Lihan Taifun
A kindly elvish woman by the name of -- something like "Apakë", all the names were beginning to blur together in Aztryd's head -- had run into her in the hallway and insisted on laundering her clothes. And then brought up hot water from the kitchens to her own room, so that Aztryd could wash herself and Nizl properly, for the first time on the journey. So now a much cleaner Aztryd was temporarily wearing a spare pair of the woman's brother's breeches, much rolled up at the legs, and one of his tunics, belted to keep from dragging on the floor.
Nizl napped on a blanket in that woman's chambers, while Aztryd composed a letter to her family, and the woman fussed around the castle, preparing a guest room.
Aztryd knelt on the wooden bench, the better to write at the too-high table. Her careful printing was in the private language of the dwarves, that which was taught to no outsiders:
Nizl napped on a blanket in that woman's chambers, while Aztryd composed a letter to her family, and the woman fussed around the castle, preparing a guest room.
Aztryd knelt on the wooden bench, the better to write at the too-high table. Her careful printing was in the private language of the dwarves, that which was taught to no outsiders:
Most honored Grandmother, and my dearest mother,
May the kindness of the Maker find you well and prosperous!
First, l let me assure you that the young treasure and I are, by the protection of the Maker, safe, and on our way to you. I had intended to arrive before that deceitful worm, Uzerbog, should reach your gates, but our travels have been delayed, and he may well guess my destination and arrive before me.
Pay no heed to whatever lies he may tell you, nor accusations he might make, for it is he, not I, who have dishonored our marriage. Pay him nothing, unless it please you to pummel him with kitchen refuse or the contents of chamber pots.
If he demands a hearing before the Council before I return, read also to the Council this list of my charges against him:
In the fourth year, in the second month, at a feast he gave in honor of the human emissary of the human king, he demanded -- against all custom -- that I myself should serve the mead, even before the outsider …
That feast had quickly gotten out of hand, and the drunken debacle lost nothing in her telling.
With dwarvish memory for old accounts, she continues with a precisely dated list of complaints, finishing with
… I care nothing for my own bruises and scratches, but by no means will the child be treated so, nor live in a clan where such use is tolerated, and so my clan-sisters agreed.
Here follows an account of her escape, and journey, up to the present.
We are currently enjoying the hospitality of an island of elves, by name of "Alkwa Londe" (which means Harbor of the Swans), where we have been treated with great generosity and kindness. Though their language shares only a few words with that of the elves we know, they do likewise revere the Maker and his brothers and sisters. After a brief rest here, we shall brave a ship again, and continue our journey home.
My heart shall not rest until I see you again!She signed it with her true name -- not "Aztryd", the name she used among outsiders, but her own true and secret dwarvish name. Carefully she folded the parchment into thirds, and then thirds again, and then sealed it, pressing her wedding ring into the wax.
Clambering down off the bench, she went out to look for the one who could deliver this message to her kin.
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