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For what might have been the thousandth time, Greirr lifted the bracelet out of its box and held it up to the lamplight, turning it over and over in his hands checking for flaws. The large oval black opal in the center was exquisite and set off by surrounding small round diamonds with larger round diamonds at each corner. At each end of the opal were medium sized round sapphires and at each side round emeralds and between each of these were perfect round yellow topaz. The next layer of stones were marquis shaped rubies, round larger sapphires and oval emeralds, followed by more marquis shaped yellow topaz, large oval emerald with tiny diamonds and rubies that came to a soft point at the wearers wrist giving the whole thing the effect of a starburst or multi colored flower with many petals.
Greirr had carefully designed the bracelet to resemble the patterns made by the beautiful kaleidoscope that Loremaster Gror had brought back from Erebor for his young daughter. Dravalia had been one of the first dwarflings born in Aglarond and unlike Greirr who was born and raised for nine years inside the lonely mountain, was quite fascinated with anything that had to do with the ancestral home of Durin’s folk. The dwarves there were famous for their clockwork toys, and her father had brought several back for her, but little Dravalia had been more fascinated with the simple cylinders that were crafted with mirrors and filled with bits of colorful stone. She had spent hours shaking the cylinder to move the beads and create one pretty pattern after another, and even though she was the owner of many fine things including many valuable ancient books, she still felt a childish glee over the kaleidoscope her father had brought her so many years ago. Or so she had told Greirr the first time she had invited him to her home. He had found the story fascinating and like most things about Dravalia, unspeakably adorable, hence the choice of design for her bonding bracelet.
But now as he continued to examine it, he was not so sure it was the best choice. Was a childish whim something he should pattern the most important jewelry she would ever wear after? And was it really even symmetrical? When he looked a little closer he could see that the first and third topaz were not exactly the same size and it seemed to spoil the effect of the whole thing. What if Dravalia didn’t understand the gesture or didn’t care for it? The old custom was that a bride or her parents could break her engagement if one of them was not pleased with the bracelet that was presented to her as a symbol of her betrothed’s dedication, and though that was no longer the practice in modern times, Greirr happened to know that the Loremaster and his daughter were enthralled with dwarven history. They might choose to follow this outdated tradition, and what would he do then?
He looked up in anguish at his companion who had been watching him, but before he could voice his concerns his friend answered him as if he could read his mind.
“She’ll love it Greirr, no need to worry.”
“Do you really think so? I mean how can you be so sure?”
Legolas, who had come to Aglarond for the wedding and to act as Greirr’s chosen companion/assistant for the duration laughed lightly.
“What’s not to like? It is beautiful, elegant and simple and it is hand made by you.”
The words designed to relieve Greirr’s concerns only fueled his worry. Legolas had never cared for anything that was what he considered opulent or ‘fancy’ so that must mean…
“I knew it was too plain,” Greirr fretted. “It’s not nearly elaborate enough. I mean even Guard Captain Vestri’s wife wears a cuff that comes almost to her elbows, and Dravalia will be the consort to the second Lord of Aglarond, a place well known for its magnificence. I could not let my lady be outshone by a guard’s wife! How could I have been so foolish? I’ll have to start over. If I begin tonight and we work on it together night and day until the day of the exchange I just might be able to…ouch!”
The last was in response to a sharp tug on his back braid.
“Greirr stop! The bracelet is fine…”
“FINE?”
“I mean it’s more than fine. It’s perfect, amazing, exquisite.” Here Legolas gave him a small shake. “She will adore it, brother, I swear. Just take a deep breath, that’s it. Release it slowly…once more now…very good…”
Greirr closed his eyes and did as he was told, taking several long cleansing breaths while trying to center himself. Finally he opened his eyes again and looked deep in his friend’s eyes and whispered,
“But what if it doesn’t fit?”
“It will fit,” Legolas said, rolling his eyes, “you measured her wrist. And she measured it herself just to be sure. And if I recall correctly you had Mam check one final time before you began bending the metal. ”
Evidently this did nothing to ease Greirr’s mind. He needed to be absolutely sure before he offered her the bracelet.
“I need to measure it again,” Greirr stated as he dove for his tape measure and turned toward the door. Panic was clearly rising. Legolas grasped the back of his tunic to stop him.
“You can’t see her until the wedding, Greirr, you know that. Her father would be furious if you broke with tradition and so would Dorbryn and Mam for that matter.”
Greirr looked nonplussed for a moment but soon rallied.
“Then you do it!”
“Me? Why should I do it? It’s already been done three times at least.”
“You are here to help me are you not? I asked you to be my assistant for a reason so assist me already! What if she’s gained weight and the bracelet doesn’t fit?”
“Well I’m NOT asking her that!”
“Legolas!”
The elf threw back his head and groaned.
“All right fine! Give me the tape measure, but don’t expect to see me at the wedding since I’m sure Dravalia will think I’ve gone mad after this and have me banned.”
Only Dravalia did not have her future husband’s elven assistant removed from the guest list, for she found Legolas’ embarrassed request charming and comical and the explanation that Greirr was so anxious to please her the most romantically delightful anecdote ever told.
So it happened that on the day before the nuptials were to take place Greirr nervously waited with his family for moral support while Legolas, as his chosen assistant, visited Dravalia and her parents to offer the bracelet for inspection. If the family accepted it, then the wedding could proceed and he would place it on her arm during the ceremony. If not, the wedding would be postponed until the offered bracelet was brought up to expectations, or if it was considered too far below the bride’s dignity, the engagement might be broken altogether! Of course that hadn’t happened in recent history, as it was a custom kept just because of tradition, but still!
Greirr paced the floor until his mother guided him to sit down and forced a cup of tea in his hand. She sat next to him patting his knee until they heard a rattling at the door. This caused Greirr to leap to his feet, sloshing most of the tea over the edge of the cup, which he would very likely have dropped and smashed on the floor had Dorbryn not kept her head and rescued it.
Legolas was smiling, which must have meant the news was good, but Greirr could not help holding his breath anyway.
“She likes it,” Legolas told him, much to everyone’s relief, but he couldn’t resist wickedly adding, “but it is a little too small. We must have measured wrong.”
Thorûr and Gimli hooted with laughter, and even Dorbryn smiled at what was obviously a jest, but Lady Vonild who had been sitting nearest the door could see the blood drain from her grandson’s face. She reached out and sharply rapped Legolas’ knuckles with her bone knitting needles causing him to jerk his hand back with a yelp and everyone else to laugh again, this time at Legolas’ expense.
“Stop teasing ye naughty elfling,” Mam ordered, “can ye not see the poor lad is like to faint as it is without your monkeyshines making it worse?”
“I’m only jesting, Greirr,” Legolas repented, rubbing his abused knuckles with his other hand, “Dravalia was very pleased.”
“And it fit her?” Greirr asked, the color returning to his face.
“Considering the number of times she was measured, I am certain it does,” the elf chuckled. “But since I am not marrying her, I didn’t put it on her, so there is no way to be absolutely sure. At least it was my understanding that only the intended can place the bonding bracelet on his bride’s arm.”
“Aye lamb, ye understood it right. That is the tradition.” Gimli added his mite to the conversation, and then frowned disapprovingly at Greirr. “As second in command here, nephew, ye ought to at least stick with some traditions else our family will be shamed entirely.”
While the elder elves all nodded in common censure, Greirr shared a look with his chosen assistant and only just refrained from rolling his eyes. Legolas offered him a secret wink of support and Greirr only just prevented himself from smiling in return. Both understood what the first Lord of the Glittering Caves spoke of for it had been a topic of discussion since Greirr had been named as heir. While Gimli was considered by other dwarves to be outrageously modern in thinking in many ways, such as his cavorting with other races and actually adopting an elven son, he was still painfully old fashioned in others.
In this case it was Greirr’s beard that had come under his condemnation, for traditionally dwarven males wore their beards long and thick, only trimming them at waist length to prevent mishaps while working. After a certain age they were not trimmed at all, and someone in a leadership role would normally wear his beard as full and luxurious as possible as a sign of prosperity and health. But in more recent times some of the younger dwarves had begun to trim their beards more in the style of men and Greirr had adopted that practice himself. He kept it neatly trimmed with only one long narrow single braid that fell to mid chest. His parents and uncle had tried to change this by telling him he was going to be mistaken for a female if he did not take care and let his beard grow in, but all to no avail. Dravalia liked the look, and his desire to please her outweighed his concern over displeasing his elders. In fact Dravalia herself cut her own beard off entirely, setting a trend among young females to the shock of many of the parents of Aglarond, who accused their daughters of wishing to look like small humans.
Surprisingly Lady Vonild had been supportive of Greirr’s decision and of Dravalia’s new fashion and she didn’t hesitate to speak up for them now.
“Oh for Mahal’s sake, leave the boy alone, all of ye. It is his face, after all, and if he and his sweetheart are happy with how he looks, then whose business is it anyway? It is only hair after all.”
At this Greirr smiled sweetly at his uncle knowing Gimli could not respond, at least not in the presence of Lady Vonild for even the greatly respected and often intimidating Lord of Aglarond would not dare to speak out to contradict his mother. Gimli glared for a moment or two at his irreverent nephew, but then good-naturedly gave up and chuckled.
“Oh very well, Mam. Let us just hope everyone will be able to tell which one is the bride!”
Greirr scowled as everyone laughed again, and his uncle stepped aside just in time to avoid having his own knuckles rapped with lightning fast knitting needles, and then the matriarch of the family put an end to the evening by declaring that everyone must go to bed early if they were to all be fit for the big day ahead.
The next morning for Greirr was spent in silent reflection and prayer in a private chamber in the deepest parts of the cave system. Only Legolas as his chosen assistant went with him and the elf’s sole duty was to stand outside the chamber to see that the groom to be was not disturbed. At mid day, Thorûr and Dorbryn arrived to talk privately to their son to teach him the secret ritual that must be performed between Greirr and Dravalia alone late that evening after the public ceremony and reception. Privately, they would each reveal their inner names to one another. It was important that their secret names be exchanged before they made a permanent physical bond, something that Greirr was admittedly very eager to accomplish, so he listened closely, and then everyone went back up together where the wedding preparations would begin in earnest.
Greirr first bathed and dressed in navy velvet trousers and a deep gold silk shirt and then was escorted by his assistant to where all the male members of the wedding party had gathered to dress him and prepare him for the ceremony. Greirr smiled to see Legolas dressed in dwarven style in a silver silk undershirt and then a highly polished decorative mail shirt that peeked out from under a knee length black velvet surcoat that had traditional angular shapes and runes embroidered around the edge with real silver thread. The embroidery was interspersed with crystals and colorless tourmaline beads that matched the ones that had been braided into his elven brother’s silky hair. He wore black velvet trousers and soft black suede boots with polished chain greaves that matched the mail shirt. The whole ensemble must have been special made for even the chain mail was dwarven in style. Elves sometimes wore chain mail as well, but only dwarves wore mail made of octagonal rings rather than round, so Legolas’ clothing represented a great deal of work. His tall slender figure meant that the mail he wore had to have been made from scratch rather than having been adjusted from someone else’s borrowed armor. Greirr was almost sure that Grandmother Vonild had done most of the sewing and embroidery and he would not have been the least bit surprised if his uncle had himself made the armor.
The two of them arrived to find the rest of the male members of the wedding party waiting, all dressed in similar variations of Legolas’ costume of silver and black. Thorûr, Grandfather Magen and Greirr’s future father in law, the Loremaster Gror all wore their long bushy hair and beards intricately braided and adorned with gems and precious metal beads for the occasion. Only Gimli was still dressed casually, for as Lord he was to officiate the wedding and was to be dressed by his own attendants just before the ceremony was to begin. His formal clothing was so opulent and grand that it made free movement difficult so he had opted to wait until as late as possible to get ready. For now he warmly greeted his nephew with a firm embrace and his elven ward with a kiss on the cheek and an appreciative smile.
“We’ll make a dwarf of ye yet, laddie!” he proclaimed and Greirr couldn’t help being touched by the proud look he gave his heart son. It was such a rare and wonderful thing between two people who were not tied together by blood. But then when he looked away it was to catch a glance of his own stepfather’s expression, which reflected the same love and devotion as Gimli so clearly had toward Legolas. Thorûr had been his acting father for so long that it was sometimes difficult to remember that they were related by marriage only, and suddenly Greirr had to subtly wipe away a tear from his eye lest someone should confuse him for the Bride after all. Of course his stepfather noticed, but he said nothing since he was surreptitiously wiping his own eyes. Instead he just winked at his son of the heart and, in order to hide his emotions, bracingly suggested they get on with the preparations.
The ritual that followed had to be done very precisely for dwarves were a people of order who took rank and position very seriously on formal occasions if not in private. Because of this Legolas was to begin as the lowest ranking family member. Among his own kind he outranked most people as a king’s son, but with his dwarven family he was only Gimli’s adopted son, a high rank to be sure, but not high enough to trump the age and relationship of Greirr’s elder dwarven relatives. Having an elf among the family had complicated the ritual but as Lord, Gimli had decreed that it was best to have Legolas act in the role of cousin or brother to Greirr since that was how the relationship felt between the two of them, rather than to go by his chronological age so as not to offend those who were relatively much his senior. Legolas had readily agreed, not at all wanting to draw attention to himself or chance upsetting Greirr’s relatives. After all in relative terms at this point Greirr felt like an older brother, especially considering the step he was about to take, one that the elfling was far from even being ready to contemplate. So he happily accepted his role as the lowest ranking family member and began the ritual.
His contribution to preparing the groom was to brush and braid Greirr’s long dark hair and not so long beard. As he deftly worked his way through the thick wavy mane, he worked into it colorful gems and mithril beads, and at the very end caught the top part of Greirr’s hair up in a beautifully carved ivory hair clasp. Legolas was not a gem smith like his dwarven guardian or Greirr himself, but he was talented at carving and everyone admired the intricately detailed clasp. After that he stood before Greirr and put his hands on either side of the dwarf’s face before glancing at Gimli to make sure he was remembering everything correctly. At Gimli’s nod of approval, he kissed Greirr on the cheek and stepped away so that the next family member could take over.
As Greirr’s uncle, Gimli stepped forward and pulled over Greirr’s head a knee length sleeveless chain mail shirt that Greirr noticed matched the one Legolas wore other than it being much shorter and considerably wider. Greirr’s breath caught as he realized that his uncle had hand made this armor as well, for the amount of work that was involved in forming and linking all of the octagonal rings was staggering to think about. Gimli also cupped his face and kissed him on the cheek, and then stepped aside making room for Loremaster Gror.
Greirr’s future father in law helped Greirr into a midnight blue velvet sleeveless surcoat that was embroidered around the edges with gold and mithril thread and interspersed with every sort of colorful gem imaginable. It reached below Greirr’s knees to the top of his black boots, and was cinched in the middle with Gror’s gift, a wide gold belt intricately engraved by the loremaster himself. He kissed his soon to be son in law in welcome and then Thorûr came forward.
Thorûr knelt before his son and placed on him a pair of gleaming decorative chain greaves and then took Greirr’s hand and placed on his finger a ring that had been bequeathed to him by his own grandfather and thus fully acknowledged Greirr as his legitimate descendent and not just a son by marriage. He kissed the ringed hand, and then rose to kiss his son on both cheeks and then turned to bow to his own father.
As the eldest family member, Master Magen attached a small but perfectly crafted throwing axe to Greirr’s belt and then placed a calf length cloak of deepest blue velvet that was magnificently embroidered in gold, around his grandson’s shoulders and then pinned it at the throat with a sparkling cloak pin set with multiple richly colored jewels. Both the new axe that was specially made for the occasion, and the heirloom pin were gifts from his only living grandfather and Greirr realized this was in lieu of the gift he would have received from his Grandfather Gloin had he lived long enough to see him married, and just for a moment he believed he could smell the unique scent of Lord Gloin’s pipe and from the way Legolas and Gimli exchanged glances, he knew they could smell it as well.
Believing the ritual to be at it’s end, Greirr started to bow, but then his uncle came again to stand before him, this time in capacity as the highest ranking dwarf in Aglarond.
“One more thing, Laddie. The mail was my gift as your uncle, now I must present ye with my gift to ye as your Lord.”
He placed a heavy necklace around Greirr’s neck with a large gold pendant hanging from it. On the pendant was carved the crest of Aglarond. This was an insignia necklace or a chain of office signifying that Greirr was second in command of the land. Greirr held the heavy pendant in his hand and turned it over to admire it from all sides.
“It is beautiful Uncle,” Greirr murmured as he knelt before his Lord. Gimli placed a large hand on Greirr’s bowed head and then encouraged him to his feet.
“I am pleased ye like it, nephew, and now I must be off. I have a wedding ceremony to perform.”
There was nothing left to do now, but to wait for the signal that it was time to begin, so the remaining family members took turns talking to the nervous groom, readjusting his clothing to make certain he was perfect, and reminding him not to sit down as per strict orders by Lady Dorbryn. No one wished to get in the lady’s black books should Greirr arrive at the ceremony with a wrinkled cloak.
Greirr wondered how Dravalia was faring with the other ladies of the family, knowing that she had also been through the dressing ritual. Greirr had not seen the gifts that were to be given to Dravalia from her mother and her two grandmothers, but his own mother had shown him her gift- a grand rope of sapphires for Dravalia to wear in her honey colored hair, and he had watched for weeks as Grandmother Vonild had labored over her gift. The matriarch of the family was now at a great age, but her eyesight was still keen and her hands still capable of fine work and the rest of the family had watched in amazement as her gnarled and callused hands had produced the most delicate and intricately woven pair of fingerless lace gauntlets for her granddaughter in law to be to wear on her wedding day. The gloves were of the finest quality available and the lace interwoven with the daintiest of crystal beads. Greirr imagined them now on Dravalia’s pretty hands, and liked the image so much that he was smiling, when Legolas tugged on his hand.
“It is time, Brother.”
Legolas then performed his final duty as Greirr’s assistant by looking him over and smoothing down a few stray hairs that had sprung free from their braids, and then gave Greirr’s hand a final squeeze of support and made his way out to stand next to Mam to watch the proceedings. Those watching consisted of Dravalia’s two widowed grandmothers, her father and an unmarried aunt. Greirr’s family were Grandmother Vonild, his elven sworn brother, Grandfather Magen, and his mother Lady Vonild. Dravalia’s mother, as the mother of the bride and the Groom’s heart father Thorûr, still had their role to play and of course Gimli was to preside over the ceremony.
Dwarven weddings were private family affairs, but because of Greirr’s status as second in command, a community wide celebration was to be held after the nuptials had taken place, but for now, Greirr took Thorûr’s arm and let himself be lead to a stone altar where two long red silk ribbons were laying. Thorûr chose one and tied it to his son’s left wrist, and then stood back as Dravalia was lead in by her mother.
Greirr was barely able to withhold a gasp of delight when he saw her, for he was certain he had never seen a more stunning sight. She was younger than Greirr by ten years and still maintained the slenderness of youth and dressed as she was in a floor length silk gown of midnight blue entirely encrusted with crystals, she looked like a dainty princess to her intended. Her deep blue cloak matched Greirr’s own, except hers was even more opulent with its white fur collar and long jewel encrusted train. Her honey colored hair was twisted over her shoulder in a voluminous loose braid and threaded throughout it was Dorbryn’s rope of sapphires that matched perfectly Dravalia’s sparkling eyes. Other than Legolas, she was the only beardless person in the room, and though Greirr knew many of the elders did not approve, he personally thought she had the sweetest little pointed chin ever seen, and it would be a great shame to hide it. On Dravalia’s slim hands were the delicate lace gauntlets and several lavish rings, that were no doubt gifts from her family members.
Dravalia’s mother lead her to stand before the altar facing Greirr, removed the left gauntlet and set it carefully aside before taking the remaining red ribbon and tying it to her daughter’s left wrist.
After this, Thorûr stepped forward to draw aside a curtain that revealed a raised dais on which the first Lord of the Glittering caves stood. Greirr found it difficult to believe that this imposing figure was the same uncle who had laughed at him and teased him over being mistaken for the bride only yesterday. For this occasion Gimli wore his most formal costume, and it was one to rival the King Under the Mountain at his finest.
The mail Gimli wore was polished to rival the sun and had full sleeves that came to his elbows and a skirt that reached the tops of his boots, which were covered with decorative chain greaves and jeweled sabatons. His embroidered velvet surcoat of deepest burgundy reached below his knees and his enormous black leather pauldrons had been polished to a high sheen. Scale mail wrist guards and black leather gauntlets adorned his hands and lower arms and on his head was a wonderfully carved iron helm. His burgundy cloak was silk lined and edged entirely in fur and was so long that it draped all the way down the steps that lead to the dais he stood upon. For this occasion his thick russet and white hair and full beard had been combed out to its fullest magnificence rather than being neatly braided as it normally was, though both hair and beard were generously decorated with gold and mithril clasps.
In his great right hand he lifted the ceremonial axe that was a perfect replica of the one belonging to Durin the Deathless, the first father of their folk. He raised it over his head to signify the beginning of the ceremony.
At this signal, both Greirr and Dravalia knelt before the altar and crossed their arms to hold right hands and left hands, while Thorur and Dravalia’s mother took the ribbons they had already tied to their children’s arms and tied the other end to the corresponding arm of their intended mate. This handfasting ritual tied the young couple’s hands together in a figure eight, which in dwarven society represented eternity, after which each parent kissed their respective child on the head, placed small boxes on the altar and moved back with the rest of the family to witness the rest of the ceremony.
The ceremony itself was short but meaningful. First Gimli offered up prayers to their maker, Mahal asking for his blessing on the young couple, and then began singing a verse of the traditional wedding song. After the first verse, the rest of the family joined in with his deep bass and finished the song together, even Legolas who had spent long hours practicing the Khuzdul words to be able to participate.
Next came the difficult bit. Grierr and Dravalia with their hands bound together had to rise in perfect synch with one another or risk falling over and humiliating themselves. This part they had been practicing for some months, but it was trickier in formal dress. Still they managed it without a hitch, each letting out a small breath in relief before stepping forward to place their bound hands on the stone altar.
Standing slightly above them, Gimli places a large gauntleted hand on each of bowed head and said the words that would bind the couple together in the eyes of society. Next he picked up the ceremonial axe and carefully, but with proper aplomb cut the handfasting ribbons. Each young dwarf raised a hand high and let the severed ribbons fall from their hands and pool together on the altar before them. In ancient times, there would have been an actual cutting of the skin of their arms and their real blood would have been poured out and mixed together on the altar, but in modern times the red ribbons served as a less barbaric symbol of their bonding together.
Next Dravalia removed the box her mother had left on the altar. Inside was a wide gold cuff as was traditional for married males to wear. She placed it on Greirr’s left wrist, kissed his hand, and then smiled shyly up at him and held out her own left wrist. Finally Greirr placed the bonding bracelet he had made for his bride on her dainty wrist and sighed in relief when is clasped easily. Greirr, in his relief, was so enthusiastic in kissing Dravalia’s hand that for a split second Gimli could no longer hold with proper decorum and his lip twitched in amusement at his nephew. This caused Greirr’s entire family to begin chuckling, and soon Dravalia’s family joined in though they did not yet understand what was so comical.
It was a merry way to end the solemn ceremony and the joyful couple clasped hands and lead the rest of the family to the main hall, where there were tables groaning with fine food, musicians and storytellers, extended family and dear friends all waiting to help them celebrate the beginning of their lives together.