Beginning VI-2
"Meaning?", he asked rhetorically, "Well, at least you are pondering meanings. That's a start. Most folks are content with moaning."
I was not sure how to continue the conversation.
"Look here," he said. "There over yonder, downstream, are some folks sharing meat, drink and tales. They were preparing a great campfire when I passed by earlier. It is getting late, and you are bedraggled from your fording the big stream over the hill away there. I think you will be welcome at their pyre."
I thanked him for the information - indeed a warm logfire would be a most pleasant respite from my journeyings.
I asked him: "But what of this mansion, good sir. May I ask if you are one of it's entourage?"
He replied that "the folk that dwell in the old castle have no time for such as us this night," and that he was finished with his fishing for the day and would be getting on.
I thanked him for his company, and ambled downstream as he began to reel in his catch.