In this chapter, yay! New people.

Also, I APOLOGISE for the DELAY. I got caught up in managing an event and performing in a school production back to back so I was really going mad for the past 2 months or so. I did start writing before the crunch time hit but didn't finish in time. You'll probably be able to tell based on the change in season in this chapter.

As always, here is the language key for this chapter.

"Scarlet's normal English speak."

"Westron"

Chapter 7: Drunken revelations

Scarlet took note of the men who reminded her of Theoraan. They were all tall, well-built; gruff, like Theoraan. They all wore cloaks and carried weapons and received the same distrustful looks from the people of the village. More importantly, they all had the same star pin on their cloaks. The same one pinned over her heart.

She figured they were from the same clan or something similar. She tried to avoid them and was mostly successful, since they rarely ventured beyond their rooms and the pubs; that is, until the night Nob fell sick and Barliman was short on staff in the pub

Nob had fallen sick earlier in the day; food poisoning of some sort. Apparently he had found some of the mushrooms in the storage had gone bad but his hobbit self could not bear to throw mushrooms away and so he ate them anyway; then he promptly vomited them back out.

In any case, Nob was now stuck at home hurling stomach acid into a bucket and Scarlet was set to cover a part of Nob's responsibilities – serving tables. True, Scarlet still could barely speak the Common Tongue to save her life but Barliman figured that all he needed Scarlet to do, was use her strong arms that she trained every morning to carry the heavy food and drinks to the correct table. Her new role did not even require her to speak.

On the night of her debut as a barmaid, Scarlet was pretty efficient. She worked well with Collette and Barliman; the two of them would take orders and then she and Barliman would serve the food and drinks. Collette helped by pointing out to her which tables to carry with tray to.

It was well into the night when Collette pointed out a table of three men to her and told her to carry a tray of drinks to them. Scarlet had been watching them the entire night. They were part of Theoraan's clan. She was sure of it for they dressed in exactly the same manner as him. The three men consisted of two younger men and one older man. The younger men looked to be about a few years older than her and the older man looked to be of Theoraan's generation. Scarlet mentally dubbed them 'Old Man', 'Young Man 1' and 'Young Man 2'.

They were on Barliman's side of the pub so she had yet to serve them but at his moment, Barliman was busy taking orders from a new customer. Noting that this was their fourth round of drinks and that the two younger ones were becoming louder and more boisterous, she prepared herself for a quick get in, deliver, get out operation. Drunken men were always best avoided.

Carefully balancing the tray, Scarlet took the shortest route to the table and ended up at the side between the two younger men. She quickly began to transfer the drinks from her tray to the table. Scarlet was so focused on completing the task quickly that she did not register that the Old Man from across the table had taken interest in her and spoken to her.

Thinking her task done, Scarlet turned to leave but was stopped by Young Man 1 when he placed a hand on her arm.

"Hey girl, are you deaf or just rude? He asked you a question."

Scarlet looked at Young Man 1. All she got out of his speech was "girl" and "you". Seeing as she was stuck there unless she made a fuss, Scarlet turned to address the 'friend' the young man spoke off.

Aware that he now had her attention, the Old Man repeated his question, "Excuse me miss, where did you get that cloak pin?"

Scarlet did not understand anything except for "cloak pin" and looked from his pointing finger to the star pin on her chest. Well, she figured they were asking something about the pin but as to exactly what they were asking, she had no idea. Hence, she just gave them the confused look, shook her head and tried to leave the table again. Young Man 1 apparently did not agree with her actions and stopped her once more.

"Don't be rude girl. He asked you a question. Answer him."

This time the Old Man injected a reprimand. "Gaston! Have care for how you speak!"

Meanwhile, Collette had noticed that Scarlet was being held up at the table. Worried for her friend, she made her way across the pub just in time to hear Young Man 1, whom shall now be referred to as Gaston, make yet another disparaging remark.

"Come now Halbarad. How can you be so calm? The Star of the Dunedain is a mark of honour! What could she possibly have done to deserve one? She must either have stolen it or pleased the man that gave it to her realwell. You're thinking the same thing aren't you, Roneil?" Here he waggled his eyebrows at Young Man 2.

"Stop it Gaston. Don't be crude," was Young Man 2's reply.

Gaston did not heed his rebuke and turned back to Scarlet.

"Well, girl? How about you show me a good time tonight?"

His accompanying sneer and leering face at Scarlet was decidedly unwelcome. The Old Man, whom has been identified as Halbarad, and Young Man 2, whom has now been identified as Roneil, were outraged at the words of their fellow Ranger. They immediately stood up –

-Smack-

- and found that they were too late to save the day. Collette got there first and she had slapped Gaston as hard as she could.

Cue stunned silence.

'How dare these gross and uncouth wild men come in here and say such things about poor innocent sweet Scarlet!' she raged. The petite blonde smacking the leering young man hard enough to turn his head was a truly a magnificent sight to behold; Scarlet would cherish it till the end of her days.

The other two men were shocked and impressed by the ferocity of the young lady's defence of her friend. Scarlet was honestly just surprised to see Collette suddenly flip out like that. She could not understand what the young man had said to her and so was not bothered at all but judging by everyone else's reaction, especially Collette's, the words must have been really really bad.

Gaston could not believe it! 'The wrench had the audacity to hit him!'

Fully intending to teach Collette a lesson, Gaston drew himself to his full height, took an imposing step towards Collette and drew his hand back.

This time the men sprang into action; Halbarad and Roneil moved quickly to restrain Gaston. Yet once again, they were too slow for Scarlet had already stepped in. Like a knight in shining armour, she caught Gaston's forearm firmly in her right grip while using her left hand to manoeuver Collette behind her.

"Do not touch her" hissed Scarlet as she started down the man who was actually two heads taller.

Sensing that everything was about to go further downhill and noting all the attention from other pub patrons, Roneil tried to diffuse the situation. Holding his hands up against his chest in a non-threatening manner, Roneil inched himself between Gaston and the girls and offered the girls a sheepish smile. Scarlet just narrowed her eyes at him and shifted to cover Collette even more.

By now Barliman had also noticed the commotion and approached the tense situation cautiously.

"Collette my dear, what seems to be the problem?"

Before Collette could explain the situation, Halbarad took ownership of the mess.

"Forgive us Butterbur, it seems my junior had indulged too far in drinking and treated your girls ill with his callous words."

"Callous words? Uncle if you had heard what he said. Oooo! I should have hit him harder." Collette could not help but cut into Halbarad's apology.

Scarlet had to admit that she liked seeing Collette all miffed and enraged, especially since it was on her behalf. Collette looked like a kitten throwing a hissy fit; it was really cute and endearing. Scarlet wanted to pat her head really badly… so she did.

Ignoring the weird dynamics between the girls, Halbarad continued this apology to Barliman.

"We apologise for any trouble caused Butterbur. It was entirely unintentional. I was simply curious and when this Miss failed to respond my junior, in his drunken state, was quick to take offense. Rest assured that he will be reprimanded and appropriately punished. This will not happen again."

Since nothing truly terrible had happened, Butterbur was content to accept the apology despite Collette's protests. He then sent the girls on their way to serve the other customers. Scarlet was still tense when they left and made sure to keep herself between Collette and the men as they walked away.

As he watched the girls leave, Butterbur could not help his curiosity as to the dreaded question that caused the entire mess. Hence, he asked.

Halbarad was quick to dismiss it. "It was nothing. We noticed that your girl had a pin on her that is very similar to ours. We simply wished to know how she obtained it. It seems that it was the wrong question to ask for she could not answer."

Sensing no harm in telling them, Butterbur volunteered the information.

"One of your rangers gave it to her. Theoraan was his name I believe. Tall fella, black hair, greenish sort of eyes."

"Theoraan?" Halbarad's eyebrows creased in confusion. Gaston and Roneil's eyes widened as they turned to look at each other.

"Yea. Saw them exchanging pins the last time he left. Seemed to be an emotional sort of parting. I did not dare intrude on it. Even went the long way round to attend to my duties, I did. Would have felt wrong. You know? To break the moment. They were in a close embrace 'n' all. Seemed like they needed the privacy and all that." Butterbur continued on as he recounted the incident.

All the while, Gaston and Roneil's eyes grew wider while Halbarad's brows furrowed further.

Nothing happened following that eventful night. The three Rangers left the next day at the break of dawn, one with a hangover, one without, both intrigued by their discovery and eager to return to camp.

It was just as well that they left as soon as they did. For no more than a week passed before the passing of time made its mark in through the first snowfall of the season. Had they left any later, they would not have made it back to camp in time to escape the blithering cold.

Back at camp, they immediately searched out the only man that could satisfy their curiosity.

"Halbarad!"

"Theoraan! It is good to see you again!"

"Ah Roneil! Gaston! Growing well I see. Oh? What is this bruising on your face? Has someone struck you? Are you alright then?" Theoraan was happy to his friend and young charges again. He was their swords master before and still cared for the boys. Hence his concern upon seeing the fading bruise upon Gaston's cheek.

"Aye struck him indeed. Pay it no mind Theoraan for it was well deserved." replied Halbarad who was eyeing Gaston.

Gaston while embarrassed about the cause of his injury, was far more preoccupied by the sight of a foreign pin on Theoraan's cloak. It was crafted to be of a delicate nature, far better suited for a girl than for a man like Theoraan.

'So it's true!' he thought as he nudged Roneil and used his eyes to draw Roneil's attention to the pin.

Meanwhile, Theoraan was curious.

"Well deserved? How so?"

"Ah yes, Gaston was inebriated I believe and said some unpleasant things to a young miss at the Prancing Pony. Her friend was most energetic in coming to her defence."

"I see." Eyeing the bruise that managed to last the entire journey back, Theoraan could not help but agree. "Most energetic indeed. I do hope you have learnt your lesson Gaston."

Gaston could only nod. He was still rather miffed about getting hit by a girl. It was just as well that only Halbarad knew.

"Yes. Gaston has certainly learnt how feisty young ladies can be." Roneil said with a smug grin.

Well there went Gaston's conciliation prize.

"You are saying a young lady delivered that blow?" Theoraan chuckled at his imagination of how the slap occurred.

Gaston just groaned. If Roneil told Theoraan, he was sure to tell Theorein too and they will never let him forget that he got beat up by a diminutive little girl.

The thought of Theorein brought other things back to his mind. Nudging Roniel, Gaston mouthed 'Theorein' to him before they both excused themselves from their mentors in order to search for their fellow friend.

The two were quick with their search and eventually found him piling logs under a shelter.

"Theorein! Theorein! You will not believe this." Gaston started. He had been waiting the entire trip to say this to him.

"What is it my friends?" asked Theorein, confused at their excitement.

"Your father has a girl!" interjected Roneil.

"Yes. I know." Theorein was still confused at the fuss they were making.

"You do?" they asked.

"Of course. My sister has been alive for many years now. Where have you been?" Theorein wondered if they had hit their head on the way home.

"Urgh. Not your sister. Your father has a girl! She works at an inn. The Prancing Pony! You know, the one in Bree." said Roneil with no small amount of exasperation.

"What do you mean my father has a girl at an inn?" Theorein was shocked.

"We saw her. She looks young, like your sister! But she doesn't look like your sister."

"Yeah! She has red hair and green-grey eyes."

"And what made you think she is associated with my father?" asked Theorein, trying to stem the flow of conversation.

"She was wearing his Star of the Dunedain!"

"My father parted with his pin?" 'Father never parts with his pin!' Theorein's eyes grew wider.

"Yes! And he was even wearing hers!"

"She has a Star of the Dunedain? What?" Now Theorein was confused again.

"No. It was another pin. More delicate. But your father was wearing it and we are sure it belonged to her!"

"So what are you trying to say?" Theorein had seen that pin they spoke of. He had simply never asked about it.

"Geez Theorein. You're usually the smart one."

"Hey give him a break. He's in shock. What we are trying to say is that either your father had an affair with someone else years ago –"

"- yeah someone with red hair-"

"- and had a daughter from that union, because you know, her eyes are kind of green-ish too."

" Or?" asked Theorein, scared to know the alternative.

"-or your father now has a mistress… who is well…"

"- practically the same age as your sister. Young."

A look oh horror was permanently plastered on Theorein's face. 'This can't be! I have to go to Bree! No! I have to speak to my father! But what if he says nothing? Then I'd have to go to Bree and see this for myself! Father wouldn't. He couldn't!'

Meanwhile back in Bree, unaware of the turmoil she caused in a young man's reality, Scarlet woke to another peaceful morning of gleaming white.

Glancing at the icicle lined window and frost covered glass, Scarlet took in just how much time she had spent at the inn. When she landed in this place, the trees were crowned in green. When Theoraan left Bree, the leaves had only just begun to turn brown. Now, the trees were bare and snow was beginning to be a regular feature.

'How time has passed.'

Tracing the frosted windows, Scarlet let her mind wander.

'Winter. Scarlet Winters. Ariel Scarlet Winters. Wow. Haven't heard that in a while. Wonder how everyone's doing back home.'

Winter back in Panem was a time for family. Her father never bothered to train her in winter since the Games were only ever held in summer. Winter was the only time her family felt like a family and less like a training school; the only time her dad would relent and show his 'soft' side. Winter would pass in Panem with harmless snowball fights with Charlotte, cosy bonfires and board games with her family and warm mugs of her mother's special hot chocolate.

Scarlet let out a sigh and rested her forehead against the cold glass.

"I miss you," she sighed.

Once more, her hand drifted to her family's snowflake pin to seek comfort. Only she no longer had the snowflake pin. In her hand was now Theoraan's star pin.

"I miss you too. When will you come back? Will you even come back?"

Sighing, Scarlet thumbed the star pin one last time before tucking it back into her pocket. After the chaos from last night Scarlet decided it was best to keep it out of sight. Getting up, Scarlet stretched her body a little before throwing on a shawl. She had to get moving and back to work. Sitting still and wallowing in melancholy was unbecoming.

Aww. Scarlet's so cute. Trying to act strong and everything. And Theoraan's in troubleeeeee!

Eh so yes, new characters AGAIN and one who actually BELONGS to cannon! Well… okay I suppose Butterbur, Hob and Nob are cannon too. But Halbarad! Huzzah!

Also, I am starting to totally dig Collette. Her relationship with Scarlet is sooooo weird and I love it.

To answer reviewer Borys68 on 'where did I get Theoraan's name': I believe I mentioned this in the first chapter I introduced him but in summary, I wanted to name him Thorean after 'Thor', you know big imposing booming god of thunder but when typing his name Theoraan just flowed out. I did say my characters dictate my story – yeah they even dictate their own existence. Lol. BUT, the wonderful news is that I discovered 'Theoren' the name means hunter in Greek – which is pretty fitting.

Gaston is named after…Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. Strong, manly, chauvinistic, drinks a lot. Yep. Seems to fit. I'm still debating on whether or not to make him redeemable though…

Theorein is named after Theoraan because ME has this son-takes-part-of-name-from-father thing going on. Also, interestingly, Theorein also has Greek origins and is supposed to mean 'to consider' and stuff like that which fits my intended personality for him in that Theorein is supposed to be the more silent observer and think-first-act-later type.

Roneil was named on a spur of the moment decision and was inspired by Ronil Waslib (if you know the reference, kudos to you!) Although based on Gaston and Roneil's interaction in the last scene with Theorein, I really should have named them Gred and Forge instead.

Anyway, let me know what you think of Gaston, Roneil and Theorein! Please review!