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”There’s more to joining a dwarven family than good looks and a marriage, lad.” Folding his arms over his chest, Gloin glowered at the elven prince set to marry his son and Gimli felt acute embarrassment creep up on him, turning his face as red as his beard. He should have seen this coming; to say that there were bad blood between Gloin and Legolas from 60 years ago would be an understatement. Not to mention the awkwardness that came from having a fiancé who was actually older than your father.
Legolas just frowned, his hands twitching at his sides. He was used to underground dwellings of course but Gimli knew it made him nervous to have essentially a whole mountain on top of him, even if the halls underneath the Lonely Mountain were bright and airy, adorned with dwarven art and alive with their music these days.
“Father, must we….” Gimli tried but were shushed down. He would not be questioned here, in his own workshop, the very heart of Gloins home and for a dwarf equal to his heart. Gimli supposed he should be relieved his father had even brought an elf here. There were lights and riches aplenty in here; even before joining Thorin and his Company Gloin had been a rich dwarf and since then his business had flourished. Gimli himself had chosen a more martial path of life were gold and jewels were a tool, not a goal but he were no less proud of his father’s success even so.
“Is there supposed to be some kind of test? To see if I am fit to ask for your son’s hand?” Legolas asked, straightening his back which was a bad thing since it made him even taller. But there was a glint in his eyes. He wasn’t one to back down from a challenge and Gimli loved him for that.
Gloin snorted rudely.
“Bah, fighting and drinking! There is more than that in a dwarf’s heart and mind.” From beneath his work bench he took up a small leather bag and upended it on the bench.
Like a glittering waterfall, rubies, emeralds, pearls, sapphires and diamonds of all colours fell out on the worn wooden bench, tumbling over each other and a making soft musical sound.
Legolas eyes got wide.
“To know a things true value, that is what it is to be a dwarf.” Gloin glared at the elf. “Prove to me that you are worthy my son. Show me which of these jewels is the most valuable. And,” he held up a hand. “before you go on some elven whine about true love and open skies and all that nonsense, know that this is not a metaphor. I want to see your real skill put to the test. Show me the price jewel, lad.”
Legolas hand – an archer hand, strong and callused and always surprisingly cool and steadying even in the midst of battle – reached out for the biggest diamond; a clear white jewel the size of a thumbnail.
Gimli held his breath.
“This one is cracked.” Legolas said softly, putting the diamond to the side neatly. “There is a hair wide crack through its heart. And this - ” nimble fingers rifled through the pile and came up with a grass green emerald, putting it next to the diamond “- has an uneven cut. An apprentice’ work perhaps? This one-“ a cornflower blue sapphire ”-has no clarity.” A pearl. “Fair quality of size and shape but lack of iridescence.” An opal. “The internal structure of this causes it to diffract light very well, and the resulting play-of-color is lovely. A shame it lacks weight and size.”
Both dwarves stared as the wood elf princeling quickly sorted through the pile placing the jewels in a brave and yet controversial line up from the cracked jewel to the more and more perfect ones. It wasn’t necessarily the lineup that Gimli would have made but that wasn’t the point. Apart from obvious flaws, sorting jewels was a matter of taste and if the dwarves thought the elf’s taste was strange, it was in no way wrong.
Finally, Legolas held up two jewels, perfectly sparkling, of generous size and exquisite cut. Eyes that could stare into the sun pierced their depths. One was a fire opal, as big as a dove’s egg and glittering in a million colours, its surface smooth and unblemished. The other was a heart shaped, perfectly clear diamond glittering with a myriad facets. After a long, long gaze, he put them both down.
“I am sorry but I cannot choose between these. They are both perfect, each in their own way.” He put them both down, next to one another at the very top of the row he’d created.
“Ay, that they are, laddie.” Gloin said hoarsely, looking from the perfect line up to the elf who looked down on him, slightly worried. Then, to the utter surprise of both Legolas and Gimli, Gloin threw his strong arms around Legolas chest and gave him a hug that all but squeezed the air from him. “Welcome to the family, son!” He let him go, only to do the same to his son. “Well done, Gimli! He will be valuable addition to our family!”
“Perhaps,” amused, Legolas took out a small, beautifully ornate box and placed it on the workbench. “But just to make sure, my father insisted that I bring a gift. A bridal price, if you wish, for taking your son from you.”
The box opened. A myriad of tiny white diamonds glittered in its depths, like a fall of stars on crushed velvet.
“They are all perfectly cut, perfectly clear and sized.” Legolas explained. “Although I understand if you wish to see for yourself…”
Gloin stared at the diamonds. Then he shook his head.
“If you say so, lad, I believe you. But…a bridal gift?”
“Suitable for your sons worth, my father said.”
“Oh he did, did he?” Gloin bristled. “Well, I will show him! King or not, he will not outdo the greatest jeweler of this age!” Quickly he started rifling through his own stores, producing a dozen or so small boxes of jewels, far superior to the ones Legolas had sorted previously, all exquisite and perfect – Dwarven masterpieces to rival the elven stars, muttering under his breath about crafty elves flaunting their riches all the while setting aside the very best.
Gimli and Legolas exchanged a look. Gimli cleared his throat:
“Father, do you mind…?” he waved at the door.
“What? No no, not at all. Be about your business. We’ll see to the wedding preparations later. When do the two of you return to Mirkwood? Never mind, I’ll find someone to go back with the Men’s next shipment up streams. Hah! I should give him a barrel of the best dwarven mead as well! That would show him!” Muttering to himself Glon barely noticed when the two left.
“So,” Legolas smiled as Gimli led him through the labyrinth of hallways to an open balcony. “That went fairly well, didn’t it?”
“Aye it did love.” Gimli chuckled to himself. “Where did you learn so much of jewels, though?”
Legolas snorted and leaned back on the railing in the sun.
“Have you met my father? I played with gems from childhood, wore them in my hair and on my clothes growing up….even ate one, once. Had my father been in possession of the white gems of Lasgalen they would most likely had hung over my crib. It is probably why they hold no interest to me anymore.”
“Still, they work well for keeping our fathers distracted.” Gimli leaned closer to those blue eyes, more sparkling than any sapphires. “I’ve heard of Men and Hobbits collecting stamps and other objects of no real value only to brag about them and show them off or trade them with their fellow enthusiasts. Only difference is our fathers will need an armed retinue to do so.”
Legolas laughed and leaned in for a kiss.
“Distraced enough that we might have our wedding in peace?”
“Let’s hope so, love, let’s hope so.”