The girl returned to Bree-town, as she intended. It was a difficult task for her. Every single step she took closer to the town felt heavier for her to take. Her feet started to feel weary and all she wished was to turn around and walk to an opposite direction, trying to find the mountain she was curious about. She was certain she wouldn’t make it, but perhaps the lack of sleep and eat had done its deeds.
Eventually the girl found herself from the gate of Bree-town. She hesitated. At the same time, she wanted to return and she wanted to run away. She wanted to see her friends, but feared that they would not be there. That she would be surrounded by people who she didn’t know. The girl mustered all the courage she had left and she walked in to the town and up the familiar path to the inn which she referred as “the Pony”. And finally she opened the door which she had opened so many times before. With a heavy heart, she stepped inside.
The inn looked just like it had last time she was there to tell the ill news to poor Miss Celnessyn. The girl’s mind was cluttered with memories, both happy and painful at the same time. She quickly hid her face with her messy, long hair and made her way to speak with her employer, Barliman Butterbur. Their conversation was short. The girl told that she quits her work; that she no longer wished to work there. Her employer seemed to be worried of her, but nevertheless did as the girl wished and paid her earnings. The girl gave her thanks to Barliman, for giving her a chance to work there, and bowed her head deeply. Then she backed away and left the counter. She stopped by a wall and leaned her head against it, to gather her strength. The wooden wall felt cold against her sweaty skin. She wished to leave, to run away, but she wasn’t given a chance, for she had been noticed by those who she referred as friends.
In the meanwhile, her friends Skarly and Terry had noticed the strange behavior of their friend, not to mention her less elegant attire. The girl was a poor sight indeed: her messy braid was even messier than before and her clothes were dirty. Her skin was pale and her behavior was more of a small, wounded animal than the proud Rohirrim she was. Skarly was the first to speak to the girl and Terry soon followed. She had already heard the sad news, but he hadn’t and the sad faith of Osyth shocked him. The three friends spoke in great length, the two trying to understand what was wrong with the girl. For her words seemed strange in their ears.
The girl was confused. She told how she felt, that she hated him, and she told that he had wanted to get rid of her. But suddenly she was told otherwise, that he had loved her after all, that she shouldn’t believe lies of those who didn’t know her. She did not understand. “It was a lie after all? That he wished to get rid of me was a lie?” the girl thought to herself. If the girl wasn’t tormented before, she certainly was now. She felt like her entire world was slowly crumbling down and the floor would give in under her feet any moment. Others had approached the girl to speak to her, but she didn’t quite hear them or understand their words. She believed that she spoke to them back and gave a proper answer, but she wasn’t quite sure. Only thought that ran in her mind was that there were people who lied to her, who wanted to take advantage of her situation and wished to harm her. And she couldn’t believe why they would do such a thing, to hurt her of all people.
The girl wanted to run away, to escape, but she couldn’t. Her friend told her to stop her nonsense and the girl had no option, for otherwise she would be cursed. And she didn’t wish to be cursed. It was soon decided that the girl would stay in Bree until she would get better. She would first stay a night at Terry’s home and then she would stay with Skarly until she would be better. The girl agreed to this, she had no strength to disagree with her friends.
At some point another friend joined the conversation. Ellae, the barmaid of the Pony, had also heard the sad news and was quite concerned over her dear friend. The group of friends sat down around a table and Ellae fetched a meal to the girl. As they sat there, another friend arrived, a woman whom is referred as Nasty, the goat-herder. The girl wasn’t sure if this was her name, but it was the only name she knew of her. Nasty had also heard the sad news. The girl was certain that most likely everyone had by now. The girl also felt slightly better now. It was clear to her that she had good friends who would protect her from those who wished to harm her.
The conversation flowed between the group of friends. The girl mostly listened, for she was hungry indeed and was told to eat her meal. The girl gladly did so. At one point a man approached the girl. He was the very same man who had confessed his tender feelings to the girl as she paid her respects to the late Osyth. He seemed to be heavily intoxicated and wished to speak with the girl. The girl was certain that the man wished to hurt her and to lie to her, trying to confuse her. Thus she refused to speak with him alone and eventually the man had to leave without being able to tell the girl what he had to say.
Soon the girl had finished her meal and her friends left to their duties. Ellae had prepared a warm bath for the girl and she took her dirty clothes to be washed. Skarly had earlier brought clean clothes for the girl to wear. The girl was quite grateful of this kindness she had received. She bathed long, for she had not taken a bath for a long time. It took a great deal of time to untangle her messy hair. She had her favourite soap, and soon her skin and hair smelled of lavender. The bath made her feel a little bit better, but just a little bit. After the bath she put on the clothes Skarly had bought her and she left the inn. She walked to the house of Terry, as she had promised.
The evening at Terry’s was nice. His mother took the girl in with a warm hug. She had made stew, the girl’s favourite food. Three of them had a nice conversation, though the girl mainly listened and ate the delicious stew. If Terry had told of what had happened to the girl, his mother didn’t show it. The girl felt quite relieved that she didn’t need to talk about it. As the hour grew late, the girl was shown to her makeshift bed. She bid goodnight to her hosts and quickly fell asleep. She was very tired after her lonely adventure, after all.
The next day the girl said farewell to her friend and his mother, and left to the Pony, hoping to find Skarly. And so she did and the two walked to Skarly’s new home, the house of Master Tylan. The walk was long and the girl became quite weary, but she was being brave and tried to hide it from her friend. Master Tylan had an estate outside Bree-town in a small village nearby. The girl knew Master Tylan was wealthy man, but it still surprised her to see how big the estate was.
First Skarly introduced the house where the girl would stay. It was a three-room house, a biggest house where the girl had lived so far, apart from the all-women house. Even the bedroom itself was almost bigger than the house of Miss Celnessyn or her parents’ former house, not to mention being much fancier. After the first house tour the two friends walked through the big garden towards the house that was the family mansion. The girl was in awe. Rarely had she seen a house a big as the mansion, let alone to be invited to step inside. The mansion was fancy indeed and roomy, but the girl could understand why. A big family did live there, after all.
Skarly did show the girl the mansion on purpose surely. For the mansion had a large library and she knew her friend liked books. As soon as the girl was pointed to the direction of the book shelf, she forgot her sorrow for a moment and rushed to read the titles of the books. She took few books to read, as she was given permission to do so. And the girl felt happy just for a short moment.
As the tour was over, the girl was left alone in her new home. She didn’t quite know what to do. She never have had this big of a house for herself and she never had lived alone. She left the books on a table and wandered around until she settled in her new bedroom and sat down on her bed. The bed was quite comfortable, she noticed. And the sheets were of good quality. As she sat there, she recalled a conversation between her, Skarly and Terry, especially the part that resulted when the girl had loudly claimed that she hated him.
“Why do you hate Strawhair?” Skarly asked.
“I hate him for lying to me... and for leaving me alone...” the girl replied.
“For his loud mouth,” Terry said.
“But he did not, he loves Redlady yes, and you like his loudmouth, “ Skarly replied.
“And his arrogance,” Terry continued.
“And this yes!” Skarly said.
“And that stupid grin of his when he makes… a sly comment,” Terry continued again.
The girl stared towards the wall and wiped off a lonely tear from her cheek. His arrogance, his loud mouth, his stupid grin, and his sly comments. These were the reasons why she did love him for, she understood it now. She didn’t hate him, she hated the feeling that his death left in her heart. Soon there were more than one tear on her cheeks and the girl lied down on the bed. And there, in the dark room, the girl cried until she fell asleep.
