Hello, Everyone!
I don’t have much time for writing a lengthy intro to today’s chapter, so this’ll have to do :) This is what happened last time:
After crawling for days underneath Belfast and arriving at the vault of Bank Ferenc, Mary and her friends witnessed the handover of the mysterious Artefact to the rock giant Agrax. Mary sent her familiars to spy on the enemy and watched as the giant was made to give up the item to a mysterious hooded person with a dried-up arm. He then drew a teleportation circle on the cavern floor and disappeared in it.
After the Artefact had been given away and war had been averted, Papios Ferenc had become a little less happy with all the people roaming around in his vault. Politely but firmly, he asked them to leave and watched with a twitching eye as Roko said his goodbyes and went straight through the wall. Mary heard him murmur something about covering everything with metal.
Moira and Dalia were going to stay in Ferenc’s care and the rescued loggers were ushered to a healer. Paulina was nowhere to be seen and so was Konstanz. Mary was worried about her friend but didn’t know where to find her and so she stuck to Bruno and Aurum and joined them out of the bank.
There, just outside the huge gates, a young man was waiting. His head was shaved and he was wearing the uniform of a Bearer. Mary felt her heart leap but, once again, it wasn’t her friend Volos. The man approached their little group.
“Miss Windfiddle?” he said and his eyes flashed with some kind of a magical effect. “This is for you.”
He handed Mary a parcel. She didn’t have to look at the address to know who it was from. The way it was wrapped screamed ‘Home’. Her heart skipped a beat.
“When…” She cleared her throat. “When was it sent?”
“A week ago,” the man said.
“Oh!” Mary exhaled in relief. Then it couldn’t have been because of the letter she’d given to Victor and Belt ‘in case she didn’t return’.
Then she felt all her blood drain from her face. The letter! What if the dwarves had sent it already?! She started remembering what she wrote and her mind throbbed with a silent scream.
“Oh, no, no, no, no, NO!” she went on. “I told them that I might die! I told them about the dragon!”
Her friends looked at her in confusion so she explained what made her panic.
“Hey, don’t worry so much,” Bruno said. “Let’s just go to those loggers and get the letter. I’m sure they hadn’t sent it yet.”
They hadn’t. The letter was with Victor Goras and as soon as it was in her hands, Mary started ripping it into pieces.
“Well,” Victor said awkwardly.
A small kid came to the door.
“Daddy!” he said. “Are you coming inside? I want to play!”
“Yes, I’m coming,” Victor said, then nodded to Mary and her friends. “Thanks again. You know, for bringing us home.”
“So, this is from Lilly, my… mom,” Mary said and she opened a pack of cookies. “These are her specialty, she always makes them for my birthday.”
“Wait, is it your birthday now?” Aurum asked.
“No, no, it’s months from now, in the winter,” Mary said. “But enjoy the cookies, nonetheless!”
The three of them – Bruno, Aurum and her – were in the Airhammer home, waiting for dinner to be ready. The parcel from Mary’s family lay open on the ground. She was wearing the fingerless gloves her grandma had sent her and had added the 50 gold from Bramble to her coin purse. She didn’t need the money but she knew that her… that Bramble would appreciate her using it for something good.
She was reading the letter from Lilly for the tenth time and felt real joy for the first time in a while. She hadn’t realized how much she missed home. Maybe she ought to go back there and see her family. Leefie must have grown up so much in the past few months!
Paulina came in the room and invited them to dinner. She was indeed grounded but seemed calmer than when they’d come back from the tunnels. Her hair was shining in purple and her beard was freshly shaven. They had all had baths and a change of clothes and it felt like heaven.
Dinner in the Airhammer home was… an event. There were dwarves everywhere and all of them were some kind of siblings and cousins to Bruno. He looked so happy to greet them and talk to them that Mary almost forgot how uncomfortable she felt around so many people. It was warm and friendly, the food was good (not Paulina’s cooking this time. Konstanz had ordered it from somewhere), and she had made herself some of Gillean’s tea.
“I keep telling you this is for smoking!” Paulina said from across the table.
“And I keep telling you it’s the best thing in the world!” Mary said. “You should try it.”
“I’d try it,” Aurum said.
Mary poured him a few sips and watched intently while he drank.
“This is good!” he exclaimed. “Paulina, you should drink some.”
The dwarf girl huffed.
“If you try it, I’ll do the, um, the thing you smoke,” Mary said. “Once.”
Suddenly, Paulina’s eyes were shining with interest.
“Really?” She stood up. “You’d try it?”
“Yes,” Mary said. “But only if you drink my tea and be honest about your opinion!”
“Deal!”
A few sips from Mary’s cup went into Paulina’s. The dwarf girl smelled the substance, drank a bit and made a face.
“Blah!” she said. “It’s awful!”
But she kept on drinking. She even asked for some more, ‘just to be sure how nasty it was’. Mary smiled triumphantly.
“Now it’s your turn,” Paulina said.
She lit her pipe and gave it to Mary. With her instructions, she held the smoke in the right way and didn’t even choke.
At first, nothing happened. Mary was about to tell Paulina that her herbs must have lost their properties, when she felt her whole body loosen up. A smile widened on her face and suddenly everything was very funny.
Time became… weird. Mary felt like she'd been sitting in one place for hours, looking at a point in front of her. People walked around her, spoke and did stuff but she couldn't move... or, well, maybe she could move, but then her head would probably fall off. Which was hilarious.
Everything was hilarious.
When the smoke's effect faded, Mary felt exhausted. The only thing she wanted to do now was sleep. She knew that Gillean's gift allowed her to stay awake if she wanted but could she sleep if she wanted, too?
She stood up and walked… somewhere, and curled up… on something. It was soft. She didn't even think about the nightmares, and they didn't come.
The morning found her in Bruno's room. The dwarf was snoring lightly on his adventurer's bedroll in the middle of the floor. She had slept in his bed.
Doing drugs now, Mary?! How could you! This whole adventuring life is going to make a mess out of you! Or is that just Paulina?
Anyway, I’ve never smoked anything but a few fruit-scented cigars in my life. What about you? :)
See you next time when our heroes finally get their reward for helping Belfast in its difficult hour.
Take care and be well!
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide and the Glossary for the series. You're welcome!)