*OOC* Timewise, this scene is a continuation of the prior one - minus the boys actually going into the shop to do their errands.

Bree Market - North
This section of Bree comprises Market North, on a street running north-south. To the north is the Great East Road and the well-known Prancing Pony. South are more shops and stores, as the market continues on in that direction. This area is quite noisy from the many traders, vendors, and other folk about. The smell of fine food drifts through the market, attracting more hobbits than Big Folk.


The murmur of the market place has picked up on this bright day as two boys make their way through the bustling crowd. Every few minutes, Elias waves or calls out a greeting to one or another of the vendors, but for the most part, his attention is focused on the boy next to him. His open face is full of worry.


Toby's, in contrast, is closed and tight. Still limping stiffly, he holds a package in one arm; the other is held close to his body so as not to be jostled. Few people speak to him, and unlike Elias, he does not greet those he passes.


After stealing several glances at his compainion, Elias finally asks, "So what really happened, Toby? It wasn' a fall, or a horse, I'm thinkin'."


"Nothing," Toby mutters. "I fell." He shoots a side-long glance at the other boy. "It was stupid."


"Oh, you fell." Elias nods, "I remember, a hill, wit' rocks, why does that sound like somthin' I've heard before." He pushes up his green cap and scratches his head. "Oh, I remember, I made that up earlier."


A reluctant chuckle is pulled from Elias's companion. "Yeah," he says. And some time later, as if it is something that rarely occurs to him, he adds, "Thanks."


The lad lifts his shoulders and spreads his hands. "Forget about it." They move along in silence for a moment, and Elias adds, "So you were tellin' me about what really happened."


"Hnh." Toby grunts, not unfriendly. A few more paces north and he glances at Elias again. "You can't never tell no-one," he warns, and a hard glint in his eye tells that this might be more than the normal boy's warning. "I mean never." His hand steals to his dagger hilt, then moves away.


Elias shakes his head, "If I was gonna tell someone, woulda done it earlier." He points out, but he offers, "I promise, never a word, no matter who asks."


Still it takes some time before Toby says anything more. The distrust of time is not easily erased. Finally he says, slowly, "Got my ears pinned back." A twitch of a gleeful smile that might have been recognized in his much younger self, breaks through layers of sullenness and anger. "I fell, honest.. I just got .. helped."


Somehow Elias doesn't seem very surprised at the news. He scratches his head, and says, "When I was a boy, someone 'helped' my sister fall too. The brothers, 'cept me, 'cause I was younger, got together and helped the fellow who did it fall too." He looks thoughfully at the other boy, "I'm older now, 'course."


A Ranger is nigh the northmost part of the market: tall, grey eyed, garbed in worn cloths, mingling with the crowd, though he is taller than basically everybody else. And he is attent. Apparently on the general motion as he makes his way slowly, though once in a while his gaze shifts at Toby and his comrade.


Toby's wary eyes flick from person to person through out the crowd, but only to make sure no one is too close to him for he never looks farther than a few feet: the distance a normal person could overhear a conversation in a noisy crowd. And so the ranger goes unnoticed.

He shakes his head at Elias's implied offer. "I..." he starts, and takes a deep breath. "...I jumped 'im first." One hand clenches tightly.


Elias stops for a moment, then remembering himself, starts walking, his voice low, he asks, "Why?"


A normal person...
Though apparently the tall man has heard something interesting, and it's hard enough for the Ranger follow as it is, since many 'excuses' and 'I am sorry' lead him closer to the lads. Head down, he goes on.
Yet, it might be chance that leads him where it does?


The curly-hair lad shrugs one shoulder, clearly uncomfortable. "I dunno," he says. "I thought... there was this guy hurt my sister, see. A while ago. I'm gonna kill him when I find him." His voice has changed abruptly - more normal, quicker; he is telling a tale now, not speaking of recent history that troubles him.


Eyes wide, Elias listens. "What happened?" he asks softy.


As the boys talk, the Ranger approaches. Yet, the distance he keeps is what could be deemed safe? For still, he is far. And he doesn't act clearly as an eavesdropper...
If indeed he is one!


A flicker of a glance takes in Elias's wide-eyed face, but his question is brushed aside. Toby finishes his story abruptly, uncomfortably. "It don't matter. But I'm gonna kill him." There is a small hint of boasting in his tone, leached out with his next words. "Anyhow, Th.. somebody said.. I thought he'd try and stop me, see? So I was gonna go for him first. Only he was faster 'n anybody I ever seen before. Didn't even get a touch on 'im." He swivels his head looking Elias full in the face for a minute and tells the younger boy, grimly and with a touch of resentment, "You probly shouldn't be around with me, I ain't a good person to know, everybody'd say so."


"Everybody'd say a lot of things, like that everyone from Combe works on a farm." The boy shakes his head, "Tha' ain't true." Elias scratches his head, "So I figure everybody don' pick my friends for me."


Further north... it is now evident the two lads are heading towards the Prancing Pony. Toby is silent now, though he does give one nod to acknowledge Elias's reply. At last he says, "So. I fell. Dunno why he didn't kill me though."


To anyone who could have been watching the Ranger, now it'd become obvious too that he follows the lads, for his path is also toward the Prancing Pony... Of what he knows, his expression betrays nothing.


"So who was it?" The stout boy asks. "Someone around Bree? A stranger?" His eyebrows draw together.


Toby glances around, shifting the bundle he carries to an easier position under his arm, and limps onward. "Who was which?" he asks.


The Ranger's large strides bring him even closer to the lad's, even tho' his eyes only once in a while move toward them.


"The one who helped you fall," Elias clarifies. "Or the other, if you wan'." He looks around, blinking. "Should I be lookin' out for him?"


"No." Toby's swift negative is sharp and definite. "Don't you bother none about my troubles." He looks up again, all around them, even over his shoulder - but this last check is hampered by the stiffness in his neck and arm. The crowd has thinned, but still people move between the Inn and the market, and the road is by no means empty. More quietly, "He weren't no Bree man. Neither of 'em. You leave them alone, d'you hear me?"


The younger boy nods, "Aye, I'll leave 'em alone." He looks at Toby, "An' I won' add to your troubles." He adds solemnly. "But if you need four hands instead of two..."


The Ranger's speed is increased... the proximity increases.


Toby's eyebrows lower and pinch together and he stops walking to look at Elias. "Didn't you hear nothing I said?" he demands. "I ain't talkin 'help me keep off some bully', I'm talking you could get killed! How come you're saying you'll help?" Abruptly he realizes someone is coming up behind them and snaps his mouth shut, turning to see who it is.


At the other boy's motion, Elias turns as well, squinting and trying to see.


Perhaps it is purposefully that the Ranger's gaze takes a while to come down to the boys-- when he's nigh bumping on them-- and he halts before offering a nod. "G'day.". He acts as if no word of the talk had reached his ears.


Toby takes a step backward, his eyes narrowed distrustfully and his mouth tight. Finally he offers a short nod. "Afternoon." Brown eyes shoot a warning glance at Elias, then return to rest on the Ranger's tall figure.


Glancing at the other boy, Elias steps forward and offers the man a grin, "Good afternoon, Sir."


"May I help you?" he asks quite suddenly after a while of staring down at the boys, "Or d'you laddies just fancy to stop for no appearent reason in the middle of the road?".

His words are far from harsh. Even amused. Though his glance tells a different tale. It's... puzzled, analyzing. And foremost, seeking to meet the lad's.


"We were talking," Toby says sullenly. His eyes slide towards the Ranger's, meet them and shy away. "Ain't no law against talking."


The shorter boy peers up at the man. "Just enjoyin' the day," he clarifies, "hope you are too, Sir."


"Indeed, none that I've heard off." the Ranger nods darkly, "Nor against walking. Move on or to a corner, aye?" he pauses, "Or better yet, let's follow me and talk some more?".
An eyebrow is lifted almost kindly now as he peers insistently at the boys. And nods at Elias, replying laconically, "Aye." he then adds, after quick pondering, "It's a fine day.".


Wariness grows in the brown eyes that now try to avoid those, hawk-like, that are pinned to his (and Elias's) face. "Talk about what?" he asks. "I ain't got nothing to say t'you..." A pause as he studies the ranger's face, its determined, insistent lines, then shrugs one shoulder brusquely. "Fine. Talk."


Elias points to a wall well in view of the rest of the market. "That seems like a good talkin' place, don' you think?"


The Ranger gives no reply to Toby's babbling, simply nodding as the lad finally agrees with talking. After Elias's words, the bright silver colored eyes give the boys a break, moving to the wall. And he shakes his head disaprovingly.
"Too noisy. I'd say let's get into the Pony, but as you said, 'tis a fine day. Far too fine to spend into such a dark place, don't you agree with me?" he nods at his own words, ere pointing with his chin a place ahead, nigh the most far corner of the Pony, where few passerbies are now, as most of the crowd is in the market.


Silent, unsmiling, Toby limps stiffly towards the indicated corner, turning when he arrives to stare unspeakingly at the ranger and wait. The sun turns his brown curly hair to a warm hazel, but it does nothing to warm the brown eyes beneath.


Elias offers the ranger another friendly smile before following his friend to the corner.


Close on the boys' heels comes the Ranger. With another gesture, he motions for the lads to go where their backs on the Pony's lateral wall and scratches the rebel beard that starts to spring scruffly on his chin. And his bright eyes twinkle as once again they meet their brown equals on the kids.
"You know, I was in the market a while ago. And among the conversations about, I heard an interesting word... 'kill'. Not new to my ears..." his lips curl up a bit? "no big deal for a place like this... we kill deer to eat, we kill sheep..." he talks slowly, "But then I heard a 'him' following it... we don't name beasts him, do we? Not usually.."
"So guess what, I found from whom the voice came! And also, that somebody's omitted interesting details on a now curious tale, for I went closer to the speaker... and then what was it I heard? 'He's not from Bree.'?".
He pauses and his stare's weight grows.


Toby stares back, mute and stubborn. The weight of a Ranger's stare is not easily born, but Toby is not an inexperienced Bree lad with nothing behind him save sheep and apples; and his gaze holds Alarth's for a good time before faltering and dropping. "What of it?" he asks in a surly voice.


"Not to be rude, Sir, but we were just talkin', didn' mean anything by it," The stout boy offers, and a flash of inspiration crosses his broad features, "an' didn' mean it for real, we were playin' you know." Elias tries to look younger then he is, "Orcs an' settlers, you know."


Weariness starts to touch the Ranger's features as he does not yield glaring at the boys. "What of it? Well, Strider might not want to hear of birds if there's a potential killer... I trust the Constables would be glad to get their hands upon a killer, even afore there's a killin', don't you think?".
His bright stare moves then to Elias, focusing totally on the boy. And the intensity in it is enormous. Yet just a single question leaves his mouth.
"Is it so, now?".


Blood drains from Toby's face and his eyes fly to the ranger's face, an unspoken plea hovering there... but Alarth is watching Elias, and the next moment, a wall has slammed up. Nothing is left save clenched teeth and a sort of sullen despair.


Quelling before the gaze of the stranger, Elias's shoulders slouch and his head drops. Then he glances at his friend, and his jaw locks with determination. His head raises and he meets the man's stare. "Aye, it is so, or near enough that it ain't your concern."


The *clop* *clop* of unshod hooves sounds upon the cobblestones to the north as a shaggy, white excuse-of-a-pony is led slowly towards the market. The young woman who leads the sturdy beast is none other than Malorie Blackroot--who seems to be about some business or other, and who slows her pace as she spies Toby in conversation with others there in a rather out-of-the-way corner of the market. The pony snorts and shakes its head, coaxing up a flurry of dander and hair, and Malorie turns a sharp glare to the beast, along with "Shush, Wal!" She then reaches up to scratch the animal--which is burdened with a blanket-wrapped bundle upon its back--behind its ears, and chances a step or two closer to the three--though still too far away to hear any hushed exchanges...


"I see." the Ranger nods, examining the boys still, "Though why is your friend so nervous? Wasn't it easier that he'd told you're playing, instead of following me till here, making this face and dragging the subject longer than it needed?". A small smile appears on the man's face, lightening his expression. Yet his eyes still search for something on the lads...
Or searched. The pony's- real animal's, not the tavern- sound get him to turn and upon seeing Malorie, nod a greeting. Nothing else, however. He's atitude is far from inviting-- it's more of a reflex.


Toby stands there, full in the sun, head bowed beneath Alarth's gaze. The bruise on his face is almost faded and the scrapes there are healing. A visible fight is going in the lowered brown eyes; visible at least when he lifts them to search Alarth's face in return. But what does he look for? The clopping of horse's hooves don't seem to even impinge on his hearing for all he notices them.


"If you'll excuse me for sayin' so, Sir, but you took us over here." Elias points out, relief writ large on his features, "We didn' ask you to, and Toby always looks like this," He lowers his voice, "he's a bit touched, you know."


But Malorie certainly notices *him* and perhaps that is why she treads away from the main thoroughfare to draw yet closer to the three.
...Until the tall man has turned to look at her, that is. Clearing her throat, Malorie hides a frown with a downwards look. Drawing Wal away to the shaded side of one of the little shops, she leaves the placid pony standing there and continues around to get a better glimpse of the three.

Curiosity, after all, ever was one of her stronger points.


"Touched? Indeed?" Swiftly the Ranger's glance returns to the lads, "Why so? Has the fall affected his head?" his eyes search Toby's again, "To me it sounds like there's something he'd like to say... perhaps more for me to include in the message?". The smile has reappeared, and it's kind, even encouraging.
Change of tatics?
No longer he pays attention to Malorie.


Elias's swift excuses, piling one on top of the other, at last bring a glare from his companion. "There ain't nothing wrong with my wits," he grits out. Back to Alarth returns his gaze, and finally, with a gesture of one who throws every thing on the roll of one dice, he says, "We wasn't playing." A second darted glance towards the boy who has tried to defend him and he corrects himself. "/I/ wasn't playing. Elias don't know nothing but what I just told 'im now."


With Toby's confession, Elias's bravado crumbles. After a long look at the other boy, the stout lad leans against the wall and pushes his cap up on his forehead, squinting at the ranger appraisingly.


"Have you been drinking again?"

It's not so much a question as it is an accustation. And if anyone cares to look behind them, they will see the grinning Malorie with an amused glint in her eye, arms folded before her, looking straight at Toby.


The Ranger furrows his brow and acknowledges the words with a nod, ere speaking again. And as he does so, however, his tone does not grow harsher nor anything: it remains as kind as it was. "And what exactly were you telling him? What were you planning?".
He shots a quick glance at Elias as the question comes up, though the lad it's obviously not the source of the sound. He turns to face Malorie thus and another nod is given, "May we help you, miss?"


Toby takes a deep breath, tensing himself as if against a blow as his eyes fall again. "I.." he begins when Malorie's comment catches him unaware, and his head jerks up again, searching for the woman. "No," he says, frowning. "I ain't."


"Help me?" Malorie looks up to the tall stranger and shakes her head. The green-eyed gaze lingers a little before she looks back to Toby and gives a nod in his direction. "This lad here...he's a bad habit of drinking too much. And when he does..." She shakes her head and clicks her tongue in a tut-tut. "Is he rambling on about dead birds again?" the young woman wonders, though the thought is hardly a random musing, and rather seems spun upon a fine thread.


The Ranger offers a faint shrug at Malorie, his smile reappearing faintly, "I am not sure. If that was what he was talking about, he went far to get birds not from Bree." his glance is concerned as it returns to Toby, however, "Though the lad claims his head is fine... he is not drunk... Perhaps birds don't really mean birds in this conversation?".
An eyebrow is lightly lifted.


"No," Toby says again. And that is all he says, though Malorie's announcement of his drinking habits earns her another glare.


Malorie steps another pace forward, bringing her into the circle of those gathered. Her gaze narrows at the tall stranger and her smile turns wry. "He seems to think those Ranger-folk have something to do with it...killing all those birds. What do you think?"
Funny, how every question the girl has asked seems more interrogation...


Elias's eyes move between the three, uncertainty painted across his face.

"Really? 'Those Ranger-folk' have been killing birds, you tell me?" an expression torn between amazed and amused- thus perhaps amusing- is set on the Ranger's face as he nods, "I have not heard of it. Though I'd say that their business seems more important than harrassing birds for the sheer pleasure of it. Least word of their purpose is abound as well?".
His gaze runs swiftly from Toby to Elias, including them in the query.


Toby says nothing at all. Something of his earlier resentment and belligerence has returned to his face, directed now at Malorie, who seems bent on making him sound the fool.


Elias pipes up, "You never know with Rangers, they kill lots of things, I hear. Maybe birds, too. You never know, they can be crafty." Whether his comment applies to birds, Rangers or both is unclear.


The tall man's bright eyes turn to Elias, "Kill many things, indeed?"


Of course Malorie has no idea of Toby's thoughts, but she most certainly deflects his belligerence with a lift of her chin and a downcast (if assured) look of her own. "They most certainly *have* killed other things." Her gaze sweeps then to Elias, and then the tall one. Is that more amusement that glints to her eyes?
"I don't trust the Tall People," she says, calling upon a oft-used term the girl once used for the Rangers when first in Bree. "But there's no doubt but I'm alive today because of that one called Strider. Anyone who saves your skin ought not to be turned from watching your back, no?"
Malorie looks back to Toby, and smiles.


The smile elicits a deeper glower from the boy it is directed to.


The Ranger's glare is fixed upon Malorie again and he nods. A cordial smile is all he gives, before shrugging faintly, "Not all gold glitters.".


Blissfully unaware of his audience, Elias continues blythly along, "Sure, my brother-in-law David says that his cousin Randel said he heard a Southerner in the Pony say that a dwarf told him that he watched a Ranger take an axe and..."
He stops, abruptly shuts his mouth and looks between Malorie and the man. "Oh."


The wandering form of Wal can be seen just out of the corner of Malorie's eye. Distracted from making her point, the young woman clicks her tongue as if to catch the beast's attention.
Unsurprisingly, it doesn't work. "Osh..." she mumbles under her breath as she looks once more between the three.
"Watch what you drink now, lad," she says to Toby with one more grin. "But I'd best be going now. Manfred will be wondering what's kept me..."
One more nod is given to the Ranger, and then the former Breeguard goes to retrieve the pony.


Elias babbles on about something, Alarth says a single unheard sentance, and Toby hears none of it. His attention is focused exclusively on Malorie, and all of it is unfriendly. Nay, downright antagonistic.


"Pleasure to meet you." the Ranger offers alongside with a nod at Malorie as she goes to retrieve her beast. A couple of whiles he waits, till glancing down at Elias with a smile for the partially unheard narration, "You should heed what you hear, specially if it is a tale that came from such a long way.".
Alarth's full attention, however, is upon Toby. Yet, he does not make any comment, hoping that the situation is not totally lost... that perhaps the lad will resume the previous talk without any need of his words.
Not likely, as Toby seemingly tries to pierce Malorie with his gaze.


"An' I never believed a word of it?" Elias ventures.


Malorie and her pony disappear down the road and Toby at last drags his attention back to Alarth and Elias. The ranger receives a long and measuring look.


"Ah?" the Ranger's gaze shifts back at Elias and for some seconds he gets back on the talk... "Oh. Well, if you didn't believe, what use is there in reproducing it?". Faint irony adorns his smile.
It could even be said that he lets Toby examine whatever he wants in peace, for as he glances at the lad again, he simply nods. What for, perhaps not even Alarth himself knows.


Elias nods, and wisely keeps his mouth shut. Glancing over at Toby, his brow furrows, but he remains silent.


"Some fellow hurt my sister," Toby says abruptly. "I'm gonna kill him." He holds himself defiantly straight, lifting his chin a little and shutting his mouth tightly.


For a long while Alarth observes the lad. Finally he nods, "Though what did he do? And also, d'you know who is he?". Many of his thoughts are concealed now by the blank expression he adopts.


"She don't remember. Hit her on the head and ... some other stuff." The shutters that had veiled some of Toby's thoughts are down now and naked hatred and fury blazes in his eyes. "I don't know who he is, but when I find him, I'm gonna kill him and you nor nobody ain't going to stop me. An I don't care if you do hunt me down after," he adds.


Toby's words cause a storm of emotion to cross Elias's face, he remains silent, but turns to look at the Ranger.


Another nod acknowledges Toby's words, yet Alarth's head is soon shaken... He does not treat the lad as a child: even though his expression is blank, there's deference in his gesture, that's not free of some impressed amusement, however.
"Why'd I hunt you, Toby?" he tries the name for the first time, "Do I look like a Constable to you?".
"Talking about Constables, if I were you, I'd give this man in to them. I understand the feeling, but I've heard sometimes jail can be worst than death.".
Few heed now he pays to Elias, as the boy's fallen silent. Only a glance is spared once in a while to check... something.


Toby blinks. Whatever response he expected, this evidently isn't it. "Th.. he said you would," he says blankly. "Said rangers would come and hunt me down if I kilt anyone." His slack face hardens swiftly though and he is shaking his head almost before Alarth has done talking. "I'm gonna kill him," he insists with flat determination.


"He who said this? Let's name the herd, please." Alarth queries, "And what d'you possibly know about the villain that makes you so sure you'll find him to kill him?" he turns to Elias, "Where d'you fit in this tale, boy? D'you have a name?".


"I don' fit in, I'm just Toby's friend." The boy continues, "Name's Elias, and what's yours?"


"I haven't heard it yet." the Ranger replies at Elias, after a faint smile and a nod. Yet as his focus returns to Toby, his features become unreadable again, attent.


The boy stills on an indrawn breath, his eyes widening, is it with fear? "No," he says swiftly. "I can't.. I don't know." He plows doggedly onward, answering the questions he can. "I know where he was and when he was there, and there weren't so many people around there as someone won't know it was him. I'll find him. Might take me a while," he concedes.


Another nod comes from the Ranger, meaning more that he is listening than that he agrees, "And when you find him, what'll you do? Kill him? You'll have Bree law's after you and will become a wanderer, a tramp, probably no better than the man you killed.".
"Are you ready for it? Would you promise he's going with the Constables, alive, and told me all you know about him, I'd keep an eye open for him."


"Not if'n I ain't in Bree to do it. And I don't care anyways, they already... I... you... what?" Toby says, rocked backwards by the sheer unexpectedness of the Ranger's reply. He shakes his head a little though not in refusal. Mistrust not wholly allayed by the ranger's seeming kindness, a desire for revenge, perhaps some fear - these and other emotions rise to war again; choking him into silence.


And into silence Alarth allows him to remain: arms are crossed in front of his chest as he offers but another nod and time for Toby to think.


It is clear the lad doesn't know what to think at all, the struggle of a mind in doubt shows quite clearly in his face. His mouth opens to speak, then closes upon silence; not once, but several times. Until at last, he asks a simple question. "Why? Why d'you care if he's living or dead? He deserves t'die... 'less'n you don't believe me."


"Not our place, I think." Elias says, quietly.


"I do believe you." The Ranger replies, the silver colored eyes glancing down at Elias, "And aye, not your place judging these kind of things. I have my reasons, my morals. That's my condition to help you.".


"Then," Toby says slowly, "Why do you want to help me? You don't know me or nothing, fer all you know I could be ..." he stops for a minute "... somebody like him myself."


"But you ain't, Toby." Elias nods towards the Ranger, "I think he knows that as well."


"You aren't like him yet. You might never become... it depends on what you do with your life." the Ranger says with a shrug, "And I want to help you, for although you won't tell me the whole tale about your fall, apparently, you seem a fine lad.".
Again, Alarth nods in agreement with Elias.


Toby flicks a glance towards Elias. "I told you," he persists... strange, why is he insisting on his badness? "I ain't somebody good to hang around with. How d'you know I ain't like that too?" Alarth's final words bring a hint of red to his face and he clamps his lips shut again.


"Well, you were the first person to talk to me when I got here, you didn' tell that thief about my lost key, you got me a lantern after I woke you up." The boy shrugs, "You seem alright to me."


"You simply aren't." the Ranger insists, bright eyes seeking Toby's again, "There's a rotten, fading light into the eyes of those truly wicked. You have none of these, disregard mischieves. You're one meant for better things.".


Troubled brown eyes meet silver-grey. "I can't," Toby says at last, almost unwillingly. "I can't promise you that."


A pained sigh leaves the Ranger's lips, "Then I'm afraid I can't help you.". He scratches his chin and offers a tired shrug, ere turning, as if to leave.
Though he halts, glancing back at the boys, "Though why's that? You fear having no control upon yourself?".


Toby's shoulders sag a little and he looks fixedly at the ground while Alarth turns to leave. "I dunno," he mutters. "I hate 'im, and I want to kill 'im. I can't promise it, I keep what I say. And what if ... somebody else kills 'im?"


"If somebody else kills him, then my business will be with this somebody else." the Ranger's silver colored eyes dart quickly at Elias, "Yet, it counts as killing if you have someone to kill for you.". He pauses, glaring at the lads again.
"Though think with me, if you kill him, will he know that he has died, that he has payed? If you beat him up and give him to the Constables, he'll be ashamed and pained." there's another pause, "But if you cannot promise, I cannot help.".
Alarth motions to turn again, but pauses before wasting movements, "Although I'm curious about your face. What's the full story concerning the fall?".


"He won' kill him, Sir. And I won' either, if that's what you mean." Elias says, looking the Ranger in the eye.


The Ranger holds the lad's gaze with ease, yet an eyebrow is quirked, quizzicaly. "Can you speak for Toby, Elias?".


Almost in unison with Elias, Toby blurts out, "I already told 'im to keep his nose out of my business. He ain't..." he stops and looks at his friend. "I won't?" The words may be meant to be hard, but they come out sounding most uncertain, and the boy listens to what Alarth says. "You saying I can beat 'im up?" he asks warily and then freezes, his face turning to stone. "I fell," he says carefully. "In the street."


"He deserves, doesn't he?" there's an amused twist in the Ranger's expression as he watches Toby's reply. Yet as the lad talks about the fall, it fades totally. And the hardness that takes place makes it seem it had never been there.
"This part I already know. I'm more interested in the help you recieved to fall, if that was the term I heard you using earlier?".


The stout boy looks back at Toby, "You won'." He says steadily. He turns back and looks at the Ranger, this time with a lowered head. "You're right, Sir. I can' talk for him. Sorry."


Toby darts a hurried glance around, but he is pinned in - Alarth in front, a wall behind, Elias blocking the side. "You were listening?" he all but whispers.


"Some parts. Daresay I heard enough." Alarth replies, after having acknowledged Elias' apology with a slightly curious nod.


Elias listens, quietly, while moving dirt about with his toe.


"I fell," Toby says dully. "I..." he hunts for words amid the ruin of the day. "I was mad and I jumped this man, only he was faster than me and I fell. That's all. Wrenched my arm and cut up my face on the road." Slow and reluctant the words come, and he looks up with a flash of previously seen sullen anger. "Tol' you I weren't no good."


The Ranger examines Toby carefully, "First of all, who was he? And why did you jump this man?".


More dirt gets moved, forming two little rows, Elias frowns in concentration.


"N-nobody particular," Toby says. There is fear beneath the resignation, the assumption of what is to come with no possibility for forgiveness or escape. "I told you," he insists doggedly. "I was just mad. I... I was mad."


"Very well. Nobody." Alarth nods, a slight frown following the glance he shoots at Elias, "Though what has 'Nobody' done to get you mad? Or you were mad because of something else?".


"Only one person Toby wants to kill, I'd bet." Elias murmurs as he adds a third row to his dirt construction.


"It weren't nothing he did, it.. I was afraid he would if I didn't stop him first." Toby stares unseeingly at the ground.


"What could he do that inspired you to stop him first?" The Ranger continues asking, another quick glance at Elias meaning he took the comment in consideration.


Another hunted look towards freedom.. so close yet so unreachable. "Stop me killing him what hurt Tath," Toby says at last. Says? Mumbles more like, almost inaudibly.


Elias smiles as he bends down and adds a stick to his minature earth works.


Alarth leans forward, closer to the Toby, to hear better, "So you've already met this wicked fellow? And you jumped on 'Nobody' because he could stop you from killing this fellow?".


"Thought he would." Toby's back is hard up against the wall now.


"Why?" is the only query that leaves Alarth's mouth then, "Why did you think he would?".


Toby's empty hand comes to rest on the hilt of his dagger. "You would," he whispers miserably. There is no place to look aside from the ranger, and so he shuts his eyes.


Elias puts his hand on his friend's leg, for balance as he crouches.


An affirmative nod and the Ranger drops to his knees, what is probably a more confortable position to him. He seems to take no heed of the hand nigh the dagger, instead looking at Elias' construction with dust, taking care not to destroy it.
"This means it was one of the Rangers? Or a Constable? Perhaps a stout man nevertheless?".


"Aye." Just the one word, though the boy's eyes open again at the rush of air displaced when Alarth crouches down.


"Alright." Alarth replies, nodding. And then he changes subjects, "Now, how much d'you trust Elias' words? He says you won't kill the wicked fellow... you say you can't promise. What do I do? I won't help without your word, yet I grow curious to hear more about this ruffian.".


Elias takes another twig, squints at it and places it alongside the first, again connecting the two rows of dirt.


Cautiously Toby lets his hand fall away from the knife. "I... I don't know," he says uncertainly. "I only met him th'other day. Dunno why he'd say that, he don't know me neither." He's still alive, there is still the offer of help.. Toby heaves a sigh, smothers a wince at the ill-judged movement and gives in. "All right. I won't kill 'im. I'll try not to anyways."


"I'll ask around about this fellow and talk to you later about what I got and what you know, then." the Ranger stands up, smiling at the boy, "For now, just tell me, is he tall, short? Fat, slim? How's his hair, color of eyes? Or you don't know this either?".


"You don't care?" Toby says incomprehendingly. "I try to.. I jumped a ranger and you don't care?" He tries, slowly to pull half-forgotten, but long brooded over memories from his brain. "He was sort of... about this tall," He lifts his hand to show. "And not really skinny. I don't know 'bout his eyes or hair, they was all covered up by leaves. Maybe brown?"


The green cap slides again over Elias's eyes, and he pushes it up. He places a third stick, and leans back, looking at his creation.


Toby's just eliminated the two other possibilities Alarth had previously suggested... the Ranger's smile fades, his features harden. "A Ranger." he echoes, though without giving any hints of his feelings.
"Things can turn out bad to you if you keep jumping Rangers. We're not a bad folk, but we have what it takes to defend ourselves properly. I would be amazed if your attack had been succesful." he pauses, his eyes glinting dangerously, "Promise another thing now, that you will stop trying to 'stop' Rangers.".
To previously requested information, he simply nods.


"I already done," Toby replies. "He didn't take my knife; I said I wouldn't try it no more." Reluctant admiration tinges his voice. "He were too fast for me, couldn't even touch him."


A small smile shows in Alarth's face as he nods again, "Then things are in their right places. And I need to go now." he carefully uses the length of his leg to give the first step without making Elias' construction collapse.
"Behave, lads." with this last recommendation, he walks away, back into the agitation of the market.


...To leave Toby staring alternately after his departing back and down at Elias's dust works.

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