I often drink tea alone, the life of a halfling is so calm.
The roof of my burrow, or house actually, is the perfect place to see the nice hills of Ayamirs green goodness.
Aside from green grass and muddy plains there isn't much around here, but that too is lucky. Everywhere else in Ayamir has political conflicts and fights for power.
But who would want this land? Who would want a halfling?
After I finish the tea I go downstairs, back into the burrow, where I can rest with my eyes a bit before I need to go... What the-
"Hey, where do you keep the cups? We only brought the wine keg"
From the living room to the kitchen bearded men are ransacking my house. They chained a couple of tables and a cupboard and some other furniture and put chairs on the sides as if preparing for a feast... Are they going to eat me?
"W-who are you people? What is going on?!"
"Settle down, boy, it's almost day of the land, help us arrange before the sun goes down." One of them is encouraging me to ransack my own home, with the silliest excuse. .
"WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE, AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?!!" I ask the nearest one in all the ruckus.
"Ohh, were here to pick you up, but first you need to sit down." The dwarves answers calmly with a tone as if I was rude, then the noise suddenly stops, they are all seated in their improvised long table and there seems to be room for me and one more. "And don't shout so loud, the leader is about to say blessing."
I confusingly sit at my own table with a plate ready, the seat next to me is empty. Rustle hushed voices ask "Where is she?" And "Is she late?".
"Silence, there is no time to waist, she will come when she will. Now we must say blessing." The one next to head off the table proclaims, silencing everyone.
The head of the table stands and holds a mug, one of my mugs, and fills it with wine and chants some words in an unfamiliar language, soon enough everyone at the table has a mug, including me, and he than takes a piece of bread and after more chanting bites it. After that the noise continues as the bearded men drink and sing and argue.
Completely shocked, I hadn't noticed how much time went by, the door opens and a woman, taller than the rest and with grey plain robes, enters my house.
"You're late to the party, Karidwen, we'd already started without you." Head of the table says to her.
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"Late to the party, just as I had planned." She looks down at me "I think you can tell why. And you would be late to your own house if only you could."
"Who are yo- I feel like I asked that too much today... "
"My name is Keridwen, This is Gili and Gil and Geva and Tslil and Ruby and Duby and Sapir and Teva. And this one is their leader, Argaman." All those names... I can't tell if the rhymes help me remember it further confused me.
"And who are you?"
"I just said, I am Keridwen" She says as if I'm supposed to know who that is.
"No, I meant the 'why are you here?' meaning of who are you" a shattering sound echos following a "sorry" from Gava or Teva or whoever that was.
"We're here for you actually, my accomplices require some subtle work. I recommended you as the best break in expert in the land."
"Break in expert? I think you guys know plenty of that on your own. I don't know you, I don't trust you-" another shattering sound "-and I don't want you here." I exclaim but it seems like Keridwen is more fascinated than anything else.
"You don't know me?... Your father must have told you, Gweisee, we had some adventure back in the day-"
"Gweisee was my grand father."
She falls silent for a moment with a sad contemplating face. A whisper "Has it really been that long?" for me is louder than the falling furniture or glass.
"Well... Do you want to join anyway? I'm sure you'll do well enough."
"No no no no no, I don't want an adventure, I want to sit at home sip some tea and look at the sunset over the hills."
"I'm sure you don't... Give it another thought." She says too me before facing the rest "Alright, guys, you made yourselves at home too much, we're no longer wanted here."
The room quiets down, all at once.
"But what about the sneaky thief? You said we needed him." Says Teva... or was he Geva?
"It seems I grossly overestimated how much he needs us. My old friend no longer seeks treasure and adventure it seems."
"No point wasting time here then, we should be off." Their leader proclaims with a slightly resentful tone.
"But it's the day of the land... " Says one of the dwarves
"There is no day of the land for those with no land to call their own." Argaman says as he walks to the doorway.
Slowly they follow one by one untill only Keridwen is left.
"I'm sorry about Gweisee... He was a good man."
"Did you really know him?" I ask her "What was he like?"
"He rode fairy-dragons with a smile, and could swindle a troll... And he loved to go out on adventures."
I had no idea my grandfather was such an adventure, I remember a bedtime story from long ago about a halfling who swindled a troll... Could it be? Were these not just lies?
-----
I must be crazy, running with a huge backpack on my shoulders after I told them I want them out... And in the middle of the night, WHAT will I say? That I'm sorry? That I want to come with after what I said? I better think fast because I can see an unusual group of lights up ahead.
"Well, isn't this a sight to be seen, what are you doing here." One of the dwarves gets me.
"I've- come t- to-" whatever I imagined myself saying it was without all of this huffing.
"Settle down, breath in, slowly."
"I've... Come to join your adventure." I finally said it.
"What changed your mind?" Argaman asks with a judgmental tone... I don't know what to say.
"He must have wanted an adventure four himself." Keridwen chimes in, Keridwen... How does she know? "Did it take you this long because you cleaned the mess we left?"
Indeed it did, but how did she get know all of this? With questioning eyes and still not enough said in my lungs for comfort she says "I've enough adventures with Gweisee to know, you cannot pass on an adventure."