Before I had fallen for that obnoxious man, I lived quite calm and quiet life in Bree-Town. Or should I say, boring life. Much did not happen, if anything. My greatest joy after my work was to bathe, switch to my pretty dress and walk to the Pony for a goblet of red wine. Quite rarely I spoke to others. I did not see Derenhir and I was certain he had forgotten all about me. Then one day, I met this boy, or should I say a young man, who was a local. A Breelander, can you imagine! He was much younger than I am and seemed a bit naive. I teased him a lot and laughed at his expense, but soon I noticed that I had befriended this boy. And his name was Terry.
I cannot remember the first time we met. I am certain it was in the Pony, perhaps by the hearth. Because that is how you often meet others. He was possibly drinking something, as was I, and we started a conversation. What was it about, I can no longer recall. I remember much better the time we were already friends. Terry had not an adventurous mind, but he appreciated good meal and thus we often ate outside. He had an eye for such little luxuries of life.
He had a habit of drinking coffee. What an awful drink it is! Once he made me to taste it. I had never ever tasted anything as bad as coffee and suddenly I had to run outside and ungracefully lose my lunch. But at time we were already friends and I forgave him that. Terry certainly liked coffee. He rarely drank any alcohol, which was a relief to me. For he had a lack of ability to sustain alcohol and got horribly drunk! More than once I escorted him to our house after he had one too many, or well, one drink, and feared that I would need to carry him home! Luckily with several breaks, he managed to get home with his own two feet.
I do recall one scene from the time before we were friends. It was one of those typical evenings in the Pony. I was sipping red wine as I used to back then and other patrons were already intoxicated. One of the patrons nearby started to tell a story. A master dwarf, I cannot recall his face or name, told us a story about a dragon. And I was fascinated by this. I decided I wish to see a dragon. Of course the others were mocking me and telling me I was a fool. Terry was among them. The evening ended me leaving the Pony in anger.
On the following day, or few days later, I ran into Osyth again. Naturally I had seen him several times after our first meeting; some of those times were a bit odd. Once he challenged me into a drinking competition, obviously trying to get me drunk. Unfortunately for him, it was not the first time I had ran into such situation and knew how to avoid getting too drunk, or well, drunk at all (in case you are wondering, the key is to talk much and drink little). And then there was this time when this really strange old man claimed to be my father and gave Osyth a permission to marry me! Though the old man had mischief in his mind and said it only to make me buy drinks for him, to my dear “father”. Our meetings were often a bit strange and amusing, as one could say. But the one after the incident of dragons were different.
I supposedly was being vocally upset, which was no wonder considering what had happened. I had been humiliated in public after all! I told him about what had happened and that I wished to see a dragon. I expected him to mock me as everyone else had done. But he did not. He did not mock me at all. Instead he was supportive and thought that the idea was great. He offered to guard me on this adventure and even though I knew he had his ulterior motive to do this, I was impressed. For he did not mock me or laugh at me. I could say that it was the moment when I realized somewhere deep in my mind that perhaps there was more to this man than his obnoxiousness.
Poor Terry though. He became a tool to gain attention from Osyth. I did not realize this first, no, it took me a long time before I understood my feelings towards him had changed from despise to something else. For quite some time I pretended to be interested in Terry, I went to dates with him and eventually ended up moving together with him. However, we were never romantically involved and I saw him as my brother. In our lovely house I had my own little room and my own privacy.
I would say I was quite happy in there, living with Terry, even though most of the time I was confused over my strange behavior. Why did my stomach turn upside down when certain someone was near me or why I wished to gain his attention so badly? You should understand something, dear Reader, and it is that I never believed in love. Well, until I did fell in love. My parents never showed much affection to each other and my mother’s best and only advice concerning marriage was this: “A wife should so her everything to support her husband.” Thus I only saw marriage and love as an exchange of something material, protection, items, coins, children, few to mention. And it did not interest me at all. But when I realized I had developed feelings towards another being, I was confused.
Terry had a loved one, a gravedigger’s daughter called Wrenna. She never seemed too fond of me, though I do not blame her. I did live with her possible future husband, after all. Terry often spoke about his feelings towards Wrenna and then I saw what love and affection between two beings could be. And slowly I started to wish something similar to myself, deep inside of me of course. Because if anyone would have asked me back then, I would have told them that I was too pretty to belong to any man. Not to mention to be his wife!
When I look back now, at my former self, I can see how childish I was. Selfish too, I do admit. Why did I tell him that I will never marry? Would things have been different if I had not? I still would not say if I would have been his wife one day, should he have lived longer. But if there would have been one man I could marry, it would have been him. And since he is gone, there will be no other. And now I can truly say I will never marry, as bitter as it is.
My time in Bree would have been different if I had never met my dear friend Terry. If it not be him, I would not be where I am now, in good and bad. Terry was the first man who did not seem to wish to bed me and thus I respected him much. Even though Terry and I have not seen each other lately and he seems to be greatly disappointed in me, I still consider him as my dear friend. For Skarly and mine mischief has caused him a great deal of misery and I wish I could make it up to him one day. I truly hope that he will give me another chance.
