He'd perched himself atop a short wall within sight of the Prancing Pony that bright morning, watching the early crowd going about their business. Usually he found the area still relatively quiet that time of day, but the residents of Bree apparently decided that the day was a good one for mischief.
First, a fidgety man approached him to ask where the Watch was patrolling, to which the traveler directed him towards the marketplace if he were seeking them and to the Mud Gate if he were avoiding them. The man thanked him and ran.
Immediately after, a Watchman addressed him and asked about the whereabouts of a man in a black cloak and covered in blood. That did not describe the first stranger, and although many in town wore black cloaks he had not seen one that morn covered with blood, so the traveler could not help.
Then Kitten appeared as the traveler was preparing for his midmorning smoke. He was glad to see her, as always, and as they exchanged greetings a darkly hooded and masked face appeared over the nearby merchant's cart, observing the two speaking.
The traveler waited a few moments before he acknowledged the mysterious person's presence – this man too asked where the Watch was, and then quickly vanished as the traveler flippantly asked him if he happened to be covered in blood.
It seemed the Watch was everywhere except where it needed to be. And Bree was losing its collective mind.
When Kitten stated that she was ready to begin their journey to The Shire – even though he had not expected to begin traveling that particular day – it took little convincing to get him to leave town.
And so, with nothing to pack and no one to inform of his absence, he followed the girl into Bree-land and what lay beyond.
