A terrible marriage

Far away in the iron hills, there lived an old dwarf by the name of Vitnar. Very little dwarf younglings knew him, because he withdrew easily in his home, resting and sparing his back which troubled him due age. Nonetheless, as creaky as his bones were, he was a dwarf of large stature, temperamental and war-like in his young years. He had seen many wars and conflicts, and many a foe feared his dark axe, while his black hair waved in the sky. But as fearsome as he was, he was not rude or brash. Although he had a conservative mind, he proved intelligent and worked himself up as a young dwarf into the ranks of commander. And so he led his men into the great battle of Azanulbizar, and came out a veteran.

One of the tales recounted that Vitnar, who was respected but hard and merciless for his soldiers, led his small company into the snowy hills near the Mirrormere. At the behest of Náin, son of Grór, the 15th company of the third division made a deadly pursuit of Ragúzul, a cruel orc who harassed the seven armies among the pines of the mountains and gained fame as the snowy reaver. At last, Vitnar and his men found the enemy and their reputable commander and outnumbering them the dwarves drove them on a hill. Skirmishes occurred, but finally Vitnar concluded that the force of the fearsome orc was too great, his associates too wicked, the snow too deep and the hill too steep. He saw many of his good men fall and then he ordered to fiercely hold a barricade, seeing after it that the left flank of his company did not get exposed when his soldiers would try to shelter behind the shield of their neighbors. He cried out loud that none of the vile orcs were permitted to break the line and escape, and declared enmity to Ragúzul. And so it happened that Ragúzul and his men were besieged for three days and three nights, and instead of a much anticipated battle they remained on the hill without any protection of the trees and they froze to death. From that day on, the commander of the 15th company returned as Vitnar Winterbreeze.

But alas, that was a tale of long ago and despite his greatness, Vitnar Winterbreeze was now old, weared and forgotten. Now it happened that his nephew Kjelfi lived together with his wife Fridis in the halls of Thorin. Unfortunately the marriage was not well and the pair was extremely at odds with each other. Fridis accused Kjelfi of not taking their marriage seriously, and Kjelfi discovered that Fridis had contact with another. To top it all off, the two strenuously squabbled about money. Despite all of this, Kjelfi still loved Fridis, but when his wife announced that she would request a divorce, Vitnars nephew went into a spasm and panicked.

In all circumstances, dwarves are very serious in their marriages and think very well about when they do it. It is then most unusual, that is to say exceptional, that a divorce occurred and it was a disgrace to Kjelfi. Heartbroken, he sent a letter to his uncle, begging him to talk in on his wife to change her mind.

Vitnar was a very simple dwarf, preferring the comforts of home and not saying more than what needs to be said. But when he received the letter of his desperate nephew, he did not doubt a second, packed the most necessary items and with little steps and his old bones he slowly traveled from the iron hills to the lands of the north and the great east road. It was at last that he arrived almost at his nephew, with surprisingly few incidents on the road, in an early watch-post of the colony, known as Gondamon.