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More of the wandering story

part one
part two


“I doubt you have, lad. Or you wouldn’t have been given the honor,” Sam offered gently, and Bergil looked to see if he meant it or was just being nice.

“But how can it be an honor if no one’s awake to see?” he asked.

“Seems to me your Master Tollovand trusts you to do your work without him there,” Sam said. “And that’s high honor.”

“I never thought of it that way,” Bergil admitted. “That he was trusting me, I mean.”

“Well my Gaffer didn’t trust me in the garden on my own ‘til he was sure I’d do more good than harm,” Sam said. “Nor my Mam in the kitchen ‘til I could bake the bread. I won‘t say it isn‘t sweet to hear your deeds be praised, but it‘s doing your best that matters, not whether or not anyone looks to see.”

Bergil felt his face heat. But what Sam had said made sense and it made him feel better. He thought about it as he ducked past the rows of drying clothing that hung in the passageway, and Sam followed along, equally silent. But it wasn’t far to go until they came to the wall of the garden that surrounded the Houses of Healing.

Bergil turned right and followed the wall to the easiest place to climb before he handed the lantern to Sam. “When I get to the top you can pass it up to me, and then come up too,” he said.

Sam chuckled. “I had a feeling we weren’t heading to the front door.”

“Oh, this is better,” Bergil assured him. “This takes us right to the herbiary, and you don’t have to go through any of the wards on the way.” He frowned remembering some of the things he had seen in the wards over the past few weeks. “If you don’t want to climb though, I can take you back around the long way.”

Sam looked up at the wall, which was only a foot or so taller than Bergil was himself, his eyes seeking out the footholds and handholds “I’ve climbed worse,” he said, almost to himself. “And at least this won’t have a great ugly spider at the top.”

Bergil scrambled up and lay on top of the wall so he could reach down for the light. “There are little spiders in the garden,” he said. “But the Herbmaster says they won’t bother you if you don’t bother them.”

“A garden is it?” Sam’s eyes lit up. “On the other side of the wall?”

“Uh huh,” Bergil said. “Can’t you smell it?”

The perian -- hobbit -- took a deep sniff of the night air, closing his eyes to savor the threaded scents of dew damp grass and turned earth. “Aye, so I can.”

part four
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