Algun heard the bell ring in the front of her shop, and she walked out of her storage room. Master Eorwyn stood by the door, her hands pushed deep into the pockets of her light coat. She wasn't wearing the chicken cloak. The coat was unfamiliar and didn't fit the girl well. It was too baggy and of nasty brown colour - clearly made by a Man, Algun decided with a small disgusted grimace.
"Oh Master Eorwyn, do come through!" she exclaimed and rushed to the girl.
"Good day. I've gotten your note, Mistress Algun," the bookkeeper said shyly. "It was quite fortunate, since I have moved and I wasn't even supposed to be in the Apprentice Halls. I sort of just happened to pass by when the courtier found me."
"Well, isn't it an excellent chance? Do come through."
The girl made a few slow steps in. Algun watched her discreetly. She needed to see if she'd set the trap right - and she saw she had! The dress she had displayed right in the middle of the shop room was perfect for the redhead: the green of the velvet was so dark that it almost looked black, like the skin of a moor grass snake; the sleeves were narrow, and the cleavage would emphasize the girl's long neck and dignified posture most beautifully. The lace in the cut of the dress had golden thread woven into it, just enough to bring out the soft tone of her skin. Algun had held back on the brocade, allowing just a triangle on the bodice and two narrow ribbons going down the skirt.
"What do you think?" Algun asked cheekily.
"Pardon?" The girl's cheeks flushed red, and she averted her slanted eyes.
"Isn't it perfect?" Algun stepped to the dummy and lifted one of the sleeves. "It's rather light, definitely an indoors dress. And not too adorned, I know how modest you are. It's definitely not to be your day dress. I see you are still wearing the dark blue set I've made for you, and you're taking a good care of it." She nodded approvingly. "And you have the burgundy everyday one. And the formal green one, with the silk undersleeves, I assume. Now, you need one more. It's the Royal Family Dinner tonight, and a little bird told me you're invited."
"Oh I couldn't," the girl whispered, but her hand flew up and the tips of her fingers brushed to the shoulder.
"Nonsense," Algun laughed. It was even easier than she'd expected! "You need to try it on so I can make adjustments. We don't have much time left."
The girl still looked in doubt.
"I'll make you the usual offer. You can pay me in increments just as before, and after all you are almost done with the payments for your first dress," Algun dismissed. "C'mon, hop into the fitting room, I'll bring the dress. I'm alone in the shop today, I let all my helpers go to the Games."
"Oh then I definitely—" the girl started to protest.
"No, no, that's enough argument. Shoo! To the fitting room. I'll bring the dress in a jiffy!"
The girl's nose twitched nervously, but after a second of hesitation she obeyed.
"Well, I can say I for once am very pleased," Algun announced.
The red-haired girl was studying her reflection, with a small frown.
"Master Eorwyn?" Algun asked.
"Oh, yes, yes, the dress is excellent." The girl's tone was flat.
"That's not quite the reaction I expected." Algun laughed. She knew it couldn't possibly be the dress. Something else was bothering the bookkeeper.
"It's just— Isn't it a bit— revealing?" the girl asked, pinched the edge of the dress' low cut, and tried to pull it up.
Algun snickered.
"It is. But I assumed you'd want to look alluring during the Dinner with all the princes and lords present." She gave the girl a wink in the mirror. Judging by the deepening frown on the bookkeeper's face, the joke wasn't appreciated. "I'm jesting. You could choose an undertunic with a higher collar, or a kerchief can be added to it. I have a few lovely silk ones, and a couple of lace ones. Except..." she drew out.
"Except what?" The girl continued tugging at the neckline.
"Well, I'd say you look most charming like this and have no need to hide." Algun shrugged. "It's an attractive look for you, and it's in no way vulgar. But it's all about your comfort. If you are in physical or emotional unease, we need to change it."
"But do I— Do I look attractive?" the girl asked in a pleading tone. "Isn't this a bit like trying to put an expensive saddle on a goat?"
Algun snorted a laugh.
"A saddle on a goat?"
"Aye. Both pretentious and pointless." The girl half turned and looked at herself in profile. "Out of place..."
"You're insulting my art, Master Eorwyn." Algun shook her head, still laughing. "Again, we can add a tunic or a kerchief, if you want."
"I do want to look attractive," the bookkeeper turned and looked at her other side. "I just don't want to look like I'm full of myself."
"Well, I don't see why you shouldn't feel good about yourself and show it. You have a vocation and as I've heard a natural talent, which you've industriously developed. You can afford a good dress, which means you should buy the dress." She leaned in and straightened the hem. "And as odd as it might sound coming from a needlemaster, I don't think looks are that important. I always think the dress should make you feel good about yourself, whether by adorning you or by showing your status. I don't think it can create an illusion of stature or prosperity, but it definitely should reflect them. Here, much better."
The girl gave out a small laugh. "It's as if we have two different conversations. I speak of my bony shoulders and lacking bosom, you compliment my mind. Just like—" Master Eorwyn bit her tongue.
"Just like what?" Algun asked. She stepped back and looked the girl over.
"Just like a Dwarf I know." Eorwyn blushed lightly. "He— It doesn't matter."
"So there is a 'he?' I've heard rumours. Everyone is Erebor is so preoccupied with matrimony and romance these days, these are the only topics of the fitting room conversation. And so many wedding dresses are being made." Algun smiled mischievously. "Am I going to be making one for you soon too?"
"No! Or perhaps— Not that I wouldn't want you to!" the girl started muttering. "And— Ugh! If only it were that easy!" the redhead exclaimed and flailed her hands in the air.
"Oh? Is something the matter?" Algun felt sincere concern. "You don't have to disclose anything of course, unless you want to."
"I just— Our situation is complicated." The bookkeeper shook her head mournfully.
Algun gave her a sympathetic look. "Is it because you aren't a Dwarf?"
"Aye, and there are other circumstances." The girl stepped off the dais. "And on top of other things I've just received an offer of a position I couldn't even dream of before! It's— Oh... it's everything I've ever wanted." The girl shied away from her own words. "Pardon me, you don't want to listen to this."
"I don't mind if you want to share." Algun gently touched the girl's shoulder. "I think I can understand you better than many. After all—" She sighed when the memories flooded her. "I had to make quite the same choice in the past."
"Oh? Oh!" Master Eorwyn pressed her hand over her mouth.
Algun gave out a joyless chuckle. "I'm sure you know of my former betrothal to the King. He was kind enough to initiate the negation of our courtship, so in the eyes of my kin I do not look like the heartless calculative villain that I was. But I had a choice between the man I— between marrying him and pursuing my vocation, and I chose my craft."
"Do you regret it?" the girl gasped.
Algun wanted to immediately deny it, but the bookkeeper seemed so candid and open about her own woes that Algun decided she owed the girl honesty.
"I sometimes do," she said and then chuckled a bit, once again without any real merriment. "I just think back at the time we had together— We were good for each other."
She walked to a bench and sat down. The bookkeeper gingerly joined her.
"I am sorry," the redhead said and took Algun's hands in hers. "It must be hard." Algun could see that the girl was genuinely commiserating her.
"No, I shouldn't complain," Algun said. "I've made that choice, and I know it is right. Every time I enter this shop, I confirm to myself I've decided right." She squeezed the bookkeeper's fingers. "And so should you. Choose what your heart tells you to do. You know what this conversation made me think of? How you asked about the dress and whether you looked attractive in it, and about your bony shoulders and your lacking bosom." Algun gave the girl a pointed affectionate glance. "It's because you are of Men. For Dwarves your mind and your talents matter more. You aren't just a woman, just desired or undesired as a wife and a lover. So that's why I make you dresses that show your worth as a bookkeeper. And that's why your Dwarf speaks of the same. And that's how you should think now, as a Dwarf. You're a person of an independent mind. If you can't be his wife and a bookkeeper at the same time, you have to choose one."
"But you said— you said you long for the past. For the times when you two were together," the girl whispered, and her eyes filled with tears. "You said you were good for each other."
"We were." Algun shook her head stubbornly. "And now we are happy, each of us in his and her own way. I am happy to be Mistress Algun, the Needlemaster of Erebor. And he is happily in love." Algun saw the girl's eyes widen in shock. "I've guessed it some time ago," Algun said. "He has found love, and the one incomparable to what had been between us. It's like he's a different man now, and I rejoice for him. I would have made an excellent Queen for Erebor, but I could never be the lover and the wife he was fortunate to have found in that woman."
Suddenly the bookkeeper jumped to her feet.
"I need to go!" she blurted out. "I need— There is someone I need to talk to!"
