Friends in a Foreign Land

“I’m still getting used to these shorter weeks,” stated Dakota said as he walked into the room.

Liam looked up from the book he was reading, “Yeah, it’s a bit weird having a four day work week and then only one day off. But did you notice that, other than us, most folks only spend about five hours a day working?”

“Seriously? No, I hadn’t noticed. Why’s that?”

“And why not us?” cut in Wendell as he joined them in the lounge area of the Bloodbeard estate.

“Best as I can figure it, it appears that most dwarves only sleep for five or so hours per day, work for five hours, then they have fifteen hours to do whatever they want with. Some spend that time with their family. Others, like Renir, split that time between family and working to improve their skills,” answered Danny. “I guess we’re just ‘lucky’ in that we get about ten hours per day of training.”

“Speaking of which, what’s the plan for tomorrow afternoon now that we’re done with the blacksmithing basics?” asked Dakota.

“I spoke with Gito earlier. Tomorrow morning we’re going to start learning the basics of magic and tomorrow afternoon we start our job training.”

“So I can finally start cooking, nice!”

“Wait, are we done with Azna’s lessons already?” asked Wendell.

“No, not done. Just taking a break. She and Gito feel that we’ve got enough knowledge not to cause issues for the Bloodbeard clan so they want to get us learning other things for a bit. Azna will be back on the schedule in time.” Liam answered and he went back to reading his book.

The room was quiet for a moment before Dakota spoke up again, “Is that the real reason or was it because Azna got emotional in that last lesson?”

Liam shrugged, “Maybe a little of column A and a little of column B? Azna will share her story when she’s ready.”

“Does the fact that we’re clanless bother either of you?” Dakota asked. “According to what Azna said, we don’t exactly have any rights.”

Wendell shrugged, “I’m not a dwarf so it really doesn’t apply to me. I’m covered under guest’s rights.”

“Funny you should mention that,” Liam said closing his book and holding it up so that the title could be seen.

“Rigel Goldenfoot's Guide to Dwarven Hospitality: Decoding the Vardstein Compact” read off Dakota. “Does that apply to us?”

“It does,” answered Liam, “for as long as we are in Kan Ladur as guests of Clan Bloodbeard. But if we go to a new city or Gito tosses us then we’re just clanless.”

“So, we should probably find a clan to join.” asked Dakota.

“Yeah,” answered Liam as he turned to Wendell, “and if you’re going to hang with us you should probably join a clan as well. Otherwise you’ll always be operating on someone else’s honor and reputation rather than your own.”

Wendell just nodded as Dakota asked, “So when is this other clan chief suppose to arrive.”

“First off, it’s clan head not clan chief. And Gito said we still had close to a month. Evidently his clan is a bit far.”

As the three continued talking, Celeste, Miguel, and Deandra walked in. “So this is where y’all have been hiding,” Miguel said loudly.

“Well, I was just trying to find a quiet place to read,” answered Liam, “but it seems like I can’t get away from all of you. Even tried to go to a new world and you’re still following me around like you did in high school.”

“I didn’t follow you in high school, I tried to avoid you because you used to bully me,” grumbled Miguel

“And now we’re all family,” cut in Celeste. “We came to see if you three wanted to join us. Deandra wants to go look at the waterfall on the north side of town and then do a little bit of shopping.”

⚴

The group was walking upriver toward the waterfall they’d heard about. When they found it that were all amazed. They first laid eyes on it from quite the distance but misjudged how far they were from it. After nearly a half hour of walking toward the waterfall they finally arrived at a park build near it. From the time they first laid eyes on it until after they’d been at the park for several minutes, none of them spoke. They just took in the site. The waterfall wasn’t as wide as Niagara Falls but it was far taller. From where the party was standing all they could see was the river coming out of the roof of the cavern they were in, so the top was hidden in a cave system above them.

After starring for some time they finally started to look around them and take in the scenery. They saw that there were other folks in the park with them. Some were fishing, one sitting on a bench reading a book, a few were off to a side apparently training their skills. As they were taking everything in Deandra suddenly exclaimed, “Dad! Look!”

Everyone looked to see what it was that had alarmed her. They saw two dwarves being assaulted by a group of other dwarves.

“We need to help them,” Celeste said. “Should we go get the guards?”

“If the way you were gawking at the waterfall hadn’t made it clear,” a female voice from behind them said, “that statement right there proves that you’re not local. Don’t go making things worse for them fellows. They have it bad enough as it is.”

The party turned to see who was speaking and found it was an elderly female dwarf who was sitting nearby fishing.

“How would us helping make it worse for them?” asked Celeste with a touch of anger.

“They're clanless, gettin' roughed up by some younglings from a clan. If ye get tha guard, tha guard will likely beat 'em more for wastin' their time. If ye go and try to physically intervene, then ye’ll likely get beat, and so will tha men ye’re tryin' to help. And if ye don’t get beat, ye’ll anger their clan by attackin' their younglings. They will go to tha guard, and then ye’ll be in trouble.”

“So we just let these men get bullied by this group of kids?” Dakota asked incredulously.

“They won’t thank ye for doin' anything else. If ye’re tha type that can’t stay outta others' business, at least wait for tha younglings to leave. Then go see if they’ll let ye pay for a healer for 'em. Maybe go buy 'em a meal or somethin'. Anything else and ye’re just gonna make things harder on 'em and likely yerselves.”

“This is bullshit,” muttered Wendell to agreements from Miguel and Dakota.

Liam, on the other hand, approached the elderly woman, “Thank you for your advice. My name is Liam and these are my friends. We’re visiting from the south and are friends of the Bloodbeards. You likely just stopped us from causing problems for our host which I really appreciate.”

The lady looked Liam up and down, before responding, “If ye’re stayin' with Bloodbeard, ye have no idea how right ye are. Those younglings are part o' Clan Shattershield. Tha Bloodbeards and Shattershields have disliked one another for centuries. If ye were to get involved, tha blowback on yer host would be quite large.”

Hearing this calmed the rest of the group down. None of them wanted to cause problems for Gito and his family. Celeste stepped forward, “Thank you again for your advice. I’m Celeste. I didn’t catch your name.”

“Because I haven’t given it. Now, if ye’re so thankful, why don’t ye move along and let me fish in peace. Go check on yer fellow clanless.” And with that the mystery lady turned around and went back to fishing.

The party looked and saw that the younglings had walked away from the two clanless they had been roughing up so the party started walking over.

“Excuse us,” Celeste asked as they neared, “Are you both okay? Do you need healing?”

The two clanless dwarves looked at the party with exhaustion and distrust in their eyes. One replied, “Leave us be.”

Dakota stepped forward and cast [Healing Wind]. Within seconds the results of the bullying, the bloody noses and still forming bruises, started to heal.

At this the other dwarf sneered back at the party, “Ye’ve done yer good deed for the day. Now go home feelin' good about yerselves and leave us to our lot. We don’t need wealthy folks from tha clans comin' down here pityin' us, showin' off how kind ye are to yer pet human.” With that they both turned and started to walk away.

“Well that was rude,” said Wendell said as they all turned to leave.

“Yeah, but the question is,” interjected Liam, “what sort of life have they lived to make them that bitter and distrusting?”

“We really need to join a clan,” Miguel added. “I’m glad Gito is already working on something for us.”

Celeste pulled Deandra close, “Yeah, we’re not letting our daughter grow up clanless.”