Axe 02 - Video- Open to Both

[gloinul]

[He really doesn't like using this thing for anything more than responding to others but. Well.

Gimli starts the feed up and he has three of his five axes out in front of him, sharpening a fourth.]

Thought I might as well let the world at large know that if you are at all interesting in helping to rebuild the gates of the Cothromach, I'm the Dwarf you should speak to. I'm fairly certain anyone interested is already here, but. [And he shrugs] I hope you have people to vouch for you if you're interested. I do not tolerate slackers or liars on my jobs, nor do I tolerate saboteurs.

[Well, that explains the show of axes.

And he is done with this very painful task. The feed just cuts out]

Comments

[gloinul]

I can imagine. Is this Imp here, in the Drabwurld?

[steeledskin]

Gods, no!

[ and she is ashamed to hear such relief in her voice. ] There was kin of his, for some time. But they are gone now.

[gloinul]

[He glances up at her. This Imp must not be a very pleasant person, though to be fair if he's as tired of prejudiced bullshit as most actual Dwarves, Gimli isn't sure he can blame him]

And what of you? Do you have any kin here?

[steeledskin]

Yes. [ a better topic than her fugitive husband. ] A great number of my siblings: two brothers and a sister. My Lord Father was here, once, but not...

Not any longer.

[gloinul]

[He wonders if the situation there is like with his cousin Thorin]

I am pleased to hear that you are not alone, then. This world is too strange for that.

[steeledskin]

We are fortunate. [ she forces a small smile to take shape upon her lips. ] In our home lands, we are none of us near one another. This world has granted us a great boon.

[gloinul]

[Thoughtfully:]

This world is both kind and cruel. I see family here I have not seen since they died eighty years ago, yet my dear friend and his wife are claimed by opposite sides of this war. I am glad you are on the blessed side, my lady.

[steeledskin]

Blessed? [ she echoes this word and wonders, briefly, whether he means to bless the seelie or else merely claim her whole situation as a blessing. it's a difficult idea to swallow. but-- ] Yes. I'm also glad.

[ and at least it isn't a lie. ] But your friend! His wife! How terrible...

[gloinul]

They have found away around it--though if I needed any proof that the Unseelie are not all evil, that would be it.

[steeledskin]

It is a proof I appreciate, though have not needed. There are some from that court residing even under this ground, Master Gimli. They have sworn their oaths.

[ not to either queen but to cothromach. ]

[gloinul]

At this rate the Queens will find themselves bereft of all but a small number of us Shardbearers!

[He's amused by this]

I suppose that is what the get for conscripting us.

[steeledskin]

I cannot speak for your own involvement, but I was asked here--

[ and had willingly abandoned a meagre existence as alayne stone in the vale. ]

[gloinul]

You are the second person who has said as much. I did not think there would be many who would willingly come and fight a war not their own, but I stand corrected. You are a noble soul, Lady Stark.

[steeledskin]

[ a mild shake of her head -- as if she might dare refute the nobility claimed of her soul. but instead, she offers another meek protest: ] Westeros is pulled apart by war. A war my family has -- some would say -- already lost. Perhaps I was craven in coming here.

[gloinul]

Or perhaps you were able to see a larger picture. If what these rulers say is true and the loser's side of the war will see their worlds destroyed, you may in fact be saving your home.

[steeledskin]

[ perhaps it is not worth saving.

though, in reality, sansa has long been considering the virtues of a stalemate -- a bloody war here, but the continued existence of so many lands. sansa bites her bottom lip, however, and plays the innocent: ] Does the threat make any sense to you, Master Gimli? You yourself said you know a married couple split by this war. How, then, will the losing side also lose all its worlds when those worlds are shared across courts?

[gloinul]

I did say "if they speak true", didn't I? Personally, I do not think they thought this through and we will find that for the most part very little will change for our homes. But there is a chance that they know exactly what they are doing. A slim chance, but a chance. Either way, I do not think you craven.

[steeledskin]

[ her smile is rueful. small -- sad -- and it spoke leagues of her disbelief. disbelief in herself, if not in gimli's words. ]

You are kind to say so. Surely. But many have called me so beneath their breaths ever since this city's gates were threatened -- I am certain of it.

[gloinul]

Tch, you are a young woman in a strange world in the middle of a war. If they insulted you during the attack then their brains are in their boots and they are not to be listened to.

[steeledskin]

[ a young woman in a strange world in the middle of a war who turned down the one offer that would have spared them this violence, if morla is to be believed.

and yet, who would believe her? sansa nods. ] Would that I had a city full of you, kind master. Or else a hundred thousand who merely shared your opinion.

[gloinul]

[Do we really trust the necromancer Queen?

He smiles a bit]

I am sure there are more who agree with me than you think, my Lady.

[steeledskin]

[ her smile is indulgent. this dwarf, she decides, might be broadly spoken but he still speaks as sweetly as any good courtier. respect and propriety are always soothing -- and she finds herself with a little more lateral freedom in a conversation where these virtues reign chief.

she glances sideways and angled down at him. ] Have you given any thought, yet, to where you might try and settle in these lands?

[ once these gates are done! she would love to see such a good soul in the cothromach. ]

[gloinul]

I have not. My cousins and I have not discussed it and frankly, I am not sure they're particularly eager to discuss it as settling makes this...permanent. They won't want that.

[Though they don't have much of a choice if they want a life.]

[steeledskin]

-- A nomadic life upon the Drabwurld's roads is no life at all, surely. [ a beat. ] Are your cousins so handy in some trade as you are?

[ perhaps pride in their work can persuade the dwarves to consider the city. sansa is a crafty creature -- though she means well, at heart. ]

[gloinul]

Dwarves are used to such life.

[There's a hint of...resigned awareness to his tone when he says that, enough to imply that they're not used to it because they want to be.]

And they are, aye, though I should explain that my craft is in fact simply art. I make decorations and occasionally sketch designs for a Dwarf's tattoos if the need arises. Necessity, however, taught me to build gates and direct construction.