It has been long since I moved into this house. It has been long since my mother parted with a heavy gold bangle in exchange for this pile of wood and brick, determined that I should live like the local people even if I have little liking for such abodes.
In all that time, I have only bothered to purchase the necessary items, such as a chair or two for the main room, bookcases for my various scrolls and books, and a worktable for the small side room which I use when creating clothes or items of healing. It has never occured to me to buy something as mundane as a bed. Today, I finally did so.
In truth, I am unsure as to why I bother. The liklihood of me sleeping in the thing is quite small. I prefer to rest on the flowered grass of my garden, or nestled in the hammock strung up between two trees should I decide that comfort is in order. I do not require such an item of furniture for I am far more accustomed to hard floors than I am to goosedown mattresses, and I cannot claim to share it with anyone since I have no one to share a bed with, and even if I did have a partner, I have no wish to do so.
I suppose, though, that the lack of what other people would view as such a staple piece of interior furnishing simply served to highlight the fact that I do not belong here. That, and many other items that I have not yet considered, make that particular truth quite obvious. Why, then, have I bothered to buy it now?
I have long since given up on the notion that I should strive to "fit in." For all that I grew up in Bree-land, this place has never felt like a home to me and I have never truly understood the people or their ways. Why, then, should I care what anyone else thinks should they notice my lack of certain items that they believe are necessities?
I do not.
So why did I make this purchase?
To further complete the decor of the house? For something to do with the money I seem to be accumulating but have little use for? To keep Arugru comfortable in his later years? The latter seems the most probable. He is hale and hardy, enthusiastic and possessed of a young and loyal heart, but I see him limp sometimes and know that the damp makes his joints ache even if he tries so hard to hide it. He looks after me so very well, that massive hound with his silky fur and soulful eyes. It is imperative that I return that care in every way that I can.
