Polleekin walked out of her tree when she saw him. At first she thought she was hallucinating, as some old creatures do. She blinked. He was still there. When she had finally come to terms with the fact that he was there, she heard her old friend Gonff calling up to her:
"Hey, Polleekin! How are things in this neck of the woods?"
She was still too stunned to answer. She almost flinched when she saw his eyes, for those stormy grey eyes held too much pain for one ordinary mouse to bear. No, Martin was not an ordinary mouse, but she could tell when a mouse was stretched to the limit. She came down from her tree and saw Gonff talking all about her to Martin.
"She makes the best food and unfortunately is in the bad habit of throwing it at travelers, but it's still pretty good!"
"But oi ain' throwin' moi gurt beakers 'round, bo hurr no!" Polleekin said back with a twinkle in her eye.
"Well I'd imagine not, otherwise we'd have been knocked unconscious by now." Martin said, chuckling.
By this point, Polleekin was extremely confused. Why did Martin act like he didn't know her? Finally, she settled on the idea that he didn't want Gonff to know about his old life. Of course, she invited them in, as any good host should, but she would steal a glance or two at Martin whenever she could. She felt almost maternal to the orphans of the area, no matter how old they were, and that included both of her visitors. Polleekin knew that Gonff had the Stickles' to take care of him, but whenever the mousethief visited her, she would ask after Martin.
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"This is a nice place you've got here. It looks almost familiarā¦." Martin said curiously.
Gonff wondered what that meant. Had he passed here on his way down from the northlands? No one would be surprised at that, considering all the weird looks he'd been getting from Polleekin. Gonff figured that the old mole just wanted to get a good look at THE Martin the Warrior. Satisfied at that, he continued the conversation.
"So, Polleekin, I was wondering if Martin and I could maybe stay here for a few days, you know, help him get away from the warrior life over at Redwall, aye? It's been very stressful lately with the usual hot and dry summers, and Martin over here is in charge of defense. We're still not even half-built yet, so vermin see us as an easy target for food and supplies. He leads in battle, but the vermin don't know his name until he starts swinging! There hasn't been one vermin since Tsarmina-"
Gonff felt Martin tense at the name.
"-Who ever even touched the threshold of Redwall with him attacking!"
Gonff used this opportunity to throw out every type of praise he'd thought of since Martin started getting depressed. He would have said more, but Polleekin interrupted.
"Well, oi've got some gurt beds that stay open fur travelers, but how long would you stay ho urr?
Polleekin was having Noonvalers over in a day or two, and she would like to have only Martin there to meet them.
"Well, I would stay for a day or two, and then leave Martin here a little longer-"
Polleekin was overjoyed,"Whoi sure!"
"That's that then, I supposeā¦"
It was night out already,"Maybe you two gurt travelers better see whurr the bed are," Polleekin said.
"Sure!" Gonff and Martin answered in unison.
