“People often say it’s a small world when they encounter a situation where some of their acquaintances turned out to be related to one another. Based on my personal experiences, it is a rather tiny world indeed.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.
“So, how have you all been doing this past century?” Aideen asked after the four of them were seated around the low table dwarves usually favored. The two younger half-dwarves were off in the kitchen fetching some snacks and refreshments for the rest.
“The smithy’s doing mighty fine, Miss deVreys,” said the old dwarven smith with a smile. “Things went a bit differently than what we had planned, but it worked out for the better in the end, anyway.”
“As dad said, Aideen, We’ve been doing pretty well,” added Otto as he further explained what his father’s words meant. “My eldest brother chose to join the army, while my second somehow caught the eye of a minor noble’s daughter and chose to marry into her family. In the end, I ended up taking over the family business, which I had to admit I had found endearing after a while.”
“I thought you wanted to be a historian back then?” asked Aideen with a raised eyebrow.
“Well… Let’s just say that it was hard to find well-paying jobs for an amateur wannabe historian like me back then, and after I got married I didn’t exactly feel like living off my siblings and parents either,” admitted Otto with a bit of a blush. “Ah, right, I married one of my distant cousins, a fellow halfling, around a decade after we parted. Baldr and Sigr there are our children.”
Aideen gave a polite thankful nod when the two younger half-dwarfs returned with plates of breads, cold cuts, and cheeses as well as flagons of ale for the table before they left once more, clearly not intending to barge into their parent’s conversation. Judging from their proportions and features, Aideen guessed that Otto’s wife was likely like himself, a mix between dwarf and human, given how their children greatly resembled him in most regards.
“Good to see that you’ve made good of your life, then, old friend,” said Aideen with a smile. One of her hands gestured towards Otto’s father, asking for his hand, and the old swarf obliged as he laid one of his still-burly arms on the desk. Aideen quietly gave the old dwarf a full treatment that should help take care of his age-related woes for at least another half a decade if not more.
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“I could say the same to you, I’d guess, o Maiden in Silver,” replied Otto with a slight chuckle. “I didn’t put it together at first, until one of my in-laws noticed the similarities between you and the Maiden in Silver his teachers praised so often. Now that I think about how you helped heal mom and dad off ailments that’d bugged them for decades so easily back then, it should’ve been obvious,” he lamented. “So what brought you here to Meergant after a century?”
“Happenstance, you could say,” replied Aideen as she helped herself to some of the ale. “We were supposed to get a ship from here to Ptolodecca, but only found out after we arrived here that the ship we planned to take was apparently damaged and grounded for repairs, so we’re waiting while looking for alternative means of transportation.”
“Ah, the storm from a couple days ago,” replied the old dwarf from across the table. “One of my old friend’s a shipwright. He said at least half a dozen ships were damaged by that storm. One even nearly sunk, I heard. Bad luck, miss.”
“Made sense that we never heard of it until we got here, then,” interjected Celia. “The trip alone was like, a week long, so it happened while we were still on the road.”
“Indeed,” said Aideen with a nod. “Though I wouldn’t necessarily call it bad luck. After all, it gave us some free time with which we could catch up with old acquaintances,” she added. “So it all depends on how you view it, I guess.”
“Fair point indeed,” replied Otto.
Their attention was then drawn by the sound of the door opening, followed by the footsteps of several people entering the house. Before long, three figures entered the room they were in, led by a half-dwarven woman who eyed Aideen and Celia curiously.
“What’s up today, pops? Closing the smithy so early?” she asked. From how the woman was as built as the other members of the house, Aideen pegged her for Otto’s wife, most likely. It was the other two behind her – both full-blooded dwarves – that caught her attention though, as she recognized one of them at a glance. “And who be these two? I don’t believe we’ve been introduced?”
“Ah, this is Miss Aideen deVreys, who I’ve told you about before,” said Otto quickly, “Aideen, this is my wife Philomena.”
“A pleasure to meet you,” said Aideen.
“Charmed,” replied the half-dwarven woman with a slight bow of her own. “This is my cousin Engel and his wife, Marivella-”
“We meet again, Miss deVreys!” greeted Marivella cheerfully before Philomena could finish her words. The young dwarven mage looked just as spry and spirited as when Aideen had met her a decade ago. “Fancy meeting you again here of all places!”
“Milady deVreys? Might you be… the one they referred to as the Maiden in Silver?” asked the other dwarf, the one Philomena introduces as Marivella’s husband. He carefully approached Aideen in a nearly worshipful manner, as if he was about to prostrate himself at any moment, with eyes that gleamed with excitement.
“I guess those tales kept spreading all these years,” said Aideen with a sigh. The bard’s tales about her feats as the “Maiden in Silver” had spread far and wide over the past century, and while her all-white outfit weren’t too uncommon, combined with her other distinctive features it was relatively easy for those in the know to identify her. “Where have you heard of me, perchance?”
“I am a healer myself, Milady, and I had heard master Asclepius the IInd sing praises of your skills when I attended a lecture at Dvergarder,” replied the dwarven male with a slight bow. “Oh, where are my manners? Engel Goerenbrandt, at your service, Milady.”