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Fléin stood around awkwardly before heading off to talk to Wilhelmina. All these new people worried him. Wilhelmina was safe, and was standing off to one side, talking to Mr Swanky.
"How's he doing, Wilhelmina?" he asked softly as he approached, moving out of the gaggle of people introducing themselves to one another.
"Eh?" she replied non-descriptively.
"Mr Swanky? Since Queen Quon... fell," he euphemised.
"Oh, he's been doing fine. That kitten you brought into this world seems to have distracted him sufficiently."
"Really?" he asked, surprised. "I hadn't given a moment's thought to it. Where is she then?"
In reply, Wilhelmina pointed at her hat.
"Listen, Wilhelmina..." he started, but stopped abruptly. Had he just imagined that? Had Sai just slipped her hand into Alli's?
They spent so much time together too. Horror of horrors, could they be... lesbians?
Fléin was immediately repulsed. Mahal hadn't created female dwarves to be with female dwarves. It was bad enough that they flaunted their gender for all to see, these Humans - but this! It crossed his mind for a second that Mahal hadn't actually created Men, nor had he meant for Dwarves to feel for them, but he dismissed this. Evil was only evil when he wasn't commiting it.
"Yes?" the whimsical voice of Wilhelmina floated over him, bringing him back to reality. He looked at her and frowned, lost in thought. "You were saying...?" she continued.
"Oh. Oh... Nothing of importance, Wilhelmina. Let's go meet these new people, shall we? Get a sense of what's what?"
She signified her consent, and the pair wandered off together, Fléin keeping half an eye on Sai and Alli. Maybe he had imagined it, after all. Alli was staring hungrily at Aimé, while trying hard not to appear to be staring hungrily at him. Who should they introduce themselves to? "That man covered in boilers and bathtubs seems quite an interesting chap," Wilhelmina answered his unvoiced question conversationally. Perhaps they were forming a psychic bond? He revelled at the though.
The Saucepan Man, or Spam, as he was commonly known, did turn out to be quite an interesting chap. He had apparently been named for his helmet of saucepan (Fléin was reminded of the Cap-Tin Sparrow), but upon his way to Mordor, there had been a poor translation of some sort. He wandered off into metaphysical possibilities and quantum physics, leaving the two a little lost, but much comforted in their intellectual new friend. He could be a strong ally in this village. Once his little spiel was over, they discussed this and that long into the night, and he thankfully kept both his feet firmly on the ground.
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The next morning, faced with horror the likes of which they had not contemplated, they huddled together instinctively. Already, clans were forming.
Those potential-lesbians looked quite suspicious in Fléin's eyes. They probably had some sort of satanic deal with Morgoth himself, usurpers of family ideals that they were. Potentially. He'd be keeping an eye on them, that was sure enough.
"Wait a second... Will we actually be killed? That wasn't in the contract!" he heard Sai yelp. And so it began.
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