Chapter 2: Hot Chocolate and Mead
"That's it, you almost got it, just don't forget to add the ginger."
Nella rolled her eyes as her mother stood behind her, glancing over her shoulder as she mixed the concoction. It was like this every time. Whenever her mother wanted her to practice making remedies and tonics she'd hover and constantly correct her or give words of 'encouragement' that only seemed to infuriate her more. There had been times where she became so frustrated she had ground too many ingredients too much, to the point where they were useless for the remedy.
She took a small breath before addressing her mother. "I know, Amad. I've done this recipe before. Slowly add the water or it'll fix the diarrhea and not the fever."
"I'm just making sure you remember," Namli cooed as she walked over to her own table where she was mixing tonics.
Once again, the younger dwarrowdam rolled her eyes, the corner of her lip rising in a sarcastic smile. She shook her head as she turned back to the remedy and began working on the next step. Mixing in the cyperus rotundus tubers she reveled in the silence that filled the air now that her mother had remained silent.
"Dear, you're mixing them too much."
Nella let out a groan and slammed the pestle in her hand into the mortar, smashing the mixture to where it splattered onto the table. "Amad! I know what I am doing!"
"Nella, do not raise your voice at me," Namli reprimanded, her brow furrowing and, her face setting into a stern expression. "I am trying to teach you how to make a tonic to reduce fever and diarrhea, and you are doing it wrong."
"No, I wasn't! I've done it before. You have taught me it and I have done it correctly just as you have taught me," the red haired dwarrowdam argued, as she turned to face her mother, hands flying, pointing at the tonic to prove her point. "You can't let me do anything on my own, can you?"
"There's a reason why I'm so strict! Does it occur to you that if you're not paying close attention, adding the wrong ingredient or overdoing a step can ruin the entire tonic? Change it completely? Instead of saving lives, you'll be ending them." her mother snapped as she placed her hands on her hips, raising a brow at her daughter.
The younger dwarrowdam's eyes widened. "You're the one who wants me to become a healer! Not me! You wouldn't even let me go with Adad, Fili and Kili to the meeting Balin was holding today. I wanted to know what was going on! Dwarves are coming in from all over. Oin is even here!" She threw her hands in the air in exasperation. "You couldn't have let me take a few hours out of my day to go and see what was going on. Why can't I do what I want to do instead of doing what you want me to do?"
It was that moment that the door connecting the shopfront to the back room where Nella and her mother currently were swung open with a bang, revealing four of the aforementioned dwarves, stopping in their tracks.
"Bad timing?" Fili questioned in a slight whisper.
"We can come back later," Kili added. His hands were slightly raised in defense, cautious of what might happen next.
"I think that's a very good idea boys, we need to get back to work, so if you wouldn't mind…" Namli trailed off with a sickly-sweet smile.
"I need to get back to work," Nella grumbled, echoing her mother mockingly, sending a quick glare at her before turning back to everyone else. A low exasperated growl came from Nella before she stomped her way to the door, not slowing down, nor pausing for the dwarves at the door to step aside as stormed past. The sound of her mother calling her name and her father reaching out to stop her could be heard behind Nella as she made her way to the town square, in front of their store.
"Another fight with your Amad I take it," came a grizzly voice to Nella's right.
She turned her head to see her grandfather standing off to the side, a knowing look on his face. He nudged his head towards the stairs, leading up to their home.
"Come on, I'll make you a nice cup of hot chocolate and you can tell me all about it."
"A pint of mead is more like it," she mumbled as she followed him upstairs and into their home.
Bragi chuckled as he placed his basket of wood chips onto the floor in the living room, next to his chair by the hearth before shuffling into the kitchen. There he began going about making the hot chocolate for them, pulling a bottle of mead from the back of the top shelf of the pantry as he went.
"You're bringing out the mead," a voice came from behind the two. Bragi and Nella both jumped, Nella's hair whipping out as she spun, slapping her grandfather in the face with her ponytail.
"Mahal, Mas! You know better than to sneak up on me. You're going to send me to an early grave you are."
Mas stood in the doorway, leaning on her walking stick as she looked from her husband to her granddaughter. With a shake of her head she sighed as soon as she saw the anger on the young woman's face. "Another fight?"
"Yes…" Nella sighed, folding her arms and dropping into one of the chairs at the kitchen table.
"Was it about you sneaking off with the two boys yesterday to practice?" she asked, a small smirk on her face.
Nella grumbled and shook her head. "No, Amad hasn't found out about that yet. Mahal knows how she'd react if she did. All she wants me to do is learn tonics and other healing nonsense, but all I want to do is learn how to fight like Adad, Thorin, and Mister Dwalin. Fili and Kili get to learn, why can't I?"
"Probably because those boys are the heirs, you know that," Bragi called over his shoulder, keeping a careful eye on the milk heating on the little fire-lit stove.
"Not helping, Ugmil'adad," the granddaughter huffed.
"Besides, you know that healing nonsense isn't nonsense, if you'd care to recall the rather nasty fever your dear Kili came down with three winters ago from staying out in the snow too long. I still think he did it to impress you, in his own idiotic way, despite his claims that it was a bet. Tauror," Mas said with a sly grin.
Nella lowered herself further into her chair, her cheeks gradually turning red. "I'm pretty sure it was just a bet. You know how he and Fili are."
A chuckle came from over by the stove. "If those boys aren't careful, they'll become as bad as Gloin," Bragi stated. "That dwarf has always had a betting problem."
"Don't a lot of your friends have a betting problem, Ugmil'adad?" Nella questioned with a cheeky smile.
"That's beside the point," he replied with a wave of his hand in dismissal. "We are talking about you and the 'healing nonsense' you and your mother like to argue about."
"Well, I wouldn't say we like to argue about it" Nella said with a sheepish smile.
"Well it would be a weird hobby if you did like it," Mas added.
"Abrushruk!"
"Ugmil'adad?! Is everything okay?" Nella cried, leaping up from her seat.
Bragli just waved her off. "Just wasn't paying enough attention my dear, brushed my hand on the pot, nothing worth worrying your pretty little head about. Now, I know you want to do your own thing but your mother is doing this for your safety, maimrilî" he said gently, tucking a soft, calloused hand under her chin, forcing her to look him in the eye.
The red-haired dwarrowdam lowered her gaze from her grandfather with a sigh. "I know… It's just not fair. I know learning to be a healer is important, I understand that, but it's not what I want to do, it's what she wants me to do. I just want her to understand. Even Adad sides with her. They don't get it."
"Okay, so, say you slay the dragon you and the boys played with when you were little, what are you going to do for the rest of your life? Sit there and look pretty? Looks only go so far."
"What are you talking about?" Mas piped up, slapping her husband gently across the shoulder. "It's worked for me." She turned to Nella. "All joking aside, your Ugmil'adad is right. There aren't that many adventures out there to be had other than seeing the world. And there's only so much world to see."
"I know…" Nella sighed, leaning her elbow on the table and resting her cheek on her hand. "It's just why can't I learn fighting and healing? They treat me like I'm made of glass."
"Then you must be made of the stuff that my pendant is made of, it's withstood through so much."
"I remember when I gave that to you, it was the first courting gift I ever gave you," Bragi said, looking at Mas with clear admiration.
"I've never taken it off since," Mas said, placing a kiss on her husband's cheek.
Nella watched her grandparents with a fond smile. Watching her parents and them interact this way always made her smile. She loved hearing the stories of their courtships.
"He had to give you something that represented your personality," Nella quoted from the story her grandfather had told her many times about the necklace.
"And the beautiful flower, to be forever beautiful, perfectly representing your eternally beautiful soul, my naimshigi."
"And just who are you calling naimshigi."
"Kili if he doesn't buck up and ask to court Nella soon."
A groan came from their granddaughter, her head thumping onto the kitchen table. "Can you guys stop bringing up Kili and courting? It's never going to happen. Besides he just sees me as a friend and I don't want to ruin our friendship." She sighed and lifted her head, a forlorned look on her face as she stared out the small kitchen window. "I'm also not worthy of being with a prince of all people."
"Now that's nonsense," Mas scolded with a shake of her head. With a quick smack of her walking stick on her granddaughter's head she took a seat next to her. "Why would you say something such as that?"
Nella rubbed her face with a quick glare to her grandmother. "Ugmil'amad, look at me," she said, gesturing at her face. "I'm beardless. Dwarves want a woman with a beard. That's what all the men say. You've heard Gloin boasting about the beard on his wife."
"What does being beardless have anything to do with being unworthy?" Mas scoffed with an eye roll. "Look at me and your mother," she said, gesturing to her wrinkly, but clean shaven face. "I never had a beard and I still managed to marry your ugmil'adad. Same as your mother. She married your adad and she has no beard." She placed a wrinkled hand on Nella's jaw, stroking her cheek with her thumb. "Youngling, what makes you think you're any different and any less worthy of any dwarf? I know a few dwarrowdams that would kill to have the softness in your stunning rosy cheeks."
"Really? Who?" Nella scoffed lightly, downcasting her gaze. "I've only ever heard criticism from other dwarrowdams."
"Ignore them," Bragi spoke up with a sharp tone to his voice. "They know nothing about you. You are kind, loyal, beautiful and brave. You have so much heart that they can't compare."
"That boy would be lucky to have you," Mas finished, placing a kiss on her brow. "Now how about that hot chocolate and mead? I think you're going to need something a little stronger than just hot chocolate."
Translations for A/N:
Tauror - Bullshit (roughly)
Abrushruk - To be in pain
Naimshigi - To be insane together
I'm so excited that Em and I got another chapter out so quickly. When I first started writing the first chapter before she joined in I didn't think I'd ever finish the first chapter let alone get to a second one. I'm really excited with where this is going and I hope you all enjoy it.
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