[VanimaEdhel]

DWARVES - Barzûn

Barzûn saw a man approaching. He grumbled when he saw the man was obviously coming over to him. He was in no mood to deal with the Elf-loving humans. The man would probably want to know more about the plans for building and the like. Barzûn saw the other Dwarves stand up and stand respectfully as the man approached. Barzûn begrudgingly joined the respectful Dwarves and stood, keeping a bit of a scowl on his face.

He noticed the man had a post in place of a leg. He had seen this man around. Curious that a man so disabled would have what seemed to be such a high-ranking position. Well, maybe the man was more lethal than he looked. Barzûn noticed other Dwarves staring at the post. They had obviously not seen the man. Others looked unphased, though. Either they were not surprised, or they had met with this man before.

“And how may we serve you, Master…?” Barzûn asked, trying to show clearly with his voice that he was being disturbed.

“Borgand,” the man replied kindly. He showed no sign of being offended at the insincere greeting Barzûn had given him.

“Ah,” Barzûn said, “Now what can we do for you Master…Borgand?”

“I just came to see how you were doing with the plans,” Borgand said, maintaining his poise easily despite the Dwarf’s sarcasm.

The Dwarf was thrown off by Borgand’s polite, patient manners. Most of the men either became curt with the Dwarf or were intimidated. Barzûn quickly did a mental check of where they, in fact, were with the plans. They were still in the process of being drawn up, but there was no need to tell the man that they were slightly behind schedule.

“They are coming along fine, Master Borgand,” Barzûn said gruffly, “The plans would come along even more quickly if we were able to work without interruption.”

“Oh,” Borgand said mildly, “I did not know you were in the process of drafting them. I shall leave you to your business then.”

“We were not working on them now,” Barzûn said gruffly, without thinking. He spluttered, trying to explain that they were in the process of discussing the plans. The other Dwarves were utterly useless. They were just standing there respectfully, not aiding Barzûn in the least. Some were even still staring in shock at the post the man had in place of part of his left leg. He shot the others a glare. They just moved back a bit, not showing any expression. The Dwarf turned back to the sickeningly polite man. There was no working with this man. He showed no negative emotion, which just was not natural.

“The plans are coming along fine,” Barzûn finally said, “We are going to discuss them as soon as we finish breakfast. If that is all right with you, that is.”

“It is fine, Master Dwarf. There is no need to rush. Rushing leads to mistakes and we do not need mistakes in this undertaking,” Borgand said politely. There was an air of authority in his voice, though. It was obvious that while he was kind to his workers, Borgand still demanded respect. Well, he would have to prove himself to get any respect from Barzûn. Humans did not earn respect from Barzûn by merely acting with authority. The Dwarf could not remember any human he had really respected.

“You can rest assured that we will make no mistakes,” the Dwarf said, glaring as though he was daring Borgand to suggest otherwise.

“I would assume not. I have always heard that if you want something built, you should call the Dwarves. I trust that the talk will not prove to be false,” Borgand said. “Well,” he continued, “I merely came by to check up on you. I suppose you will want to get back to your planning.”

“Yes, that would be most appreciated,” Barzûn said, hoping Borgand was wrapping up his visit. The Human gave a small bow to Barzûn and the other Dwarves as he departed, showing composure until the end of his visit, and silently left the Dwarves to themselves.

Barzûn turned to the other Dwarves. “Well,” he said, “You heard what he said. It is time to plan. Now stop your lazing about before you are sent back to the Blue Mountains. And where are the others? There are at least five of you missing.”

The Dwarves shrugged that they did not know where the stragglers were. No doubt they were off eating or wandering about with the Humans. So many of the Dwarves seemed to show an unhealthy interest in the ways of the Humans. It was as though they thought that Human ways were better than Dwarf ways. Barzûn snorted aloud at that thought, gathering looks from the other Dwarves as they quickly finished their meal. While the Dwarves ate at a speed that was unusual for Dwarves, trying to finish their meals before Barzûn lost his temper, the Dwarf made his way to his tent to pick up the unfinished plans. When he returned, one or two of the lost Dwarves had returned. They were quickly told off for their sloth and neglect for their job. The Dwarves received the upbraiding quietly as Barzûn laid the plans out on a nearby table.

“I suppose we must start without the other lazy fools,” Barzûn grumbled in a loud enough voice that he was sure that all the other Dwarves could hear his mutterings. They muttered quiet agreement. “Now,” Barzûn said, quickly clearing everything except the plans from his mind, “About the previous structure we had laid out for this house…”

The Dwarves all contributed to the designs. When it came to creating plans, all Dwarves were allowed to voice their opinion. Barzûn did not disapprove of contributions. He, in fact, welcomed them. It showed that the other Dwarves were thinking about their jobs and not just sleeping on their feet. As the day progressed, the arguments and discussions moved along as well. The Dwarves worked surprisingly quickly, much to Barzûn’s delight. The right Dwarves had been picked for the project after all. Soon, all of the Dwarves, even the late ones, were gathered around, as intent on the designs as Barzûn.

[ September 12, 2003: Message edited by: VanimaEdhel ]