[Child of the 7th Age]

Miz Bella sat by herself at a small table in the corner reflecting on everything that had happened earlier in the evening. The night had been a busy one. She had managed to slip in a word to Reggie and Daisy's parents that they were welcome to come to her room in the morning and make arrangements for the children to attend school. She had also talked briefly with Marigold and reminded the little lass to speak with Master Headstrong if he wished to have her join the other children in the classroom.

Before leaving the Inn with Rory, Lily had promised that her daughter would return to help Bella clean the schoolroom and set out the tables and chairs along with all the other supplies that the young hobbits would need. Despite Lilly's assurance that Camille would be happy to help, Bella suspected otherwise. A look of profound annoyance had flashed over Camille's face and was just as quickly masked when she was speaking with her mother. Then the lass had abruptly stood up and stomped off towards the kitchen. Bella wondered if she had unknowingly said or done something to offend the young lass. She could not think of anything, but some hobbits were more sensitive than others and could take umbrage at even the smallest thing. She resolved to be more careful and try to mend fences when Camille showed up to work.

Overhearing some conversation at the next table that centered on puppets, Bella made a mental note to try and run down those fellows the next day and find out what they had meant. Perhaps there was a group of puppeteers who would be putting on a show at the Inn. Or, even better, perhaps the puppets could be used by the children to help put on a show themselves. She had never tried her hand at making a puppet, but how different could it be from the dozens of items that she had carved over the years?

The Elders in the New Lands had taught her how to use sandstone and wood and skillfully carve these materials to create a hundred different birds and beasts. She was not especially good at singing or dancing as so many hobbits seemed to be, but she could craft images of living things that looked so real it was easy to forget they were only copies. This was the main reason that she had spent time with the Dwarves in the region of Dale, hoping to study some of the handiwork that they had produced. Their work was clever but quite different from what she had learned over the seas. The people of the northern islands brought a certain reverence and seriousness even to the smallest of their creations that was simply lacking in the toys that she had seen in Dale. Camelia Goodchild had once told Bella she should look for such purity in the work of the Elves, particularly in those things crafted by the Noldor, but she had no idea how or where to find such Elves, and many of them had already left Arda.

There was something sad about that. With a sigh Bella stood up, intending to head to her room when she saw a young lad take a tumble off a chair. She thought of running over to help, but there were a number of others crowded about the lad, and they seemed to have the situation under control. Still tired from her adventures of the day before, Bella slipped out into the corridor and wearily headed back to her room for the night.