Hello, Everyone!
Glad to see you here again!
Last time, my dear Mary Windfiddle and her companions arrived in the dwarven city of Belfast and, almost by accident, took part in a serious war Council. The dwarf clans were arguing whether to go to war with the Duergar who live in the tunnels under the city. Bruno suggested a compromise and they agreed.
The dwarves started leaving the council room and Mary and Aurum had to stand against the wall while they passed by. Many people greeted ‘Brunost’ and expressed their delight with his return.
Finally, a dwarven woman approached him and when he saw her, his back straightened and he stood taller than usual.
“Brunost!” she said. “You came back! Your father and I were expecting you.”
That turned out to be Konstanz Airhammer, Bruno’s mother. She was strong and stout, her black braided beard shorter than the male dwarves’. Her mannerisms were well measured and exact, it wasn’t hard to imagine her doing something really imposing like strangling a bear. When Bruno introduced his companions, she nodded and greeted them reservedly, then invited them all to dinner.
The Airhammer residence was big and full of people. Bruno’s brothers and sisters had learned of his return and even those of them who didn’t live with their parents had come to see him. Bruno’s father was there, too, almost healed from the mining incident that had worried the family. They were all pretty normal-looking for dwarves, except for the sister introduced as Paulina. She was the one that had sent the letters urging Bruno to come home.
Paulina was… exceptional. Half of her head was shaven and the rest supported a long cluster of purple hair. Her ears and nose were covered with piercings and, unlike any other female dwarves Mary had seen, she had removed her beard entirely.
When they entered the Airhammers' living room, they almost collided with Paulina who was just coming home as well. Konstanz’ mouth formed a straight line.
“You’ve been out with those weirdos again!” she snapped at her daughter. “And you’ve neglected your chores! You were supposed to have started cooking an hour ago!”
“I’ll do it now!” Paulina barked back at her. “I had something more important to do!”
“Yes, I see what you deem ‘important’!” Konstanz said. “You’ve ruined your beard again! I’ve told you a million times that those weirdos you hang out with are no good!”
“They are not weirdos, they are my people!” Paulina objected. “And it’s my beard! I’ll do whatever I like with it!”
The argument continued in the same vein for a while until Bruno coughed and attracted his mother’s attention. She gave her daughter a stern look and lead the guests to another room.
Fearing that she might provoke another fight between Paulina and her mother if she spoke up, Mary touched her copper ring and whispered a Message in the dwarf girl’s head.
“I like your hair,” she said.
Paulina looked her over from top to bottom and smirked.
“Thanks. I like yours, too,” she replied to the Message so that only Mary could hear it.
Mary blushed.
That evening they were all invited to eat at the Airhammers’ home. Paulina was on dinner duty because, as Konstanz had said, she was to learn how to cook. Mary, who found Bruno’s sister really interesting, made sure to stick around in the kitchen under the pretext that she wanted to help. Aurum joined them, too.
Paulina was angry and complained about her mother’s treatment but her eyes lit up when she talked about her friends from the Druid circle. They were awesome, she said. They’d made her hair and taught her a lot about life.
“I’ve heard very interesting things about druids,” said Aurum who was sitting on a chair next to the oven. “Like, for example, that they knew the best things to smoke.”
Paulina turned to him in surprise. She peeked through the kitchen door and, seeing that there was no one nearby, her lips spread out in a wide smile.
“You interested?”
“Hell yeah!” the bard said.
“Here, hold this,” she said and gave the ladle to Mary who obediently started stirring the pot.
Paulina came back a few minutes later with a small bag full of dried leaves.
“You’re gonna love this one,” she said giving it to Aurum. “Just be aware, she doesn’t like it when I smoke inside.”
The dwarf girl nodded towards the door beyond which you could hear Konstanz’ muffled talk.
“Say, do you perhaps have tea?” Mary asked with slight hope. If the druids had dried herbs, they might as well had mint or camomile.
“Yeah, up in the cupboard, the red boxes.”
Mary opened the doors (it was such a good thing that dwarves were short, she felt almost at home not having to reach too high up) and took out a few of the boxes.
“What’s that?” she asked a little disappointed.
“Tea?” Paulina said.
“It’s dried mushrooms!”
“Yeah, exactly. Tea,” Paulina repeated. “You can drink the special ‘Ferenc’ brand or, if you want to be closer to the family, we have some ‘Airhammer’ left. This year’s mushrooms were harvested from the best graves.”
“Graves?!” Mary gasped.
“Yeah,” the dwarf girl smirked as if talking to a toddler. “Don’t you know that the finest mushrooms grow on dwarven graves?”
Mary felt her stomach turn. She put the boxes back in the cupboard with all the respect she imagined dead dwarves deserved. Then saw, in the farthest corner, a small bag.
“Wait! Is that… camomille?” she gasped. “Can I… um, have some?”
“I thought you wanted tea,” Paulina snorted. “Thas is for smoking.”
“Well, then I might as well… um, learn to smoke later?” Mary said unconvincingly.
She heated up some water and pretended to put mushrooms inside, then, when Paulina was busy tasting her dish, quickly sprinkled some camomille instead.
After having tea, the dinner at the Airhammers was… fine. Mary was ready to sit with all those strangers and pretend she wasn’t thinking about her books. However, she made sure to keep her slouched pose. She had adopted it the moment they’d entered Belfast. It was a reflex from her teenage years in Frinkeltong, where everybody was a lot shorter than her and she didn’t want to stand out.
Bruno was talking to his mother.
“... when I let you go, I was expecting that you’ll add to the family fortune,” she was just saying, her arms crossed on her chest.
“Yes, of course, mother.” Bruno said, pulled out his pouch and counted out a small pile of gold coins right on the table in front of Konstanz.
She seemed satisfied, even proud. She took the money and put them away, nodding to her son. Mary thought that was strange. Her parents never expected her to give them any money and she’d never thought about that.
Was that what other families did?
Sooo, how about that Paulina girl? Isn’t she a sight to be seen? I like her so much! (Mary does, too, wink!)
I hope you liked this chapter and I hope to see you next time, when we’re finally going down the tunnels. Who knows what’s waiting for us there!
Take care and be well!