Chapter Text
The celebration lasted into the evening, and it was another late night as the Goldmanes headed back to their home. The children were all tired out and went to bed without complaint, and the rest of the clan sat around the fireplace in the living room. The cousins chatted about the day and their various interactions and misadventures. After about half an hour, Diligent shifted and leaned forward.
"Grumpy?"
Grumpy turned to his uncle, wary but curious. He'd never been addressed by Diligent. "Eh?"
Diligent's face turned surprised and he covered it with a shaking hand. "You really are Determination's son. There's no way you could know he did that."
"He did?" Doc asked. Then his face lit up. "Oh, he did, didn't he!"
Grumpy glanced around. The cousins looked curious, but his aunts and uncles seemed to agree with Diligent. They'd known him well when their offspring hadn't.
"If you say so," Grumpy finally said. "What do you want?"
"Rationality tells me you have news about the curse that killed my brother and his wife."
Grumpy hesitated then shrugged. "You ain't gonna like it."
"Try me," Diligent said.
"They weren't cursed," Grumpy said.
Silence. Diligent stared at him. "How do you know that?"
"They weren't cursed. I was," Grumpy said. "Holda tried to curse me to die so the prophecy couldn't be fulfilled. But she gave me gold sickness instead, and I was born anyway. She never cursed Determination or Charity. She cursed me." He paused. "Besides, curses don't make you get lost. They're more specific and dangerous."
There was a long silence before Diligent placed his head in his hands. "So they just got lost?" he asked shakily.
"Don't know. Makes sense if they did. It was an accident," Grumpy said.
Doc and the rest of his brothers stared at him, uneasy. "You knew this?" Sleepy asked.
"Guessed at first," Grumpy admitted. "When you told me and Snow about how they died, I thought it was awful strange you said they were cursed. I didn't know much about curses then, but what you told me didn't sit right. I learned more about them from the library. Didn't think to tell you after all that. Then Snow told us about the prophecy, and I just… didn't know how to bring it up."
"Understandable, if you ask me," Rationality said, adjusting his glasses.
"Is it?" Diligent asked.
"Look at how you reacted to the news about Holda," Rationality said. "And think of how you raised the boys, especially Doc, to hate magic. Any topic of magic was forbidden, and you know Doc and them acted the same way toward it for years. It's only in the last year that Grumpy has been able to openly talk about his magic. And it certainly isn't easy to bring up. How would you do it? 'Oh, our folks weren't cursed, it was the baby, and they just accidentally got lost in a blizzard'? Doesn't roll off the tongue, Diligent."
Diligent huffed and rubbed his forehead. "Why would they leave the neighbors' then?"
"To get back to Dopey," Doc said quietly.
"What?" Diligent asked.
"Don't you remember?" Doc asked. "Mrs. Grott sold, ah, told us Mama wanted to get back to Dopey. She didn't like being away from him. And Papa couldn't pay, um, say no to her. He could put his soot gown, erm, foot down on anything else, but when it came to us, she'd always win."
Diligent stared at his nephew for several moments then lowered his head. "I don't remember that bit. It's all a blur, getting you all fed up again and bringing you home, and Mama breaking down when she found out that Determination and Charity were dead. Your old neighbors weren't high on my list of things to pay attention to." He paused then looked up. "But I am sorry, boys. I tried my best."
"Did a pretty good job of it, if you ask me," Grumpy said.
Diligent turned to him. "You think so?"
"Compared to how I turned out? Yep. Crystal clear we're different."
"You are," Diligent replied without hesitation. "But they've polished you up pretty good in the years they've known you."
Grumpy blinked. "What do you mean by that?"
Diligent smiled a little. "You ain't the same Dwarf I met in Castell all those years ago. Not even close. You didn't like me any more than I liked you. Every time you looked at me, I could tell you wanted me gone. I didn't know why."
"Did so," Grumpy argued. "You knew I stole them. Told me you'd kill me if you ever saw me again when you left Castell."
"Uncle!" Doc gasped.
"I did know you stole them, but I didn't know that you were forced to," Diligent said. "And that makes a difference. Gold sickness is a terrible thing to have. We lost my papa because of it. Besides, you've regretted that long enough. You got them back, so there's nothing more to say. As far as I'm concerned, you've made up for it."
Grumpy nodded. "Glad to hear it." He paused. "How else have I changed?"
Clumsy snorted. "You've softened."
"Oh yeah," Friendly agreed with a laugh. "When Doc led us in to introduce you, you looked like you wanted to fry us where we stood. Couldn't read a single thing about you by looking at you, and that was unusual. I was impressed Bashful could. He and I talked about you. He said it was a bit tricky at first, but once I got to know you a little, it would get easier." He paused and grinned. "He was right, of course. And Empathy helped, too."
"If people can read you, they can hurt you," Grumpy said plainly. "I learned real young to keep things to myself. Calida would use anything I told her against me. So I stopped talking to her. Then I started with my girls."
"Who was the first?" Bashful asked.
"Clara," Grumpy replied. He smiled a little. "She's my age. Came to the guild at eight. We got close. She helped raise me just as much as I helped raise her. She's a bit different than the others."
"I could tell," Bashful said, his eyes sparkling.
Grumpy rolled his eyes. "Then I started taking care of the younger girls that came through. I'd seen things happen when I was growing up in Cliffside. Real bad stuff. Calida didn't care what happened to the girls. It was kill or be killed in the guild. I started offering protection, blessing coins with spells to protect them and harm the ones tryin' to hurt them. Clara moved off then, and somehow Bella started hanging around me. Didn't get why until Emil threatened her in front of me. We didn't get along then, but I made it worse by thrashing him for what he wanted to do to Bella. Pretty sure that's when he started hating me."
There was a thoughtful silence when Grumpy finished talking. In the silence, there was a loud crash against the window that made them all jump. Grumpy snorted and waved his hand to open the window. The raven flew in on a gust of wind and snow, croaking with displeasure as it flapped around. Grumpy whistled and waved his hand again so that the window shut. The raven fluttered over and settled on his lap. Grumpy stroked her feathers gently as there were footsteps on the stairs. Empathy appeared, looking a bit frightened.
"What happened?" she asked. "What was that noise?"
"Just stupid here," Grumpy said, tapping the raven's head. The raven clicked its beak but didn't fight. It huddled into Grumpy, shivering.
"Oh, please don't call her stupid," Empathy begged.
"Come up with a name then?" Grumpy asked.
Empathy thought about this then padded over to sit beside him on the floor. She peered at the raven. "Can she understand me?"
The raven opened its eyes and nodded, tilting its head.
"Well, I have thought of a name."
"What's that, little sparrow?" Diligent asked.
"I think your name should be Fidelity," she declared.
The raven straightened then stretched out its neck and turned its head to peer at Empathy with one eye. Then it clicked its beak and turned its head to Grumpy. It tilted its head questioningly.
Grumpy snorted. "It fits. You sure won't leave me alone, so maybe Stubborn would do if that sounds better."
The raven shook its head then flapped over to Empathy.
"Guess she prefers Fidelity," Grumpy said with a grin.
"Then Fidelity you shall be!" Empathy exclaimed, and she gently embraced the bird. Kissing her head, she set Fidelity back on Grumpy's lap then stood up. "I'm going back to bed. I'm tired. Goodnight."
"Goodnight," the room replied, and she headed back down the stairs.
"Well, we've got an early start tomorrow," Sneezy yawned. "Snow wants to get back to Altenfeld as soon as possible. We should be getting to bed, too."
"Wait," Grumpy said, then stopped when everybody looked at him.
"What?" Honesty asked.
"I… What about Emil?" Grumpy's face burned as they stared at him.
"I ain't had the chance to talk to the other heads," Honesty said. "Do you have something in mind?"
"No," Grumpy said. "I just don't want him near me ever again."
"We'll write you as soon as something is decided, Grumpy," Constancy promised.
Grumpy relaxed and nodded. "Thanks."
"Now can we go to bed?" Sleepy yawned.
"Sounds good to me," Grumpy agreed.
Everybody got up and the seven brothers headed down the stairs and into their room. Everything was packed except for their nightshirts. They got ready for bed without saying much, but when they were settled, it was quiet. For several minutes, there was nothing but the crackle of the fire on the far wall. Then Grumpy spoke.
"I'm glad you made me come."
"Yeah?" Doc asked. "Even with Emil?"
"Could've done without him," Grumpy admitted, and his fingers came up to rub at his shoulder.
"Stop it," Doc said.
"You ain't even looking," Grumpy argued.
"Don't have to," Doc replied. "I know you're stewing, ah, doing it."
"Maybe," Grumpy said, his lips twitching as he turned over.
"So what do you think?" Happy asked. "About the family, I mean."
Grumpy thought about his aunts and uncles and all the cousins and second cousins. Then he thought of his grandmother. "Not what I expected," he admitted. "But not in a bad way. It's a lot. I didn't have family growin' up, and now I got more than I can handle."
"Yeah?"
"It just ain't a bad problem to have," Grumpy said.
His brothers all laughed at that, and Grumpy smiled to himself. The room fell silent again, and after a few minutes, the snores began. Grumpy listened, one by one, as his brothers fell asleep, and he could tell each of them apart by their snoring. Sleepy fell asleep first, then Dopey, then Happy, then Sneezy. For awhile, Bashful and Doc lay awake, saying nothing.
"Bashful?" Grumpy asked.
"Hm?"
"Did you have trouble reading me like Friendly said?"
"At first," Bashful said. "All I could see at first was how much you was hurtin'. Then I saw how lonely you were, and defensive, too. I knew what you needed, though, and we was happy to give it."
"Give what?" Grumpy asked.
"Love," Bashful said.
Grumpy snorted and turned over again to stare at the fire. Bashful fell asleep while Grumpy thought about his answer. Then he considered what Diligent, Friendly, and Clumsy had said about him changing. That was the answer, he realized. Doc and Bashful and the rest of his brothers had loved him enough to be with him when he was difficult. They'd loved him enough to let him into their lives, and then, as the years had gone by, that love had changed him into the Dwarf he was now. He had changed, and he'd changed for the better. As Doc's snores joined the others', Grumpy sat up and looked around at them.
"I love you, too," he said softly, then lay back down and fell asleep.