“Handing things down from one generation to the next, that was how people lived all this while. Even amongst the long-lifers it was understood that nobody was eternal, and thus even the stubborn ones would arrange things to the benefit of the younger generation in their older days.
The so-called Unliving threw this tradition straight out of the door. They were eternal, their lives practically as long as their whims lasted. They had no incentive to prepare for the next generation, for they would be around even after the next generation was long dead and buried.
At this point, all we could hope for was for some visionary figure to rise up amongst these ageless, deathless scourges that might lead them to an understanding with us mortal folks. Otherwise, I could only see war and extermination in our future relations with them.” - Asnawi Emrat Syaiful, Philosopher from Oajib, circa 109 VA.
“This is Eugene, Leonard’s second son and our tentative heir at the moment,” introduced Henrietta as she dragged the younger dwarf – he was probably only a hundred or so, if that, still a youth by dwarven standards – forward to meet with Aideen. “Eugie, this is Mess Aideen deVreys, the Maiden in Silver from the stories you liked so much.”
“You’re the real one?” asked the dwarven youth with wide eyes as he looked at Aideen. He had to look up quite a bit due to his short stature which made his surprised look somewhat comical.
“In the flesh, boy,” said Aideen with a smile as she tousled the young dwarf’s wavy hair teasingly. The young dwarf had a particular resemblance to the late Ginnie that made Aideen feel that they probably named him this way for that specific reason. “I see they named you after your grandma, you know who she is?”
“I do! Gramma’s a great dwarf, was dad and aunt’s predecessor as ruler here and held the line during the war!” replied the dwarven youth enthusiastically. Clearly his elders had not skimped on stories about their own family’s feats while he was growing up. “I wanna be a great and brave dwarf like gramma! Father, Auntie, and Uncle are teaching me how to!”
“You got the spirit, all right,” said Aideen with some amusement as she humored young Eugie. Before long some servants of the house brought food, which finally quietened the enthusiastic young dwarf, his attention grabbed by the copious amounts of food on the table. Everyone seated themselves around the long table and dined together, like old friends.
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Compared to the meals the group had in Knallgant or even Meergant, where their hosts spared no expenses to accommodate them, the meals served at Ostmauer was much simpler. Part of it was because Ginnie’s family was familiar with Aideen from long ago and knew that there was no need to put up airs with her, and part of it was because they were setting an example.
As the noble family in charge of Ostmauer’s people and defenses, the Ostmauer Stahlfausts, as they were at times called, had the responsibility to lead, and the family’s style had always been to lead by example. Rather than tell the people how to do things, they used themselves as examples for the people under their lead to strive towards.
Amongst these exemplary conducts were the obvious ones like fairness and honesty, but other than those, the family also adopted a strongly frugal lifestyle. As such, the meals on their table were little different than what could be found served in an average household in Ostmauer, or what soldiers on the march might have as part of their rations.
What served as a main dish was a thick stew filled with chunks of potatoes and slices of rehydrated dried mushrooms, further flavored with herbs and salted fish. All the ingredients were common fare amongst the populace, with potatoes being the staple food for most of Knallzog. Dried mushrooms and smoked fish were similarly often seen as part of military rations since they kept well.
The stew was served on trenchers of hard bread that had been cut open and partly hollowed out. The bits of bread that had been dug out were used to thicken the stew, so nothing went to waste. That way while they ate the stew would seep into the bread, softening and imbuing it with flavor, so by the end of the meal the bread itself could be eaten up as well.
Other than the stew, there were also slices of smoked lamb fat that was caked with spices on the outside, sliced thinly and draped over pieces of crisp unleavened flatbread. They served as a bit of luxury that, again, was no odd sight amongst military rations, even if people from other races often found the strong taste of smoked fat to be an acquired taste.
Fortunately, nobody on the table had any issues with it. Aideen and Celia had eaten all sorts of things in their life and were used to the Lichdom’s cuisine which many foreigners often considered an acquired taste as well. As for Kino and the siblings, their racial heritage meant that they had a predilection towards such flavors to begin with and relished the meal with gusto.
As was only appropriate in a dwarven household, the ale flowed without end, with each empty flagon replaced by a full one whenever one took their eyes off it for a moment. The ale was good quality, a local brew from the border city itself. Not quite the sort of quality as what the Royal family served up, but it was probably the one bit of luxury the Ostmauer Stahlfausts allowed themselves.
After all, every dwarf could understand the desire to splurge for the good booze. It would have been most undwarflike to not have done so.
Even as the evening turned into the night, Aideen and her group accompanied the Ostmauer Stahlfausts as they chatted happily and traded stories of the things they had gone through over the past century. Many of the tales had young Eugene listen with an enraptured look on his face, especially when Kino narrated the altercation she and Aideen went through in Danna, where Vitalis herself descended.