Trek For Survival

"We"ll be erectin" the curtain in a bit, miss," chuckled the dwarven woman, seeing Gia glancing at Vonn.

"Oh! Thank you! I was wondering how we were going to manage with so many people in the room," said Carla, holding her hands to her chest and smiling. She must have noticed Gia, too.

"How much does a mug of that ale cost?" asked Tom, rubbing his knees with a grin.

"Well now, it depends on what kind o" ale ye"re wanting. We have many different kinds here. The standard stuff is only 4 copper coins, tho"," said the woman, putting a hand on her hip and leaning against the door frame.

"What about mead? I"ve heard you have that here," said Carla, trying to hide her interest.

Gia sighed and rolled her eyes. They only had the silver coin her mother brought home the day before they had to flee the city. She really doubted they would waste it on dwarven drinks.

"Well, now, that"s an interesting topic round here, right now," said the woman, looking thoughtful and running a hand through her beard. "Ye see, we have a bit o" a feud goin" on about the mead and ale."

"What do you mean?" asked Vonn.

"Ye see, the Khag Clan claims that mead should be added to the ale, and the Silverbeard Clan claims that the ale should be added to the mead. It"s gotten pretty serious, too."

"What"s the difference?" asked Tom.

"Why, it makes all the difference! The taste changes either way, and the amount of foam it makes is important to a lot of us dwarves. Ye humans must not be able t" understand something so important as this…" She shook her head and left, hopefully to fetch that curtain.

"I really don"t understand how important it would be to add either one first," grumbled Tom, turning his head angrily to the side and flopping his arms onto the bed.

"Why so upset about it, dear?" asked Carla, patting his hands to calm him down.

"I"ve wanted to taste real dwarven ale since I was a young boy, and now, I may not be able to, because of some silly feud!" he spat, hitting the bed again.

"I"m sure you will be able to taste some before we leave," Carla chuckled. "Stop acting so childish about this."

"Yeah, dad. If we hadn"t had to run away from the army, we would never have made it here!" chimed in Mikey, swinging his feet as he finished off the last dribbles of stew in everyone"s bowls.

"Maybe tomorrow, after we see the king, you can find some dwarven children to play with," said Gia, stacking the empty bowls so they would be easier for the dwarven woman to take back. She really needed to learn what her name was, so she could stop thinking of her as a "dwarven woman."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea!" he piped up, not quite jumping out of his seat.

It was pretty obvious to everyone he was tired. They all were exhausted, but for him to stay in his chair at the idea of finding new playmates was unheard of.

"Here"s that curtain," said the woman, quickly erecting the pale brown fabric onto a wooden rod.

"Thank you so much! What"s your name?" asked Gia, as the woman grabbed up the bowls Gia had stacked.

"M" names Gidren Darkbraid. I"m not related to those Grimbraid folk," she made sure to point out as she swept out the door, leaving them eyeing the tub.

"There"s no water in it," said Mikey, peeking into the tub. "But there"s a hole in the bottom, and a handle here…"
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Reaching for the handle, Gia grabbed his hand.

"Let me look, before you break anything. We don"t have the coin to pay for anything if it breaks or makes a mess," she said, letting go of his hand and looking at the tub herself.

A cork stopper was hanging from a metal hook on one end of the tub, that looked to fit into the hole perfectly, but there was nothing under the tub, to keep the water from running out on the floor. As she reached for the cork stopper, her shirt caught on the handle that Mikey was reaching for, turning it.

Water started gushing out of the tap, rushing towards the hole. Gia cursed and dived to get the plug in place before the water rushed out all over the floor. Slipping, she fell into the tub and got soaked.

"Gia! The water"s not coming out the hole on the bottom," said Mikey, leaning down to examine the underside of the tub.

"What? Really?" she said, climbing out of the tub, turning the water off on the way.

Sure enough, as she leaned down with him, she could see that there was no hole on the underside of the tub for the water to come out of.

"Where"s the water coming from?" asked Vonn, coming over to investigate the tub himself.

Gia and Vonn had their heads together, watching the water rush from the tap as he turned the handle on and off several times.

"Are we getting baths, or not?" asked Tom.

"The thing must be magical!" exclaimed Carla as Gia and Vonn realized how close they were to each other and jerked away, both falling on their b.u.t.ts in the process.

Mikey started giggling, and that caused Gia and Vonn to start laughing too.

"I don"t see what"s so funny," complained Tom, which just made them all laugh harder. Even Carla started chuckling.

"I think Gia should bathe first, since she"s already soaking wet," said Carla after a moment to catch her breath.

Sobering up, they all nodded, and Gia grabbed a blanket off her bed, to wrap up in after she washed up. Pulling the curtain closed around her, she threw the blanket carefully over the rod holding the curtain, so that it didn"t collapse, and quickly stripped out of her wet clothes. She would hand them over the backs of the chairs to dry overnight. Tomorrow she would check with Gidren to see where she could take their clothes to get washed. Even if they were ragged, they would still work for a while.

Stepping into the tub, she fiddled with the handle until she had a decent stream of water, then sat down to wait for it to fill. To her surprise, the water was a delightful temperature, and she found a bar of soap in a little niche on the side of the tub. Not remembering it being there before, she wondered if that was another part of it being magical. Watching over the side as she pulled the plug, just to make sure it didn"t spill out anyways, Gia waited till it was almost gone, before standing up and wrapping the blanket around herself and stepping out from behind the curtain.

"My turn!" chimed in Mikey, darting behind the curtain.

"I"ll go with him, to make sure he doesn"t fall asleep and drown," said Vonn, with his own blanket.

"Help him keep the water in the tub, too," said Tom. "Even if the water doesn"t come out onto the floor, that doesn"t mean it can"t come out over the edge."

"Fair enough," laughed Vonn, disappearing behind the curtain.

"Will you two be able to bathe by yourselves? The tub is pretty tall," asked Gia, pausing by her parents.

"We"ll be fine, dear. Go ahead and get some rest," said her mother with a tired smile, waving at Gia"s bed.

A soft knock at the door drew their attention.

"Yes?" asked Gia, approaching it hesitantly, clutching her blanket tightly.

"Oh, Gia! Let me get that!" chastised her mother, rushing past her and answering the door.

"Bob told me to give ye these clothes," said Gidren"s voice.

"Oh, thank you! These are so nice! Are you sure?" asked Carla, looking down at the thick, st.u.r.dy clothes she had been handed.

"Bob doesn"t lie, if"n ye mean that. These are for ye. There"re no other humans in the place for "em to go to!"

Carla brought the stack of clothes back to the bed and began laying them out. They were all perfectly sized for each of them.

"Must be more magic," said Gia, taking the pair that would fit her. There was a pair of pants and a good shirt for each of them. Even nice leather boots that fit, were there.

"I"ll lay them on each person"s bed," said Carla, shooing Gia to her bed with her clothes.

Taking advantage of Vonn and Mikey being in the bath, and her dad being blind, she quickly dressed and slid into her bed. She wasn"t sure if it was magic, or just exhaustion, but the moment her head hit the pillow, her eyes started to flutter, and she was soon asleep.