Trek For Survival

"Ye finished wi" the tub? I c"n take it," she said softly, noting that everyone else was still asleep.

"Oh, yes, we"re done with it," said Gia holding the door open for the dwarven woman to enter with the tray she held.

Gidren set the tray down on the table long enough to take the food off of it, then she grabbed the edge of the tub and hauled it out into the hall.

"I"ll git one o" the others to held me finish putting it up. Enjoy ye"r breakfast," she said, leaving the tub in the hall, pushed into the corner out of the way.

"Thank you, Gidren," Gia said, closing the door gently.

The smell of the food was starting to get the others to stir, so she went over to the table to see what it was. There was a plate of scrambled eggs, thick slabs of bacon, and huge chunks of toasted bread slices. Small bowls held b.u.t.ter and jelly, while a large bowl held some kind of porridge. Taking one of the empty plates that came with it all, Gia quickly started making everyone"s plates and setting them out on the table.

"Is that juice?" asked Mikey as he climbed into his chair and rubbed his eyes.

"We haven"t had juice in a really long time," said Tom, climbing out of his bed slowly and finding a chair to sit in at the table.

"I fear how we are going to pay for all of this, if the king decides not to pay for it," said Carla as Gia started pouring everyone a gla.s.s of the purple juice.

"We"ll worry about that when the time comes," said Vonn, joining them at the table. "We should be thankful that we don"t have to walk anywhere today, and can rest and recuperate. It"s not too hot, or too cold here, and we have good food to eat."

"You"re very right," said Tom with a hearty nod.

"It"s so sweet! It hurts my tongue!" laughed Mikey as he took a drink of the juice.

"What do you think the king will be like?" asked Gia, sitting in her seat as she finished handing out the cups of juice.

"I bet he"s going to look like a dwarf, with a big, long beard, that has lots of jewels in it, and nice clothes," said Mikey, holding his hands down near his knees when describing the beard.

"It would be good for him to look like a dwarf since he"s supposed to be the dwarven king," said Tom, chuckling as he felt for his fork.

"You have eggs on the top left of your plate, with a slice of b.u.t.tered bread on the upper right. There"s a slice of bacon on the bottom left, next to the porridge," said Carla gently as he felt for the edge of his plate.

"Thank you, dear," he said softly, pulling the plate a little closer.

"This bacon is delicious!" exclaimed Mikey. "What animal did it come from, a sheep?"

"No, silly," said Gia with a laugh. "Bacon comes from pigs."

"Can we have sheep and pigs at our new home?" asked Mikey, shoving half the giant slice of bacon into his mouth and chewing it enthusiastically.

"Well, I don"t know. It depends on where we end up, and what it looks like. None of us know how to raise those kinds of animals, so maybe we could live near someone who raises them, and buy the meat, when they butcher it," suggested Gia, thoughtfully.

"That would be okay, too," he said, starting on his eggs.

"What do you think the king is going to say?" asked Carla, stirring her porridge slowly.

"I imagine he"s going to want to know why we"re here, and what we plan on doing," said Tom, chewing and swallowing. "There"s nothing to be worried about. These amulets mean he won"t hate us and try to kill us on sight. Everyone we"ve met has been rather nice, considering the circ.u.mstances."

"Bob seems like a nice guy, I"m sure if the king refuses to pay for everything, we can work out some kind of a deal with him," said Vonn, reaching for some jelly for his bread.

"Carla, would you cut my hair for me?" asked Tom, running a hand through his hair. It was past his shoulders, and he had a rather scruffy beard from their travels so far.

"Of course, dear."

"Mom, do you want me to trim Mikey"s hair, and braid yours?" asked Gia, wiping her mouth and reaching for her drink.

"That would be wonderful," said Carla nodding, and eyeing Mikey, who scowled but didn"t say anything.

"I could probably do with a cut myself," said Vonn.

"I like your scruffy beard," said Gia, blushing fiercely.

"Then it can stay, but my hair needs to be shorter. I don"t like it being past my ears," he said with a grin.

Mikey had his hair done first. Gia gave up after he complained she was hurting his head. His hair was shorter, at least, if it wasn"t neat.

"All of the dwarves have long hair, I don"t know why mine has to be short," Mikey grumbled as he watched the other men get their hair cut.

"Because we"re not dwarves," chided Carla, as she carefully trimmed Tom"s hair. "Do you still want to be able to put it up into a ponytail?"

"Yes, please. I don"t want it in my face when we finally get into the open air, and I feel that first breeze."

"Why don"t you cut it shorter, so it doesn"t get in your face?" asked Vonn.

"My mother loved my hair, and my father hated that I had such nice hair when he was bald, so I always kept it this way. I"m a bit afraid if I cut it shorter, I might go bald like him," laughed Tom as Carla positioned his head to make it easier for her.

"His hair was one of the reasons I fell in love with him," sighed Carla, running her fingers through his hair.

"And here I was, thinking it was my rugged good looks," chuckled Tom.

"It was this hair, and that sharp chin of yours. I"d never seen a man with such a sharp chin line. I knew as soon as I saw you our children would be gorgeous."

"Mom!" gasped Gia, throwing her a look of shock.

"Well, it"s true. Why marry a man who"s ugly, when you can have the handsome one?" she laughed.

"There was Steven," said Tom. "He was just as good looking as I was, if I recall."

"He was very good looking, but he also used his good looks to get as many of the girls into his bed as he could. I was one of the few girls in town that hadn"t fallen to his good looks. He was one of the reasons I was willing to go with you to the city when you asked."

"Really? I thought it was to get away from your parents," Tom said thoughtfully.

"I did want to get away from them," Carla confirmed. "Mother was horrid about the ch.o.r.es having to get done that moment, and father was very heavy handed with his belt whenever he thought you might be misbehaving. I still have marks from that horrid man."

"I never knew that," said Gia, looking at her parents.

"I imagine there"s a lot you don"t know about our parents," said Tom. "We tried hard to keep that life out of your lives. They were the reason I tried so hard to move into the city and make a good life there. When this happened," he said, waving at his face, "it almost broke me. But the thought of what our parents would say and do kept us in the city, instead of returning to the village we had grown up in. There was no way I was going to bring you children up around those people."

"I"m glad you decided to live in the city, even if you did end up living in the poor section," said Vonn. "I would never have gotten to know Giavanna, if you hadn"t."

"Oh, you!" complained Gia, hitting his shoulder softly. "I"m all done, you can go look in the mirror."

He hurried over to the small mirror that hung on the wall, and checked himself over carefully.

"What"s wrong?" Gia asked, handing her mother back the scissors.

"I"m trying to make sure I have both my ears, and that the hair is even on both sides."

Mikey broke out laughing as Gia threw her brush at Vonn. Tom"s guffaws were loud and Carla snorted as she tried to hold her laugh in, and that made everyone laugh even more.

"Actually, Gia," Vonn managed after wiping his eyes from laughing so hard, "I think you have a real knack at this hair cutting thing. You might be able to cut people"s hair where ever we end up."

"You think so?" she asked meekly.

"Well, I don"t think the dwarves would pay for it," he teased, picking up her brush, "Especially if you throw hair brushes at your customers."
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