what do you mean you've never owned a gown before Who: Signy Dagna, Falina Bjyr Where: Vigil's Keep, Amaranthine When: 15 Molioris. Daytime. After the meetings. Summary:Shopping. Serious business here. Rating: G.
Possessed of a little coin to outfit herself for a journey to Redcliffe, Signy had sat down and made a quick, practical list: she would need something warm, as they headed south again, even though she'd been told the weather would only get warmer. Maybe another pair of boots. Other necessities. Her list, compared to the money she'd been appropriated, left her with some coin to spare. (Of course, Signy was calculating prices based on her ability to make the merchants accept less coin than they might have wanted for their goods, but she was very confident in her bargaining skills.)
And she knew just what she wanted to do with that slight surplus, and what she need—well, could justifiably need, and certainly wanted most.
This was what lead her to rapping on the door of the chamber that Falina had been staying in. It was an odd choice of shopping partner, but since the Joining, when Falina had survived despite her youth and tiny size (definitely shorter than Signy was, and scrawny in that Duster way), Signy had been regarding the other dwarven girl in a slightly more serious way. Being a Grey Warden was one more thing they had in common, even if Falina was from Dust Town and was a Duster and was barely more than just a child in Signy's eyes. (It was a convenient time to forget that less than five years separated them and that, at fifteen, Signy had considered herself to be an adult, thank-you-very-much.) But aside from a subtle shift in Signy's perception of the casteless dwarf, so subtle that she was not entirely aware of it, a half-remembered conversation from their long overland journey together was nagging at the back of her mind.
They were around the campfire, somewhere in the southern corner of the Southron Hills, heading for the Brecilian Forest. Signy and Falina were both sitting there, eating dinner, more by accident than anything else. They hadn't been avoiding each other, but the two dwarves hadn't exactly been seeking out each other's company. It was the meal that'd drawn them together, and the chef. He was one of the warriors, Signy was not sure if he was from Gwaren or one of those who had come with the Wardens. She wasn't sure, yet, entirely how to tell.
"The two of you," he said, as he stirred the pot of stew that hung over the fire, "you're so young. Shouldn't you be playing with flowers and putting on pretty gowns, instead of heading off to war?" Signy looked down at her stew, chased a chunk of meat around her bowl with the wooden spoon and then glanced up, sideways, at Falina. She was unsure how to answer, a small part of her wanting simply to say yes, I should. The young Duster, however, had other ideas: quite simply, she replied, "Flowers don't grow underground, and I've never even owned a gown."
She raised her hand and rapped on the door three times.