In search of the past: Will work for food

Bree Market - South

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.

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

Real time: Tue Jun 02 16:36:35 2009

Bree time: Early Morning <08> on Hevensday of Winter - February 2,1447

Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous Moon

Breelands Weather

The early morning winter air is cold and dry around you. The murky sky is overcast and dreary.

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[Narthalion(#31143)]

It\'s not so much snow as mud. In fact, some might swear that it were mud falling from the skies and not snow at all, and judging by the quantities of the stuff squishing about the streets they may be right. Doors are opening, closing, squeaking, shutters being thrown open, g\'mornings called out and returned. Bree\'s market prepares for another day.

One of the baker\'s shops has its door thrown open, and out bundles a woman of middling years, wearing a skirt down to her ankles, a linen blouse too light for the weather, and a rather thin shawl. She\'s spindly, but her fly-away, flame-red hair and high complexion somehow keep her from appearing weak. A broom is in her hand, and she begins to sweep the mud (and snow, it must be admitted) from the stoop.

[Narthalion(#31143)]

She\'s well known in Bree, of course, Mattie Baker, the cheerful, herb-dabbling wife of Eric Baker, occupation (unsurprisingly) baker.

The swarthy-skinned fellow in the worn dun cloak seems to be trying to buy something from one of the little carts that\'s setting up nearby - at least, he\'s currently inspecting a wizened apple. His hood has fallen back, and dark curls bob round his face as he shakes his head at the vendor, snorting. \"How much? Back home I could buy a whole barrel of apples for that price. And look at the wormholes - I\'ll wager these are half-rotten.\"

As a waft of fragrant air from the bakery drifts his way, he turns his head and the glint of red hair catches his eye. He breaks off his words to peer more closely ... then shrugs and sighs.

[Nob(#16122)] A thin quiet boy comes out of a shop down the road, he pauses on the doorstep and looks around, and when his eyes land on the man arguing about apples, a tiny smile appears on his face, and as swiftly disappears. He comes down the street towards Brev, but the bakery is on his way, and he stops in front of it to breathe in deeply. \"Smells good,\" he says to the lady sweeping.

[Narthalion(#31143)]

Mattie is half-watching the man - haggle? - and partly attending to her sweeping. When at last the stoop is as clean as can be hoped, she nestles her broom against a boot and leans on the handle. \"Aye, it does, lad. Which Mr. Baker\'s just taken out the buns. Raisin and apple, to keep you warm an\' happy on a morning like this here. Have you broken yer fast, child?\"

All this while she keeps a lingering blue eye upon the stranger, sharp, like a hawk that\'s spied a mouse. She\'s only just finished questioning the boy when she turns to call into the house over her shoulder, \"Bring me some of them fresh buns will ye, love?\"

The apple-seller, a sturdy Combe farmwife, tosses back some retort about this being Bree, and folk being decent round here - \".. and these are the finest apples in town, I\'ll have you know! If you don\'t like it you can stop fingering it, young man.\"

The fellow with the dark curls, his attention already more than half elsewhere, shrugs and drops the apple back in the barrel without really looking before wandering toward the bakery. \"It does,\" he echoes the boy\'s comment, but at Mattie\'s actions the corners of his mouth twitch. He looks away a moment, and when he turns back it is to ask her only, \"You sell journey-bread?\" Maybe he has no appreciation for fine foods.

[Nob(#16122)] Gidon says nothing at all, but his face brightens - and then turns flaming red as his stomach rumbles audibly. He looks down at the muddy-snowy street, and his own feet in patched boots, and his ears slowly turn red also.

[Narthalion(#31143)]

\"That\'d be a no, then,\" Mattie answers matter-of-factly. She turns about, setting the broom against the side of the shop, holding a hand out expectantly for the buns. None appear, and with a distracted mutter she disappears into the house.

She\'s gone but an instant, returning with a small tray filled with steaming buns, lightly glazed with honey. This she rests upon her hip, using her free hand to re-arrange a cloth to cover her morning\'s labour. A slight sway of her hips ensures that the heady aroma wafts down to Gidon. \"Journey-bread? I sell bread, of all types, though I ain\'t never heard of what you might call journey bread. What\'ll it be like, then?\"

The stranger, Brev, eyes young Gidon\'s reddened ears and downturned head, and frowns. As Mattie turns away he leans toward the boy, and murmurs, \"You don\'t have-?\" The question breaks off as the baker-woman reappears. \"Good of you to offer the lad there a taste,\" he says innocently aloud, before answering her question by pulling a face. \"Dry. Hard. Not so different from old leather. But it packs well and doesn\'t go mouldy.\"

For some reason, he seems to be uncomfortable looking at Mattie directly - every time his gaze slides her way, a frown tugs at his features.

[Nob(#16122)] Gidon shakes his head at Brev\'s half-question. \"Wouldn\'t buy my furs,\" he tells the man, shrugging the shoulder that carries a plump sack. As the lady returns, and the smell comes even stronger, his belly growls again, and he swallows before saying, \"I\'m sorry, Missus, I haven\'t any...\" Brev\'s \'suggestion\' halts his voice, and he looks up hopefully.

[Narthalion(#31143)]

\"Aye,\" Mattie replies to Brev\'s hinting, glancing at him with open suspicion\"Not in the way of wanting a young man to starve,\" she says, her words sounding sincere in spite of the unwelcome suggestion prompting them. Deft fingers nip a bun out from under the cloth. She bends down from the stoop, passing it off to Nob with a wink.

\"Matter of fact,\" she speaks to Brev again, her face regaining its suspicion as she looks at him, \"I bought something right strange not a week gone. Dwarves passing through, traded it for sommat fresh and hot. Worthless, thought I, hard like a rock. I had a nibble on a corner - not what you might call tasty, neither. But if you\'re wanting it...\" She half-turns toward the door, awaiting a sign from Brev as to whether or no the curious stuff should be fetched.

Brev\'s amused gaze rests on Mattie\'s bent form as she passes the bun to Gidon, though when she straightens his features give a sudden twitch, and he is slow to hide the distaste writ there. His voice, though, is kept carefully even. \"Sure - I\'ll take a look, see if it\'s the same stuff,\" he responds as she starts to head back in to the shop.

Nearby, the apple-seller picks up the discarded apple and wipes it carefully off, sending a few dark glances in Brev\'s direction and muttering under her breath all the while.

[Nob(#16122)] Gidon smiles. On his usually solemn face, it is something of a revelation. \"Thank you,\" he says politely, taking the bun and disposing of it in about 2 bites. \"It\'s very good,\" he adds. He trails curiously after Brev and the woman.

Brev does not actually enter the shop - seems he\'s expecting the baker-woman to bring her goods back out. Her early-morning regulars might have other ideas, of course.

After some pointed glares from a fat red-faced farmer and a near-collision with a trembling hobbit-lass, he moves out of the doorway and off to one side. \"Friendly place, isn\'t it?\" he remarks drily to Gidon. And then, after a glance over his shoulder to make sure the apple-cart can\'t be seen from here, he reaches into his cloak and holds out something. \"Here. Want an apple?\"

[Nob(#16122)] Gidon takes it, unsuspectingly. Of course it has been bought, and properly paid for. \"Thanks,\" he says, mouth half-full of apple.

Brev is not about to enlighten Gidon as to whether his assumptions are right. He watches the apple\'s rapid disappearance, chuckling, then grows serious again. \"You\'ve not been selling much this winter, have you?\" He glances at the threadbare boots.

[Nob(#16122)] Gidon freezes, looking up warily, but then he relaxes a bit and nods. \"No,\" he says. \"Did fair all right last fall though. I know all th\'herbs folks want, out in th\'swamps.\"

\"You do, now?\" Brev\'s gaze is suddenly alert. \"That\'s handy to know. If the lands east are as bad as folk say, we might need them.\" He pauses then, and shakes his head. \"But you need to learn to look out for yourself more. Nothing comes for free.\"

He snorts suddenly. \"I\'m hardly the one to talk. Reckon that innkeeper fellow needs any carpentry work done? Coin won\'t last forever... hmm. We never did discuss a fee for your guiding, did we?\"

[Nob(#16122)] Gidon swallows the last of the apple, tidily eats the core and spits out the seeds into his palm, stowing them into a pocket. \"Might,\" he says. \"Mister Nob? He bought some of my stuff. Nice fellow.\" Then he goes still again, and looks up. \"No,\" he says slowly. Hope lights his face apparently, he hasn\'t been sure if Brev really wanted him or not.

Brev eyes the pocketing of the seeds. \"Growing an orchard? Kiern, you\'re one for doing things the hard way.\" He shakes his head again, but his tone is light.

At Gidon\'s betraying smile he grins suddenly. \"And what exactly were you thinking of?\"

[Nob(#16122)] \"Food,\" Gidon says promptly, \"And any furs we find.\" That, apparently, is the sum total of his idea of riches. His smile widens a bit in response to the man\'s, but then fades away. But not as if he is unhappy - more as if he is not accustomed to smiling often, and his face is more comfortable without.

Brev breaks out in a sudden bark of laughter at Gidon\'s words. \"And I\'m supposed to say \'You can only have half of that\' so that we can bargain? Kiern, I\'d hardly see you starve.\"

He hesitates a moment as though weighing the boy up, then shrugs. \"Done. I\'d hardly want the bother of curing the pelts, anyway.\"

The pair are now standing at the side ofhte bakery, and - coincidentally or not - just out of sight of the apple-cart.

[Nob(#16122)] Gidon\'s smile flashes out again, swift and sunny, and banishing the bit of perplexity that had come at Brev\'s laughter.. \"Done,\" he says, and spits in his palm, holding it out.

Brev mirrors Gidon\'s action, and the bargain is sealed. Then, with a glance round at the marketplace, which is rapidly becoming busy despite the mud underfoot, he mutters, \"Suppose I\'d better go and see where that woman selling the bread has got to.\" He wanders off, adding as he goes, \"I\'m half-minded not to wait - not sure I\'d trust anything from a half-Forgoil.\" Then he rounds a corner and is out of the boy\'s view.