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gazing off into the distance, that I noticed a wagon coming down the road.
'Ah, I have a visitor,' I thought with a smile, fairly certain who it was, and
immediately went back into my tower to try to make preparations for them.
My visitor rounded the bend in the road and came into view after a few
minutes. The wagon was somewhat small, but laden with many boxes and barrels.
It was drawn by two small horses, each the size of ponies but much more stocky
and sturdily built. Sitting in the driver's seat was a broadly built dwarf
wearing garments of bright red and blue, a blunderbuss by his side. 'Ah - I
was right. It's Mungim. He's probably come to see what I might be willing to
trade for some of my crop of byallar this fall,' I thought, already carrying
two chairs out to the shade tree at the base of my tower. Mungim drew up to
the shade tree just as I was setting the chairs near the little fire-pit I
used to warm byallar. He hopped down from the wagon, grinning broadly at me. I
tried not to chuckle as Mungim quickly checked himself over, spending a few
moments smoothing his oak-brown beard, brushing a bit of trail-dust off his
blue pantaloons, red doublet and hose. "Ah, Eddas Ayar. Seeing ye be in sooth
the high point of me visits here to Hyperborea, now," he said in my language,
pulling his feathered cap off his head and bowing low.
I smiled and extended my gloved hand, and Mungim took it lightly in his,
inclining his head, but not kissing my hand (he was truly a well-mannered
dwarf). As soon as he had released my hand, I turned to head back to the
tower. "I'll be right back out, Mungim. I'm going to get my pot and brew us a
cup or two of byallar," I called, smiling at him.
A few minutes later, Mungim's team was hobbled and quietly nibbling grass in
the shade of the trees growing by the road while I was pouring him his first
cup of byallar beneath the large shade tree I used for meetings. "Ah - much
thanks to ye, Eddas Ayar," he said in his own language, his voice gravelly but
warm. "An ye do not mind I do say so, I do find ye do be the true treasure
that yet draws me out to these god-forsaken, giant-infested lands time and
again these last few years," he said, grinning.
I smiled, and was once again grateful for Arella's gentle tutelage and my time
spent in the castle these last few months - I found that indeed, I didn't mind
at all. Mungim, like all of the traveling merchants who dealt with the giants,
had heard my story for weeks before he ever ran across me the first time, well
over forty years ago, now. He knew I was a man in the body of a woman, and
that I had no interest in men. He wasn't being insulting, he wasn't thinking I
was a sodomite, nor was he trying to make a sexual advance - he was simply
being friendly. Before, I found this kind of banter a little upsetting, but
did my best to hide my feelings. Now, thanks to Arella and my months spent at
Steelgate, I realized he was simply trying to be nice, and make a little joke.
"Thank you, Mungim," I replied.
"Ye do seem much happier this fine spring day, I do notice," he observed,
still smiling at me.
I knew what he meant - despite my attempts to be polite over the years, it was
obvious to any who knew me that I was not terribly comfortable with being a
woman. I simply smiled. "I think, perhaps, I've gotten used to my situation,
and am able to be more comfortable with it," I replied. "That, and it is still
possible I may be able to restore my old body someday - and once I can do
that, I'll try to summon my beloved from the Void."
Mungim grinned broadly. "I do wish ye the best of luck in that, Eddas Ayar -
though I must admit, an' ye do succeed, I yet shall sorely miss seeing the Gem
of Hyperborea on me little visits," he replied in my language, and winked. I
laughed at his joke, and Mungim joined me with a deep chuckle.
For anyone who has never met a dwarf, meeting Mungim would be an unusual
experience - though I'd met my first dwarf back in my previous life, ages ago.
They are long-lived, many living over three and a half centuries before old
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age felled them. In appearance, dwarven men were, for the most part, about
three and a third cubits tall, their skin ranging from pale to ruddy, their
hair and beards usually black or brown (though some were blonde or
copper-haired), and their eyes usually brown (though some occasionally were
blue). In build, though, they were very broad, barrel-chested and stocky -
eleven to twelve stone was about average. They were also very powerful - a
typical dwarf was half again as strong as a typical human.
In my day, many of my contemporaries believed that there were no female
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