================================== Bree Time ==================================
Real time: Mon Oct 04 18:54:36 2004
Bree time: Early Afternoon 1:43 PM on Monday of Spring - May 8,1433
Moon Phase: Waning Crescent Moon
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Breelands Weather
The early afternoon spring air is cool but pleasant around you. A misty rain comes down from the day sky.

At the Sign of the Prancing Pony(#27261Rnto)
The Great East Road bends around the southeastern corner of Bree-hill. The Road leads away to the west and southeast, and where it sweeps past the foot of the hill there sits a large three storey inn. The inn has a front on the Road, with two wings that run back, away from the Road to the east, on land partly cut out from the hill's lower slopes. As a result, the rear second-floor windows of the inn are level with the ground. A wide arch leads to a courtyard between the two wings. Above the arch is a lamp and beneath it swings a large signboard: a fat white pony rearing up on its hind legs.


It's raining. A thin grey and cheerless drizzle seeps down from leaden clouds. Most folk have sought shelter within doors this afternoon, but there is one sodden form sitting by the edge of the road someways down from the Pony. Toby sits in the rain and drips; his eyes blank and his face blanker.


Ah! Here is one other, at least, braving the weather this afternoon. The woman walking down the road holds her cloak close against the rain, and she looks this way and that; looking for something... or someone.

"Toby!" Anna's voice rings merry and bright despite the weather as she joins Toby by the side of the road.


"Yeah?" The boy doesn't look up, continuing his fixed observation of the glistening cobbles.


The woman chuckles, nudging the young man gently, shoulder to shoulder in a playful manner. "I have news, m'boy," she declares, cheerfully. She turns then, her expression growing serious as she adds, "But first, I need some information from you, Toby. Truth."


A wary glance is slid towards this most cheerful of companions, and a non-commital grunt. "I ain't lied to you," Toby says cautiously.


Anna nods. "That's true, you haven't. But you didn't tell me /everything/, did you?"


Toby shrugs one shoulder and returns to staring at the road. "What of it?" he mutters.


The woman tilts her head slightly. "Well, if I'm going to vouch for you with your boss, so you get your job back, I'll need to have no secrets from you."


And this brings a reaction. The boy's head snaps up. "What?" he says, dumbfounded. Then anger descends over the blankness. "I ain't going back t'work fer him."


Anna shakes her head. "After all I did to convince him? He's one of the few who really cares for you Toby, though he's got a rough way of showing it. And he'd not have taken your dagger if you hadn't drawn it on him."

She sighs then, a bit frustrated. "Besides, he says if you work hard, and show him that he can trust you not to cut him when he's sleeping, you can get your knife back."


Suspicion wars with something that might be a hidden longing in the boy's eyes. "Always worked hard," he replies, ignoring the comment about his dagger. "An' I didn't never lie, neither. Why'd I want t'go back to somebody doesn't believe me?"


Anna shrugs. "He said you work hard. And he wants to believe you, I can tell. Think of his position, though. In the end, it's him has to answer for theft; he's the boss. And he only knows what he sees and hears. C'mon, Toby. He's willing to give you a chance; why don't you give him one?"

She adds, after a moment, "He also said you're very good with the beasts..."


Toby sits motionless, doubt written large on his face. "He did?" he asks at last. "T'you?" One bare toe scrubs a hole in between two largish stones. "He really give it back?"


Now Anna grins. "He did," she confirms. "To me." She nudges him again, playfully.

"So what are you waiting for, Toby? You've got chores to do. And one more thing, my friend: I have to leave for a while, to visit some of my kin away south... and when I come back, I'd better hear great things about you. Otherwise I won't give you whatever I bring back for you."


"I..." Toby manages. It is clear he has no idea what to say. Or do, for that matter. Uncertainty, fear... they collide in his face and leave him lost. "Where y'going?" he asks at last, as the most stable thing he can grasp onto.


"Pretty far," she answers. "I'll be gone for a while. And truthfully, I'm not quite sure where I'm going. I'll be getting my travel directions after I've left Bree. But I /will/ be back. And you /do/ have your job back. And you /can/ earn your knife back, if only you're man enough to work for it. Are you, Toby?"

After the smallest of pauses, she murmurs, "/I/ think you are."


"Oh." Toby returns his stare to the cobbles. He opens his mouth, shuts it again and then mutters, "Maybe I'll go back. Don't got no other job..." Unsaid is that no one else will hire him.


Anna allows him this fabrication, and nods casually. "Sure," she agrees, as if it were no big deal. "Might as well."