Chapter II: Bree

I recall little after that, as I fell into a deep sleep and slept better than I had slept since my friends' departure. Perhaps it was the rhythmic trotting of Arauka's hoofs on the soft, damp sod, or perhaps something inside of me told me that I wouldn't have the opportunity to sleep so well for a long time.

My sleep was interrupted by a terrible dream. At first I saw my four friends. They were with a stranger, a man. The five were walking in a strange wood. The man was leading the way. He was tall and wore a grey cloak. Behind him was Frodo. He looked sad and lost and walked hunched over. Next was Sam. Sam looked worried and carried a blade with him. At the end of the line were Merry and Pippin. Both also carried blades and they, too, looked afraid. I then saw a dark cloud looming over the five. Finally there came a shrill, bone-chilling shriek. With this, I was awoken and quite startled.

"Good morning, my dear Laurelin," my companion spoke, smiling, "although it is not quite morning. The day is almost at an end. I've never seen any creature sleep so long."

"It was well needed indeed," I replied. "Where are we anyway, I've never seen these parts?"

"We're just outside of the town of Bree. I can see the gates just ahead." She put her hand to her brow and squinted her eyes.

I looked in the distance as well, but I saw nothing. "I'll just have to trust you I suppose."

The elf smiled and pulled on Arauka's reigns and we continued to ride. Throughout our riding, Ali continued to tell me stories of her adventure thus far. Though I could see that she was leaving out much.

By the time the sun was nearly set on our second day of traveling, we had reached the gates of Bree. Ali knocked on them twice. The gatekeeper opened a small latch.

"Who-, who is it?" He asked. He was a short, stalky man, and was completely bald save a ring of dark hair from his ears going around his head. He wore a brown cloak and had a nervous look on his face.

"Just some weary travelers," Tinalion replied. "I wish to speak with someone."

The gatekeeper looked at us suspiciously. "With whom?" he asked, his eyes squinted and glaring.

"That business is my own," Ali answered.

"Then you will have to conduct it outside of these gates. No more strange wanderers. Especially none of those halflings." His stare turned towards me. "They have brought nothing but trouble to these parts. Strange sounds heard in the night, people claiming to have seen black riders, and some say that even old Bill Ferny's been acting strangely."

"Wait," I spoke nervously, "There have been other hobbits here?"

He didn't answer, but simply continued, "Anyway, as I was saying, we don't want no more trouble here, we've had our fair share, so until you wish to share your business with me, NO VISITORS!" He slammed the tiny door shut. I looked to my companion who now seemed angry. She knocked on the gate again, this time louder than before. The gatekeeper again opened his tiny hatch.

"I told you," he said, "No-"

"Listen to me sir," Ali spoke with a demanding tone. She then spoke words to the man which were too quiet for me to hear. I could only see the change on the gatekeeper's face.

"So I see, well then," he said, "by all means, friends." He laughed nervously and then opened the gate slightly, just enough to let us through. He gave me a strange look as I passed, almost as if he were frightened by me.

"Funny," I thought, "that a man as large as he should be afraid of a small hobbit like me." I smiled at the thought and stood as tall as I could as I walked by.

Once we had passed through the gates, the man stuck his head outside of them and looked around anxiously. He then slammed them shut and returned to his post.

"Now remember," he said, "there have been strange happenings. Be careful whom you speak with. We don't want no more trouble."

Tinalion nodded. I saw again the grave look on her face. She seemed determined and worried as we walked into the town. It wasn't until now, as everyone we passed gave us strange looks, that I realized how odd we must have looked: "A tall, beautiful elf and little old me," I thought, "wandering aimlessly, lost in a strange land." Little did I know then that we were wandering, but we were far from being lost.

* * *

At length we came to a sign which read The Prancing Pony Inn. "Oh, how I'd love to stop in for a cool draught," I thought. I turned to ask Ali if we could make a quick stop, but she looked far too distraught, so we walked on in silence. Tinalion seemed to know exactly where she was going.

Finally we came to a large house. It looked to me as if it were five stories high. "One could fit three hobbit families in such a place," I thought. After examining the windows, I figured the house was probably only two stories high. From the best I could see in the dark, the house was grey. Surrounding it was a tall fence, and on either side were two smaller houses, both also grey. A little dirt path led up to some stone steps, which in turn led up to a tall wooden door. All of the windows were dark, save one. The room that I could see through the first floor window was lit by a single flame set on a table. I could make out the shadow of a tall, unmoving man. He was sitting in a chair, smoking a long pipe with a mug in his hand. I wondered who he was, why he was there.

"Come," Tinalion interrupted my thoughts.

"Who is he, Ali?" I asked, but there came no response. Ali walked quickly up the path and up the little stairs to the door. Without hesitation, she knocked on it loudly and stood tall, waiting. Through the window, I saw the shadow of the man stand up and leave the room. I heard footsteps and soon the door opened.

There stood a tall man, cloaked in brown. He had to be at least the size of two child hobbits. His hair was dark and long and he had a short, stubbly beard. His eyes were brown and looked forlorn.

The man stood and stared at us for a moment. He looked confused, as anyone would be if an elf showed up with a hobbit at their door in the middle of the night. After looking us over, he finally spoke, "Yes, what is your business?"

Tinalion looked surprised. "It has been a while, Darion, but do not tell me that you have forgotten already."

The man squinted. "Could-, could it be? From so many years ago?" He looked shocked. "Why are you in these parts, old friend? And with quite the companion as well. One of your halfling friends out of the Shire, I suppose."

"Indeed. Darion this is Laurelin Brandybuck."

"Greetings Laurelin."

"Que Undomel, Darion." I spoke in the little elvish I could remember. Darion seemed to be amused by my speech.

"Speak no secrets, Tinalion, for a master in the elvish tongue is among us!"

Ali replied in beautifully spoken elvish and Darion answered, "I see. Well then, do come in."

Ali and I walked through the door and into a long hallway. The entire house was dark and the floors creaked with every step. I looked around in awe of such a strange residence. The man led us down the hall and to a room, in which a fire was lit. Around it sat two wooden chairs and a small stool. Darion and Tinalion both took a seat in a chair and I made myself as comfortable as I could atop the stool. I sat there, baffled, my feet dangling above the floor.

Ali finally began to speak with the man. I could not follow the conversation as the two were speaking in a tongue which I soon deduced to be elvish. Every now and then, Darion would look to me and then quickly turn back to Tinalion. I did my best to try and pick out any words of elvish that I knew. I heard few, but using what I could hear and my hobbit sense, I decided that Darion must have been a member of the Dunedain, or "rangers" as some had called them. I recalled stores that I had heard home in the Shire. I tried to remember the name, Darion, but nothing came back to me. Then, the mood of their conversation shifted and they spoke with a more pressing and fearful tone. I heard the words "huine", which means darkness, and "amarth", which means doom.

Now, such words have a tendency to make a hobbit very nervous as it is. None the less when that very hobbit's traveling companion is the one speaking the words. I didn't like adventure as it was, when I knew where I was going. "What have you gotten yourself into, Laurelin Brandybuck?" I thought, "in the middle of nowhere with no supplies." I got a bad feeling in the pit of my little stomach. "Probably just hungry," I thought. I hadn't eaten since I woke up, and even then I ate very little, as I didn't bring much in my pack. "It's your own fault," I thought, "if you didn't go about eating all your supplies yesterday, maybe you would have some bread, or some nice, fresh mushrooms to have for supper, and dinner too." My mouth watered.

As important as Ali and Darion's conversation seemed, I could not stop thinking about my stomach. "At the rate they're going, they won't be done talking until tomorrow morning at the earliest." I tried to get their attention by clearing my throat.

"Ahem," I said. No response. "Ah-AhEM," I tried again, louder this time, but still no reaction. "AH, AH-" and with that the stool began to wobble and I fell right off of it and onto the floor. Tinalion looked at me and smiled. Darion let out a short "Hah" and then said, "I'm terribly sorry, little one, I probably should have told you that that old stool was broken. Perhaps if you didn't go about wiggling so and making all that noise."

I felt my face blush and I crawled back to my seat.

"I am sorry, Laurelin," Tinalion said, "I forgot, this must not be too exciting for you, is it?"

"No, Ali, begging your pardon, but it's not. I suppose one would be much happier if one could have a little snack." I smiled. "After all, one hasn't eaten in quite a while and one has nothing left in her pack."

"Well then, you may go out to Arauka if you wish. I have some lembas in the front pocket of my pack, but do not eat too much I only have a little left. And mind you, Laurelin, do not go anywhere but to Arauka. You heard the gatekeeper, and I'm afraid that the news I'm hearing now does not make me much more hopeful." I could see that she was serious.

"I won't go nowhere else, promise," I said.

Tinalion and Darion returned to their conversation and I went down the hallway and out of the front door. Arauka was tied up to a post right outside of the door, waiting patiently.

"Well, hello there Arauka, such a nice beast," I said nervously. I was still very much afraid of the huge beast. I'd much prefer to be with my pony, Perry, back in the Shire. But now, as I looked up at Arauka I saw that she was a beautiful horse. She was black, but every now and then her coat would shine silver in the moonlight. She breathed heavily and looked around. She seemed nervous. I reached up as high as I could petted her soft coat. "Well then," I said, "you're not so scary." I reached up and hopped until I could grab hold of Ali's pack. I reached into the front pocket and pulled out a handful of O-shaped grains. "Is this lembas?" I asked the horse. Of course I got no reply, so I shrugged and took a bite. "ICK!" I shouted and spat them on the ground. "Some help you are," I said to Arauka. "You could have told me that was your food. I knew I should never trust a horse."

I reached in again and this time I found a wafer type object wrapped in a leaf. I opened it and smelled what was inside. "Smells decent," I thought. I ate the whole wafer in less than half a minute. "Well," I thought, "it's not much for the stomach, but it'll have to do."

I looked around. Everything was quiet. "Trouble?" I thought, "Doesn't seem to be any trouble here." My throat felt dry and I still had the taste of oats in my mouth, though I had spat out all that I could. "Oh how'd I love something cool to wash that lembas down with. A cool ale would do quite nicely. Ali wouldn't notice if I ran quickly into an inn and picked one up. I won't cause any trouble, and I won't go looking for any neither." I looked down the road and saw that there was an inn about three houses down. I walked down the path from Darion's house to the fence.

Suddenly, I stopped dead in my tracks. I felt as if someone was watching me. "Don't be silly, Laurelin, there's no one there. You're simply letting that gatekeeper's crazy tales about 'trouble' get to you. But perhaps you should have a look, just to be sure." I turned around slowly and saw about twenty paces back a tall shadow. I stood there, staring. The man stood next to a window of Darion's house. I could tell that he had been peering into it, watching everything that had happened. "He probably saw you eat those oats, too." I thought. The man began to approach me. I backed up, slowly. "Who-, who's there?" I asked.

He began walking faster and faster. Just then, Tinalion burst out of the front door. She looked over to the man. I saw the shadow's head turn to her and the man ran quickly away in the other direction. Ali came up to me. "Where were you going?" She asked.

"I wasn't going nowhere, I swear. I just thought that maybe I heard a noise out here beyond the fence. I thought maybe I should see what it was." I could tell that the elf knew what I was really up to, but she didn't want to make any trouble with me.

"Who was that?" I asked her.

"No one you need to worry about, Laurelin. His name is Bill, Bill Ferny. But you need not let him or anything that's happened here bother you."

It was then that Darion came out of the door. Tinalion looked at him. "We must be leaving now," she spoke to him, "Thank you for everything that you have done." They again exchanged some words in elvish.

"Namarie," Darion spoke to Ali. He then turned to me. "And you, my hobbit friend, farewell. I'll fix the stool for next time you come." I smiled.

"And I can get some more pole for you too." Ali added looking up from her pack. I blushed and smiled.

"Farewell," Darion spoke.

"Namarie," I said, feeling proud for the use of my elvish. And with that, we left Darion's house and again set out on the road.