Disclaimer: Middle Earth and every character you recognize (and maybe some you don't) are Tolkien's, not mine. No offense intended & I'm not making any money from this.

A/N: I've wondered for years why Gandalf and Aragorn had such different opinions of Barliman Butterbur. His behavior in LotR doesn't seem to justify either Gandalf's statement that Butterbur can see through a brick wall in time or Aragorn's rather OOC snide remarks. Obviously, more went on than ever made it into the book. Here's a guess about what it might have been. I promise that eventually people will stop talking and do something.

Anorien, Summer 3019

The sun was warm on the fields of Anorien as King Elessar's party rode north. In the midst of the train was a somberly draped wagon carrying Theoden back to Rohan, a reminder of the grievous losses of the past winter. Though it was a funeral procession, sometimes the joy that was always so close to the surface these days got the better of the party and it more closely resembled a Lithedays outing in the Shire. Theoden's words on the field of Pelennor floated to the top of Gandalf's mind. *And even in their mighty company I shall not now be ashamed. I felled the black serpent. A grim morning, and a glad day, and a golden sunset.* The thought of a cheerful journey home might well have seemed fitting to the old king there at the end, thought the wizard.

That was just as well, because this summer, there were few who could stay in a solemn mood for long. The weather had been perfect for travel and merrymaking, the company excellent, and the provisions nothing short of luxurious. Even the hobbits said there was plenty of food and it was all very good. Comparing this trip to his memories of their journey south, Gandalf had to laugh.

"What is it?" asked Aragorn, riding alongside him.

"I was just thinking that no sane person would take hobbits any great distance without half a dozen supply wagons and a full complement of cooks," said Gandalf.

"Does that mean you will not risk traveling with them once the wagons turn back for Minas Tirith?"

"No," said Gandalf, doing his best to sound terribly put-upon. "I suppose I will just have to get accustomed again to hearing 'Isn't it about time we stopped to eat?' a dozen times a day or more. I mean to go with them as far as the Old Forest. I want to have a good long talk with Tom Bombadil, and that will give me a chance to see Butterbur again on the way."

Aragorn frowned and shook his head. "That is something I have never understood. Perhaps now that we are between emergencies for a while, you can explain to me what you find so remarkable about Butterbur. It seems you count him as a close friend, but after all the insults I've had to endure from him over the years, I don't see how that can be possible. And when I think of the harm he did when he forgot to deliver that letter to Frodo....."

Gandalf winced. "Barliman wasn't the only one at fault there. I knew perfectly well that his memory works in mysterious ways, when it does at all, and that I was asking him to work from one of his weaknesses. No, that particular disaster was a joint effort." He sighed. He'd known even as he handed the letter to Butterbur that it had no hope of being delivered unless Barley found a messenger before the next contretemps at the Pony claimed his attention. "There is more to your dislike than just his absent-mindedness, I trust."

"I know you told Frodo that Butterbur was shrewd enough to see through a brick wall in time, but in all the years I've known him, I've still seen no proof," said Aragorn, a little vexation creeping into his tone. "He is barely literate and only vaguely aware of anything farther from Bree than the Shire. He could never have coped with the smallest part of the evil the Rangers drove away from Bree, and yet he treats us with open contempt."

Gandalf nodded. "Now we come closer to the heart of the matter. Might the problem be Breelanders in general and not simply Butterbur?"

There was a long pause filled with the sound of nothing but the thud of hooves on the turf and insects buzzing in the tall grass while Aragorn thought about the question. "It's both. Looking after Breelanders means a great deal of effort for very little reward, and Butterbur is the worst of them all."

"Hmm, I seem to recall a much younger Ranger making a similar comment about hobbits once," said Gandalf, letting a bit of severity creep into his tone. Aragorn flushed, but said nothing. "I brought up hobbits for good reason. A curious thing about Men is how much they come to resemble other races when they live among them. If the Dunedain are the most elvish of Men, then the Men of Bree are the most....hobbitish. You've seen enough of hobbits to know they keep their strength annoyingly well hidden most of the time. Many of the Men of Bree seem to have picked up that habit from them, and Barliman Butterbur is certainly one of them."

Aragorn still looked distinctly dubious.

"I know he's always acted like an utter fool around you, but by the same token, I've never seen you more sarcastic than you are around him. Neither one of you has ever seen the other at anything approaching his best." Gandalf shook his head at the disparity between Aragorn and Butterbur apart and the two of them together. The Rangers and the Breelanders had been trading subtle insults for centuries now, but Aragorn and Butterbur had taken the quarrel to a new level. In the press of the last twenty year's events, Gandalf had had to push their feud to the back of his mind, but it was clear the time had come to deal with it. Bree was part of Aragorn's kingdom too, and it would do neither him nor the Breelanders any good for the trouble to continue. "Part of the problem may be that you are still thinking of them the way a Ranger would. The Rangers protected the Shire and Bree so well that few of you have ever seen what the locals can do in a pinch. Until last year, Dervorin was probably the only one in the last fifty years."

"Dervorin?" asked Aragorn, puzzled. "He used to guard travelers on the East Raod, didn't he? Surely Butterbur never went far enough from the Prancing Pony to need an escort."

Gandalf chuckled. "I take it Dervorin never told you the story of the wizard, the dwarf and the innkeeper's son, then."

Aragorn squeezed his eyes shut and groaned. "I hope you don't mean the one Pippin told last night."

"No, no! That was 'The Ranger, the Dwarf, and the Innkeeper's *Daughter*'. If you need to refresh your memory, I'm sure Pippin would be happy to repeat it."

"I would much rather erase that memory than refresh it. Those puns were so vile that I'm sure they would count as a form of torture." Aragorn gave Gandalf a speculative look. "Do you suppose he could have learned that story while the Uruk-hai had him?"

"Pippin told me he got that one from Fredegar Bolger, so we can acquit the orcs of that, at least. No, Dervorin's story is something different, though I have to admit that there were parts of the tale that could be told as a joke."

"Very well then," said Aragorn, "Tell your tale and show me what I have been missing about Barliman Butterbur."

TBC