Daylight came after a long, cold night, and Doc and the others were exhausted as they continued their search. They had come across a few people, most of them unsavory, but they no longer cared. Despite how many people Grumpy had signaled, nobody they talked to recognized Grumpy's name, and they turned away every time, disappointed. By the time the streets were bustling, they didn't know where else to look.
When they stopped to rest, Dopey pulled out the aquamarine and rolled it in his fingers. He felt awful. Grumpy had tried to talk to him the night after they'd fought, but he'd stuffed his fingers in his ears and turned away. Grumpy hadn't pushed, and he'd slept on the sofa, leaving the six brothers to split the three bedrooms. He should have let him talk. It hadn't been his secret to tell, and Dopey should have tried to understand.
'Grumpy,' Dopey thought, squeezing the gift that had saved their lives. 'We're sorry. Where are you? Please, where are you?'
The gem in his hand suddenly pulsed, and Dopey stood at once. None of his brothers saw him get up, and he was turning the corner before Doc shouted for him. After going through a maze of back alleys, Dopey ended up at a strange shop. He pushed inside and a bell chimed. A woman came out from the back. She had long chestnut hair pulled into a bun, and she narrowed her dark eyes.
"May I help you?"
Dopey held up the aquamarine, his eyes desperate. He knew it was the right thing to do, but he didn't know how or why. The woman looked bemused as she took the gem, but as soon as she touched it, her face twisted in shock. She snatched the gemstone and stared at it. The door suddenly burst open and Doc and the others ran inside. He looked around wildly then grabbed Dopey and pulled him to his side.
"Sorry, madam," he said. "We'll be stowing, uh, going now." Then he saw the aquamarine. "That's ours!"
The woman stared at them then slowly smiled. "Oh, it's yours, eh? A gift from a friend?"
"Yes. And we promised to steep, erm, keep them on us," Doc said, shaking Dopey.
"Well, we can't let you break your promise. Here you go, Dopey. Here's your charm. Don't lose it. It's very special."
Dopey touched the gem again then released it, pushing it toward her.
She raised her eyebrows. "I have permission?"
Dopey nodded fervently.
"Good. Then I will help you find Grumpy." She paused and looked intrigued before she went into the back. The brothers gaped after her, thoroughly bewildered. Dopey wrung his hands together, anxious to have the gemstone back. When the woman returned, she immediately handed it to him.
"You know why you need to keep this?"
Dopey nodded, clutching it against his chest.
"Do they?"
Dopey glanced at his brothers and shook his head.
"Then you must tell them. They need to hear it."
Dopey frowned but nodded. The woman then focused on the others. "Do you want to find Grumpy?"
Doc hesitated then nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
"Then I need a volunteer."
"For what?" Sneezy asked suspiciously.
"I have to cast a spell on one of you."
The brothers went silent again. Doc stared at the woman then looked at his brothers. She had known Grumpy's name, and Dopey's. She didn't try and keep the stone. But most importantly, it was the only hope they had. Not knowing what would happen, Doc stepped forward.
"I'll do it."
The brothers stared at him, too stunned to speak. Doc had been leery of magic since the day their uncle had told them their parents were cursed. Dopey grasped him and smiled, nodding excitedly. He looked so happy, but none of them knew why. Dopey turned to the lady and gestured several times.
"I'm sorry, Dopey. I can't understand you. It doesn't come naturally to me. I could if I practiced, but we have no time. Just tell them when you can. Now come here, my good Dwarf."
Doc obeyed, stepping closer. She came forward and peered at him.
"Do you have a charm, too?"
Doc pulled out his diamond, handing it over. She studied it then handed it to Dopey. Doc gulped, feeling unprotected, but he reminded himself it was for Grumpy.
"Hold still, Doc," she said.
Doc watched as she brought her hands up to her chest and held them there. Then glittering orange sparks began to drip from her fingers. Dopey jumped up and down, pointing frantically at her before wiggling his fingers in the gesture that they translated as fun or play. Before any of them could think on it, Doc was enveloped in a bright orange light, and he cried out in surprise at the overwhelming sensation.
"Doc!" several of his brothers shouted.
Then the light was gone and Doc stood there in a daze, blinking as he peered around. His eyes focused and he looked at the woman.
"Any payment?"
"Not for this. Consider it a debt repaid."
"Very well. Then thank you very such, ah, much. We'll be going now. Dopey, my diamond."
Dopey handed it over and Doc slipped it into his pocket. He bowed slightly to the woman then turned and left. They didn't speak as Doc led them unerringly back out into the streets, but he didn't stop there. He continued to walk, strolling as if he didn't have a care in the world.
"What're we doin'?" Bashful finally asked.
"Taking a walk," Doc replied.
"We need to find Grumpy," Sleepy said urgently.
"We will. Ah. Here."
Doc turned into a back alley and walked into an old inn. He looked around and saw a man sitting at a table, eating. The other men looked hostile, as if they knew they were intruders, but Doc made a beeline for the man at the table.
"Hello there. Can you help us bind, er, find Grumpy?"
The fact that Doc had walked up to talk to a stranger shook the brothers. He never did it unless he had to because of his speech impediment. But their shock at that was nothing compared to the shock of the man at the table. His eyes rose at Doc's voice and widened at seeing him, and the stranger gasped in a bite of bread. He coughed until his throat was cleared then stared at them in amazement.
"It… It's you," he said softly. "The brothers. You're looking for him? You mean he stayed?"
"Do we knows you?" Sneezy asked, wary of such a gruff-looking human.
"No. But I saw you that day. You didn't see me. He didn't want you to know about what he used to do."
"What did he used to do?" Bashful asked.
The man glanced around and the brothers became aware that the humans were getting up and held weapons. Doc didn't seem to care, and when the man flashed a hand signal like Grumpy had been doing, the room immediately settled. Bashful grew excited.
"Hey, that's what Grumpy was doin'! Except it was different."
"This one?" the man asked, signing again.
"Naw."
"How about this?"
"Not that one neither."
The man suddenly grinned. "Was it this one?"
"That's it!" Bashful was practically vibrating with excitement. "What's it mean?"
"In polite terms, it means back off before I slit your throat." He laughed. "Typical Ivan."
Time seemed to freeze for a moment, as they registered that the man hadn't called their friend Grumpy. Ivan? Who was Ivan? It took several moments for them to realize that not once in twelve years had they thought to ask Grumpy for his real name after they'd given him his Dwarf name. To them he was Grumpy, but to the man in front of them, he was an entirely different person.
Sneezy spoke first. "Ivan?" he asked in a voice full of wonder. He looked at the man then his brothers. "That's Grumpy's name, ain't it? His name was Ivan before he met us."
The man stopped laughing and stared at them, clearly bothered. "You don't know his name?"
"His name is Grumpy," Doc said pleasantly. "And we really seed, er, need to find him. But we need to get stout, ah, out of the city. We're all in grave danger, you see."
He was so matter of fact and cheery that none of the other Dwarfs thought the man would believe him. But he only shook his head, chuckling.
"Sounds like Ivan. He always gets into things. It's getting out that he has trouble with. Well, what kind of danger is it this time?"
Doc didn't care to answer that right then. "We need to find Grumpy," he repeated.
"Go downstairs. Make this sign." The man demonstrated and forced them to repeat it until they could all correctly do it. "Good. Go down, make the sign, and wait. I'll send feelers out to see if anybody knows where he is. I'll check the usual places."
He stood up to leave.
"What's your name?" Bashful asked, catching his arm.
The man grinned. "The name's Bastian Thistlewhite. And it's an honor to finally meet you."
"It is?" Sleepy asked.
"Yes. I never saw Ivan happier than that day in Castell when he was with you. He told me he loved you. He doesn't say that very much. I had hoped you would let him stay. Now I've got to go. Do as I said and don't make trouble. If anybody gives you a hard time, tell them you know Ivan. Use that name, not Grumpy. Nobody in the guild knows his Dwarf name. I'll be back by sunset."
The brothers watched him go then walked downstairs. They were surprised to find a large, spacious room. Beds lined the wall, and there were tables and crates of supplies spread across the center of the room. Several men turned to them, their hands straying to their belts. They carefully made the sign that Bastian had taught them. The men relaxed but stared at them curiously as they walked to the far side of the room and huddled together. As soon as they were settled, everybody turned to Doc and stared at him.
"How'd you do that?" Happy asked in awe.
"Do what?" Doc asked.
There was a bemused pause, and Bashful spoke. "How did you find this place? How did you know that Bastian knew Grumpy?"
"Oh, I didn't," Doc said.
Another pause. Sleepy leaned forward. "You walked right in here. Then you talked to him. You knew."
"I didn't," Doc insisted.
"Then how are we here?" Sneezy demanded.
Dopey slapped his thighs, and when his brothers looked at him, he met their eyes one at a time then lifted his hand and wiggled his fingers. Nobody spoke or moved for several moments.
Doc looked at Dopey, his mind racing over what Dopey had been saying in the shop. Then he pulled out his diamond and stared at it. Surely not…
"Does Grumpy know magic?" he asked faintly.
Dopey's entire face lit up and he threw his hands in the air as he celebrated. They knew! They knew! No more lies! His brothers all pulled out their charms and stared at them.
"Magic?" Sleepy asked. He held out his sapphire. "This is magic?"
Dopey gestured slowly, carefully explaining that yes, the gemstones were gifts from Grumpy, who had used his magic to protect them. It was extremely powerful magic, and that was why they had been led out of the castle by the gems.
While Dopey told them this, the brothers reverted back to questioning every sentence, something they hadn't had to do since their brother was very young. But Dopey encouraged it, refusing to continue until they understood exactly what he wanted to say.
Sneezy stared at his ruby, sniffling from the dusty room. "So these saved us?"
Dopey nodded.
"How long have you known about his magic?" Sleepy asked.
Dopey shrugged and told them that he'd seen him do magic the day after he'd tried to run away. The looks on his brothers faces would have been comical if it hadn't been such a horrible betrayal.
"You knew this whole time, and you didn't spell, erm, tell us?" Doc asked.
Dopey blushed and looked away. He explained that he had tried many times, flashing the symbol for magic, but Grumpy had mistranslated the sign on purpose so they wouldn't know he did magic. Ever since, when Dopey talked about magic, they thought he was talking about having fun or playing or teasing. Because the context for magic wasn't there, they simply couldn't understand what he was saying.
Doc reached over and touched Dopey. "Why? Why did he lie? Why did he mistranslate the pine, um, sign? What reason is there for him to do that?"
Dopey took a deep breath and answered the question with the truth. Doc directly told him that they didn't like or approve of magic when he got there, so he had hidden it from them. But he hadn't expected to stay, and by the time he'd realized he wanted to, he couldn't back out without admitting what he'd done. He was afraid, Dopey explained, afraid that he would have been forced to leave. Sneezy hadn't liked him much at the time, and he was so desperate to stay that he couldn't bring himself to tell them. The months turned to years, and the fear must have gotten worse after whatever Grumpy had done.
"Wait, the magic ain't it?" Bashful asked.
Dopey hesitated then admitted he wasn't entirely sure, but he felt like it wasn't. He thought there was something more, something worse, that tortured Grumpy. It didn't make sense for him to worry so much about the magic when he'd so easily hidden it from them for so many years. Being full of natural magic didn't explain the tears, the pain, the regret that they'd been seeing. His older brothers agreed completely.
All this time, people had been trickling in, and they all talked about the Dwarfs with interest. Ivan was the only Dwarf they knew associated with the guild in any notable way, and the day he seemingly rejoined the guild, there were six others? By the time Bastian rejoined them, the entire room was focused on the group, who had been huddled together and murmuring for hours. Bastian walked right up to them, and the room fell silent as everybody watched.
Doc looked up when he saw Bastian approach. "Any news?"
"This is William," he said, pulling a boy forward. "He has news." He shook William's shoulders.
"Ivan came by the southwest inn yesterday and stayed overnight. But in the middle of the night, he roused us, telling us something was wrong. Of course we believed him because he's Ivan, and we've heard enough about him to know to listen. He just knows things, you know?"
"Yep," Sneezy said, and the brothers all smiled.
"Anyway, the last I heard and saw, he said he was going to check on the princess and left for the castle."
"Thank you, William," Bastian said. He turned to gaze around the room and flashed the hand signal that Grumpy had been using around the brothers. Instantly, everybody turned away and began to talk.
"Go on, Will. Go get something to eat," Bastian said.
When the boy had gone, Bastian sat with them and sighed. "Grumpy was right. Something's wrong."
"Of course something is song, ah, wrong," Doc said casually. "The castle was taken over in an attack in the middle of the plight, erm, night. The kingdom now has a new ruler."
"What?!" Bastian yelped. "What do you mean the kingdom has a new ruler?"
Everybody looked at them, and silence fell again. Doc spoke into the silence without hesitation, surprising his brothers again.
"Oh yes. We escaped from the hassle, uh, castle after the attack began. I don't know what happened to the king or queen or mince, um, prince, but I'm pretty sure Grumpy got out with Snow. That's why we need to find him."
Bastian stared at them then began to laugh. "Somehow life is never dull with Ivan around!" He stood up and turned to the room. "Gather for seven."
People immediately began to move with purpose, and Bastian turned back to the brothers.
"We've got to leave the city. Ivan wouldn't stay here if he and the princess are in immediate danger. Once we're out, we'll decide where to go."
"Perfect. When do we sleeve, ah, leave?" Doc asked.
"Tonight. So you'd better get some rest."
"Thank you," Doc said.
"Anything for Ivan," Bastian said. "Sleep if you can."
The brothers lay down as soon as Bastian left. Most of them were anxious, but Doc was not. Despite everything that had happened, how crazy their lives had suddenly become, he was full of a calm certainty. They would find Grumpy, and the one of the first things he would do would be to apologize for forcing Grumpy to hide his magic from them. He'd never meant to. He hadn't known then, but he did now. Yes, he didn't know much about magic, but if Grumpy could use it, it must not be that bad after all.
