Chapter 5: A night with the dwarves,
Snow decided to thank the dwarves for letting her stay with them, for just a night. So, she treated them with one of the recipes that she had made at the palace once. Of course, at the palace she had had more ingredients to work with, but she still could make quite a lot with what she was given.
She had taken the dry ingredients, and made some tasty rolls, and then with some rabbit and apples she made a very tasty stew. They were grateful for her to do the cooking, so they agreed to tidy themselves up a bit before dinner. She tried to tell them that it was no big deal, she was used to cooking and it was the least she could do for them since she was staying with them.
So they sat around the table and had a very nice dinner. The dwarves had even said that it was the best meal that she had ever eaten.
"This is delicious!" Said Happy, while dopey nodded with enthusiasm.
"Oh, there was nothing to it really." She said off-headedly, "There are really two tricks when it comes to cooking, you got to have the right amount of balance in your ingredients, and the right spices always save the day." She told them,
"You don't say?" Said Doc, with keen interest.
"Well, it's better than what we usually have." Grumpy said, and they all looked at him, "Soup that tastes like peppery water." He said scowling,
Snow giggled at the comment; at least Grumpy was trying to be nice.
After dinner was over Snow gathered up the plates to be washed,
"You don't have to do that." Bashful said,
"I certainly think I do. I have to repay you for your kindness somehow." She told him, the whispered amongst them. They decided that this girl was really nice, a little too nice. First she apologizes for barging into their house, and then she does all the cooking and cleaning when they tell her she can stay. She was acting more like the host than they were. They decided they had to make it up to her (except for grumpy, who was accepting of this new girl's behaviour).
When Snow was in the middle of doing the dishes the Dwarves called her over, "Hope, we have something to show you." Called Doc,
"Can it wait? I'm in the middle of doing the dishes." She told him, Doc came over and grabbed her hand pulling her away from the work. "The rest of us can finish those later. You've been doing so much work, we decided to repay you." He pulled her over to the rest of them, where they stood in a group. They shoved Bashful forward, and he blushed while handing her a satchel.
She took the satchel cautiously, wondering what they could have given her. She assumed that they were going to give her some food for her journey to the village after they had shown her the way, or maybe a small wooden sculpture, or a flute. She didn't think the dwarves could give her much, considering that they lived in a cottage in a wood.
She finally opened the satchel to find something that was beyond her expectations. It turned out that these dwarves were richer than she thought. Inside the bag were a few precious gems.
"Where did you manage to get these?" she asked with astonishment,
"We work in the mine, so we find these stones all the time. Sure, the queen gets most of the gems, but since we don't get paid for our work we think it's okay if we smuggle a few every so often." Doc explained,
"Gosh...this is too much. You are already leading me towards the next town and letting me spend the night with you. I can't accept these. You probably don't have that many to spare." Snow told them,
"Nonsense, we can always find more. Besides, you are doing all the work a servant would do, you should be paid. Also, a nice girl like you will need some gems to get a life started where you are going." Happy explained,
Just like that, Snow felt so happy that these people were being so nice to her, and she had nothing to give in return...except maybe...well, she ran forward, kissed all of them on the forehead, even Grumpy, thanking them a hundred times over.
Soon after that she returned to the dishes, even they told her not to. She had done dusting, cooking, and she had washed the dishes that day. The Dwarves were starting to wonder if she really was a runaway servant. When she was finished, she was exhausted. She offered to take the floor since she had already slept in their beds. However, the dwarves insisted that she take the bed since she was the guest. They did not mind sleeping on the floor for just one night. Grumpy however had no trouble complaining about being made to sleep on the floor.
That night, Snow had good dreams. She had dreams where her step mother was far away, and she was only surrounded by good people. Good people like the dwarves she had met that day.
A/N: I swear it's going to get interesting soon, try to be patient.