Leoffrith

I never heard any more from the Watch about the matter of Miss Owena's parents and the ransom, so I suppose that means they don't need anything more from me. But with things settled, Miss Adri and I started discussing our delayed journey to Imladris.

It's going to be a long tired day today at the stables. I think I'm going to have to skip today's training in swordplay, which is a shame. I've never wanted to study it harder than now. Last night there was a moment where I felt like not just my life, but maybe three others, could depend on it. Luckily it didn't, but what if it had?

Had there been anyone there to see, they would not have seen much. The stars shed little light, at least for Mannish eyes. The bent stone wrapped around the hiding place from all sides, at least all that a Man could scramble over, save one twisted, narrow path. The hulking creature that waited there could smell the hunchback long before it reached the hollow. Warm blood. It had been too long since the creature had drunk it, even tasted it. The thirst was like fire in the gut.

The Thane was waiting on the porch of the Mead Hall, looking at the rising stars, but he recognized the sound of Kestrel's bridle. "You're late," he said, but his tone was jovial. "Come, the meat is already laid out on the board, and we have much to discuss." A stable-boy was already waiting to take Kestrel the moment I dismounted, and the Thane was already inside.

When another rider from the Mead Hall came to the farm in autumn, again I was the first to see him, as I was sitting on the roof of the barn, whittling the shape of a sheep out of a block of wood with my boot-knife. I ought to have been working; the oats were nearly ready to be harvested and looked to be a bountiful crop, thanks to the draught horses that the Thane had loaned the family earlier in the year.

Not only did Emma have plenty of stew, she and Éogar had a bet about whether I could eat three bowls. Éogar lost, and had to wash the dishes. Don’t tell them, but I could have finished a fourth.

Lately it's seemed like every time I go into Bree, something happens that involves a woman, and it's always something that's terrible or confusing, or more often both. There's Miss Peregrine, who for some reason wanted me to wear her glove and follow her to somewhere she wouldn't tell me. When I didn't figure out that puzzle, she seemed to stop speaking to me.