A Slap in the Face

Longbeard Tavern

A large, homey space opens up before you, a natural hollow in the rock turned into a tavern. Cloak and hood racks of cherry and brass are attached to the walls beside the doors. A long bar of mahogany wood lies along one side of the room, assorted cups, mugs and flagons neatly lining the wall behind it. At one end of the bar is a swinging door leading to the kitchens. Into the other wall is built a recessed fireplace, a shaft drawing most of the smoke up and out of the way. The fireplace is full of a fire that crackles and roars in the hearth, dispelling the eternal chill of the stone and filling the hall with ruddy light and leaping shadows. Across the floor are set tables, simple and sturdy, meant to be used daily. The slightly smokey atmoshere is pleasant, and the place gives an impression of simple comfort.

[Arkenstone(#17999)->Siv] ***** Erebor Time & Weather Service ******************************************

** Real time is: Sun Oct 05 10:21:17 2008, GMT -8 **

Elendor time is: Mid Afternoon (1600) on Sterday, Day 12 of February 3045.

In the outer world\'s clear Winter sky, Tonight the moon will be first quarter.

****************************************** Erebor Time & Weather Service *****

[Frarin(#31050)] The cold February\'s chill has no place here in the Longbeard tavern where the heat of the fireplace warms even the solid rock of the mountain. The tavern is full today too, which adds to the comfortable coziness of the place. All about is a thin layer of sweet pipesmoke, tempered with the sharp smells of various ales and beers.

Seated at one table near to the fireplace is Frarin. He is dressed as if for work, with none of the fineries of a leisurely day, only a practical shirt and trousers. Before him is a half-empty tankard, but he is sitting quietly enjoying his pipe only for the time being.

Poor Frarin. In walks that disrupter of the peace, Siv, cheerfully oblivious as ever. \"An ale, please!\" she chirps to a server. And then, making her way through the tavern to look for a place to sit, she spots Frarin, and happily heads over his way. \"Mind if I join you?\" she asks, hand already on a chair back at his table.

[Frarin(#31050)] First only Frarin\'s eyes move, his brows lifting in mild interest at the arrival of another, but when that other turns out to be Siv and she approaches his table without a care in the world, the silversmith straightens and turns to look at her. He takes a pull from his pipe first, very briefly glancing Siv over, then nods one and gestures towards the chair she is already pulling out.

The stem of Frarin\'s pipe is pulled from his mouth and he clears his throat. \"How are you this day, Siv?\"

\"It\'s a fine day and I myself am fine.\" Siv takes that as an invitation to sit, pulling out the chair and plopping herself down in it. She angles it so she half faces Frarin, half the fire. \"And you? and your lady love?\"

[Frarin(#31050)] Frarin\'s brows lift at Siv\'s cheerful reply and enquries. \"I am fine as well,\" he says, lips pursing ever so slightly, but his tone still polite. \"And Thari--\" there is a slight emphasis to the name, perhaps suggesting Frarin\'s displeasure with her being called his \'lady love\' \"--is well also.\" He takes another pull on his pipe and lapses into silence for a time before finally speaking again. \"You received my letter about the time of the meeting between yourself and Thari?\"

\"Yes, of course I did, though...\" Siv fumbles around in a pouch at her waist...\"Well, it doesn\'t seem to be in here. But I\'ll be there, of course. I\'ll find the letter. It must certainly be in my desk...I think....In any case, I\'m glad to hear you and Thari are fine. When is the wedding? I hear you got permission? Isn\'t that wonderful...!\"

[Frarin(#31050)] Frarin\'s lips purse still more and he takes another long, silent pull on his pipe as Siv seems to brim with cheer. \"Yes,\" he says simply, coughing slightly at the back of his throat. \"We have the -blessing- of Thari\'s father, this is true.\" There is only the slightest emphasis on \'blessing\'. \"But we do not have a date set yet. Certain things must first be seen to.\" A pause, then the silversmith shifts in his seat as if struck by something. \"Any young lads caught your eye of late?\" he asks casually.

\"Ah, the -blessing-,\" Siv bubbles, nodding eagerly, clueless to any unstated meanings in Frarin\'s tone. \"Well, of course, there are things that must be attended to. Her dress, hair hair...does she need leather ties for her hair or her dress? I can tool some beautiful flowers in them for her if she\'d like. I\'d even weave them into her hair myself. The tinier they are, the better, but the harder it is for one not used to doing so to make it look good. And what kind of dress will she wear? Wll she go to Dale to barter for the cloth? Or perhaps it should be elven weave...oh yes, oh my, it should be elven weave!\"

A deep breath as Siv comes up for air and then plunges right into the next topic--men. \"Of dear! Of course not! Ever since I gave up on Ranol, I set my mind to not chase after men anymore. No, no, it just won\'t do...In fact...I think I\'ll just run my own business. Oh yes. Make trips to Dale and back...sell my leather work. Do you need a new tooled belt? You look like you could use one. That one is rather worn.\"

[Frarin(#31050)] Frarin\'s eyes widen apprehensively as Siv launches into a grand thesis on wedding preparations and then men and then business, and he puffs on his pipe in an almost wary manner, as if preoccupying himself with the long stem is some sort of mild defence. \"Yes, ah, preparations like that,\" he says, clearing his throat. \"Dress? Well, I don\'t know what she\'ll be wearing. Her hair? I don\'t know what she wants for her hair. What?\"

Abruptly he looks down to his tool belt, a worn leather piece stuck full with an assortment of pliers, small hammers, and other more delicate, intricate tools. \"This one is just fine, thank you, Siv lass. It\'s served me without flaw. You ought to go to the guild, you know, the Craftsmen\'s Guild. They keep track of where the real demand is, I\'ll wager you could find plenty there in need of new belts.\"

\"Well, of course I go to the guild,\" Siv huffs, reaching for the ale that a server now sets in front of her. \"I was offering it as a favor to a friend. A wedding present, in fact, if you will. But if you\'re not interested....\" She shrugs. \"You -will- tell Thari that she needs to trade with the elves to get the proper fabric for her wedding dress, won\'t you?\"

[Frarin(#31050)] Frarin continues puffing on his pipe, but when Siv\'s cheerful chatter continues, his lips press together around the stem and he idly drops his gaze, fingering a grove in the tabletop. After a moment, he heaves a sigh to himself and looks up at Siv with a long gaze. \"Ah, look Siv,\" the silversmith starts quietly, taking his pipe from his mouth. \"Lass, you must understand how Thari feels about you at the moment. You are prone to gossip and she is prone to pride, you two are very different and the dispute between you two still exists, however casual you may try to be about it. It was all I could do to convince Thari to meet with you. As such, I am not going to be telling Thari that you think she should have her fabric from the elves. She would disdain such advice at the moment.\"

\"Well, fine,\" Siv replies, quite obviously insulted at this. \"If she wants to have a wedding dress that is of inferior quality, then far be it for me to interfere with that,\" she says, her nose lifting slightly in the air as she speaks. \"As for the disagreement between us....well, I think, Frarin, that I have time and again--from when she first made accusations of me--offered to work things out and make the peace and swear to whatever oath anyone wanted that I said no such things about her, whatever it is that she accused me of. Why, even after Ranor came to me and told me that Thari was supposedly pregnant, I said nothing to anyone except my Thane, who needed the information in order to get to the bottom of this dispute.\"

She pauses for air. \"And what has this all gotten me? Scorn and hatred and folks whispering behind my back. Just because I chatter a lot--and I -do- chatter a lot, Frarin--doesn\'t mean I\'m stupid or blind and I don\'t know what peopel say about me behind my back!\" Tears now starting to streak down her face, Siv gets up in a hurry, upsetting her chair with a clatter.

[Frarin(#31050)] Frarin\'s teeth clench around his pipe stem again as Siv launches into another speech at a hundred miles an hour, but now he is frowning, eyes narrowed. At the mention of Ranor, though, Frarin\'s eyes widen considerably and his lips part around his pipe in sudden and evident anger. But still Siv plows on and before he knows it, Siv is standing before Frarin, her chair clattering to the ground.

\"Oh sit -down-, Siv,\" he barks impatiently, waving her back towards her chair. \"Your chattering and drama is what earns the whispers behind your back, now sit down and maybe we can have a civilised conversation for once.\" Blunt and impatient to a fault, it would seem.

\"People will either like me or not,\" Siv answers defiantly. \"And I think it reveals more about people\'s true personalities if they whisper about me.\" But, she doesn\'t leave. The chair is left on the floor, in the way of anyone who passes. She stands, arms crossed. \"What do you wish to talk about, though?\"

[Frarin(#31050)] \"Sit down,\" Frarin repeats, in the tone of a teacher speaking to a naughty child. \"Thari will not speak frankly with you, but I will and that is something you ought to appreciate, if you are truly so concerned with whatever is being said about you. Sit down, lass, for Durin\'s sake, or continue to make a fool of yourself.\"

Hmmph. Siv makes no effort to keep her snort low, but she stoops and sets the chair upright and sits. \"I will listen to what you have to say for the sake of trying to settle this. Even if you -are- insulting,\" she adds, frowning. \"So, go on.\"

[Frarin(#31050)] Frarin is quiet as Siv unhappily reseats herself, but he watches the leatherworker with his head tipped slightly forward, looking out from under his brows. Then, when she is against at the table, he leans forward and threads his fingers together. \"Siv,\" he begins, his rumbling voice quiet but serious and frank. \"You chatter, you have just said it yourself. That is all well and fine, but you chatter on as if you hadn\'t a care in the world or as if any other in it mattered.\"

He continues quickly before she can protest. \"Now think what Thari saw in that. She had endured weeks of whispered gossip behind her back, weeks made worse by my absence, I fear. And she had witnessed you treat a loved cousin without thought for his feelings, as good as assuming you two were to be wed when he had no intentions of doing any such thing. And then she is told that you, whose tongue wags happily and who had treated Ranol with such disdain for his own intentions, have been slandering her. True or not, is it so difficult to see why she was so angered and so ready to believe it?\"

Siv\'s mouth drops open and she splutters momentarily. Then she stands up abruptly--the chair falls back with a clatter--and she aims an open-palmed slap toward Frarin\'s face. \"The nerve!\"

You recklessly attack Frarin with your Bare Hands...

[Combat(#13388)->Siv]

Your attack against Frarin mildly wounds him!

[Frarin(#31050)] Frarin leans back with a look of annoyed defeat, shoulders slacking as Siv rises as if accepting that she will not hear reason. Oh but that is not all. The unexpected slap from the leatherworker lands full on against Frarin\'s cheek, jerking his neck about and causing his chair to scrape backwards an inch. It leaves a clearly-outlined red patch on the side of his face. And not a few faces turn curiously towards them.

\"Oh for Durin\'s sake!\" Frarin growls, pulling his pipe from his teeth and coughing. \"Siv, you ask what reason Thari could possibly have for accusing you and I have said it plainly. If you are so bloody concerned with the truth, then I would ask why you are not so keen to hear it! I do not pass judgment upon you, Siv, and I certainly do not seek to -attack- you!\" He rubs ruefully at the spreading rash of red, frowning in his irritation.

\"There then,\" Siv sneers, pulling her chair up again and sitting. \"We are even. You insulted me and I slapped you. Thari was told or somehow perceived that I had insulted her and she slapped me. Now tell me who was being unreasonable?\" she smirks. \"You just implied that Thari had a perfectly good reason to be angry and attack me. And I had a perfectly good reason to be angry and attack you.\"

[Frarin(#31050)] \"Even!\" Frarin snorts, still rubbing at the side of his face angrily. \"For answering your wonder. Well then, next time I shall not speak so plainly and perhaps you will not complain so loudly of nonsense whispers behind your back. And if that you deem to be an insult, then by all means feel free to strike me again. I daresay we are making quite the show.\" And as if to punctuate the sarcasm in his words, he turns suddenly to glare about the tavern, shooting a withering scowl at all the curious faces. They quickly return to looking busy.

\"I say that she had a good reason to be angry,\" Frarin growls, some of the shocked irritation fading from his voice now as his hand drops from his cheek. \"But not to attack you, no. Only be aware of how Thari saw things before you meet with her, that is all I meant by telling you this. I have already spoken with Thari about your own side of the story.\"

\"Right,\" Siv says crisply, suddenly all business--any hint of the blabbering chipper fool gone from her voice. \"Just as I had good reason to be angry at you just now but no good reason to attack you. I think you better understand -my- point of view now, Frarin. I\'m sick and tired of folk giving all the sympathy to Thari in this matter and blaming me for something I had no part in. Just because I talk a lot doesn\'t mean that I say bad things about people. And if you don\'t like the fact that I talk a lot, then just avoid me. But don\'t go around assuming that my words are about anyone else.\" She sets the chair right and tosses a few coin on the table. \"Good day to you. I may or may not show up to the meeting that you\'ve arranged. I\'m not so sure anymore that I care what Thari or you or anyone else, for that matter, thinks of me.\"

[Frarin(#31050)] \"Bloody hell,\" Frarin mutters under his breath, leaning forward suddenly in his chair as Siv abrutply rises and makes as if to leave. \"I have asked Thari to apologise to you,\" he states frankly, pausing very briefly to see if that will make Siv stop her departure. But he adds something else. \"Because I -do- think she acted without good enough cause. Is that unsympathetic enough for you?\"

Siv does pause, turning on her heels, in fact. \"You what??\" she blinks. \"The truth?\" she asks, righteous anger starting to slip away.

[Frarin(#31050)] \"The truth,\" Frarin grunts with an unhappy sharp nod. \"Whether you or any other was spreading the gossip about Thari is not the issue here. It is whether Thari was justified in acting as she did. It is not how I would have proceeded, no. Is that objective enough for you? I acknowledge the faults of my beloved as much as I acknowledge my own failings. I do not know if she will indeed apologise, and certainly she will not appreciate my having told you I asked her to, but there you have it. If you see fit to keep it to yourself, you will have my gratitude.\"

\"All right, Frarin,\" Siv slowly nods, tone reasonable. \"I will keep it to myself. You have my word on it, in fact. I will see you at the meeting.\"

[Frarin(#31050)] Frarin nods sharply again as if the matter is sealed and finished. And to further the point, his pushes back his chair and thumps a few coins down on the table. With a look half disgruntled, half satisfied, he abandons his half-full tankard. \"Good day then,\" he says stiffly before making a swift departure.