It was some time before a knock finally came at the anxious bear-man's door.

He had arranged the room, and moved items from off the table to elsewhere in the room, to make it available to use for his 'dinner guests.'  The people outside were not who he was expecting though.  Outside was the man he had been quite rude and cross to earlier that day, a young boy he did not recognize, and Melody, the maid that had initially attended to him here at the castle when he arrived.

The heavy set and hirsute man was wringing his hands anxiously, the young boy was standing to the side as if unsure of himself, and Melody seemed intently trying to console the both of them.

"[color=7bcdc8]Oh-- Hullo![/color]" he said in surprise, looking out the door and to either side. "[color=7bcdc8].. Where miss Jeanie at?... I wus es'pectin...[/color]"

"Hello Master Cedar!" Melody interrupted, prim, proper, and chipper. "Jeanie asked me to take over. I understand you wanted to have dinner with the staff in your room tonight?"

"[color=7bcdc8]Uh.. Yeah, I did-- I wus tol'..[/color]"

"Well, I have brought you some of our staff that's currently available. I understand that you.. ..Met each other... earlier today?"

"[color=7bcdc8]Uh.. Yeah... abou' 'at..[/color]" he muttered, impulsively scratching behind his head like a kid that had been caught being naughty. He turned his attention to the hairy an clearly distressed man. "[color=7bcdc8]Sorreh abou' earlier tuhday... I weren't... I wuddn't muhself. Had a lot a bad thangs on muh min', an'... well... I weren't in no talkin' mood... " He made a plaintive but somewhat bemused expression, or at least tried to. "An' yah did ask meh a righ' dumb-arsed question abou' what I were gunna do wit' muh horse...[/color]"

Melody turned her attention to the man then, all smiles. "See Griswold, I TOLD you he was actually really nice! Now come on then, let's go in! You too Percy!"

Melody did not at all betray the fact that this was HIGHLY out of the ordinary, and simply pushed the cart in behind the two other 'dinner guests', as they entered the room very unsure of themselves.

Cedar gestured to the prepared table, where they took their seats.

Conversation at the table was a bit.. Guarded, at least at first. "Griswold", the castle's groomsman, and "Percy", the stableboy, seemed to be nice enough folks, but apparently his earlier cold behavior had left a lasting impression of intense, instinctual fear on the former, which had infected the latter. Only Melody seemed undisturbed, though a bit anxious about something. (since she did not tell him about how this little stunt was likely to reverberate through the castle's hierarchy for days afterward, since doing so would be even MORE out of line.) Matters slowly warmed up though, after the groom inquired 'what it was exactly' he had been doing there, sitting and staring at his horse like that for the better part of an hour earlier that day. Cedar was honest and straightforward about it, matter-of-factly stating that he had just been having a very long 'conversation' with the animal, which got the conversation going more directly.

"You mean to tell me, you can TALK to the horse?" Griswold asked with a furrowed brow.

"[color=7bcdc8]yeah! Well... Er.. uh.. No... See...[/color]" Cedar stammered. "[color=7bcdc8]Horses dun righ'ly un'erstan' people-talk, er.. e'en people-thoughts, arigh'? Like mos' critters, deys un'erstan's feelin's, smells, colors, an' simple idear's about wut thangs is, and isn't. Like muh pappy, I's kin sorta.. How's tuh put it... I's kin squish up muh 'people-thoughts' all up in da corner, an' outta reach, so tuh speaks.. an' 'en has more 'critter-thoughts' all shared like with da critter.  Sum critter's is smarter, an' has bigger thoughts 'an odders does... like ravens, er crows an deh like.. but no' horses. 'eyes gots da smaller critter thoughts. Me an' 'at big ol' fellar jus' sat daown an' had a long bit a sharin', at's all.  I's were havin' a bad day, an' needed some comp'ny as weren't peoples is all.. Sorreh fer bein' a righ' arsehole earlier an all.[/color]"

 "So... What did you ... talk about?" the man asked, more confused than ever.

"[color=7bcdc8]Oh--- Dis an dat-- He right friskey for somma 'em lady horses ya gots in da pen fer one thang-- He an' I's talk'd 'bout where I's gunna have to put 'im when I's gits back home, an'.. Wells... How he kin always come gits meh if'n he git in trouble, er git hurt er whatnot-- Mos'ly just ramblin' on, with one thang leadin' tuh anodder, tills we had nuttin' moar tuh share. He a right proud fellar he is. Real sure ah his-self. Tol' me he'd kick da shit outta me I goes in da stall wit' im![/color]" 

Cedar let out a jovial chuckle

"[color=7bcdc8]--An I 'spects he'd does it tuh! Gunna has tuh work on 'at, if'n I's gunna take 'im home wit' meh, fer sure![/color]"

And so the conversation went, careening over things the bear considered trivial, but that evidently the members of staff had no conception were even possible, let alone part of his normal day to day life. 

The food on the cart vanished in short order, and the current guests finished their portions, exchanged pleasantries before departing, before new ones arrived in Melody's orbit along with another cart of food.  For some reason, the food was always lukewarm rather than hot but he really didnt care. It was just a curious thing to him, but he didn't ask.

Griswold and Percy gave way to an exotic man with dark skin and a curious accent named Charon, who was apparently the grounds keeper. The conversation turned toward the care of various plants, and on the most effective means of eliminating 'weeds', though there was some argument about what constituted such things. The topic of the missing water barrel came up, which caused the bear a fair bit of embarrased consternation, as he admitted leaving it in Hdur, but assured the grounds keeper that it was probably still there, and likely unharmed. Only a silly person would destroy a perfectly good barrel, after all....

Charon soon gave way to the old gentleman that had survived the prince's ambush and capture. He was apparently also the castle's game keeper. The topic of animal-conversation (and conservation) once more came up, this time with more emphasis about how to convince trouble-animals to shove off. The grounds keeper was amused by, but not terribly swayed, by Cedar's suggestion of personally scent-marking areas that should have 'troublemakers' deterred, asserting that humans probably dont smell as threatening as a bear does, which got mutual laughter from the pair, while Melody sipped her tea in confusion.

It wasn't until much later in the night, that Melody left with the cart for the final time, only to have Jeanie show up again. 

She had come to apologize for not participating in his gracious request, but like the cooks, the party had occupied her full attention since their last meeting.  She continued to prattle on about her apologies for the circumstances, when a well dressed man-servant sauntered up un-announced, introduced himself as "Gaston", and was apparently a man-servant to a family of wealthy people from the party that he vaguely recalled from the night in Hdur a day ago. They were apparently the family of the two people that had tried (and failed) to get bread at the bakery that night. He wasn't sure why, but they left him a bottle of Chardonnay, which he was happy to accept.

He smiled mischievously at Jeanie, while holding up the bottle.

"[color=7bcdc8]Well-- If'n ya's serious 'bout 'pologizin' fer not comin' tuh dinner, 'leas' come sit an' have a drink wit' meh! We got shut-daown earlier tuhday, an' soun' like 'eye ain't no more parteh tuh takes care uh-- Naow c'mmon in, an' has a seat![/color]"

Jeanie simply closed her eyes and shuddered at getting stuck with drinking with him-- AGAIN.