Resettling the Lost Kingdom

[VanimaEdhel]

Barzûn left his tent, still strapping his axe to his side. The sun was rising and Barzûn had to go to work. For Men. Barzûn grumbled, complaining that the Dwarves never needed help and that Men must be weak to need to call on others for aid. But then again, the Dwarves were the best at this work. Barzûn just hoped that there would not be any Elves around. The thought of Elves made Barzûn start grumbling again. Awful creatures, these Elves, so full of their own virtue and self-righteousness, always thinking that they were the best.

Barzûn went about looking for the other Dwarves. They had to get an early start, and Barzûn did not want any laziness in his camp. That kind of behavior would not be tolerated. Whether his workers were Dwarves or Men, if it came to having Men help labor, Barzûn would not tolerate slacking on the job. When the job was over, then people could be merry and have their parties. Barzûn, himself, liked a nice celebration now and then as well as the next Dwarf, but it was a matter of priorities. The Dwarves had pledged a few of their kind to help build this Evendim.

A small child bumped into Barzûn. Even though he was a small child to the Men, he was already up to Barzûn’s shoulder. Barzûn swore at the child who ran away before Barzûn could scold him. Barzûn scowled a bit. It would be twice as hard to try to construct with all of these children around. He hoped the women took care that the small ones did not get in the way once the actual building started. They would have casualties due to accidents if that were the case. Barzûn would make sure that those casualties were not Dwarves.

Some Men greeted Barzûn, giving him a “Good morning”, while others just shot him curious looks. Barzûn grunted in response to the first greeting and just glared back when given the second. Children ran around everywhere as Mothers tried to either call them in for breakfast or just try to gain control of the wild young Humans. Barzûn’s glares managed to keep the children from barreling into him too much in their play.

Humans everywhere, but where were the Dwarves? Barzûn continued to walk and look around. He saw a few Dwarves sitting together eating breakfast. Barzûn’s stomach rumbled as he saw the Dwarves. The first trace of a smile touched his lips when he smelled the food and heard the Dwarves speaking. He forced the smile off his lips and crossed to the Dwarves. No need to show them any weakness on the first day of work.

He spoke to the Dwarves, forcing a more serious demeanor than even he felt. They spoke of work and of building. Finally, one offered him a seat and some breakfast, which Barzûn quickly accepted. He sat down to eat, giving one last glare to a very small child who stopped to stare at the Dwarves, obviously never having seen a Dwarf in his life before. The child went wide-eyed at the glare and ran off to play with the other children again.