Beardlings

Breelands Weather

The dawn autumn air is cool but pleasant around you. The sky is clear and the sunlight shines brightly.

Parlour

A cheery fire crackles in a stone hearth at the eastern end of this small parlour. A few low and comfortable chairs sit around the fire, covered with a light brown and green checked material. Standing in the centre of the room is a small table with a few chairs set around it, a crisp white cloth laid over the top of it. In the middle of the table rests a large silver handbell, set on a platter in between two tall candlesticks. Sunlight streams into the parlour from the long window on the northern wall of the parlour.

Contents:

Thari

Obvious exits:

Out

[Thari(#31038)]

It\'s that brief moment of evening when the fading light has turned everything grey, but not enough yet that it has occurred to anyone to light the lamps and candles. Reading is just starting to become difficult. A low fire has been set in the hearth, but its orange light does not yet overpower the grey.

The plain door opens to this quiet room, and a dwarf lingers there. Thari\'s silver-grey eyes look around but she does not yet enter.

[Frarin] The room is almost empty with the evening drawing on. Most of the inn\'s guests have removed to the common room for food and drink, and indeed, the lingering notes of a singer can be heard through the walls. But the parlour does have one occupant still, at least, and this is Frarin son of Forli. He sits in one of the comfortable brown and green chairs near to the fire, his back almost to the door, though not entirely. At his side is a small, very worn case and upon his lap the case\'s contents: a dark brown violin.

The instrument appears to be quite old and also perhaps to have spent too long in the elements. Two of its strings hang loose and the varnished wood is stained by water marks. It is these stains that Frarin seems to focus his attention, gently rubbing a square of cloth over the surface of the instrument. At the sound of the opening door, however, the silver merchant looks up and twists around to look over the top of his chair.

\"Thari!\" he says gladly, smiling at her as she stares into the cozy little room.

[Thari(#31038)]

\"/There/ you are!\" Thari answers him with some measure of relief. She limps in and shuts the door securely behind her. She takes another look around before walking slowly toward him. \"And alone, too!\"

She is wearing clothes that are obviously new, all yellows and reds, and the embroidery is not dwarf-design, but they do fit her well. \"I didn\'t know you played the violin,\" she says curiously.

[Frarin] \"You have been looking for me?\" Frarin replies with some small amusement, looking back to the instrument in his lap. \"I would have been in the common room by now, but this thing has been a bother.\" He takes up the polishing cloth again, rubbing slightly harder at a particularly stubborn water mark. \"And yes, I do,\" he answers belatedly, eyes narrowing as he attempts to remove the blemishes to the wood. \"But I left this among my things when we came west to Bree. It has sat in neglect for more than six months now, and is proving most troublesome to repair.\"

He plucks at one of the undamaged strings, which gives an obviously offtune twang. Sighing, the silver merchant sets the violin back into its case, though he leaves the lid open. \"Well, it may have to wait until we return home, I\'m not sure if I have the proper replacement strings.\" Looking back to Thari, he renews his smile and waves her towards one of the open chairs around the fire. \"Here, have a seat. I was just about to light my pipe.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"It\'s only too bad that I didn\'t know you well enough then for you to have put your things in my wagon,\" Thari says in a practical voice. She limps to the chair that he points out and settles herself there gingerly. \"Most of my things are just fine, if a bit musty. The lads said they had a rough time getting into it, mainly because they couldn\'t remember who had the key.\"

She studies his violin, then looks up at him again with a half-smile. \"I was rather looking to talk to you sometime. Do you suppose this is private enough?\"

[Frarin] \"If this is the only casualty of my goods, I will be satisfied,\" says Frarin, shaking his head at Thari\'s regret over their former acquaintance. \"Most of my silver can be repolished at least.\" He reaches into his plain green tunic and brings forth the familiar long-stemmed pipe. As he fills it with the Shire\'s best pipeweed, he nods towards the healer as if reminding himself of something. \"Are those new?\" he asks politely, indicating her new clothing. Then, with a modest half-smile, he adds, \"They befit you very well.\"

At Thari\'s question though, Frarin glances again behind him towards the door. He shrugs as he looks back to the healer. \"I should think so. Most have gone away to supper. What do you wish to speak about?\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"Thank you,\" says Thari, pleased for the compliment. She touches the wine-red trousers. \"I\'m debating whether to have a Breelander cobble a new pair of boots for me, or if I can wait until the Blue Mountains.\" She touches her worn boots-- there is a hole in the calf, mended as well as leather can be, where the arrow went in.

She straightens up again and leans on the arm of the chair nearer him. \"I was thinking about what you said a little while back-- that first night, where you said the bit about staying at home and rather-- Here.\" She shakes her head. \"Perhaps I ought to start by asking this: How old did you think I am? I don\'t believe I\'ve ever told you.\"

[Frarin] With one hand gently grasping the bowl of his pipe, Frarin nods attentively as Thari discusses the possibility of having a new pair of boots crafted. But as she straightens and begins to speak of the issue upon her mind, his brows come together and he frowns, evidently unclear as to the direction of her dialogue. He sits up in his chair as well, beholding her with a quizzical expression until she asks him what he thinks of her age.

\"How old you are?\" he repeats, pulling the stem of his pipe from his mouth. He lifts his brows and shrugs unknowingly. \"No, you have never told me. I would have said no older than 130, though of greater maturity than 100. But I could not say for certain. I guessed only that you were some many years my junior. Why?\'

[Thari(#31038)]

\"One hundred twenty-- no, twenty-one years-- I have,\" Thari says with a half-smile. Her eyes don\'t leave his face. \"I was about twenty years old when the cursed wyrm was slain.\" She rubs a thumb over the fabric of the chair. \"I was only asking becase, well, were you hoping for children someday?\" She asks this of him steadily, voice calm.

[Frarin] Frarin\'s lips part around the stem of his pipe as Thari poses her question, but for a moment or two no utterance does he gives in reply. He does not seem fully shocked at the query, though perhaps taken off guard at the timing. Nor does he appear unhappy that Thari should put such a question to him. Indeed, he appears as calm as she, dropping his dark gaze in thought as he lips close around his pipe once again.

He looks up again after only a moment, allowing a wisp of blue-grey smoke to escape his mouth before speaking. \"I was wondering when we might broach this subject,\" he rumbles quietly with a reassuring smile, looking Thari full on. \"Thari, at my age, one does not look to some distant point in the future for the rearing of children. Indeed, at my age, one does not even usually look for marriage. That much has been reconciled, at least\" A reply, perhaps, but not an answer to her question per se. Indeed, he follows up with a question of his own. \"You are asking, I suppose, because I myself mentioned beardlings that morning after Hal and I found you in the Chetwood?\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"No, Frarin, it is something I have struggled with since the day that I knew how I felt about you.\" Thari pulls herself out of the chair all at once to stand restlessly. \"To be honest,\" she says with rueful little laugh and a shake of the head. \"I rather thought you would welcome my confession, so the question of whether or not to tell you devolved into a debate about whether or not I wanted children.\"

She takes a step or two toward him in a fidgety way, then suddenly stops and pulls her own short-stemmed pipe from a pouch.

[Frarin] This time Thari\'s answer does seem to surprise Frarin, who cocks a brow in question and tips his head back as she stands. He takes a pull on his pipe as she continues, restlessly on her feet now. Again his lips part without a sound, then close again, then open. \"I am sorry,\" he says quietly, watching her as she inches towards him and stops. \"Once again I have misunderstood your thoughts.\"

Sighing, he frowns as he collects his own thoughts, then shakes his head. \"Well, let me see. I...have never truly thought of children, just as I never truly thought of marriage. My opinion on the matter would depend entirely upon your own, dear Thari. It is simple enough for me to say that I might desire children, but for you it is a different matter. Certainly, I am not against beardlings, but any children that I should father now would be barely eighty before my death, if indeed I die naturally. A father does not endure the same difficulties that a mother must.\"

He says no more for a moment, pausing as he watches Thari closely. \"And that is the reason I brought up the subject before. Has your inner debate yielded you a decision?\"

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari simply shakes her head. \"No,\" she says, and she looks up, watching his eyes as he watches her. \"But, dear one, if we do entertain the thought of marrying, mustn\'t we also entertain the idea of welcoming whatever might come? Nearly everyone I know who is married does have children, and those who don\'t are grieved by it.\"

She takes a breath then, watching him. \"And then I would need to stay at home while you go and I would miss you dreadfully.\"

[Frarin] Frarin drops his gaze in thought, smoothing the wrinkles of his black trousers. Then, oddly, with his eyes still downcast, he gives a half-smile as Thari relates the experience of other married couples that she knows. Still seated, he looks up and puts out a hand, reaching for one of hers. He speaks around the stem of his pipe. \"It is a difficult decision indeed, and I\'m afraid that I can be of little help.\"

\"For my part, I would be willing to forego the road, for you, if ever we had children. Truly I would, for I know also the trade of a smith as well as a merchant. But I am the principle trader of my brother\'s and my cousin\'s goods, who are both of them silversmiths. And that is a duty that I must likewise keep in mind. I would...I cherish the thought of our having children, Thari, but I would be equally content with you alone, if the sacrifice seems too great.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari seems almost relieved when he takes her hand. She smiles at him, her pipe forgotten in her other hand. \"You are suggesting, then, the thought of preventing it? I didn\'t know that it were possible. But then,\" she amends with a short nod of her head, \"I\'ve treated only men almost exclusively. I don\'t practice any healing at all at home. Once, a human healer explained something like that out of her herb book to me, and I told her my thoughts on her race, having so many children that they could stop them or,\" her voice lowers, \"do away with them at will.\"

[Frarin] \"You would wish to prevent it then?\" Frarin asks, again answering her question with one of his own, and there is a touch of something more than curiosity in the query, though it is difficult to say what. \"I do not know if it possible, but if that is your wish, it would be something we could inquire about upon our return home.\"

He falls silent, taking his pipe from his mouth with his free hand. His expression falls to a frown. \"But...if it is not possible...Well, what then? Is it the thought of remaining at Erebor that discourages your want of children? For I sense this is the case.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"No, Frarin,\" Thari almost laughs. \"I thought you were talking about prevention, and that is why I was so shocked.\" She starts tugging at his hand. \"Could you stand a moment, Frarin my lad?\" she asks as an aside, smiling.

\"I don\'t know what I\'m worrying about with children,\" she says ruefully. \"Perhaps it is only wondering about the unknown. I\'d rather face an orc because I know about them. It\'s so troubling to not know one\'s own mind clearly, and that\'s why I wanted your thoughts.\"

[Frarin] With a quizzical smile, Frarin sets aside his polishing cloth and stands, tapping out the bowl of his pipe into the fire and setting it on the mantle. He takes Thari\'s hand now in both his own. \"Well now, then you know how aimless I felt in the month during our refusal to speak to one another. Thinking one thing and feeling another and all the while unsure what my mind truly was!\" He shifts slightly to take the weight off of his left leg. \"But my own thoughts? I have given them as best I can. What more can I say that would ease your mind?\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"Nothing, of course,\" Thari says as she glances away toward the door. She removes her hand from his, only to step closer and wrap her arms around his chest. \"Perhaps I ought to have known my thoughts better before telling you, but there was no keeping it to myself at that point, especially with you so near to me all of the time.\" Her head touches his shoulder. \"It seems the question is of whether to give you up, or to give up my life as I have known it. I must be willing to have one happen if I am to avoid the other.\"

[Frarin] Frarin\'s arm extend to take in Thari as she comes closer, but he says nothing as she speaks. He does, however, tighten his hug somewhat and suck in a sharp breath as she mentions the possibility of giving him up. Several times he seems as if about to say something, but instead keeps his silence, beard pressed against the side of her head. When he does speak, it is only very quietly at first. \"I pray...that you not give up me,\" he says, \"for I do not think I could bear that. But...that is very selfish, is it not?\"

He pulls her away slightly, so as to look at her face. \"Would we,\" he starts, faltering. \"Would you have to change the life you have known forever, though? I do not know, and thus I cannot speak with certainly, but is it unknown for beardlings to travel with their parents? After a few years at least? But...surely you would think me a poor potential father for suggesting such a thing. My own parents would never have entertained such an idea.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari gives a low chuckle and looks to his face as well. Her hands reach up to frame his face. \"Oh, Frarin, you make me wild. I think it is lovely if you are selfish with me, for I am selfish with you! I decided years ago that I did not want to be married, I did not want to be a mother.\"

She leans her head in a little, as if to touch her brow to his, though she stops short of that. \"I do know that I want to be near to you, as near as possible for every single day, and it would not be right for me to do that if I were not married to you, would it?\" Her smile widens. \"I hadn\'t even thought of that. Children, travelling! We would need to stay to the safer roads and have a stout wagon for it.\"

[Frarin] Frarin leans in to meet Thari and their brows touch as he smiles modestly. \"Of that I am glad then. Indeed, very glad.\" His face grows concerned though and he pulls back again, frowning, questioning. \"But would it be right? No road is entirely safe in this age, we have seen that this past season. To be sure, we two could do harm enough to any who should threaten us and ours. Ours is a race stout and built for hardship, and I do not think that a childhood on the road would so adversely affect a dwarf as it might a human. Indeed, I should have enjoyed such an upbringing myself. But our cares would be greatly increased. We would have to be willing to accept that.\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"It may all be a moot point, my Frarin,\" Thari says, smiling at him as grey eyes watch brown. \"For I\'ve heard of women ten years my senior becoming mothers, but I\'ve never heard of a man made a father at your age.\" Her smile even widens. \"Is it not odd? I think that I only like you better for your years.\"

[Frarin] \"Nay, nor I,\" answers Frarin with a smile and a nod of agreement. \"It is good that we have at least discussed what may or may not be, but you speak true. My years are many in the count of potential fathers, but we shall see. We shall see.\" To Thari\'s last comment, however, the silver merchant offers another smile, but this time he seems almost to laugh on the inside as well.

\"Well, you make me feel quite old now,\" he says jokingly. \"And I assure you that a summer of disablement has more than done that already. But why do you think that you might not have loved one younger than I?\"

[Thari(#31038)]

\"Oh, I am sorry, I did not mean to make you feel old.\" Thari\'s hands drop to slide around his waist again. \"And I suppose you are right. I might have loved one younger, provided that he were just like you, right down to the eyecolor and the shade of the war hammer.\" Her embrace tightens.

Her voice lowers as her smile fades. \"It is a tragedy that we were not born at the same time, but I will not bemoan that. You are have more wisdom than you might have if younger and I will love that gladly, too.\"

[Frarin] \"Well then,\" Frarin continues in the same joking tone, \"you are very particular indeed, my dear Thari. I shall have to be careful in the future that I do not lose my hammer, as I nearly have on both meetings with that troll, for I would not care to lose your love on that account. But come, I jest of course. I have felt far happier and younger in these past few weeks than I have in a very long time.\"

Stooping to collect his violin case and retrieving also his pipe from the mantle, Frarin wraps his arm about Thari. \"As to children, if we are blessed with them, then we shall discuss how they are to be raised. And you forget, we need still your family\'s blessing. But worry over neither for now, Thari. What say you to supper and a beer?\"

[Thari(#31038)]

Thari slips her arm behind Frarin and grins. \"Every word that comes from you is fine and sensible. I had not forgotten about my family\'s blessing, no, for I can talk about practicalities without making an oath, can\'t I?\" On a whim, she leans over to kiss his cheek. \"Let\'s have supper, aye.\"