It was a warm summer afternoon, and Cathay had been walking through the city. She wore a loose fitting tunic that matched the color of the sky. People were bustling about and young children were playing with each other in the streets. She was walking through an area full of stores and markets, different smells coming from each stall and shop and mingling to become one scent. She heard a voice call her name.

Turning around, she saw Cadfael, her dueling partner from school. "Hello Cadfael," she called, "I see you're enjoying the summer as well!" "Yes," he called back and then waved goodbye.

Cathay waved and then kept walking. She came to a store with a strange sign: The Laughing Pig's. She was intrigued by the name and decided to look around.

The store had a nice, friendly atmosphere. She saw it held many things from all over Middle Earth as well as ordinary objects: silverware and such. She wondered among the store for a while; amazed at everything.

Ethelwen was in the back room making some more knives. She had long red hair, and it was getting in the way of her work. She grumbled and pulled it back. She carefully took a red-hot knife out of the fire to shape it some more. She studied the hunk of metal with her deep, sea-green eyes, trying to envision what it would look like when finished. She pounded on it a little, and looked up to see if there was any business in the shop. None. She beat on the metal some more. All of a sudden, a woman entered the store. Ethel looked at her customer. The woman was taller than herself, and had bright blue eyes that were in startling contrast with her hair. She wore a sky-blue dress that was in good taste with her eyes. The woman began to look curious and browse the store. Ethel set her work aside, putting the metal back into the furnace, and went out to greet her prospective customer. She came up to the counter and said, "Hi! Welcome to the Laughing Pig... is there anything in particular you were looking for??"

Celebloth had left Rivendell the day after she had arrived- the need to go somewhere had overtaken her, somehow. Ellie was leaving, and she didn't know what Koro was up to, but she didn't think she'd be seeing him very often. And the knowledge that she wouldn't see these two friends was slightly disenheartening. So she had left, taking Elindomiel's key with her. She had hesitated on this point, wondering if she should just leave it under the doormat. But deciding that was a bad idea, she had left a note instead, should Ellie return before she did. She kept it in her pocket at all times.

And now a good many days had passed, and for once, she hadn't set a time limit upon herself. It was strange, but she hadn't felt like it, partly because she didn't know where she would be going. But eventually, she'd decided on Minas Tirith. And now she was here.

There was some hustle and bustle in the streets, and a few people who noticed she was an Elf looked at her with slight awe in their glances, but she didn't mind. She was just enjoying walking through the streets.

An interesting sign caught her eye: the Laughing Pig. Interesting, she thought. A strange name, but interesting all the same. It was seldom that she had thoughts like that. Perhaps, after all these years, she was finally growing up. Or maybe not.

She walked into the store and looked around at all the merchandise, fine to be sure. She saw that there were only two other women in the place, one of whom must be the proprietess. She assumed it was the one behind the counter with the red hair. She seemed to have called the other woman's attention, so Celebloth busied herself with looking at the silver for a while.

Cathay looked to see a woman with flaming hair and deep green eyes asking her a question. "No," she said, "I wan't looking for anything. It's just that the name of your store caught my attention. And all of these items are fascinating." She tucked her dark hair behind her ear to keep it from falling in her face. She felt a little akward; she could tell the shopkeeper was older than her, but Cathay looked down on her, and she was only sixteen. She noticed a woman, too beautiful to be a human, looking at the silverware. Perhaps she was an elf. Turning back to the shopkeeper, she spoke again. "I think that that woman over there wishes to speak with you though."

Celebloth heard one of the humans speaking, referring to her. She looked up hastily from an intricately worked knife she had been inspecting and said quickly in the general direction of the red-haired girl, "Oh, I'm just looking. I don't think I have the gold to afford any of this, though it's all beautiful." She walked over to where the other two women were, leaving the silver behind. "I'm Celebloth," she said, a smile on her face. She loved meeting new people.

((ooc: I know this is really unorganized, as far as an "order". oh well.))

Cathay was a little suprised, in a good way. She didn't know many women who acted as friendly as these two did. Her mother and other women she knew were stuck up. They rarely smiled at strangers, and probably wouldn't even speak with them unless they had to.

She smiled back, " Hello Celebloth. My name is Cathay, and it is good to meet you." she turned to the shopkeeper. "She is right about the silver. Where does it come from?"

(OOC: screw the freaking order! i am not like kyrie. lol sry kyrie)

"Thank you." she replied. She glanced at the knife that Celeboth was examining. "That piece of silver is probably one of the most expensive in the shop." She picked up the kife and handled it cautiously. It was one of the best examples of work that she had done in a long time. No wonder it caught Celeboth's eye. It was long and smooth, with a pattern of gold dragons that weaved around the handle, curling into the blade. She threw the knife into the air, caught the handle and put it back into the showcase. There's no problem having a bit of fun... "Oh, you all might be wondering what my name is! I'm Ethelwen, but most people call me Ethel, and some that are too lazy just say Eth. Either one works for me! Nice to meet you all." SHe held out her hand for the women to shake.

((OOC(bah, i hate having an order for posts... it's so annoyin if u have 2 wait for other peeps 2 reply, and it also creates a prob for convos... neway, now to post...)))

Celebloth took Ethel's hand and shook it a bit vigorously, then let go. "I don't think I'll ask the price of the knife, then. I'm sure I don't have the gold. I mostly live off what I can find. Well, I have to. I wander all the time, and there are some really isolated places in the world."

She glanced up at the knife again. "Ethel, you of course run this store, but what about you, Cathay? What do you do?" It was her so-called innate curiosity. She just had to know everything.

((ooc: It looks like great minds think alike. Not having an order is easier. lol))

Cathay didn't even hesitate in her answer as she normally did when people asked her this question. She was sure that Celebloth and Ethel would not be quick to judge her on this. Her own mother wasn't even used to it. "I go to a swordfighting school, when I'm not on summer holidays, like now. Otherwise, I don't really have a job. I did learn healing, but I'm not that good at it." She smiled. She was also curious about the elf. "You haven't reall y told us what you do, either. Would you?"

((sry i took so long, i didn't know anyone had replied...))

"Sure" said Celebloth amiably. "I don't actually do much, because I'm a wanderer. I just go where the wind's blowing, sometimes. Though usually I put restricions on myself and all, like how long I'll be gone. I've been all over the Western part of Middle-Earth, well, at least, a lot of places in Gondor, Rohan and Elven-lands. But I just take what I need from the wilderness. I don't really have a good way to make money, so I have to be self-sufficient."

She didn't think Ethel looked very old, and wondered how someone so young would come to run a store. "Ethel, how long have you had this store?" she asked.

"Hmm...let me think..." she paused, " probably about three years or so." She began to look around for something. Ethel muttered to herself, "it's gotta be around here somewhere..." She looked behind a large barrel and suddenly, "Ah ha! There you are! you always like to hise from me!" She pulled out a much smaller barrel with some writing on it. She popped open the lid and pulled out a pipe and started to smoke some leaf. " Would you like any? i have plenty of pipes...." She went around collecting some pipes while merrily blowing smoke-rings. "Are you sure you don't want any?" She asked. "It's on me!" she set the small barrel down. "Yesh. The shop has been mine for three years give or take. It's kind of a .... what's it called... a family...." she paused. "Tradition! that's it! yesh. owning the shop is like a family tradition, if you will."

"That's fun," Celebloth said in reply to Ethel's last words. "Ah, and no smoke for me. I don't think I could stand knowing what I was going to do every day, even before I was grown, though. I've always just done what I wanted, and I don't think it would suit me well to run a store full-time or anything. I'm not entirely organized either... no, I don't think I could work in a shop. But it's good for some people."

She glanced around the shop again, and then said, "Oh well, it would be a boring world if everyone were the same though, wouldn't it?" She felt rather stupid making such a comment, but she couldn't help it. Her mouth sometimes didn't truly seem connected to her brain.

(ooc: please excuse the rush, but the Oscars are coming on soon . . . ))
"No thanks," said Cathay, in regards to the smoke. "In my family's eyes, I'm more of a tradition breaker. I don't really know what I'm going to do, if I get to decide."

If she had it her way, Cathay would probably be a soldier, or something where she could go out, see the world. She knew the odds of that happening were little to none.

(yay oscars... i saw it too... rotk won all 11! w00t! btw.. is 'puzzledly' even a word?!?)

"How come you wouldn't be able to decide?" She asked Cathay puzzledly. "I mean, not that I got to choose my job, but it keps me alive, and I have grown to like it." She sighed. "Anyways, tradition-breaking is okay. Sometimes traditions are stupid... So what did you want to be?" Ethel had a somewhat annoying trait of being nosy.. guess it's just in the blood.

"BEcause my family will chose for me." explained Cathay. "So I'll probably end up getting married off. If I could choose, I think I'd be a ranger, living in the wild. That's what I want to do." she said.

Celebloth had shuddered at the thought of being forced to marry someone. She had never really liked men in general, not enough to marry one. They were okay to be around, but when it was up to her, she avoided them. They just seemed strange to her mind, and she didn't like that feeling.

But at Cathay's other statement, Celebloth smiled. "That's basically what I do, like I said before," she said happily. "Except I just go wherever for no reason whatsoever. I think that rangers have more of a mission than that."

She glanced around the shop one more time. "Well, I had best be going. It was nice meeting you two," she said, turning towards the door. She didn't mean to be abrupt, but she couldn't see a good reason to stay. She couldn't buy anything, not having money, and the conversation was slightly awkward for her. She didn't know why... perhaps it was because the other two were humans? Perhaps. She was used to Elves, after all. But that surely couldn't be it... she'd always been so talkative. She began taking long, slow strides towards the door, deliberating her decision.