Shire

Chapter One

Marcho & Blanco

The final days here in the Elven valley fly by, we visit our ponies while making final preparations, Scrumpy seemed very happy and eager, I guess like me it has been quite restful for him. Though as lovely as it is to be here, I long to be home and see the Shire again, the simple things in life really do come to mind when they are not present. I like my routine, and I like gravy, two things that have been quite absent on this trip.

Dema had found lots of lost Mathoms in the last few days. The inn on the hill that smelt of sheep had many shiny items hidden between floorboards and buried in window boxes and flower beds. A rusty old key, a few shiny coins (she had polished these and placed them in the little box beneath the bar). She had also found a wonderful hat pin, again she polished it and reshaped the bent pin and placed it on the bar for it to be found. That was always the best part, when the Mathoms were found.

Things are starting to look in good shape once again at The Floating Log, repairs to the roof have taken longer than expected but the inside of the Inn is now free of dust sheets and the final layers of paint have dried.

A complete clean of all the mugs and plates took several days and many of the old stools and chairs were replaced for new. The new position here at The Floating Log means an awful lot less fetching and carrying and more time spent with the customers. I still have to run a few errands occasionally and it was on one such trip that I ended up in the Green Dragon.