Grüngar Grettirsnev

PART I : GRETTIR’S FINE METALS AND JEWELS

Grüngar grew up in Reikland, in the city of Ubersreik. For the first seventy years of his life he never stepped outside the city limits. For the first sixty he barely ever ventured outside of Dawihafen, the city’s dwarfen quarter. And most of his time in Dawihafen he spent on a single street that was home to a jewelry shop called Grettir’s Fine Metals and Jewels. The shop, in turn, was Grüngar’s home, and the only life and work he knew.

Grüngar was raised by his uncle Grettir and his aunty Mibren. The two never made a secret of the fact that they weren’t his blood parents, but they never went into how Grüngar came to be with them. Whenever he asked them about it uncle Grettir would suddenly find something he needed to get done right away, and aunty Mibren would give the same reply every single time: “We are of the same clan, and that is all that matters now”. They were as stubborn as any dwarf, and over time Grüngar realized that no amount of prodding or pleading would get him the answers he was hoping to find. At some point he decided that knowing who his parents were or how they died would not change his life. He wasn’t even sure how closely related he was to Grettir or Mibren, but they brought him up and treated him as their own. And that’s all that really mattered.

Aunty Mibren had a good head for business and kept a keen eye on the family finances. While she did not run the shop’s day-to-day, she took charge of larger sales and deliveries, searched and haggled for the best prices for raw materials, and even managed her way into mingling with the city’s upper class to procure high paying commissions. As business expanded outside of Dawihafen and she spent most of her time dealing with humans she decided to start introducing herself with a human name in an attempt to be more approachable and personable. Grettir was opposed to this at first on principle, believing that dwarfen things should have dwarfen names, but Mibren countered him by saying “human gold is still gold”, which Grettir found hard to argue. The idea proved to be a good one, as sales had increased almost immediately, and from then on outside of Dawihafen aunty Mibren became known as aunty Beatrice.

Unlike aunty Mibren, uncle Grettir rarely left his shop. Once a month or so he would pick up a delivery from out of town at the South Gate, and on occasion would swing by the Axe and Hammer for a couple pints of ale with his friend Gudrum and for seasonal celebrations. He was more than happy to let Mibren take care of the business side of things and instead focused on designing and producing new pieces. Grettir knew the craft well and took rightful pride in his work. He believed that a flawless product would practically sell itself, and liked to say that a job well done was more important than any kind of marketing. Mibren pointed out that people won’t buy a product they can’t see no matter how perfect it is. She meant to imply that humans, who rarely went into Dawihafen but still comprised a large part of the business, would not even know the shop existed had she not made the effort to bring his work out to them. Grettir misinterpreted her meaning, but nevertheless took her words to heart and has been regularly washing the shop’s windows ever since.

Fascinated by precious metals and gemstones like most dwarfs, Grüngar followed his uncle around since his early days, observing and asking questions about the materials and the process. When he was old enough, Grettir formally took him on as an apprentice and began teaching him the craft. Grüngar was an eager student. He recognized his uncle’s high standards and worked hard to reach it. He attempted to earn some words of praise at every opportunity, but seldom got any. Still, he enjoyed the feel of brass, gold and silver in his fingers and was happy to spend most of his time in the workshop.

One evening Grüngar had planned on working late into the night. He came up into the apartment to refill his flask and overheard his aunt and uncle talking about him in the kitchen. He hesitated at first, knowing that snooping was not a particularly honorable act for a dwarf, but curiosity got the better of him. He quietly shuffled closer to the door and listened to their words. “A good soul, our Grüngar, but he’s not really meant to be a jeweller, is he?” mused aunty Mibren. Grettir let out a big sigh. “No, he’s not. He’s certainly not that...”, he took a swig of brandy from his mug, and continued, “...he’s meant for other things, but he’s here now, and he puts in the effort, so might as well make the most of it...”, Grettir sighed again and took another big gulp.

At that moment, Grüngar, feeling partially insulted and partially embarrassed, shuffled back away from the kitchen and down to the workshop. As upset as he was, he told himself he deserved to hear what he heard since he should not have been eavesdropping in the first place. That night he made a vow to himself to prove Grettir and Mibren wrong and worked harder than ever before to refine his craft. In the following years he lost himself in a dream of becoming a master artisan like his uncle and opening up his own shop, never seeking or even considering a different path. But had he stayed by the kitchen door a few minutes longer on that fateful night, he would have heard Grettir and Mibren reminisce about Grüngar’s birth in the Gray Mountains, their friendship with his parents, their oath to raise him and protect him, and their choice to do so in the relative safety of a city of the Empire.