Herrman Juwelgriff'l

“Who’s there? I told you I’m reti… Oh, hello Yona, what brings you here, my sweet little one?”, said the old dwarf appearing in the doorway.

“Hello Grandpa! These guys here have traveled all the way from the Edgeregions to come and see you.”, said Yona and pointed behind her.

“Oh? The Edgeregions? That’s an awful long way to see an old dwarf... And who might this adventurous souls be?”, asked Herrman looking at Violet, Alex, Caleb and Cera.

“Master Herrman, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Violet, and this is Alex. Those two are Caleb and Cera. We come here, because Alex and I have… let’s say a little problem and my teacher told me you would be the right person to ask.”, introduced Violet.

“And who might this teacher be, who recommends me as a problem solver?

“Master Yaeon.”

“That old fart?! Okay, I can’t refuse a student of such an old friend. Come, let’s take this inside.”

Herrman opened the door wider and let them in.

“Are you not on duty?”, asked Herrman her granddaughter, who came in as well.

“I am doing my duty right now. I was ordered to be their guide.”

“Ah… want some candy?”

“Oh, yes please!”

Herrman got a small box out of a cupboard and held it out to Yona who immediately took a small candy out from it.

“What about you?”, he looked at the others.

Everybody got some caramel flavored candy and Herrman looked satisfied.

“So, what is this problem you spoke of?”, he asked.

“These.”, answered Violet.

She and Alex presented their Bracelets. Herrman looked at them.

“And what is the problem? Seeing that you have a pair of gnomish Soul Entwining Bracelets, means you two must be soulmates… Is that not a good thing?”, asked the old dwarf

“No… I mean yes… It normally is a good thing…”, said Violet slowly

“Normally?”

“I mean… we are not like that…”

“Like what?”

“Like… lovers… we are not in a romantic relationship…”

Violet noticed that the corners of Yona’s mouth moved slowly and slightly up.

“And what has one to do with the other?”, asked Herrman a bit confused.

“Well, should normally not one imply the other?”, asked Violet back even more confused.

“What? Nonsense… who told you that?”

“Well… Ehm… Your student Yuka showed me this book…”

“That woman! Look… She has a bit of an active fantasy and reads way too much of …that stuff…”

“What stuff?”, asked Yona curiously.

“None for you to worry about, young miss.”, said Herrman stern.

“Oh, grown up stuff… I know about that!”

“Yona, my sweet girl, why don’t you go into the kitchen? I have some hot chocolate on the stove… You can take a cookie too.”

“Can I have two?”

“Yes of course!”

“Yay!”

Yona vanished through a door.

“So… where were we? Ah yes… my dear and imaginative student… Don’t take every word from her at face value, please… I mean, yes, there are probably a lot of soul mates who are lovers, and the Bracelets where mainly used by them, they were made for that purpose after all… That’s why you only read about them in that context, but that does not mean that very good friends can’t be soul mates… The magic in these purely detects the compatibility of the souls, or in other words the very being of one person, not if there is true love. It was just advertised that way, because a lot of people for some reason have the urge to show everybody that they are truly in love and many of them don’t care how much it costs… clever marketing…”, explained Herrman.

“Yeah, those Valetin twins were sly old businessmen…”, added Cera casually.

“Oh? You are very well read, I see… Not many people know of the original creator of those. I’m impressed!”

“Well, I not really know… of, but who cares about semantics, I’ll take the compliment.”, said Cera with a shrug.

“So, that’s why the magic in these activated… we are one of the few people who are just soulmates and not lovers!”, exclaimed Violet.

“Well that you must know yourself. I can’t help you with that.”, said Herrman.

“Is there a way to take it off?”

“Yeah… Not be soulmates anymore…”

“How does one do that?

“I don’t know… and frankly I don’t want to know… do you want to take them off?”

“I… uhm…”

The sound of someone rejoicing came from the other room.

“Oh no… that girl found the other snacks…If you’d excuse me for a bit…”, said Herrman and vanished through the same door.

A few moments he came back with Yona, she had a plate with a piece of apple pie and Gugelhupf.

“Your parents will bite my ear off again, if they find out that I gave you so many sweets before dinner…”, said Herrman.

“Don’t worry Grandpa! I won’t tell them… and I will eat extra much at dinner, so they won’t get suspicious!”, said Yona with the innocence of a granddaughter.

Herrman shook his head.

“Well… I’m sorry but I can’t really tell you more about those bracelets… It’s not really my specialty… If you want, I could try and look around in the library, maybe there is something there… are you staying longer?”, he asked Violet.

“We’ll stay until spring.”, she answered.

“Ah, okay… well, if I find something, I will let you know, but I can’t promise you anything.”

“That’s very nice of you. Thank you, Master Herrman.”

“Just call me Herrman… I’m just a retired old Dwarf that dotes on his cheeky granddaughter, way too much.”

He ruffled Yonas hair a bit.

“Oi, Grandpa! No touching military property on duty!”, she protested.

“So now you are on duty? What about the snacks then?”, he asked.

“That’s different! You have to keep soldiers well fed and happy, after all! That’s basic tactics! And I had Berserker training today as well… so I’m extra hungry.”

“Oh… how is the Training going?”

“Great! I managed to last ten seconds against Master Gorein! A new personal best!”

“That’s my granddaughter! Here, take another Candy.”

“Thanks.”

Yona took another candy with a big grin.

“Well, we better get going then… Thank you very much for you help, Herrman.”, said Violet and stood up.