"BETRAYAL!" Kandral bellowed so loud the mugs fell off his shelves in his homestead. "Lock that girl up in her room now!, he ordered.
"But Kandral, she's just-" tried to interject Buhni.
"Just? Just? Just nothing! Accepting gifts from dwarves at her age!?! LOCK HER UP!" he screamed, nearly foaming at the mouth. "Get me Byl here and this boy! Now!" He shouted.
Buhni glanced at him, raised her eyebrow then slowly stepped up to him and slapped him firmly on the cheek.
Kandral stepped back utterly surprised and bewildered. "That's for Thrandili" she said, then slapped him again even harder, her hand-print firmly visible on his cheek, "and that's for ordering me around".
Kandral hadn't seen that coming, though he might have expected it. He knew his wife wouldn't stand for that, and he had let his temper run rampant... again.
"Hmm", he spoke softly, "I guess... well... I should not have shouted... " Kandral continued.
"AND??" Buhni stressed.
"And I shouldn't have ordered you around." Kandral spoke reluctantly.
"AND??" Buhni stressed some more.
"And? And nothing!", Kandral retorted, "If you think I am backing down from this you have another thing coming, wife!" He took a deep breath and let the rage lose: "She is my responsibility, our family's honour is at stake here! I will not have her tramping around like some Breeland pipeweed salesgirl meeting boys and accepting gifts from them! And certainly not at her age! She's not even 50! And another thing..." Kandral continued as he started to shout and rage at an even louder volume.
Buhni rolled her eyes at the whole thing and sighed, speaking softly to herself while Kandral raged on: "poor girl... but don't worry 'amad will sort it. Now let's send Byl a letter before the raging Uzbad does it."
As Kandral was raging on and on, Buhni wrote Byl a letter requesting his presence at the earliest opportunity - requesting he would bring Byli along.
==================
Two of Thorin's hall guards patrolled slowly along the road leading to Frerin's court.
As they neared the gate they spied a curious sight... A young dwarf muttering to himself searching back and forth in the undergrowth his face a mess one eye closed and clutching a damaged bow.
"Hey you boy! what are you up to?"
"My fortune... my Geode I am a dead dwarf!"
"Be on your way lad this is no place for you to mess about... There could be enemies here."
"My beautiful geode! It must be here somewhere?"
"Come on lad... Move along or we will have to detain you... Can't have Dwarves loitering near to a strategic gate."
"I have to find it it's my only hope for my lovely Thrandi"
"The lads gone mad... That blow to his head must have addled his brains"
The guards stand to either side of the befuddled lad and lay hands on his arms.
"NO NO I MUST FIND IT"
Byli struggled wildly and with one hand free thrashed wildly around hitting both guards with wild swinging blows.
"That’s it lad, you’re for the clink!"
A deft tap on the head with his club saw the poor youth unconscious.
"Let’s get him up to the hall... This is one for the Guard Commander to decide on."
===========
The Guard Commander looked up at two of his guards holding up a youth between them.
"He struck you both? Without cause? Disgusting! The Guard must command respect! We will make an example of this one... Lock him up in a cell, I am busy now... I will question him later."
The Commander took no note of the Dwarfs face or bothered to check on the lad... End of month reports; he hated them but they must be completed on time and he had only one day left to send them in!
"Yes I'll have a look at him later... Maybe tomorrow."
===========
The Guard Commander kicked off his boots and picked up the frothing ale his wife had just poured for him.
"Reports all done and a whole weekend off," he mused to himself.
The smell of roasting boar permeated his house and he sniffed it appreciatively. "Mmmm my favourite." He scratched his head... had he forgotten something?
In bustled his wife with his dinner. "Ah lovely... My favourite... Thank you dear." He smiled up at his wife. "Boar and tatties. What could be better!"
===================
Thrandili lay across her rumpled bed, her whole body shaking with the violence of her sobs. Inarticulate fragments of words broke out every few seconds. "Ohhh Byli nooo nooo m-my m-m-my f-f-" Here the wild cries ended for a moment and she burst out furiously, "Kandrin! I hate you! HATE YOU HATE YOU HATE YOU HATE HATE HATE!"
Downstairs, the front door crashed open and then shut. Thrandili sat bolt upright, breath caught in her throat and heart hammering visibly beneath her dress. Kandral's rough voice bellowed, "Betrayal!" and then a lot of other things she didn't hear clearly since she'd already thrown herself back down on the bed and stuffed 3 pillows over her head. Her mother was down there; what if she weakened? What if she took the cowardly way out and sided with her husband against Thrandili and Byli?
Thrandili sat up again and the pillows tumbled to the floor. This was the most confusing, upsetting day she'd ever had. First that forbidden (but admittedly wonderful!) kiss from Byli, then happily admiring his fabulous gift of zircons, then her brother bursting uninvited into her room when she was downstairs and finding the gems...Things had gone very badly wrong from that moment. Her horrible brother's yell still echoed in her head as he turned from her, the gem bag in his hand with the incriminating 'House Brokenspear' embroidered on one side. "That randy little rat! I'll sort him out, oh aye, he won't be having his perverted way with any more maidens in THIS hall while I'M around!" And then he'd run downstairs, calling, 'Amad! Look what she had hiding under her bed!" But most astonishing of all was Buhni's sympathy, her motherly understanding that Thrandili was indeed suffering from that most wonderful, painful and bewildering of afflictions - first love.
Thrandili jumped off the bed and crept to the door, straining to hear what was being said. Her father was still bellowing, something about how she wasn't even 50. Byli's father understood that not even 50' wasn't too young. He'd told her that he'd married his wife very young too. She opened the door and snuck down the hall to Kandrin's room. She scowled angrily at the mess. And she was always being ordered to keep her room neat! Then her eyes filled with tears again...the great axe by the cupboard was gone...he'd gone after Byli and he wasn't fooling around.
That settled it for Thrandili. If Kandrin had hurt him! If Byli was injured! A great rage seized her, and she bolted back to her room, thinking only one thing. She had to find Byli and warn him, if there were time. If there were no time, if she was too late - then - then - she didn't know what she'd do, she only knew that now they were joined. He was hers, and she didn't give up her own without a fight.
==================
A quiet tap on the door roused Byl from his reverie.
"Ah the mail!"
He took the scrolls from the young delivery dwarf and handed him a copper.
"Bah! all these adverts... Buntie’s Beard elixir... Rubbish!"
One scroll caught his eye."Mistress Buhni writing to me... This might be important?"
He read with incredulity
"Please attend us at your earliest opportunity and kindly bring your son Byli"
Byli had gone off looking for zircons... Who knew when he would return?
"Ho hum I better go and see the Uzbad and his lovely wife." he muttered to himself.
Should he take a gift? Was it a social occasion?
He put on his coat and made for the Uzbad's house.
Tucked under his arm he had a small chest of “Delving's best”pipeweed.
He knew Buhni liked the taste and thought it a fitting gift.
As he neared the door he heard a strange bellowing sound coming from the rear of the house.
He reached for the bell pull. A merry jingle announced his arrival.
==================
Staring at the ground with hanging shoulders, Hilfar strolled around after a busy day at the market. Although he had enough to eat at the market stalls, he was still hungry. Tired he sat down and reached for his pipe. He wanted to reach for his pouch with pipeweed when a strange rock caught his eye. That was no ordinary rock! He turned it around and saw a perfect shaped geode. Hilfar forgot his hunger and long stared at this perfect specimen. He looked around but saw no one, he shrugged mildly and slipped the geode into his pocket. Without delay he went back to his hall, whistling as he went.
