Hammer and Feather Ch. 08-13

"I made those from my father's old clothes. It didn't seem right to leave the mine in a dress. I tried to put in pockets for the tools I needed to borrow but I'd never done anything like that before."

"Ah." The woman's smile warmed. "For a first attempt, you did very well. I can adjust them for you while you wait so that they fit you better."

"That would be kind, Lainith. My son said she needed work clothes and Lady Rook favors breeches with pockets for her tools as he does."

Wrapped in a spare blanket, Nali sat next to Tirnel to wait. She wanted to argue that her clothes didn't need adjusting but she felt like it might be rude.

"Do all dwarf women learn to sew?" He asked after a moment.

"Yes. Aunt Kyri does it very well. When I turned thirty she made me a dress that had flowers stitched on it like there are on the dresses of her mother's figurines."

The elf woman glanced over with another warm smile, "Aunt Kyri?"

"The daughter I was too foolish to claim married a dwarf. Kyrilla is my granddaughter. Nali is the adopted daughter of my grandson."

Lainith's eyes widened more than Nali thought they could and the elf's mouth opened and closed for a moment before she found words. "I... I didn't know an elf, even a half-elf, could have a child with a dwarf."

"Grandfather is a half-dwarf."

"And... And her children all look like dwarves? Or do they look human?" The elf asked curiously.

"Only Uncle Oduil looks a little less than dwarvish. His ears are a little pointed and he's a little slim for a dwarf. They're a tall family, but not human tall. They're just tall dwarves. Father and Uncle Oduil look a lot like Grandfather with his black hair, but Aunt Kyri is as golden as Grandmother was, everyone says so. Her hair is the same color as Lady Rook's."

"Syreilla was happy with her husband?" Tirnel smiled wistfully.

"In the stories I've heard, she was angry sometimes but she was never unhappy. I've always been told, when they talk about her, that she loved him and her children more than anything. Father says she hated cooking, sewing, and keeping the house but she did her best out of love.

"A lot of people thought Grandfather had made a terrible mistake because she didn't seem like a very good wife to them, but when he talks about her he says she was the best wife anyone could ever have asked for. Grandmother would do anything for her family and not even death could stop her from keeping her word." Nali smiled and glanced at the wistful elf, "Father also says that Grandfather was the only person who could ever win an argument with her. Lady Rook tried and lost."

That drew a laugh out of him.

"I would love to hear stories of her. The stories I hear from Kwes are all of her misdeeds. It would be... It pains me that she died so young before we could..."

"Father was a little younger than I am when she died, but he has a lot of stories."

A thunderous flapping and cawing startled her but Tirnel smiled, turning to look at her. "I would love to hear them all."

°°°°°°°°°°

The elves had listened and laughed as Nali told the stories she could remember hearing, though, when she mentioned how Aunt Kyri couldn't sleep until she'd gone through the house every night making sure everything was in its place and how she peeked in to be certain Nali was in bed at least once in the night, a nervous habit she'd inherited from her mother, the elven seamstress burst into tears.

It felt like she'd been talking for hours when Edun came to find her with a pleased look on his face.

"What was the noise earlier?" Tirnel looked at him curiously. "It sounded like a flock of birds descended on us."

"A clamour of rooks. Lady Rook sent them to serve as eyes and ears. They're seeking out elves to attach themselves to. Each one will choose a master and Ahevhethrah will allow them to speak to that elf. Baduil will join us when he's finished overseeing the matter." He gave Nali a smile, "I am to stay close to you. We can discuss 'priesting' if you like. You are her chosen priestess but you have yet to grow into the role."

"I'm nearly finished with her work clothes." The elf woman smiled faintly, "She's entertained us with stories of her grandmother and her family. I never knew dwarves were so warm and charming."

"I've noticed that elvish teasing can sometimes be hurtful." Edun shrugged at the startled look from the woman, "I've learned that they don't always mean it to be, but if you offend a dwarf it's much like offending Lady Rook. They return the attack, genuine or perceived, with a vengeance."

Lainith looked thoughtful as she continued sewing.

"What do I need to know about priesting?" Nali looked at him curiously. "Father is a priest. He was given a task and he does it. The gods tend not to interfere beyond that."

The elves both gave her an amused look as Edun sighed.

"I think I understand why she chose a dwarf for a priestess." The man gave her a patient smile. "People will come to you to ask what she wants them to do, or to ask for direction. What does she want from her followers?"

Nali took a moment to think, "She doesn't like it when people are cruel to children. It makes her angry. I think if they started at 'be good to children, even the troublemakers', that would make her happy."

"She once threatened to make my mother burn with agony like a hearth fire if she didn't treat me well." Edun came to sit next to her. "Children have no need to fear her, no one with a gentle soul does. But anyone who has a reason to fear vengeance will feel dread in her presence. People will come to you asking if a gentle soul balances out the things they've done that would earn them vengeance. How does she judge these things?"

Frowning for a moment, she thought and the answer seemed to bubble up. "Her Eye. She looks at people and knows. I don't know if anyone can say what she'll choose before she does." She looked at Edun and shrugged, "Do the best you can and carry a feather for luck. She likes feathers."

The priest covered his face and began to laugh. The elves were smiling at her.

"When your clothes are ready, perhaps we can go speak to some of the other priests. You may benefit from seeing the way they do things here."

"Her work clothes are ready." Lainith smiled warmly. "I'll have your dress finished as soon as I can."

"Thank you."

Nali dressed quickly once Edun and Tirnel had stepped out. The clothes fit now as if they'd been made for her. She carefully tucked all of her tools back into place making certain she had them all and trying to arrange the bottom of her beard to cover the opening of the front pocket she used for the feather.

"Thank you for adjusting them for me." She offered the elf another smile, "I didn't think they fit badly before but the difference is noticeable."

"They were made for your father and they fit you as if they were made for someone else. Now they fit properly." Lainith smiled. "That's a very pretty gold feather you have. Why do you keep it tucked away and hidden? You could make it into jewelry."

"It's Lady Rook's. If I need to summon her, I use the feather. It doesn't seem right to make it into jewelry. If she wanted it worn she'd have given it to me differently."

"I'll put a pocket in your dress for the feather."

"Thank you. And if you have any spare cloth, it doesn't have to be good cloth, I'd like to make a bag to put my tools in when I'm not wearing them. I can do it myself, I don't want to make more work for you. Making the dress and adjusting these are already too much to have asked."

The elf woman smiled warmly.

"Are you ready?" Edun called in, barely opening the flap.

"Coming!"

She ducked out of the tent and followed him toward what seemed to be the far edge of the encampment.

"They have tents pressed into service as makeshift temples." He told her as they walked.

"Do you have one there? For the god you serve, I mean."

"No. We're guests here. They did worship him once, but... things became... complicated, or murky as Lady Rook might say."

As they approached the circle of colorful tents set a little apart, several elves came out of them and looked at her curiously.

"Edun is this...?"

"This is Lady Rook's priestess. She pulled Lady Rook from Nimphon's black lake."

"What is your name, priestess of Lady Rook?" One of the women gave her a teasing smile.

"Nali Rookfriend of Clan Hammersworn."

"A fearsome clan, by all accounts." An elf priestess offered a shallow bow with less teasing.

"Who are you?" She studied the five gathered in front of her.

"Allow me to make introductions, Nali. Meldir is the priest of Gilither the goddess of mercy, peace, and starlight."

A dark-haired elf bowed.

"Therioron," a priest bowed, "serves Ruthaerion the elven god of justice, law, and the orderly cycles of the seasons. Navisse, the goddess of truth, song, and firelight is served by the priestess Celair." The teasing elf woman gave a bow.

Another elf woman dressed in fine silk came from a purple tent with golden stitching around the flap and the others gave her a cool look as she asked a question in a sweet tone.

Edun's eyes narrowed and he crouched to whisper into Nali's ear as one of the others spoke in their language to the woman. "Stay away from her. The elves don't understand what her goddess has done, but the priests suspect it."

Her brow furrowed, trying to remember if she knew who the elf goddess was and what she had done, Lady Rook had spoken cryptically about one of them.

The elf wearing fine silk gave her a bright smile. "If there are introductions I should be a part of them. Who is this?"

Nali looked up at Edun's stern expression hoping he would say whether or not she should be introduced.

"She's a child and has no business with you or your goddess, Eristien."

"She's a dwarf, she has no business with any of us."

Eristien's tone was light but Nali felt the barb and caught herself reaching for her small axe.

"She is the one Lady Rook has chosen for a priestess." The one who'd said Clan Hammersworn had a fearsome reputation gave the elf woman a frigid look. "She has business with us, but not you."

"No one was unhappy when that thief was pushed into the black lake. Gruithon's stone wasn't stolen or he would have celebrated with us. Ruthaerion did."

"That's why she didn't want to talk to them," Nali muttered under her breath and the priests and priestesses gave her a startled look. "One of Father's friends said that Lady Rook has a long memory. If you treat her well she'll look after you, her father, Odos, told him more than once that rooks are friendly birds but if you mistreat them they remember. If your gods weren't kind to her... She'll help the elves because they don't deserve what's happening but that doesn't mean she needs to help your gods."

"She would be wise to enlist their aid."

"She would be, Eithagar, but Lady Rook is the goddess of righteous vengeance, not of wisdom. I brought her priestess, in part, to ask Doronel if she had any spare bedding. Doronel is the priestess of Amdirthor the goddess of harvests, fertility, and home."

"Amtalia has already come to gather some." The woman with rich brown hair offered a faint smile and a bow. "Perhaps our kindness and generosity toward her priestess will help Lady Rook think more kindly of us."

"I will tell her of your kindness to me as well." Edun smiled warmly and bowed, turning and taking Nali back the way they had come. "The priestess I didn't get a chance to introduce properly was Eithagar. She serves the god of war, bloodshed, and wine."

"Bloodshed and wine?" She gave him an incredulous look.

"They celebrate victory with wine and it became associated with him. Much as Odos became the god of thieves because he was drawn to the puzzle of locks."

"Father said his Grandfather Odos was the god of mischief and poets. That's the reason he learned to tell stories. He loved to listen to them and no one told them better than his grandfather."

"He visited me when I was young." Edun smiled at her. "Your father is right, there's no better storyteller. Perhaps, while we wait, I can try to tell you a few of my favorites."