A/N: MORE DWARVES!
TW: Pregnancy mentions, morning sickness, vomiting
Papas and Mamas - Dream A Little Dream
Taylor Swift - Anti-Hero
Chinchilla - Little Girl Gone
Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take It
Saint Motel - My Type
Dua Lipa - Levitating
UB40 - Only Fools Rush In
Ed Sheeran - Shivers
Panic! At The Disco - This is Gospel
Cyrano Soundtrack - Madly
Sheryl Crow - Every Day Is A Winding Road
Queen - Don't Stop Me Now
The Cranberries - Dreams
Temptations - My Girl
Queen & David Bowie - Under Pressure
OneRepublic - Rescue me
Chapter 20
Wednesday, it snowed a little overnight. Wet gross slushy, sloshing snow that got gray and icy nearly instantly. Erdene woke up (sleep must have pulled her back under for a few hours) to a nearly ice cold room with one of the girls bustling in to say good morning before heading to Valis' for work.
Work which Warren was not happy about. Since the man was clearly somewhat racist, Erdene instructed the girls not to inform him that Valis was in fact a dwarf. Just to tell him that they were working for a tailor until the seventeenth, they would each be paid handsomely for their time. They would return to working for him by the eighteenth.
It was a small wonder she hadn't woken up in a worse mood considering the weather, Warren and her dream. Erdene rubbed the back of her neck with a cold hand as she went about making herself a second cup of tea for breakfast.
Once again, in her dreams, she'd been sporting a decent sized baby bump. A kid, maybe two, was definitely in her future. No argument they were Thorin's kids at that. But in one dream she was with Thorin, living in Erebor while she gave birth to their daughters. In another she was alone, staying with Bilbo because Thorin was gone .
A desperate, hollowing sadness threatened to envelope her. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes, her throat tightened to soreness, an ache in her chest made it hard to breathe.
He's alive right now and waiting for me. She had to tell herself. Forest green eyes closed, she took a breath, held it until she was cognizant of her lungs and heartbeat then released it only to pull in another breath. Thorin is alive. He is waiting at work to see me. He is alive and breathing right now in his home. He probably dreamed about me last night.
She hoped his dreams were better than hers. Maybe in his dreams he gets to have wild passionate nights with her. Maybe one day they would have wild passionate nights together.
Half smiling, half smirking Erdene turned around to head back up stairs to get dressed. She still planned on going to the plaza today, but she didn't plan to stick around. Her fingers would freeze, her bow and violin shouldn't have to be put through that and none of her clothes felt warm enough to deal with this kind of cold. Honestly. She might have to keep herself from getting too near Thorin so she didn't jump him and cling to his warmth like a spider monkey.
Erdene was in the middle of sipping some very fine peach, ginger and ginger tea when Warren with a pinched, red face walked through the front door and glowered at her like he'd swallowed something awful.
As if the good lord hadn't tested her enough today. Damn it. She swallowed a mouthful of her tea. "Good morning Wa-"
Warren has always been a lonely man. He loved his wife, and she him, and their lives had been good. They were happy enough and their daughters were a welcome blessing, even if they both truly wished to have at least one boy. They were not blessed with one. In Catherine's sixth year, Warren's wife fell ill. She did not recover.
Warren raised his girls alone for nine years. Which wasn't as difficult as he thought it might be. His eldest two took over the cooking, the cleaning, mending and tasks he knew little about. Gwendolyn began helping him in the shop. Catherine clung to her eldest sisters who mothered her as best they knew how.
When Erdene appeared before Warren's small store front, he'd thought she might be a dwarf. She was small enough. When Catherine informed him the young lady had been so shocked from finding out where she was, he suspected she wasn't local. Had she been abducted from her home and family?
In the first three months he put out discreet inquiries into a missing young lady, early twenties, small, dark skinned and pretty enough. Nothing amounted from his search.
The girl was brilliant, able to learn quickly with very few errors before making no mistakes at all. She could read and write, making her an asset to keep. It spoke of her upbringing, belied her status as someone who was raised in a much higher status than he'd ever believed.
She could cook and bake, though he never understood why she bottled and jarred water.
She was a musician, and a good one too. Headstrong, but he thought he found her the right match to temper her willful behavior. He never dreamed she would not only refuse to marry, but refused on the grounds that she would not be cared for and kept as a woman of her status should be.
Which made Warren question everything he knew about Erdene Thoroughfare.
She insisted on paying him room and board. The additional money he couldn't argue with. It was helpful immediately.
She fought the match he'd been brought for Catherine. Which now he saw wasn't a benefit for his child even if it was for his family status. He understood he needed to make better matches for his daughters, ones they would agree to. Unfortunately his girls were like him, born to the middle class. They weren't capable of committing to a social climb as their mother had with him. She elevated herself from a fisherman's daughter to a craftsman and merchant's wife. His girls might never rise above their stations..
And then Erdene, who was both a blessing and at times a curse, told him she was teaching his daughters. A woman he was convinced was of higher birth than him was teaching his daughters. He asked his girls this morning what Erdene had been teaching. Some of what they learned when over his head.
He could add and subtract, Gwendolyn explained division and multiplication as both adding and subtracting on an advanced scale. Large numbers. Fractions, portions of something that totalled to one whole. He watched as his middle child wrote out a number he had no words for and explained the differences between millions and hundreds and thousands.
Catherine explained the geography of their world, explaining the expanse of the length of distance between South Yard and Gondor, Rohan and the Misty Mountains.
None of these things were in the realm of things Warren believed his daughters needed to move up in the world. There was no art, poetry, music or how to make witty conversation, flirt with a coy demeanor. How to maintain a household. None of it was useful .
"You told me you were teaching my daughters." He thundered, and if he had not had the remnants of last night's stew on his collar and an unkempt bristling shadow of a beard, Erdene might have been a little more frightened of him.
He was, after all, decently taller than her. Definitely not stronger (she still worked out in her room in the mornings by lifting chests and the ends furniture, 30x of each). Warren's anger was all bark, no bite.
"As I was saying, good morning Warren." Erdene set her tea down on the counter. "Now what are you on about?"
"You are supposed to be teaching my daughters useful skills, not whatever it is you call anatomy."
For fucks sake. Really? "Anatomy is the study of the human body. The girls have an interest in learning about how the body works. It can't hurt to educate them on the bones and muscle groups so they understand why their bodies do things."
"It isn't useful to-"
"Which is the foundation of working for or becoming a healer. Healers make quite a bit of coin, don't they, Warren?" Erdene asked with the most saccharine of smiles.
With some of the wind taken out of his sails, Warren opened his mouth only to think better of whatever he was going to say, and promptly closed his mouth.
"Sums division, multiplication, math as a whole, any shop keep in Arda would jump at a bookkeeper who could tabulate and tally in their head, wouldn't you agree?" Erdene continued, taking up her cup again to sip her tea once more. "In fact Gwen is so good with numbers, she is auditing a friend's books right now for a tidy sum."
Hunched shoulders drooping, "the geography is unnecessary."
"Not to a traveling merchant."
"The sci-en-ces."
"Really? Do you know why water boils? Or why snow falls? Or why steam is hot? Or how to-"
"None of this will win my girls a marriage."
"Christ almighty, Warren, love and marriage are about more than being pretty and entertaining. Relationships have to build on mutual trust, mutual interest and mutual needs. Your girls need to find themselves right now, not wait for a prince that might not come."
"You are a child," he muttered in return, "what would you know about love and marriage?"
"Warren, this is my fault. I apologize. I let you think I was younger than I am." She set her cup back down. "I will be thirty-one next March. I am a fully grown adult . I have had men want to marry me. I chose not to be."
While Erdene argued with Warren, Thorin re-read Balin's nearly six page response. There are no laws prohibiting the union. There are several requirements and regulations regarding placing an outsider of non-dwarrow birth on the throne. He read through the requirements and regulations for the fifth time since Dís presented him the letter last night.
There was one line Balin had written which stuck out to Thorin as if the words were jumping from the page. I have confirmed with the archivists; Only dwarrow have the dreams, and if she dreams of you, she is dwarrow if distantly
Thorin had begun to suspect as much. Her height. Her shape. Her talents. Her innate negotiation tactics. Her stubbornness. Mahal.
Befriending dwarrow as if one of them and then, last evening, the bracelet.
Sunstone was a rare birthstone amongst his people. A sunstone inscribed with runes, rarer still. Blessing runes had not been used on birthstones for longer than Thorin had lived. They were relics of his grandfather's time. They might not have been quite visible to her, as Erdene was likely more man than she was dwarrow. Thorin had seen four and a half runes, all finely carved around the mouth of the bead.
His reply to Balin was quickly written out, with a request for Balin to come to the South Yard estate before next Wednesday.
There was to be a courting ceremony.
Thorin left the letter for Dís to post when she went for her fitting later.
The cold snapped at him, and despite his inherent warmth, he found it most uncomfortable. He trudged through at least an inch of muddy slush on the way to the blacksmith. Thorin was most of the way through the plaza when a familiar tug in his chest made him look up.
Today Erdene wore her tunic and leggings, bundling in on herself as she waded through the slushy grossness that was the ground. Her boots kept most of the mess off her legs but the cold . It felt like that time she went to New York for a competition. Bitter and biting and so incredibly invasive.
Thorin was just arriving too.
Christ almighty.
All that black hair and those sharp sky blue eyes found hers amongst the few people currently milling about.
Erdene bit her lower lip as she hustled the few feet toward him while he too moved toward her as well.
"You're freezing," he worried, taking her forearms in his hands, "Erdene, go back to your home. Start a fire, get warm. It is far too cold today."
She snorted, shaking head, "nah, my landlord is being a pissy bitch. I was going to go over to see if my friends Harjl and Zarin wouldn't mind me spending time, or maybe Valis but she's inundated with dress orders for next week. I don't know, just not where I live."
Pissy bitch. Thorin had never heard that one before. There was the slightest touch or laughter in his voice when he spoke again. "And what caused your landlord's ire?"
Again he felt it. There was something more, something different between them now. Perhaps because of all they discussed. Did she know? He did not make his interest in her a secret. Last night all but asking if she would have an interest in being his wife.
And she had answered yes .
Eyes the color of the winter sky above them rolled. "I've been teaching his girls to be self-sufficient. He wants me to teach them other things." She blew out an irritated breath. Her gloved fingers went to the fur of his coat. "Which just made me more aggravated because that isn't what I stand for."
Her cheeks and nose were red from the cold, she shivered in her coat. Thorin ran his hands along her arms. "You are shivering. Into the shop, ibinê."
Her brow furrowed as he tugged her with him into the blacksmith shop where the air was already warmer despite the open arches, "what does that mean?"
One day she will speak Khuzdûl to him. There would be no harm in telling her. "My gem."
A soft giggle disrupted by the chatter of her teeth escaped her lips. "My name already means gem." At his curious expression, "Erdene, it means precious gem or jewel."
Of course it did. Mahal. The Valar knew when they made this match.
She took one step closer, biting her lower lip. She was a single step from him holding her against his chest. "Valis explained the forget me not pins."
His hands ran up and down her arms over her coat. Mahal's great hammer. Is that what was different? She accepted him equally? "Did she?"
"Mmm," Erdene hummed softly, searching his face. "Still have to wait until the day after Durin's Day, right?"
"Aye. Less than a week." He held her by her upper arms, his thumbs stroking in small circles.
Her gloved fingers dug into the fur. "I can't tell you how much I hate that thirty plus dam are going to be fawning all over you." She tugged on the front of his coat, "and I get this is something you've always done since before I was even born but, damn it ."
Thorin squeezed her arms just above her elbows, which he found somewhat muscular, interesting, "and if I were to say join me for the day, would you?"
Kiss him. Do it . They were already so close, she could feel his warmth in the cool air. All she had to do was push up that inch or so between them. He called her his gem (they were going to have to figure out better pet names). He wanted her too. Just kiss -
"Ah, Master dwarf," the blacksmith's voice abruptly cut through the moment, "there you are. I was wondering if-" His voice faltered as he walked further into the room and found the dwarf not alone. The man blinked once, twice and then a third time as if he could clear the vision of seeing Warren's ward in the dwarf's embrace.
An intimate, familiar embrace.
And now the dwarf stepped between his view and the girl.
"It's okay," came her hushed whisper, "it's okay. I'm going to go." She squeezed the dwarf's upper right arm with one hand, smiling at him the way only a woman in love smiled at the one she loved. "Have a good day."
The dwarf made no move to return her touch, instead turning his attention toward her, and giving her a soft, brief smile before she left.
The blacksmith hummed quietly waiting for the girl to be gone before saying, "I see now. You're getting married, or something like that. That's why you're leaving my employ."
To his credit the dwarf, whose given name the blacksmith didn't actually remember, said nothing.
Bertrand, the blacksmith, waved the dwarf's silence off. "You're not the first of your kind to work for me only to meet a pretty lass and decide to devote themselves to starting a family."
His kind. Thorin did attempt not to bristle at the comment.
"And she is a pretty creature. I didn't know she was a dwarf," Bertrand went on oblivious to the clear irritation written in Thorin's frame. "A word if I might, master dwarf, Warren, the fellow who took her in, he's not keen on dwarves."
It was not a worry on Thorin's mind.
At least it wasn't until the man said as much.
Harjl was just about considering closing up for the day to care for Zarin when, whether by the blessing of Mahal, Yavanna or by sheer dumb luck, Erdene Thoroughfare walked through the shop door looking frozen to the bone. She smiled with cheeks much too red, and slightly blue coloration to her lips, chattering out between her teeth, "G-g-good mo-morning Har-r-r-jl."
"Maker's breath, Mistress Erdene, what possessed you to go out in this mess?" But had his wife not asked after the lass not yesterday morning? Her words were, I had the strangest dream of Erdene. When he had asked what his wife dreamed of, Zarin had been tight lipped. Despite feeling ill, dear Maker she was always so ill these days with the babe, she could barely keep anything down, Zarin insisted on going to see Valis.
The two spoke at length for nearly an hour yesterday evening before Zarin, looking all the better despite eating like a bird, kissed his cheek and told him to wait for his dream from the Valar.
And now the lass walked right through the front door.
Despite being a logical, ration based dwarf, Harjl suspected the gods were at work here. In what way, he wasn't certain. There was a touch of fate and destiny in the air and he, his wife, Valis and the girl before him were all involved.
"Come in and warm yourself," he chided, walking around the counter to pull her over to the woodburning stove they used to keep the shop from feeling like winter.
She stripped her gloves and stuck her hands close to the stove. Through her clacking teeth and somewhat lessened shivering, Erdene laughed at him. "Says the d-dwarrow who st-stayed open when almost every other shop is c-c-closed."
The cheek of her. "Och, well, you're not waiting on a prince to pick up his uncle and mother's shoes."
For an instant a haunted sort of worry crossed her before blinking away behind amber eyes. "I ca-ca-can l-leave."
"Don't worry on my account lass, once the lad comes, I'll close up. My wife's been asking if you'd stopped by again. Go up and see her, door's open." Harjl grimaced briefly before adding, "and if you can get her to eat something, I'd appreciate it. The babe won't let her keep anything down."
Unexpectedly, Erdene laughed low and shook her head. "F-fu-fucking morning sickness. Do you have honey and/or ginger, maybe cinnamon?"
"All." He affirmed, then out of curiosity, "have you had a child lass?"
A sad sort of wry grimace met his gaze. "No, not yet anyway."
The door behind them opened and the familiar voice of Kíli, son of Dís, excited, but a bit harried, "Master Harjl, good morning."
"Oh, your grace, a moment please." Harjl gently guided her around the front desk and toward the back stairs. "You'll find everything you asked for in the cabinet above the washbasin where we clean our dishes."
"Got it. Promise, I'll get her to eat." Erdene told him without glancing back at Kíli. It would just be weird. Meeting all of Thorin's family before he introduced her to them.
"Thank you. Honestly." Harjl bowed his head once, then turned back around to head into the shop proper again. "Your grace, I have your mother's and your uncle's orders just here."
Erdene took the stairs quickly, tapping on the door before opening it a crack and calling out, "sugar, you decent?"
A pained grunt was her only answer.
"I'll take that as a no, comin' in anyway, cover the important bits." Erdene announced before entering the apartment above the shop. This one was quite a bit more spacious than Valis' had been. And again, on a far wall, a small family tree. Huh. Do all dwarrow homes have those?
Erdene found Zarin hunched over a wooden bucket on the floor by the (very comfortable looking and beautifully upholstered in creamy taupes and rich browns) couch, green around the gills and miserable looking. "Why is it called morning sickness if I am ill all the godsdamn day?" The red head grumbled. "I thought a barin would be a blessing but I cannot move off this floor, I cannot eat, my poor husband has to pick me up and set me in bed, on my bloody side with this gods forsaken bucket near my head so I can empty my gut every few hours." Exhausted, Zarin moved her loosely bound hair over one shoulder as Erdene crouched next to her on the floor.
"Well, sugar, I'll be honest, you look like shit."
Wiping the back of her mouth with her hand. "Fuck you."
"No," Erdene flicked Zarin's nose gently, "you fucked Harjl, that's how you got into this state."
Zarin groaned, bowing her head. "The bastard. I hate him."
"You do not. You love him." Holding her arm out, "come on, up off the floor, let's get you cleaned up and looking a little more like the snarky dam I know."
Despite the headache it caused, Zarin laughed, "lass you're not strong enough to lift me."
Granted it had been at least nine months since she last went to the gym, she still worked out every morning. "Oh, sugar, you have no idea." Erdene wrapped one arm around Zarin's waist, adjusted for her weight and with her knees, pushed them both up to standing. Zarin was staring at her with wide eyes. "Okay, point me to your washroom."
"How in Mahal's name did you…I weigh at least three times what you weigh, if not more!" Still, Zarin leaned on Erdene rather than lose her feet from under her once more. She'd already tried to get up and wash earlier but she ended up sliding off her couch and onto the floor and that is where Erdene found her.
"Mmm, but what do you bench? Because I bench a little over three hundred pounds, which, okay, probably couldn't lift a well built male, but you, light as a feather." She wasn't light as a feather. All of that compact muscle was heavy, but with Zarin partially supporting herself, it wasn't too difficult to move her. Erdene used her free hand to push open the door to the washroom, which was little more than a small three by four room with a covered latrine hole in a wide wooden bench, a sturdy looking short cabinet with a blue and white ceramic basin filled with water atop it facing a oval looking glass bolted to the wall. There were towels neatly stacked next to the basin and, surprisingly, a small bar of soap on the other side of the bowl.
"Bench? A bench you sit on? I don't understand." Zarin told Erdene while the girl settled Zarin on the free part of the wooden bench housing the latrine.
Erdene grabbed one towel, dipped it in the water, rubbed soap on it, dipped it back in the water and turned back to Zarin to clean the sickness from her face, neck and some of her dress. "To bench press, you lie on your back and lift weights above you in measured movements to increase muscle mass and strength."
Zarin's furrowed brow smoothed. "Oh…aye, younger males do that when they're showing off to the lasses they want to impress." She looked up at Erdene as the girl smoothed the cloth around Zarin's chin and neck. "You've done it?"
"For self improvement." Erdene affirmed moving the cloth to Zarin's hands and wiping them off too. Gently, with care.
The other day, the other night, rather, a dream came from the Valar to Zarin. Of sitting on the back of a cart, her belly swollen with child and Harjl, her love, her one, fussing over the babe. Telling the dwarfling to wait.
You will be the first babe born in Erebor in nearly two centuries. He'd placed his forehead against the swell of her stomach. Please, my child, wait a little longer. Just a little longer.
And when they did arrive, how Erebor, the home of her mother and father, and their parents before them stood magnificently in the sunlight. Her parents, who lived in Thorin's Hall since the great exodus, wept tears of joy. They hugged her, they hugged Harjl, and her father leaned close, telling her word had spread through the caravans ahead of them. The queen was greeting travelers as they returned to the mountain.
Queen Under the Mountain.
How Zarin's eyes had grown large at the woman dressed in Durin's Blue, agate chips sewn into her dress, sitting in a chair on a small raised platform, not too high, but high enough that she had to hobble down the handful of wooden stairs to greet Harjl. To greet Zarin.
A woman with beautiful brown-red curling hair, and large honey brown eyes. Skin darker than most dwarrow, and so many freckles her cheeks were practically dusted in them. A few visible moles on her cheek, chin and neck. Erdene wore the small delicate crown of Erebor's queen.
She kissed Zarin's cheeks, hugging her as best she could despite their equally swollen stomachs. Welcome home sugar.
And Zarin has burst into tears, hugging her queen and friend back.
The day after the dream, Zarin demanded her husband take her to Valis. The other dam had mentioned having a dream featuring Erdene weeks ago. Of course Zarin was not permitted to share the contents of her dream, only that she had one, and confirm that Valis had one too.
Now, she sat with her future queen being cleaned like a toddler who had gotten into the pudding. Ugh. Her stomach rolled. Pudding.
"Look up at the ceiling, breathe in through your nose, hold it and count backwards from ten thousand." Erdene instructed almost the moment before Zarin gagged. "Let the air out when you absolutely need air."
Zarin, willing to try anything, did as she was bade.
Erdene continued cleaning Zarin's hands and the spotted sleeves of her dress. "The body is funny, did you know you can only feel one really bad pain at once? Well the same goes for a few other things. If you distract your body, and your mind at the same time, your body will either give up getting sick, or if you're really sick, force the upchuck."
Bless the lass. After reaching 9942, Zarin breathed out, sucked in another breath and continued the count. She reached 9883 while Erdene went into the bedroom, found Zarin a wool nightgown, a robe and thick wool socks with slippers. By 9779 Zarin was undressed and her soiled dress and shift moved to the laundry hamper. At 9602 Erdene had helped Zarin into fresh clothes and seated Zarin at the kitchen table. She'd reached 9555 while Erdene cleared away any and all food from the table and Zarin's sight.
Mahal's blessings on her. Truly. She didn't need to do these things but she did them regardless.
At 9500, Zarin's body had lost the fight and the nausea abated. Shakily Zarin breathed out once more and then allowed herself to watch Erdene move about her kitchen. Now, Zarin found herself shaking a bit from lack of nutrition and weakness. "Lass, what are you-"
Erdene was mashing something with the blunt end of a potato masher. "Making you a tea that won't make you vomit." She held out a spoon covered in dark amber honey to Zarin. "Lick slowly. Don't suck on it, don't swallow it quickly. Pretend you're a virgin on your wedding night or something."
Despite her exhaustion, the weakness in her limbs and the fight her body was putting up, Zarin barked a laugh. "By the maker, Erdene!" She took the spoon regardless and did as requested, taking a small lap at the top of the spoon. When her stomach didn't roil or protest, she swallowed and took another. "I was a virgin, you know, when I married Harjl."
Erdene shot her a raised eyebrow.
"I was! Aye, I'd flirted and mayhap I'd touched a male or two intimately, but he was my first."
Whatever she was mashing had finally reached a point the lass was fine with, because she set it atop some thin cheese cloth and grabbed for the kettle which was all but ready to whistle. When had she filled it? Zarin watched as Erdene wrapped her mixture in the cheesecloth, dropped it into the mug and poured hot water onto it. The resulting steam had a faint, and, thank Mahal, pleasant scent.
Erdene moved the mug to the table before Zarin. "Put the spoon in and sip slowly."
She'd gone this far with the lass' scheme. In for a copper. Zarin dropped the spoon in and stirred until the honey was gone. She moved to take out the cloth and whatever was mixed into it.
"Nope, leave it in. You and the baby need the nutrients."
Wrapping her fingers around the mug, Zarin leaned in, sniffing delicately. "Ginger, cinnamon and…"
"I didn't expect you to have turmeric, but turmeric too. The ginger to settle your stomach, the turmeric for your muscles - you're probably sore from throwing up so much - and cinnamon for the inflamed lining of your stomach. Honey to feed you and the baby. You probably haven't eaten for a couple of days, right?" Erdene settled in the chair across from her. "I'll make you more when you're ready."
It took Zarin less than three minutes to finish the tea. "More?"
Erdene took the cup and made more.
When Zarin took the cup back she looked up at the lass. "How did you know what to make?"
Erdene paused, pressing her lips into a thin, flat line before answering solemnly, "my best friend got pregnant once. She was certain she wanted to keep the baby. But it made her sick day and night. That," Erdene nodded at the mug, "was all she could keep down."
Zarin sighed, feeling warmer and quite a bit less weak then she had not an hour ago. "How old is the babe now?
"Um…he would be about twelve."
Would be?
"She…Monica, realized about six months in, she couldn't keep the baby. She didn't want to give up school, her career, a future doing what she wanted to do. Moni found a couple to adopt him. They let her know how he was growing up from time to time, but I don't think he knows he's adopted yet."
Monica. What a lovely, if odd name. "What was his name?"
"The name Monica gave him was Ian. The name his adopted parents gave him was Carter. They kept Ian, but made it his middle name." She pointed at Zarin's nearly empty cup, "another?"
"Oh, yes, please, another. Thank you."
Carter. Ian. What odd, but lovely names. "And, Monica? She is well?"
Erdene slowed as she went about setting the water to boil once more. "Moni went missing a couple of years ago. She went out with the guy she was seeing at the time. The authorities found his," she paused, "cart abandoned roadside. No sign of either of them. I haven't seen her since."
Oh Mahal, no. Covering her mouth with one hand, eyes wide in horror, "Erdene, I am sorry."
The lass shook her head. "It happens back home more often than people like to think or talk about. I'm sure it happens here too." But here, there are no high tech ways of tracking GPS or facial recognition. When you disappear here, you are gone. "I just…I just hope, if her son ever comes looking, that he finds her family and knows she tried to do what was best for him."
What was best for her child. "And he will have you, too." Zarin said gently with a small, sympathetic smile.
Erdene returned her smile, though it didn't reach her eyes.
Deciding to change the subject, "What about you? Will you be a virgin on your wedding night?"
That earned her a laugh from Erdene. The lass shook her head. "No, I thought I met my be all end all man back when I was eighteen. Caleb and I were together several years before we broke up. Then I had maybe a few weeks of being single before Santi, Monica's older brother, convinced me to go home with him." Wagging her eyebrows suggestively, "I was with him for nearly seven years. He asked me what kind of ring I might like but we never got there." Her fingers smoothed across the table cloth, a soft walnut brown with cream colored stitches of runes around the borders. "Then I came here and wouldn't you know it, my soulmate has been waiting all his life for me to show up."
The way the girl blushed. Mahal be praised. How Erdene must like him to smile the way she did. "Harjl told me your one is older, over a hundred and then some, yes?"
She'd figured Harjl would probably tell Zarin. "Nearly two hundred."
Sighing dreamily, "aye, but you are young, and not entirely dwarrow, you may not live as long as we do. Longbeards, that is most of us here in Ered Luin, we live between 250 and 300 years of age. You, should you live to even a hundred and twenty years, will still grow old with him." Zarin leaned on both of her elbows, "that is so romantic. The gods made him wait so that you could be born. His match in every way." Fanning herself, "and here I have the story of walking to the archive one day to find a book for my father, tripping and falling over a lad with his nose in a book only to feel the tug here," pointing to the spot just below her left ribs, "my father had a fit. Can you imagine? Five generations of cobblers and his daughter's one is an archivist."
Snickering, Erdene held out her hand to make Zarin another cup. "Could have been worse."
Zarin handed her the cup, "oh, how?"
Harjl, who found himself spending more time in the shop than he planned with several new orders, finally made his way upstairs a little after the first afternoon bell. Halfway up the stairs, he heard laughter. He entered his home and for the first time in days, there was the pleasant smell of food cooking. A simple stew, Erdene told him. She kissed Zarin on the cheek as she was leaving. It must be something her kind does because she kissed his cheek too before wishing them both a good evening.
Zarin ate a full meal and a slice of buttered bread. She smiled. She laughed.
Mahal, bless the girl.
Khuzdûl (I KNOW! MY FIRST ONE!) translations:
ibinê - My gem