The Dwarves of Primrose

Unsure of what Cedric meant by that, Talia followed him as he held her hand in a tight warm grip and strode out the front doors.

The frigid blast of cold hit her as soon as the doors opened.

Cedric reached out and gathered the front of her cloak, fastening them together.

"Your cloak is not warm enough for this kind of weather. I will have warmer clothing made for you as soon as possible. It's too cold here."

He held her hand and they walked together down a freshly shoveled path towards a house that was not more than fifty yards away.

As they walked, their footprints crunched into the fresh new snow that fell on the path that had barely been shoveled mere minutes before.

Within minutes of their passage, their footprints had all but vanished as more snow fell over any signs of their passing.

The wood house that was mere yards away began to look farther and farther as the snow got thicker and thicker. At the speed which Cedric moved, they reached the doorway in no time.

Cedric reached out his hand to knock on the door but immediately withdrew as the door sprang open on its own accord.

"Yes?" A voice called out from below.

They looked down.

What seemed like the door opening on its own was actually the door being opened by a dwarf not much taller than three feet high.

"Is Master Euclid in?"

The dwarf sighed and backed away as he held the door wide open.

"Come in."

The two of them entered, looking around. At 6'2", Cedric was quite tall, almost scraping the top of the ceiling.

The house was made for a dwarf to live in, with a small comfortable floral covered couch in one corner with its matching armchair and a rectangular coffee table.

Over by the black pot belly stove was a cute little rocking chair partially covered with a hand-crocheted afghan. The stove had a nice hot fire going that was warm enough to keep the entire house cozy.

Next to the tiny kitchen on their left was a small oak dining table with four chairs painted in bright cheerful colors of red, yellow, blue, and green.

There was a smell of apple pie and roast pork in the air, and on the table was a half-finished bottle of port with a dwarf-sized crystal goblet.

"I would ask you to sit, but as you can see, you people are too large for my furniture." The dwarf waved his hand in a vague gesture.

"I would also ask if you want some of my port, but I only have one glass and I don't want to share." He rolled his eyes.

"So what is it that you want. Make it quick because it's time for my dinner. And before you ask, no I do not share my dinner either!"

He held out his hand in protest even though Cedric and Talia still hadn't said a word.

"There is not enough for two big people like you to share."

The dwarf's mouth drew into a tight line as he stood there with his short arms crossed over his portly chest. He was dressed in a cheery bright red outfit looking like some grumpy short Santa Claus on a rampage.

Cedric took a deep breath. Talia could tell he was trying not to laugh.

"As I said. I am looking for Master Euclid. Would that be you?"

"Harrumph. Of course not. I am Master Euclid's General Assistant. He is currently out doing his rounds and will be back in about an hour."

"I see. I guess we'll just have to hang out here and wait until he returns."

By now, Talia was sure Cedric was humoring this foul-mouthed dwarf for the fun of it just to see how far his asinine behavior went.

"Wait. What? I just told you he will be back in an hour. Just come back in an hour."

"Hmm. But what if we come back and miss Master Euclid again? We definitely need to speak with him as this is very important."

"What could possibly be so important that you cannot come back in an hour?" The dwarf scowled.

"For starters, it's snowing quite hard. The path between this house and the inn may not be easily passable, which means we would have to have the groundskeeper dig twice." Cedric reasoned calmly.

"If we simply remain here, then the groundskeeper will only have to dig once to get us back to the inn."

The dwarf scratched his nose as he considered Cedric's explanation.

"Fair enough." He pointed to the corner near the pot bell stove. "You can go stand over there. There's no chair so you'll have to stand but at least it's warm in that corner."

Cedric gave Talia an amused look and headed over to the corner that they had been so graciously allowed to stand in.

'I hope you don't mind we wait for a bit,' Cedric murmured into her mind. 'This dwarf is too funny not to hang around and see what he does.'

Talia said nothing, merely laughed as she stood beside Cedric. She was simply grateful for the warmth of the fire, and stuck as they were in this small village, what else was there to do but hang around and observe the place?

The wait turned out to be less than fifteen minutes.

With the stomping of feet and pounding of the wood porch out front, two dwarves similar in size to grouchy Santa hauled a bundle of wood and a bag of food into the house.

The first one wore blue denim from top to toe. He seemed to be quite a bit older than the other two and had a kinder, more gentle countenance.

The second dwarf wore green overalls and a large green jacket. He seemed to be a lumbering sort of dwarf, quick to smile and slow to anger.

Gentle Blue brought the bundle of wood into the interior.

"Ho ho! Who do we have here?" He placed the bundle of wood in a bin near the pot belly stove and turned to Cedric and Talia.

"Why, if it isn't the Grand Duke of Faria and his mate, the Countess Talia of Cerulea." He gave a flourish with his hands and offered them a deep bow.

"Grand—Grand Duke?" Red Grouchy Santa stuttered, his face turning a whiter shade of pale.

"York, do you ever get out?" Gentle Blue turned to him with an admonishing look. "The Grand Duke and his Lady have been staying at the Primrose Inn for a couple of days now."

York, the grouchy red dwarf pressed his lips together into a thin line and looked at the floor.

"I didn't know. They came looking for you, Master Euclid, so I told them to come in and stand in the corner."

Gentle Blue, who had now been identified to Talia as Master Euclid shook his head with rue.

"I do apologize, Your Royal Highness. My underlings have rocks for brains." He indicated at the small couch. "Please have a seat. It's a bit small, but it will hold both of you."

Cedric smiled. "No need. We will be leaving soon. We just wanted to know how to turn the clock tower off. My mate is having a bit of trouble sleeping because her room is directly below the clock tower."

Master Euclid shook his head.

"We can't turn it off. There is a very good reason why we can't, but it will take a little time to explain it all."

Cedric smile. "We're stuck here in Primrose for the duration of the blizzard. We have nothing but time."