Chapter Nine: Relative

The following day was rainy. Not a light sprinkle as my first day here, but a downpour the likes of which turned the yard to mud and swelled the Blue River until it roared by the settlement and turned brown with sediment and was unfit for washing or drinking. I growled and hissed at Brack and Baia when they shook me awake, delighting both of them so completely that they shrieked and clapped their hands before running off to tell everyone again how beastly I was in the morning. Why the Black Dwarfs thought this was a virtue I had no idea, but the sight of my savage, shuffling figure heading towards the long house for breakfast made them smile as if Father Christmas had presented them with a new anvil.

Gran set food before me and without thinking I drank a large mouthful of that so-called beer. First thing in the morn it tasted even worse than I remembered. I was awake immediately, gagging and coughing and trying not to spit it out. I caused such a long and loud scene that everyone turned to watch.

"Can't handle his beer," I heard one of the master smiths mutter in disgust when I could breathe again and they were assured I would survive breakfast.

It was not an auspicious beginning of the day. Everyone, it seemed, was in a mood as foul as the weather, though exactly why I didn't learn until later in the day. The Master was frustrated at the rain and mud since he had intended to show the apprentices how to cast ingots of pig iron for the production of cast iron. The ingots are cast in molds pressed into dry, compressed sand, and it was far too soggy to attempt anything of the sort. The Master had expected to be able to collect the sand from the riverbank today (or, more correctly, for me and Bort to collect it) and his lack of foresight infuriated him. He vented his anger at the apprentices and since I wasn't a viable target for their annoyance, they snipped and snapped at each other. For my part, I was cold and tired and stiff and very glad when noon came and we could eat.

I was surprised when I stepped into the long house to see half a dozen strange Dwarfs seated at the far end of the table talking to Brickit and Brint. A bit rougher-looking than my Dwarfs, they fell silent when they spotted me and just stared with their coal-black eyes. I returned the look steadily. I was used to being stared at by my subjects and a few more hard looks certainly weren't going to affect me.

"Who are they?" I asked Gran as she bypassed the apprentices as usual and served me a bowl of stew and some dark bread.

She glanced up the table, not entirely pleased to have guests. Black Dwarfs are unlike most Narnians in that respect, and I was doubly glad I had been (somewhat) invited. "Cousins. Miners from Moon Mountain."

"Why are they here?"

"Jealousy. They want to see if the rumor is true and if my son has a king at his beck and call."

I smiled for her benefit. "He might, if he'd ever learn my name."

She resisted smiling back and instead gave me a fond poke in the shoulder. "They're an unpolished lot, but sharp. Be on your guard around them."

"La, my lady."

The room was a bit quieter than usual and by the tension in the air I got the feeling the cousins were not well liked by the inhabitants of the smithy. They drank more than my Dwarfs and their language and manners were cruder. I couldn't tell if the dislike was personal or professional, but Brickit was clearly laboring on a diplomatic mission of his own. Everyone ate quickly and returned to work early, glad to escape the place.

"Edmund!"

I turned, not in the least surprised that it was Brint who called. He beckoned me to join the little party still seated at the far end of the table. They were finished with the meal and were now eating apple cake. I hoped they didn't offer me any because I'd tried to eat a piece of the stuff at breakfast and it was so dense, heavy, and tasteless that I would have sworn a Centaur had provided the recipe.

"Aslan's blessing upon you, cousins," I said politely, sitting down uninvited.

Naming them 'cousins' disarmed them for a moment, but it was an affectionate term we four rulers had adopted to call the population of Narnia. Susan had found the reference in an old document and Lucy had been beside herself to be able to count everyone in the country as part of the family. These miners might not be a pretty lot, but they were no less deserving of the diminutive than anyone else in the land.

"Cousin?" snorted one of the newcomers. "You're not any cousin of ours!"

I smiled benevolently. "Perhaps not, but you're a cousin of mine. Every being in Narnia is."

They didn't know what to make of that. Brickit shot me a warning glare which I chose to ignore. Blait, Chief of the Black Dwarf Clan, had told me in no uncertain terms that I should never exaggerate or evade or tell an untruth when asked a direct question by his people. To establish a reputation for honesty was vital if I was to succeed here, and really, a king should never speak falsely. I'd done that often enough in the past that the bitter aftertaste still lingered on my tongue and served as a lesson to me.

"Why are you here?"

I glanced at Brickit. "I'm here because your cousin is stubborn."

They couldn't argue that fact, though their quick agreement annoyed the Chief Smith.

"So what are you doing at this smithy?" demanded another Dwarf. His tone let me know that he thought little of his cousins' craft. When he bit into his piece of apple cake and I knew he'd be chewing it for a good ten minutes. I wondered if Brickit had served it on purpose.

"Running coal."

"Why?" sputtered yet another, wisely avoiding the cake. His long beard was braided and held fast with silver clips, and by his finer clothes I guessed he was the leader of this little troop.

"Because until I learn more that's all I'm good for."

They absolutely did not know what to make of me and, just as with the inhabitants of the smithy, I did nothing to help them in their comprehension. I didn't mind the rude interrogation - they were curious and this was simply their way of asking.

"Let me see your hands," demanded the leader.

I obliged, holding my palms up for them to see. My hands were heavily calloused and around the nails was stained by ground-in coal dust.

"I see you can work, at least," he muttered, disappointed at the proof I presented. "You don't act like a king!"

"You've seen other kings?" I asked, borrowing a phrase my brother had used when so challenged by a very young Faun whose father was in the palace guard.

The Dwarf had a similar reaction to that of the little Faun: a blank look followed by a frown. He poked his finger on the tabletop before him, annoyed.

"But why are you here?"

I answered quietly. "Because I was invited."

They sat back, astounded at so simple an answer to what was them a very complex situation. I smiled and rose to my feet.

"You'll excuse me, good cousins, but the Master promised he'd show me how to draw wire today since we can't cast ingots as he planned. Good day to you."

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Well, Spawn, you confused your new cousins a good deal."

I looked up from the heavy length of wire I was trying to wrap around a wooden spool. The spool was on a crank and I was feeding the wire onto it gradually, but the stuff insisted on twisting this way and that and refused to lie evenly. It had been wrapped before by an apprentice but had not been properly secured and almost half its length had come undone. I was growing flustered as I tried to keep it from tangling more and it must have shown on my face. Brickit stood watching my efforts with mild interest.

"Good," I replied shortly. "It's healthy."

Striding forward, he pushed me off the crank. "Feed it slowly. Let it untwist itself as you go."

I relinquished my position and took up the length of wire, letting it run through my gloved hands to remove any clinging sand as he turned the crank. It was much easier with two people.

"Were they satisfied with what they saw and heard?" I asked after a while.

He gazed at the spool, making certain the wire lay tight and even. "Yes and no."

"Hence the confusion. And what of you, Brickit? Are you satisfied?"

"Yes and no," he echoed. He pointed. "Kink."

I quickly saved the wire from wrapping too tight upon itself and forming a kink. Once the crisis was past I asked, "It will be a week tomorrow. So have I won your good will?"

He was slow in answering. "Not so that I trust you and yours."

"Fair enough," I said, swallowing my disappointment. It didn't come as such a terrible blow, really, because he had said both yes and no. I was fortunate to have made any progress at all. "Tell me what I can do, then."

"I've little experience with kings and boys and spawns," grunted Brickit. "I've only known queens and tyrants and ice. I don't know what to tell you. Not yet."

"I know what you mean," I said quietly, concentrating on the wire.

I fed the last of the cable onto the spool. Securing the end of the wire, he helped me lift the heavy spool off the crank and together we carried to a corner of the shop and set it down amidst a dozen similar spools. Panting a bit, I wiped my brow on my sleeve.

"Well," I said, smiling faintly, "then I'll stay. Let me know if you think of anything I can do."