Axe and The Wolf

Chapter lll: Mud and Bread

"A well-forged blade knows no master but its maker."– Master Smith Durgin Ironhammer

The meal in front of Ulfrun was gigantic, a plate of two cheese wedges and two large smoked sausages, beside that, a bowl with 3 pieces of bread, a large bowl of beans, in a broth with sautéed vegetables and some bacon, the smell coming off of it seemed to suggest some beer found its way into it, and to top it all off, a whole roasted chicken. He sighed heavily and began with the chicken, as he was eating his uncle Boromir seemed bemused, sure he was hungry, but this meal seemed more a white elphant gift, the older smith began talking while eating his meat pies, sipping his mead in between swallowing, "This will keep you fed as I said, for around a day and a half, lad, now don't be too intimidated by the amount of food, you'll finish it and be fine" Ulfrun was half listening to his uncle and half eating, the flavor of the food was great, the chicken was perfectly juicy at the breast, the beans were savory, the bacon was flavorful and the flavor of beer just made it better, "Wow, this tastes amazing, better than I thought it would, I mean, it smelled really good, but, the flavor seems better" Boromir's smile dissapeared as he looked over his shoulder, like a thief checking for the city guard and then he said "That's the work of Gisselle, she's Dolvan's wife, and a very talented half elf cleric" Ulfrun's left eyebrow rose up, he chewed the chicken and swallowed "Okay...two questions, Uncle" he raised one finger "First, a half elf marrying a dwarf?" he raised another finger "And are you implying she used magic on the food?" his uncle nodded "Yes and yes, my boy, keep eating, I'll tell you the story" Ulfrun continued eating, having already gone through half the chicken. 

"First let me explain about the food, she uses some spells to make the food not too heavy on your gut, so you'll feel comfortably stuffed but not like you are about to explode like a keg of blast powder." Boromir took a large drink of his mead "Aaah, that's good mead, has a certain fruity taste, anyway, the food on it's own is very good, but she has this powder that just makes it waaay better, and it's only ever used on special meals like this one, so, about the second question, aye, they met when each was part of a group in the surface, Dolvan was in a brotherhood of course, and she was in an adventuring party, they both allied together in a mission to take down a white dragon to the north, in ehm...Skeggstein Fortress, the big bastard had taken the fortress, the Northmen took heavy losses, long story short, they killed the beast, Govronth the Godless was its name, the bastard made a name for himself by tearing down holy sites. The groups remained close and by consequence the two of them spent plenty of time together bonding over different things here and there, they fell in love and all that sweet flowery shite, not too hard to conceive that the lad would fall for her, she's pretty as a picture: blonde hair, blue eyes; but I diverge, they had children afterwards, the youngest you saw a wee bit earlier, Asta." Ulfrun nodded, he thought of how, despite being the child of a half elf and a dwarf, she just simply looked like a normal dwarvish woman, not what his mind would envision a dwelf  to look like, though he even questioned if that was even a word. The pair continued to talk as Ulfrun continued eating the enormous meal, by the time he was done, he in fact did not feel like his belly would tear open from the sheer volume of food, and he felt a bit sleepy, coming back to the forge Ulfrun went straight to bed, falling to sleep rather easily, drifting off as his head barely touched the pillow. 

Ulfrun opened his eyes, oddly enough he found himself with the sun on them, feeling the warm light coming through the foliage of a tree, he rose from the soft ground, finding himself in a clearing, set beside a cliff where a waterfall fed a crystal clear pond where water lilies floated leisurely, the young smith felt compelled to enter the water, the weather felt warm, but not overwhelmingly so, yet the water seemed a nice proposition in his mind. He undressed and entered the water, it felt pleasant on his skin; almost like it washed away his worries. Ulfrun enjoyed swimming in the water for a while, he remembered how he would often visit the bathhouses in Moradinulzarakh with his family, and the underground water sources where he would often fish and swim. While he floated on his back he allowed himself to think back to those days, he used to go down into the large underground river, known as Khajamu Kuyl or the Gift of Life river, it was a large water source where the city fortress got its fresh water, and fish, a large population of different fishes resided within the waters of the Khajamu Kuyl, catfish as big as pigs, or salmon of a strong red color, despite being underwater, the young smith's ears heard a muffled movement in the water, he lifted his head and saw behind him, either a human woman or a half elf, he couldn't tell without seeing her ears. She had flowing wavy brown hair, her eyes seemingly of a turquoise color, similar to the water of the pond, she had a sort of tiara or ornamented diadem with a gem in the middle, her head was covered in a light silk hood in the same ivory white color as her dress. Her face was pleasant and calm, her features fine and noble, Ulfrun was a dwarf through and through, raised to appreciate the beauty of dwarven women, but her beauty could not be denied even by the most stern and traditionalist of dwarves, her mouth slightly changed from a neutral position to a slight smile, her voice, serene and comforting came into Ulfrun's mind, but her lips did not move. "Take a deep breath; relax and let go of your worries. Let the soothing essence of the waters permeate and cleanse your entire being, slowly drawing you into deep relaxing slumber." He continued to float in the water, in her direction, her hands found their way to each side of his head, and her fingers began to caress his hair, his eyes once again closing, and allowing him to sleep once again.