================================== Bree Time ==================================
Real time: Thu Sep 30 14:28:09 2004
Bree time: Midnight 1:24 AM on Trewsday of Spring - April 25,1433
Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous Moon
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Breelands Weather
The midnight spring air is cool but pleasant around you. The sky is clear and the moon shines brightly.

North Bree(#12018Rnto)
Northwest of the Prancing Pony, a crossroads is nestled at the base of Bree Hill, with one road leading up the hill, and the other continuing north. All is quiet and dark in this part of Bree. A bit of light escapes from a large, low house against the hill, but otherwise the only light is from the stars and the only sound the occasional snatch of song from the Pony to the south.


Blackness smothers the tiny town of Bree, huddled about its hill. Few lights, if any, brighten the streets for most here have gone to bed long before.

Still and bright, the stars hang overhead, kept company by a fat lopsided moon. In the silvery light of moon and stars, shadows lay thick and stark below and one of them moves. Toby, resplendent in his new finery (a shirt with no holes and pants that are not torn or ragged), wanders the streets of Bree. Bare feet pad all but noiseless on the dusty streets, carrying him down the long hill towards the healing house.


Coming from the Prancing Pony a shadow fleets between shadows, seemingly a ghost that haunts the township of Bree at this hour. Tall it seems to be, and noiselessly does it move as it goes northward. The tall shadow stops as he watches movement coming towards it, and instinctively goes for cover... and then stops, as it recognizes the young Toby. "Well met, Toby", a rich baritone voice says, coming from within the shadows. The Ranger then lets himself be revealed, a tall figure clad in grey with cowl pulled low over its face. This Ranger is known to Toby, for indeed they have met several times. "How fare you this night?"


Walking in from the a southerly direction is Onyx Sandheaver, wearing a dark blue shawl while walking in a slow pace, looking from side to side. She does not hear or notice Toby or the ranger yet, as she is still a a few feet away.


A shadow mars the boy's forehead, where nothing lies to cast it... Toby stops abruptly, his hand dropping to his hip in an automatic reaction, and then falling away - empty, fingers clenching futilely at his side. "What're you doin' here?" the boy demands. "Don' you know it's night out?" There is an undercurrent of bitter rage to his voice that seems far beyond the few words, and a fickle breeze stirs his hair, pushing it away from the shadow that, in full moonlight, is revealed instead to be the healing remnants of some wound.


"Night it is, and the same question I might ask to you, young man", the Ranger replies to the Breelad. "But come! I see I caught you unaware. I apologize if I startled you, lad", he adds, nodding towards him.


As the young hobbit nears she hears the voices up ahead. She stops and looks out into the darkness, seeing Toby standing not too far off. Onyx looks around to see where the other voice is coming from, but finds no one.


Eyes dark in the night, slide towards Onyx and then away, dismissively. "'Lias's brother snores," Toby says shortly. "Don' want to go sleep up Breehill again." Despite himself, he shivers a little, and glances over his shoulder warily.


"And so, where will you go, Master Toby?", the Ranger asks. "I saw some hay in the stables... it might make a comfortable bed, if you're seeking one", he adds. "And it will also give you a good shelter for the night", he says, looking with interest at Toby's new clothes.


The ranger's voice then sounds familiar to Onyx. "Oh, hello Toby." She pauses for a second. "And Master Grey," Onyx says, approaching the young boy.


Toby shrugs an uncaring shoulder. "I.." he begins, when his face hardens and eyebrows clamp together in a scowl. Brown eyes spark fury at the ranger, and a muscle jumps in his clenched jaw. Both hands clench, white-knuckled, and one raises again to his absent knife. "Ain't sleepin' there no more," he jerks out.


"Hmmm, I see", the Ranger replies. Listening to Onyx, he turns his head to gaze at her, and raises a hand in greeting. "Well met, Miss Sandheaver", he replies to the hobbit-lass. "I hope everything's good with you tonight". Turning to gaze back at Toby, he continues, "I see you hold some anger against me... or against my kin, perhaps? What is the matter, Toby?", he asks, going straight to the point.


"Ain't none o' yer business," Toby flashes. The spikey fingers of his rage obliterate Onyx's presence. "What'd you care anyhow?" Bitterness joins to anger. "Be just's glad, you would, that he stole my knife an' kicked me out."


"Yes, jus' gettin' back from the pony." Onyx quickly backs away from Toby as he raises his hand to his knife. She watches Toby and the ranger with her eyebrows raised, getting a bit closer to 'Grey'.


The Ranger remains silent for a moment, his glittering eyes the only thing that can be seen inside his cowl. "Who stole your knife, and who kicked you out from where, pray tell?", he finally asks. "For I wish you good, regardless that you seem to hold something against me".


"Him at th'stables," Toby mutters. "Worked there, wi' the horses, until he stole that horse and they said it were my fault. Said I couldn't come back there no more. Like I'd want to," he spits.


"Lad, I do not know of whom you're talking about, nor knew what befell between Bob and you", the Ranger replies. "Still, I would like to know of whom you speak".


"Who stole it?" Onyx looks at the ranger, and back to Toby. "I don't know what you're talking about."


Toby's eyes, lift to Henleg's shadowed face, and then slide away with their burden of sullen rage. "Lost m'job," he almost shouts. "How much clearer I gotta say it? S..somebody stole some horse an' Carlo says it were my fault when it WEREN'T an' t'stablemaster gimme a beatin' and say I can't come back no more. An' he stole off with my knife."


"And pray tell, lad", the Ranger adds patiently, with a muffled voice, "what of that is my fault? For indeed I see your anger and understand the reason for it. But why do you direct it at me?", he adds, pity seeping a bit in his voice.


Onyx just watches Toby wide-eyed, saying nothing more while listening to Henleg. She does not leave off northward but stays there.


The boy skewers Henleg with a curdling glare, before whirling and beginning to walk stiffly away. "Knew y'wouldn't care.. allus snoopin' around and prying at a body an' making him say stuff as he don't want to."


The Ranger looks at Toby, and then turns his head towards Onyx and shrugs. "Well, di you understand anything at all about that lad?", he asks the hobbit. "Such anger... I pity him, for that's the proof of the hard life he's had. But one cannot help anyone that doesn't want to be helped", he adds. Turning to Toby, he says in a loud voice, so the Breelad can hear him, "Fare you well, Toby. And I hope it all gets straightened out soon". Glancing at Onyx again, he lifts his hand in farewell. "Fare you well too, Miss Sandheaver. Until we meet again". With that, the Ranger starts to make his way towards the North Gate of Bree.


Onyx shakes her head, "I didn' understand what 'e was talkin' about." She then offers him a smile as the ranger leaves, "Farewell, mister Grey." Perhaps the hobbit has learned to trust him a bit more.


Impotent baffled rage disturbs the peaceful night, leaving behind a swirling aura of discontent. Toby's shoulders hunch a little as he hears them talking about him, and his steps lengthen a little.