33. Dancing at the royal court
After dressing herself up so she looked respectable in front of the royals, Narvi set off towards the area that was their palace. Seriously, she really wanted to ask the Elf so many questions that she never could fill her letters with!
"Honestly, all that knowledge of the Elves that could be shared and then that stupid King of Doriath had to ruin it all though greed for a enchanted gemstone!"
Narvi knew some details of the whole drama with how mutual greed for a Silmaril had led to the death of Elu Thingol, thanks to Celebrimbor explaining it in some of the letters they had exchanged, but in her eyes, it simply proved how the actions of a King could affect his subjects in a long-reaching way for several generations afterwards.
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As a high-ranking member of the Stonemasonry Guild, and close friend of Ragnhild and Hinata, Narvi was still welcomed to the court even if she did not have an invitation to the welcoming dinner.
"Good timing for checking out the Elves before the dinner later, mylady, the Stiffbeard dancers are giving a performance for the court."
Again, it was the guard Orvar who escorted her to the area where the important members of the court would be gathered. Personally, Narvi thought him a lot more agreeable in personality than Odin, but not to the degree of possibly becoming a suitor.
"It must feel like a trust of your abilities to be a guard to the royal apartments."
"Aye. The royal ladies can defend themselves well enough, but they are meant
to be protected against dangers, after all, as the mothers of the royal line."
Undoubtly he was referring to the deeds of House Frost, that had cost Ragnhild her first child though a miscarriage, a unborn princess that would have been the greatest treasure of the family if she had lived.
"You played a role in getting Princess Ragnhild to the healing wing in time to remove the poison inside her body before it could be too late to save her life. Yes, it did not save the unborn princess, but you managed to help avoid an even worse situation. And you even got promoted to become captain of the royal guards!"
Was that a faint blush on his cheeks that she saw under the shadow of his helmet? Well, Narvi would not mention that, she had heard people on the street paise him for being a good example of a royal guard that protected those he was in change of and if she recalled right, her old friend Chipo had perhaps been thinking of inviting Orvar to see a performance of the famous Belegost step dance at some point when he had a day off from work.
"My thanks for escorting me here, Captain. May the rest of your working day be pleasant."
Showing her good manners because of the upbringing that she had been given from birth, she gave him a light bow too.
"The same for you, my Dam."
One of the servants welcomed Narvi when spotting her, and she promised to not be in the way of anyone, merely wishing to witness the Stiffbeard clan dance performance on a safe distance before returning home. So she was guided to the great ballroom where court dances would be held.
"Oh, Hinata herself is dancing among the others."
The graceful and elegant movements allowed the royal concubine to show off her upbringing as the daughter of a noble, but also that she had never been restricted in the same manner as a similar-ranked daughter of Men would have been. No, the Dwarrowdam had gotten those dance lessons in the hope of boarden her chances on the marriage market, and to help keeping their own culture alive here in Khazad-dûm despite the vast distance between the Misty Mountains and the Orocarni which made travels rare outside the annual merchant caravans.
"Miss Narvi!"
Of course it is hard to stay unseen when Prince Ingvar noticed her and drew attention, but Narvi did not mind as he walked over to greet her properly. The young prince did not mean any harm in his words.
"Waah, you are so pretty! Like a true princess, like our Amads!" Rurik added in when he came running over as well.
"Thank you, your highnesses," Narvi smiled in a friendly manner at them, Ingvar and Rurik was still at a age where any form of formal clothing set part from the everyday clothing was impressing, and her dark green caftan made of fine silk with silver embroidery surely is a way to draw attention when worn together with the matching silver jewelry and emerald gemstones.
Now the dancer performance was over, and instead the unusual musicians took stage to play music more suited for typical couple dances. Being one of the more important guests, Celebrimbor found himself paired up with Queen consort Skadi after that King Vern and his wife opened the dance together with Frerin and Tora joining not long afterwards. He was not too bad in matching the royal lady because he remembered how similar dances had been made with the Dwarves of long-gone Belegost, though the height difference naturally made it a little awkward.
"I think there is someone here that may match yourself a little better, Master Elf."
Before he could ask what she meant, the smiling Skadi let Celebrimbor go as she made a spinning movement and suddenly Narvi, letting go of Prince Durin, had ended up as his dance partner. Her face revealed an equal surprise over they had become partners for the next dance, and she seemed to realize what the Queen consort had planned.
"It looks less silly with my height against your own, since I am one of the tallest Dwarrow here in this realm," she muttered under her breath, and Celebrimbor smiled awkwardly in agreement as they followed the music.
"I will try my best to not make you trip over, then."
Once more, like how she had done in the belly dance performed at the wedding celebration of Durin and Ragnhild, Narvi showed that the imagined sterotype of Dwarves not being graceful like the Elves was just a stupid prejudice created from misunderstandings between the two race. Her height allowed her to smoothly follow Celebrimbor, and yet at the same time Narvi used the strength from her work to make him not do a wrong step in the dance somewhere.
Perhaps because he found himself focusing on not making any wrong movements so he stepped on her dress by mistake, Celebrimbor suddenly realized that the music had changed into a waltz dance. But Narvi kept dancing so elegantly that had it not been for her physical strength hidden by the sleeves she wore, she could very well have been mistaken for a noble Dam who spent a lot of her childhood and youth at court.
"My late grandmother Frigga learned this sort of dance from the late Queen Dowager Freja when they both were growing up in the Blue Mountains. Her father was a member of the court musicians, and being best friends, it was only natural that Frigga ended up learning as well despite being the daughter of poor miners. Thanks to that friendship, grandma managed to learn basic reading, writing and mathematics that ended up helping her later in life, without her own parents worrying about having to spend their savings."
Oh, that explained some things that made Narvi stand out, even if she was the daughter of a wealthy merchant father and having a skilled seamstress as mother. Clearly the late Frigga must have passed down those dance movements to her granddaughter, in the hope that she would enjoy one of many ways to socialize at the royal court.
Of course, it did not take long for the courtiers and the other Elves to notice how well Narvi and Celebrimbor managed to dance together.
"Look how smoothly they moved together. They are really matched in a rare way despite that they are of different races," Ragnhild whispered to Durin as she too noticed, glaring over his shoulder to catch glimpses.
"Don't trip over your own feet or step on the hem because you are distracted all suddenly, honey," Durin responded, spinning his wife around before letting go of one hand and then gently pulling Hinata along into a three-person improvised dance that they had trained much on over the years.
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Alas, the dance had to come to an end eventually and as Narvi was not one of the dinner guests, she had to leave the court.
"I would like to hear your thoughts on some of the stone carvings that I have made over the past years, master Khelebrimbor!" she managed to say, her cheeks still flushed after the dances and his heart skipped a beat at the sight of how her green eyes were shining with life.
"I would gladly do that…."
For anyone who saw his behavior when she left the ballroom, it was undoubted that Narvi had impressed him with her dance skills. The two youngest royal princes were unaware of the odd look on Celebrimbor's face, but their three parents, grandparents, great-uncle and great-aunt who were fully grown adults as well all experienced in how various forms of romance worked, had a better idea of what had happened.
"I think we will have something special happening during your reign, Durin dear," Skadi finally spoke up, her face not showing her thoughts but she knew that this must have some meaning.
"Too bad that Frerin and I may not witness it ourselves."
As twin brothers, Vern and Frerin were unlikely to live long after that one of them passed away, as Dwarven priests in the worship of Mahal said that twins had a spiritual connection to each other from their time in the womb of their mother, and few doubted that belief. Not necessary being a single soul spit in half, but still closer spiritually in a manner that was hard to explain.
"We will tell you anything we witness when we join you in the Halls," Tora promised as she kissed Frerin on the cheek, sharing a look in agreement with Skadi. And if they did not see much of what would happen between Celebrimbor and Narvi, well, Durin and his two ladies could help with that.
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Author note: The mentioned Belegost step dance is meant to be inspired by RL Irish step dance
Narvi's caftan dress is meant to be Moroccan in style