>>6108021You decide not to tell Neddle that you've never even heard of the Hawthornes. Something tells you that such an admission would wound his pride, and that he is the sort of gnome to remember such slights to end of time.
"I'm an orphan, sir," you reply. "I never knew my kin, except my uncle, but he's a Rosewood, on my mother's side."
Neddle falls into a coughing fit. "Not Oleander Rosewood?"
"The very same. You know him, sir?"
Neddle's manner changes entirely once he's recovered. He's suddenly more reserved. "You're that Oleander's nephew?" he mutters. He clears his throat loudly. "Yes, well, I suppose not all apples fall close to the tree, as the saying goes. You're here to make something respectable of the land, after all---" He raises his brow in question. You nod in the affirmative. "Then, you're most welcome, Oakley. There are only so many of us here---gnomes, I mean---one bad apple...as the saying goes."
"Far be it from me to stir up trouble, sir," you say.
At that moment, the girl in the shack decides to peek her head out of the door, wondering who else has dared to encroach on her lair. Neddle's eyes are closed in mute pleasure as he puffs on his pipe, but his daughter doesn't miss a thing. She tugs on his sleeve and points toward the shack.
"What?" Neddle asks, then he sees her, and his cap nearly falls off in surprise. "Why that's the thief that's been stealing my apples! You! Orchard thief! Hold there!" And gripping his belt in one hand, Neddle sprints forward, displaying astonishing speed for someone his age. But the girl's feet are lighter than a jackrabbit's. She's already half-way to the woods by the time Neddle has even crested the hill. In another moment, she's gone, and Neddle, clutching his knees, must give up the chase.
His daughter, Poppy, runs to tend to him, and you follow close behind.
In between coughing and sucking on his pipe, he manages to ask you why you were "harboring a known fugitive".
>Reply that you didn't know she was a thief, she was squatting in the shack when you arrived.>So what if you were? Is he going to call the bailiff on a fellow gnome? Test him to see where his loyalties lie.>Surely the menfolk aren't so ruthless as to regard a little girl like her a criminal? Who is she anyway?>Write-inAlso: Will you show Neddle the girl's store of food?
>Yes, it's probably his stolen apples and will clear you of any suspicion.>No, the girl may be a nuisance, but you like her (or pity her) more than you like Neddle. 