Moving On

Chapter 3

Her intuition was telling her something big was about to happen, and it was driving her nuts! She knew she should remember but she couldn't! As she walked back the way she came to the dining hall, her mind was racing. She was torn from her thoughts though by a gruff voice, "Where's the meat?" She looked up as she entered the dining hall and saw four dwarves. Or really short and hairy men, but either way they stuck out like a sore thumb. She noticed that they were at lease a foot shorter than her though she had a feeling they could throw her pretty far if they wanted to.

One of the elves who seemed to be taking empty plates and trays back to the kitchen approached him, "Master Dwarf, forgive me, but Elves to not frequently indulge in meats."

The dwarves all looked at the elf like he had three eyes and an uncomfortable silence built over a few seconds. Samantha became curious and decided to walk over, "When do you guys eat meat?" It had been a thought in the back of her mind. She didn't see a single piece of meat and had thought that maybe they were vegetarian. They had cheeses, so obviously they either traded for it or had livestock somewhere, right?

The elf smiled at her curiosity, "Here in Imladris the consumption of meat is saved for holidays and other special occasions. We feel that we gain more from the animal if we allow them to live their lives. After all, a single goat can offer us milk for years before it passes, killing a young goat for the meat is seen by some elves to be wasteful." He bowed, "I should be on my way, Miss."

The elf walked away and seemed to walk back to what she assumed was the kitchen. What he said made logical sense, but Samantha have to admit, she loved herself a steak. She was taken out of her thoughts by one of the dwarves, "What is a human lass like you doing here?"

She jumped a little bit and looked at the four of them. They probably didn't mean it, but it came out really intimidating. Three of them seemed to be well aged and the one looked like the equivalent of a man in his late 30's. She knew though that like elves, dwarves lived an extended life, but were not immortal.

She rubbed the back of her head, "I honestly don't know..."

"What do you mean you don't know?" The redhead asked.

"Well, I was found in the surrounding forest by an elf. I have no idea how I got there though. Last I remember I was falling asleep at home and when I wake up, I'm lost." Samantha hoped they wouldn't ask her much more about her home after that.

One of the older dwarves motioned for her to sit down and she did so politely, not like she had anything else to do, right? "What's your name, lass?"

"Samantha."

"Well, Samantha, the name's Gloin, and this is my son Gimli. And over here we have Flic and Thesomri." Samantha smiled in greeting. She sat with them for a while and talked with the three of them. Three, because Flic wasn't really interested in the conversation and was stuffing his face with a plate of cheese. Gloin told her the story of how him and his company had been here 60 years prior, and that lead to her hearing about the story of The Hobbit, but from Gloin's perspective. She thought it was fascinating hearing about the trolls and goblins and about the trip through Mirkwood. She had to wonder if Mirkwood was still so murky after all this time.

After the story Gloin shared the topic changed to the lack of alcohol and wine. They asked her about the food from her homeland and she told them it was pretty similar to here, but with a much wider variety. She told them that they had markets where they could have food from any season. She could have fresh strawberries in the middle of winter. This fascinated them, but instead of wanting to know how, they wanted to know about what kind of meats were available at the market. Once again it was a massive selection. You could get beef, chicken, pork, you could even get a container filled with just chicken feet if you wanted.