***
After a hot supper - that Kathryn welcomed as a feast after the scant forages she had lived on over the past months - Kathryn asked Barliman where the parlour was. The fat innkeeper looked at her sceptically, and told her reluctantly, though made sure he followed her.
"I need a word with Mr Underhill myself." He remarked as he trotted along the corridor. "I'll pop in a little later, so mind yourself." Leaving her at the door, he pottered off to attend to some other business, yelling 'Hi! Nob! You woolly-footed slowcoach.' The rest of his words were lost. Shaking her head, Kathryn opened the door.
"Hallo!" said the hobbit that had been introduced as Pippin Took. "Who are you, and what do you want?"
Mr Baggins quickly explained, "She's a friend, she's the one that got me out of that business with the." he coughed and was interrupted.
"She?" Sam Gamgee asked, peering into her hood, "Why, begging your pardon, lady! So you are!" Then he blushed, and mumbled an apology.
Kathryn smiled, "Don't worry Mr Gamgee you're not the first one to make that mistake, nor probably the last. Your friend here promised me a word. And a name." She looked at the mysterious Mr Baggins.
He gulped. "My apologies for my rudeness. You may understand later the cause for it. I am Frodo Baggins; this is Peregrin Took and Sam Gamgee. My other companion is Meriadoc Brandybuck, but he's outside taking a breath of fresh air."
The three hobbits smiled innocently, and she was reminded of children, trustfully looking up to their mother. Her deed in the common room seemed to have won their respect and trust. "You were far too careless earlier." She warned. "Be on your guard. The Enemy has many spies, not only things of horror. He can corrupt the weak minded too. I may have prevented the whole town talking of your little prank-"
"It was sheer accident!" interrupted the blue-eyed hobbit.
"Accident, then, but I wonder." She paused, pondering his words. "But the damage has been done, three people left that room with that 'accident' firm in their minds. The gatekeeper, Harry; Bill Ferny, who is known for his willingness to cause the slight bit of mischief - though this will be more than slight, I fear - and his friend, a southerner, who is likely to be up to as little good."
"What does my accident have to do with them?" the hobbit asked.
"News of you would appeal to certain people." She leaned towards him and spoke slowly. "Watch every shadow. Black horsemen have left the Shire and are roaming the countryside around Bree."
"They have passed through Bree." A soft voice spoke from a chair near the door. Kathryn and the hobbits turned. It was Strider. He continued. "On Monday one came down the Greenway, they say; and another appeared later, coming up the Greenway from the south."
There was silence. At last Frodo spoke to Pippin and Sam, "This is Strider, I also promised him a talk."
Sam grumbled, "I hope you haven't invited anyone else, or else this will turn into an unwanted party, Mr Frodo! We hardly need more attention."
Frodo ignored him, "I ought to have guessed it form the way the gatekeeper greeted us. And the landlord seems to have heard something. Why did he press us to join the company? And why on earth did we behave so foolishly - we should have stayed quiet in here."
"It would have been better," said Strider. "I would have stopped your going into the common room, if I could; but the innkeeper and your friend," he glared again at Kathryn. "would not let me see you, or take a message."
Frodo edged slightly away from both Strider and Kathryn. "Do you think -" he began.
"No." Strider replied, though still looking doubtfully at Kathryn.
Kathryn interrupted him. "I don't think any harm of old Butterbur. Only he does not altogether like Rangers like us especially mysterious vagabonds of his sort." Frodo gave her a puzzled look.
Strider allowed himself a slight smile. "Well, I do have a rather rascally look, do I not?" he said throwing back his hood, with a curl of his lip and a queer gleam in his eye. "I hope we shall get to know one another better. Especially you, master Fleetfoot." He looked at Kathryn.
Kathryn was silent. She could only look desperately at Strider, a man she had not seen in years. Pippin cut through the tense silence. "Hi! Strider or whatever your name is. This here is a lady and you should treat her with some proper respect! She's done far more than you to prove her intent."
"Well now!" Strider laughed. "So who is this mysterious lady?" He got up and walked towards her.
"No, Strider, you don't want to." The words were only a feeble whisper as she shrank away from him into her cloak. Strider pulled back her hood and stopped dead. Kathryn closed her eyes. She felt the hobbits back away, sensing this was not a moment to disturb.
When she opened her eyes again, he was still there, now looking into her eyes. Anger, joy, fear and relief all played across his face like flames. "Kathryn?" He spoke softly, not wanting to destroy the vision in front of him that he had hoped for, for so long.
"Estel." Kathryn rose from her seat and slowly started towards him. But a change overcame him and he pushed her away, sitting down once again in the seat by the door, propping his boots up on the table and biting his long- stemmed pipe.
Frodo stepped forward, wonder filling his eyes. "What do you want, Strider?" he whispered, bravely putting himself between him and Kathryn. Then he spoke stronger, "You said I might hear something to my advantage, I believe. What have you to say?"
"Several things," Estel answered. "But, of course, I have my price."
"What do you mean?" Kathryn asked sharply. Estel frowned at her then turned back to Frodo who was frowning himself, but at Estel. "Don't be alarmed! I mean just this: I will tell you what I know, and give you some good advice - but I shall want a reward."
"And what is that?" said Frodo. Kathryn could not believe Estel was asking for a reward for helping and scowled.
"No more than you can afford," he answered with a slow smile, as if he guessed Kathryn's thoughts. "Just this: you must take me along with you, until I wish to leave you."
"Oh, indeed!" replied Frodo, sounding as surprised as Kathryn was. "I seem to have a worthy companion here already, and one I know I can trust. Even if I wanted you with me, I should not agree to any such thing, until I knew a good deal more about you and your business."
"Excellent!" exclaimed Estel, crossing his legs and sitting back comfortably. "You seem to be coming to your sense again, and that is good. You have been much too careless so far."
"Why do people keep on saying that?" Pippin muttered.
"With that foolish joke in the common room."
Kathryn butted in, "He says it was an accident."
"Accident, prank - it has done the damage. Worse than anything your friends could have said, you really put your foot in it. Or should I say you finger?" That odd remark seemed to startle Frodo even more.
"I.I don't know what you mean." He said shakily. Kathryn raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yes you do." He stared long at Frodo, who seemed to shrink under his gaze. "Very well! I will tell you about myself and leave the reward up to you. You may be glad to grant it when you have heard me."
"Go on then!" piped up Sam. "What do you know?"
"Too much; too many dark things," He said grimly. "But as for your business." He got up and went to the door, opening it quickly and looking out. Then he sat down again. "I have quick ears," he went on, lowering his voice, "and though I cannot disappear unlike some."
"Oh leave it!" Kathryn snapped.
".I can be avoid being seen if I wish. I was behind the bushes at the side of the road and heard you warn your friends to forget the name Baggins. But I have been looking for you for some time. Listen! News of your 'accident' will be extremely interesting to some ears. After that they will hardly need your real name. It seems to me only too likely that they will hear of it before the night is over. Is that enough? Your enemies will swiftly be on your heels. You can do as you like about my reward: take me as a guide or not. But I may say I know all the lands between the Shire and the Misty Mountains, for I have wandered over them for many years." He stole a quick look at Kathryn. "I am older than I look. I might prove useful."
"As might I." Kathryn interposed, "I know a lot of this land too."
"You may escape Bree, and be allowed to travel while the Sun is up, but you will not go far. They will come on you in the wild, in some dark place where there is no help. Do you wish them to find you?"
"Ai! They are terrible!" Kathryn cried, and remembered pain caught her gaze, guiding it back to painful memories of her short but near deadly encounter with them on the road north. She snapped out of it and looked over at Estel. His face was drawn in pain, his hands clenching the arms of his chair. The light seemed to have grown dim.
Kathryn looked again to the hobbits. "There! Perhaps we know more of the pursuers than you do. You are frightened."
Estel woke from his nightmares. "But you're not nearly frightened enough. We know what hunts you. Strider can take you by paths that are seldom trodden. Will you have him?"
"Will you have me?" Kathryn asked.
Frodo looked between the two, making no answer. Sam frowned, and looked down at his master, then at last broke out. "With your leave, Mr Frodo I'd say no to this Strider here. He warns and says take care and I say yes to that, and let's begin with him. He comes out of the Wild, and I never heard no good of such folk. He knows something, that's plain, and more than I like; but it's no reason why we should let him go leading us out into some dark place far from help, as he puts it. This lady here, she has already helped us, and says she knows the wild - why not take her, as we know she's trustworthy."
The lady in question smiled, but then said persuasively. "I will admit, Frodo, that the bigger the company the better. I may be able to hold off perhaps three Black Riders with luck, but Strider with us too would be much safer. I used to know him."
Pippin fidgeted and looked uncomfortable. Strider did not reply to either Sam or Kathryn, but a little thankful smile crept into the corner of his mouth. He looked with his keen eyes on Frodo. Frodo caught his glance and looked away. "Yes," he said slowly, "I agree with you Fleetfoot. I think, I think you, Strider, are not really as you choose to look. Still Sam seems right in this: I don't see why you should warn us to take care, and yet ask us to take you on trust. Why the disguise? Who are you? What do you really know about - about my business; and how do you know it."
Both Rangers smiled grim smiles. "The lesson in caution has been well learnt." Said Strider.
"But you could ask the same questions of me Frodo." Kathryn told him. "Caution is one thing and wavering is another. You will never get to Rivendell on your own. Even with me it will be a journey of greatest peril."
"To trust is your only chance." Strider said. "You must make up your mind. I will answer some of your questions, if that will you to do so. But why should you believe my story if you don not trust me already? Still, here it is."
After a hot supper - that Kathryn welcomed as a feast after the scant forages she had lived on over the past months - Kathryn asked Barliman where the parlour was. The fat innkeeper looked at her sceptically, and told her reluctantly, though made sure he followed her.
"I need a word with Mr Underhill myself." He remarked as he trotted along the corridor. "I'll pop in a little later, so mind yourself." Leaving her at the door, he pottered off to attend to some other business, yelling 'Hi! Nob! You woolly-footed slowcoach.' The rest of his words were lost. Shaking her head, Kathryn opened the door.
"Hallo!" said the hobbit that had been introduced as Pippin Took. "Who are you, and what do you want?"
Mr Baggins quickly explained, "She's a friend, she's the one that got me out of that business with the." he coughed and was interrupted.
"She?" Sam Gamgee asked, peering into her hood, "Why, begging your pardon, lady! So you are!" Then he blushed, and mumbled an apology.
Kathryn smiled, "Don't worry Mr Gamgee you're not the first one to make that mistake, nor probably the last. Your friend here promised me a word. And a name." She looked at the mysterious Mr Baggins.
He gulped. "My apologies for my rudeness. You may understand later the cause for it. I am Frodo Baggins; this is Peregrin Took and Sam Gamgee. My other companion is Meriadoc Brandybuck, but he's outside taking a breath of fresh air."
The three hobbits smiled innocently, and she was reminded of children, trustfully looking up to their mother. Her deed in the common room seemed to have won their respect and trust. "You were far too careless earlier." She warned. "Be on your guard. The Enemy has many spies, not only things of horror. He can corrupt the weak minded too. I may have prevented the whole town talking of your little prank-"
"It was sheer accident!" interrupted the blue-eyed hobbit.
"Accident, then, but I wonder." She paused, pondering his words. "But the damage has been done, three people left that room with that 'accident' firm in their minds. The gatekeeper, Harry; Bill Ferny, who is known for his willingness to cause the slight bit of mischief - though this will be more than slight, I fear - and his friend, a southerner, who is likely to be up to as little good."
"What does my accident have to do with them?" the hobbit asked.
"News of you would appeal to certain people." She leaned towards him and spoke slowly. "Watch every shadow. Black horsemen have left the Shire and are roaming the countryside around Bree."
"They have passed through Bree." A soft voice spoke from a chair near the door. Kathryn and the hobbits turned. It was Strider. He continued. "On Monday one came down the Greenway, they say; and another appeared later, coming up the Greenway from the south."
There was silence. At last Frodo spoke to Pippin and Sam, "This is Strider, I also promised him a talk."
Sam grumbled, "I hope you haven't invited anyone else, or else this will turn into an unwanted party, Mr Frodo! We hardly need more attention."
Frodo ignored him, "I ought to have guessed it form the way the gatekeeper greeted us. And the landlord seems to have heard something. Why did he press us to join the company? And why on earth did we behave so foolishly - we should have stayed quiet in here."
"It would have been better," said Strider. "I would have stopped your going into the common room, if I could; but the innkeeper and your friend," he glared again at Kathryn. "would not let me see you, or take a message."
Frodo edged slightly away from both Strider and Kathryn. "Do you think -" he began.
"No." Strider replied, though still looking doubtfully at Kathryn.
Kathryn interrupted him. "I don't think any harm of old Butterbur. Only he does not altogether like Rangers like us especially mysterious vagabonds of his sort." Frodo gave her a puzzled look.
Strider allowed himself a slight smile. "Well, I do have a rather rascally look, do I not?" he said throwing back his hood, with a curl of his lip and a queer gleam in his eye. "I hope we shall get to know one another better. Especially you, master Fleetfoot." He looked at Kathryn.
Kathryn was silent. She could only look desperately at Strider, a man she had not seen in years. Pippin cut through the tense silence. "Hi! Strider or whatever your name is. This here is a lady and you should treat her with some proper respect! She's done far more than you to prove her intent."
"Well now!" Strider laughed. "So who is this mysterious lady?" He got up and walked towards her.
"No, Strider, you don't want to." The words were only a feeble whisper as she shrank away from him into her cloak. Strider pulled back her hood and stopped dead. Kathryn closed her eyes. She felt the hobbits back away, sensing this was not a moment to disturb.
When she opened her eyes again, he was still there, now looking into her eyes. Anger, joy, fear and relief all played across his face like flames. "Kathryn?" He spoke softly, not wanting to destroy the vision in front of him that he had hoped for, for so long.
"Estel." Kathryn rose from her seat and slowly started towards him. But a change overcame him and he pushed her away, sitting down once again in the seat by the door, propping his boots up on the table and biting his long- stemmed pipe.
Frodo stepped forward, wonder filling his eyes. "What do you want, Strider?" he whispered, bravely putting himself between him and Kathryn. Then he spoke stronger, "You said I might hear something to my advantage, I believe. What have you to say?"
"Several things," Estel answered. "But, of course, I have my price."
"What do you mean?" Kathryn asked sharply. Estel frowned at her then turned back to Frodo who was frowning himself, but at Estel. "Don't be alarmed! I mean just this: I will tell you what I know, and give you some good advice - but I shall want a reward."
"And what is that?" said Frodo. Kathryn could not believe Estel was asking for a reward for helping and scowled.
"No more than you can afford," he answered with a slow smile, as if he guessed Kathryn's thoughts. "Just this: you must take me along with you, until I wish to leave you."
"Oh, indeed!" replied Frodo, sounding as surprised as Kathryn was. "I seem to have a worthy companion here already, and one I know I can trust. Even if I wanted you with me, I should not agree to any such thing, until I knew a good deal more about you and your business."
"Excellent!" exclaimed Estel, crossing his legs and sitting back comfortably. "You seem to be coming to your sense again, and that is good. You have been much too careless so far."
"Why do people keep on saying that?" Pippin muttered.
"With that foolish joke in the common room."
Kathryn butted in, "He says it was an accident."
"Accident, prank - it has done the damage. Worse than anything your friends could have said, you really put your foot in it. Or should I say you finger?" That odd remark seemed to startle Frodo even more.
"I.I don't know what you mean." He said shakily. Kathryn raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yes you do." He stared long at Frodo, who seemed to shrink under his gaze. "Very well! I will tell you about myself and leave the reward up to you. You may be glad to grant it when you have heard me."
"Go on then!" piped up Sam. "What do you know?"
"Too much; too many dark things," He said grimly. "But as for your business." He got up and went to the door, opening it quickly and looking out. Then he sat down again. "I have quick ears," he went on, lowering his voice, "and though I cannot disappear unlike some."
"Oh leave it!" Kathryn snapped.
".I can be avoid being seen if I wish. I was behind the bushes at the side of the road and heard you warn your friends to forget the name Baggins. But I have been looking for you for some time. Listen! News of your 'accident' will be extremely interesting to some ears. After that they will hardly need your real name. It seems to me only too likely that they will hear of it before the night is over. Is that enough? Your enemies will swiftly be on your heels. You can do as you like about my reward: take me as a guide or not. But I may say I know all the lands between the Shire and the Misty Mountains, for I have wandered over them for many years." He stole a quick look at Kathryn. "I am older than I look. I might prove useful."
"As might I." Kathryn interposed, "I know a lot of this land too."
"You may escape Bree, and be allowed to travel while the Sun is up, but you will not go far. They will come on you in the wild, in some dark place where there is no help. Do you wish them to find you?"
"Ai! They are terrible!" Kathryn cried, and remembered pain caught her gaze, guiding it back to painful memories of her short but near deadly encounter with them on the road north. She snapped out of it and looked over at Estel. His face was drawn in pain, his hands clenching the arms of his chair. The light seemed to have grown dim.
Kathryn looked again to the hobbits. "There! Perhaps we know more of the pursuers than you do. You are frightened."
Estel woke from his nightmares. "But you're not nearly frightened enough. We know what hunts you. Strider can take you by paths that are seldom trodden. Will you have him?"
"Will you have me?" Kathryn asked.
Frodo looked between the two, making no answer. Sam frowned, and looked down at his master, then at last broke out. "With your leave, Mr Frodo I'd say no to this Strider here. He warns and says take care and I say yes to that, and let's begin with him. He comes out of the Wild, and I never heard no good of such folk. He knows something, that's plain, and more than I like; but it's no reason why we should let him go leading us out into some dark place far from help, as he puts it. This lady here, she has already helped us, and says she knows the wild - why not take her, as we know she's trustworthy."
The lady in question smiled, but then said persuasively. "I will admit, Frodo, that the bigger the company the better. I may be able to hold off perhaps three Black Riders with luck, but Strider with us too would be much safer. I used to know him."
Pippin fidgeted and looked uncomfortable. Strider did not reply to either Sam or Kathryn, but a little thankful smile crept into the corner of his mouth. He looked with his keen eyes on Frodo. Frodo caught his glance and looked away. "Yes," he said slowly, "I agree with you Fleetfoot. I think, I think you, Strider, are not really as you choose to look. Still Sam seems right in this: I don't see why you should warn us to take care, and yet ask us to take you on trust. Why the disguise? Who are you? What do you really know about - about my business; and how do you know it."
Both Rangers smiled grim smiles. "The lesson in caution has been well learnt." Said Strider.
"But you could ask the same questions of me Frodo." Kathryn told him. "Caution is one thing and wavering is another. You will never get to Rivendell on your own. Even with me it will be a journey of greatest peril."
"To trust is your only chance." Strider said. "You must make up your mind. I will answer some of your questions, if that will you to do so. But why should you believe my story if you don not trust me already? Still, here it is."