It was nearly dawn by the time Lyfrid returned to the Manor, but she could not sleep, she was wide awake. The young woman selected something simple to redress, tied on a large apron and hurried herself to the kitchen after her tantrum subsided. There she found a sealed parchment, it was obvious it was the stationary of the lord of the Manor. Though the Cook could not read, she had learned to spot a few words, one of them being her name when written so she knew it was for her. Slipping a small paring knife under the seal and breaking it, she opened the letter and a few silver coins fell to the work table surface. Years of doing without, Lyfrid instinctively snatched the coins and pocketed them nearly before they hit the table.
Turning the letter around then over to the back, she shrugged, then tossed it into the kitchen fireplace. For all Lyfrid knew it was a request to buy something for her employer. She would cross that bridge when she came to it and make up some story about never seeing the note, blaming some household servant or something. The thought crossed her mind that the Cook had been rather lax on her duties, the larder was empty except for a day old stew she'd left and that was now gone, too. In a couple of hours time, however, the larder was full of luscious pies, sweet rolls, savory roasts with gravies and puddings. The young woman from Rohan vowed to herself to keep the larder full, no point in risking losing her private quarters there now that she had to give up her little cottage in Trestlebridge.
When Lyfrid finished cleaning after her cooking and baking she went upstairs to take a long nap. By the time she awoke the sun was setting again. Her plan had been to sleep for a few hours, get dressed then head out to secure a new place to ply her trade of rune reading. It was a good way to gain coins but it was more than the financial gain, it was a need the Seer felt to connect to the stones. She could ask them her own questions, but it was much more fulfilling to hear what they had to tell when someone else did the asking. Lyfrid missed it.
One of the house staff had mentioned a small camp outside Bree along the road on the way to the Shire as being a place where a few shady characters gathered from time to time. It sounded to Lyfrid like a likely location for her trade. Getting into some traveling clothes, she collected her horse from the stable and within a short time, she was heading through Bree on her way to the West gate and the road beyond to the camp.
Lyfrid made it to the camp, but not before running across Brulk, again, near the Pony. He was in an especially foul mood and the conversation was brief, if one would call hissing and spitting done by both, a conversation. It was ugly and turned up the fire of her temper once again. This time, however, it was Brulk that stormed off in a huff. She shrugged, continued on her way to the camp but turned a few times to look back to see if he might be following to give her another earful of hateful words. He did not.
~*~
