Bread!
Free bread!!
Free white bread!!!
They did not know whether this pastor had gone mad, but this certainly would not last forever.
So, following the simple principle that only a fool passed up a freebie, a peculiar craze began spreading through Minas Tirith.
In the early morning, the mist over the harbor had yet to clear.
Normally, the construction site would have been filled with the sound of hammers striking stone at this hour, but today, most of the work areas looked rather deserted.
The crowds flowed in another direction.
A winding queue had formed before the foundations of the unfinished church, even longer than the line that had once formed in Newborn Town to exchange supplies for winter.
People stood in line with doubt and longing on their faces.
They craned their necks, staring at the newly erected wooden platform and the mountain of burlap sacks piled behind it.
The rich aroma of baked wheat drove away the sea mist, wafting into every nose and stirring the most primal hunger.
"It really is white bread! I can smell it! Exactly like the kind they sell at the merit points store!" A young worker sniffed hard, almost drooling.
A slightly older man beside him curled his lip and scolded him in a low voice. "Keep it down! Don't make us look like country bumpkins who've never seen anything."
Despite his words, his Adam's apple bobbed as well.
Fabian stood on the wooden platform, wearing the same gentle, compassionate expression as ever.
He delivered no lengthy sermon. After a brief prayer, he simply had his assistants begin handing out the bread.
"Every brother who comes to hear the Lord's teachings shall receive this blessing."
When the first worker took a still-warm loaf of sweet-smelling white bread from an assistant with