((neatly penned in Lumi-kieli))
We have been back in Bree for about a week, but getting the kitchen of the Pony sorted did not take as long as I thought. Mister Butterbur mostly just left it alone apart from the stew, so mostly I had to do several long trips to market to restock it, but this is the best time of year to go to market. Everything is fresh and plentiful! Mister Butterbur was very irked at my time away and it took a lot of promises and arguing to get him to take me back on, but people say that maybe it was all a show and he was always going to.
But it is also the worst time for the amount of people in the Pony, since the farmers are busy on their farms, the builders are building, the travelers are on the roads while everything is open, and everywhere, people are busy doing all the things they cannot do at other times of the year. At least that is what I think is the reason. Mister Egoldir very kindly suggests that people just have not yet heard that I am back and so are avoiding the tavern due to Mister Butterbur's cooking! His stew is perfectly serviceable though. And no one bought any of the mutton chops or the fresh salad or even the strawberry short-cake I prepared. Hopefully people will start coming in again soon.
Beri has been in the woods since we got back so we have not started to talk yet about the wedding. At the advice of a man called Foxleaf I checked at the city hall and there learned some about the process of being married in Bree, but it is mostly about having a clerk from the hall present to certify the marriage, which means to write it on a piece of parchment. Foxleaf also spoke about making a marriage contract, but I do not think we need one. None of this talks about the traditions or customs, though. Other than working on the gákti -- I am very nearly finished, though I cannot look at it without wishing I were better at beadwork or sewing -- I have not really made any preparations even in thinking about how it will go. To say nothing of after; where will we build a home together? When will we decide to have children? Who will help us with that?
The Gathering was so merry and full of so many people, and towards the end I did not feel as much like an outsider. But that was more than a moon ago. With Beri out in the woods every night and the Pony almost empty each evening, I am lonely. But I see many in the market and so I should not be. I suppose I am spoiled. Perhaps I should try to organize some kind of gathering or festival in the pub? Though it is not long before the season of harvest and all its festivals.
Miss Faye and the others who went to the hidden valley have not yet been heard from so I do not know if the letter I sent to Miss Hravanis was ever delivered. I hope they did not lose it, or fall into some misfortune of the road. Maybe one day I will get to return to the valley of the Elves myself to thank her.
