Dwalin and the Pearl

Chapter 19

I kept Var's pearl as we searched throughout the day. When the bleak, hopeless thoughts crowded in, I would reach into my pocket and touch its smooth, cool roundness. It helped.

Aunt Nott had taken over the organization of the search. We decided to start with the places Var knew or people she'd met: The inn, the weaver she'd bought the fabric from, the women who had stood beside Var at the entrance to Thorin's Hall.

No one had seen her.

"What about Lady Ran?" I asked my aunt as I paced back and forth in her office at the Goldsmith's Guild.

"What about her?" Aunt Nott demanded. "Those two don't know each other at all. No reason why Var would go to Ran, if she were running away."

I shook my head. "No, I mean, what if Lady Ran had something to do with Var's disappearance."

"Don't be ridiculous. Ran is odd, I grant you, but nothing to worry about. I've worked with her for years." Aunt Nott waved her hand. "Dwalin, I'm not going to waste my guards' time harassing her. If you want to talk to Ran, you're on your own."

Waste of time or not, I had to explore every possibility. So I went by myself to Lady Ran's big, rambling house down the street from Aunt Nott. My aunt's guards told me she occupied the place alone, except for her servants.

That was strange. Most dwarves live with their relatives-or at least, most male dwarves live with their female relatives, just like I did with Aunt Nott. When you're out and about for most of your life, traveling or working or fighting, there's not much sense in having your own house that's empty all the time. So you stay with a family member - usually a female family member, because dwarf women are the ones with the houses. Since there are lots of male dwarves, and we all need somewhere to stay from time to time, a dwarven household is typically a busy place. My male cousins and uncles were always coming and going in Aunt Nott's house.

When I pounded on the door to Lady Ran's house, the sound bounced back to me in a booming echo. Who lived like that, all alone? A sour-looking servant poked his head out. He nodded and led me past two guard-dwarves into a large, chilly room that looked like an office in a counting-house-big drawers that probably held files, a big rectangular marble table, and one big throne-like chair behind the table.

Time passed. I'd looked at everything there was to look at, even opened a few drawers that were not locked, and was on the point of giving up when Lady Ran finally came in. She looked different than usual, her hair braided with dark purple ribbons and her dress laced up tight around the middle. Her cheeks were flushed pink and her eyes glittered a little.

She smiled at me-a triumphant smile, like she'd won a prize. "Dwalin."

That was definitely strange, even from her. I folded my arms across my chest and gave her my most serious look. "Sorry to bother you, Lady Ran, but I wondered if you might have seen my betrothed Var recently. Remember her? You met her in Aunt-I mean, Lady Nott's office."

Lady Ran came closer, trailing the fingers of one hand along the marble surface of the table while she stroked her straggly beard with her other hand. She stopped just in front of me, and looked up into my face.

"Why would you want to ask me about someone I hardly know?" She smiled up at me and blinked a couple of times. "Could it be that you have another reason for coming to see me?"

"No," I replied. "But Var is gone, and I hoped you might have seen her, or could tell me something about what happened to her."

"Oh, you poor man. You poor, poor man." She bit her lip and looked down, then turned away from me. After a moment, she said, "Yes, I saw her. She was leaving Ered Luin. She was wearing traveling clothes, and had a pack on her back. I thought you-I thought you and she might have quarreled, and she decided not to go through with the marriage..." She shrugged.