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Gimli hasn't been in the Bar sine he tacked up the notice for Sabin Rene Figaro and Captain Reynolds that their commissions were done, but he's there now, with breakfast. One cannot eat in one's master's kitchens all the time.

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"No, all about even. I mean, some are slightly more powerful or more wealthy, but most are, about the same. Ambergeldar might be a little bit more so, but my--some of the others are close."

One eyebrow goes up at that; the girl is beginning to be almost transparent, really. "I see. Well, I suppose that makes sense, for trading if for nothing else."

"I suppose so," she agrees. "Though I've never thought much about trading. It is very important, I suppose. For any country."

Yes, she's relaxed. The Ordinary Princess tends to this up when she's relaxed. Or tired. Or talking to royalty. Or not paying attention.

Well, that happens. The race of Men isn't always as wary as they ought to be.

"It's a thing we dwarves keep close in our thoughts," Gimli says, "since we've small skill as farmers of anything but the odd bit of grain or mushroom. We trade back and forth with whatever Men might live near our cities- our skills and craft for their grown food. Saves us both quite a bit of trouble."

"That makes sense," she says. "I think of these kingdoms are have pretty good farmland, though. I know Phanta--oh, bother."

The Ordinary Princess gives up.

"I'm not from Ambergeldar," she says. "And I didn't start out as a kitchen maid."

"I expected it might be something like that," Gimli says. "Although I might note that since I know none of the countries of your world, you might have said you were from anywhere at all and I'd have had no reason to think you false."

"I suppose. I do live in Ambergeldar, and I am a kitchen maid. I'm not being false, I promise. I just left some things out. Like a lot of things. Like the fact that I'm, um, well, I'm a princess."

Gimli's brows rise a bit at that, but he nods. "I've known heirs to thrones to go abroad in disguise before," he says, "but generally it's men. Is there some reason for this guise of yours?"

"Oh, I'm not the heir, I'm the youngest. The seventh princess. Yes, I have a reason for leaving, and for not going back to Phantasmorania -- a very good one. A dragon."

If Gimli's brows weren't up before, they sure are now. "Indeed?" he asks. "You too? My family and our kinsfolk were driven from our mountain home by one long ago."

"I'm very sorry to hear that," she says, and she means it. "But this isn't quite like that. My parents were planning to hire one. To, um, lay waste to the countryside."

"... I think," Gimli says slowly, "that we must have different dragons. The ones back home aren't generally for hire."

"Big things, fly, breath fire, sort of like lizards. I didn't think you could hire one, either, but that was my parents' plan. Lock me in tower, hire a dragon, wait for a prince to slay the dragon, and then he's have to marry me. Because no one wanted to, because I am Ordinary." She's quite proud of being Ordinary.

"Mmm. Most of our dragons are that sort of creature, though we've a few cold-drakes that can't breathe fire..." Gimli shakes his head. "It must be a clever prince indeed that they wanted. I've only ever heard of one dragon-slayer in my lifetime, and he struck down Smaug by archery. All the others in the stories had to have armies with them to even draw close to the things. But I see no reason why being Ordinary should be such a problem as all that."

She sighs. "I think your dragons must be harder to kill than ours. Any old run-of-the-mill prince can do it. And I'm supposed to be like a princess. Beautiful, and blonde, and very very . . . demur. Proper. And I'm not. So suitors would come visit, and then they'd leave, the next day. And my parents thought that this was their best chance at avoiding a spinster in the family. And I found out, and I ran away. It isn't fair. Not to me, not to the prince, or the countryside, or the dragon."

Gimli frowns a bit at this. "The only fair-haired princess I know," he says, "was the Lady Eowyn; the king of Rohan had no daughter, but she was his sister's child, and near enough the throne that he set her to ruling the people when he rode to war. I might note that she disguised herself as a man and went to battle herself, in time. Married a fellow she met in the Houses of Healing when she was recovering from her wounds. You seem a bit small yet for hard labour like that, though."

"I'll be seventeen in the spring," she says. "And I'm from a pretty peaceful world, there really aren't any battles. And honestly, I'm starting to think that all royalty runs away from home at some point. Most of the royalty I've met here have at one point or another."

She smiles. "What are princesses like in Middle-earth?"

"Among the humans?" Gimli thinks. "I know the lady Eowyn, of course. The lady Arwen Evenstar is... like to no other, really, but she's more of elf-blood than she is of Men's. Eomer, king of Rohan, wed the sister of a prince; the lady Lothiriel was tall and dark-haired, but fair-skinned and grey-eyed. Spent her days in weaving and song-craft, from what I understand. The folk of her city, Dol Amroth, were much given to singing anyway. Among my own folk there's small difference between the king's children and any other's, but then again, among my own folk there's small enough difference between the princesses and the princes." He smiles a bit. "There are those in Middle-earth who say dwarves have no womenfolk, which is untrue. We do, but they look so like to the men that none of the other peoples may tell them apart on sight."

The Ordinary Princess likes to listen to Gimli talk about Middle-earth. He's an excellent storyteller ~~and compliments to the mun for that~~.

"They really think you have women among the dwarves?" She giggles. "Your princesses sound rather more interesting than princesses in my world are supposed to be."

[ooc: Must run -- can we leave them to pick this up another time?]

[OOC: No problem!]

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