\"I.. I might have the little scarf my mom got me for my last birthday. It\'s not big, but it\'s silk and the only time I\'ve ever owned silk and probably be the only silk I\'ll ever own.\" Aphria says, her eyes barely seeming to blink they are so wide with her being just a bit overlwy excited about this entire situation, even if it is a scared sort of excitement. Then she smiles and says, \"Nice to meet you too!\" She adds.

Brandebras listens to Aphria\'s suggestion and nods. \"That would be perfect!\" he agrees, sliding down from his stool to the floor ready to leave. Only then does something occur to him, and he halts, stock-still. \"But ...\" he says slowly, blinking, \"but ... wouldn\'t you mind? What if ..\" The various what-ifs turn over slowly within his curly head. \"What if he gets away? The thief, that is.\"

[Aphria(#17221)]

\"I.. I don\'t know.\" Aphria says, suddenly looking much more sad. \"But if it lets everyone catch the thief, that\'d be good and help everyone.\" She squirms around, seeming really worried as she stands there, but then can\'t stifle a powerful yawn. \"It\'s so late.\" She says. \"Have a safe trip home!\"

Aphria\'s yawn is mirrored by the one Brandebras raises his hand to smother. \"I will! Goodnight, Miss Methven.\" He bobs politely to the girl and trots over to the coatstand to collect his belongings (coat, hat and muffler, the latter a rather garish yellow with red spots). Then, still bundling himself into his outdoor gear, he steps through the door and is gone.