<div align="center">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/8/8b/Mgmap.jpg)</div><br/><hr/><br/>There was a rousing, cheering din cresting within the Hearth & Ladel, a modest though popular tavern in Shaleburrow. A song had begun that everyone knew, and soon two dozen mice were singing together in celebration.<br/><br/><em>Kind friends and companions come join me in rhyme <br/>Come lift up your voices in chorus with mine<br/>Come lift up your voices, all grief to refrain<br/>For we may or might never all meet here again...<br/><br/>Here’s a health to the company and one to my lass<br/>Let us drink and be merry all out of one glass<br/>Let us drink and be merry, all grief to refrain<br/>For we may or might never all meet here again...</em><br/><br/>It was then the turn of a single mouse to lead the verse, and there was mild alarm when Baba saw that Mawgwa had mounted a table, his head barely ducking the crossbeams in the roof. Had it been a dare? Had someone called him too cowardly to do it? The oldfur looked to his companions scoldingly, receiving nothing definitive in response. Either way it was too late. Mawgwa’s tankard was sloshing with the swaying of his body as he broke into verse:<br/><br/><em>Here’s a health to the dear lass that I love so well<br/>For her touch and for her beauty, sure none can excel<br/>There’s a smile on her count’nance as she sits on my knee<br/>There is no man in this world as happy as me.</em><br/><br/>The entire tavern responded in kind, singing together:<br/><br/><em>So here’s a health to the company and one to my lass<br/>Let us drink and be merry all out of one glass<br/>Let us drink and be merry, all grief to refrain<br/>For we may or might never all meet here again...</em><br/><br/>Fortunately it hadn’t been too embarrassing, and thankfully Mawgwa wasn’t yet drunk enough to attempt another verse. Navin, the proprietor of the tavern and a dear old friend of Mawgwa’s and Baba’s gifted another round of ales to the Patrol as the room sang on.<br/><br/>Certainly there was no better place in the Territories than Shaleburrow to rest and recuperate through barhopping, but during Morten-Harvest the town became the center of a week-long celebration held throughout the Territories: the longest and biggest celebration of the year. The Morten-Harvest celebration focused on the land’s offerings. Every grain store, larder, mill, stockhouse and cask was replenished. As a reward for their hard work, and to take joy in the bounty they collected, mice in every settlement feasted on a sampling of their efforts. Special thanks was given to the mice who work in the trades that make living possible. The week-long event was named after Morten, a harvestmouse who always shared his bounty with all the mice of his village. His generosity was linked with the gifts that grow from the land.<br/><br/>In line with tradition, Mawgwa had presented closest friends Navin and Baba each with a strobilus of wild hops that he had harvested himself. That had been an interesting night in itself, when Mawgwa had disappeared from camp and was late returning the next morning without explanation and looking far the worse for wear. When Baba asked Mawgwa explained that his evening had been very spiritual.<br/><br/>Within the revelry of tavern the celebration continued. A mouse entered and looked around finding Baba among the crowd and handing over a tied and stamped scroll. It was a message from Lockhaven, from Gwendolyn, chief of all the Mouse Guard. The message was a simple one, a typical example of her polite but curt style.<br/><br/>“Baba,<br/><br/>Please take your Patrol to Barkstone and onto Pebblebrook. A grain peddler traveling the road between the two from Barkstone has disappeared. Please find him. Secondarily, for you specifically, it is believed this mouse is a spy and selling secrets about the Western mouse settlements and their assets. I need you to find out if this is true or not.<br/><br/>-G.”