Hi there! A littel foreword, please ... I am a German, and this is my first story written in English. It's actually translated from the German version I wrote a few years back, so please be gentle with my grammar and syntax 😉
The background of this story was that I questioned myself, why the hell are the beards of dwarves braided and who actually does it at all? So ... have fun! At least I hope You will!

Dwarves never forget!
(or Torbal‘s beard knew more)

Gondrim Stonearm turned a moment , when he heard the soft sound of boots grinding little stones underneath. Torbal Mountainson closed the distance between them, while he again watched some clan-beardlings, as they gathered dwarf by dwarf in the training-area of the big cave.

Velvet-beards, the lot of them! Grondrim mumbled unheard into his beard.
Within the cave there where hundreds of such little groups like his and they grow by the hour, in numbers and size. Torbal and Gondrim where veterans and would be responsible for the next year to train some of these wanna-be-clan-warriors.
The “weekly refreshment training”, as this was usually called humorously among the elders, was a maneuver that has been on the schedule for every ten years, lasting one year, so dwarves often joked, that they were pulled away weekly from more important tasks in a decade’s fashion.
But every dwarf knew about the importance of this training. To know theoretically what to do in a battle was one thing – and dwarves never forgot anything, as everyone knows – but to react without hesitation to an endless number of orders in an actual battle was completely another mine!
Thousands of dwarves reacting like one to protect their holds from enemies was more important than life to the dawi. There where Urks and Grobi, but also Skaven and nowadays also some penetrant treasure-hunters as well as other s"I swear too much".
And there was seemingly a never ending streams of s"I swear too much". What do these Velvet-beards know about? Gondrim thought again, letting his eyes sweep across the groups filling the cave. He recognized many of the young ones but even now, after just ten years, he couldn’t find some others, which should be here already. He had heard stories of fightings outside the holds a few years ago and knew some names of fallen comrades, he will see again only when he would join his ancestors in the great cave at the end of time. He sighed. Endless streams of scum indeed. So it was all the more important to show these beardlings something about battles. He intend to find out more from his friends from other holds during this training.
But still there was a bit of time until the traditional speech has to be made to the new and also the older clan-warriors, so Grondrim could exchange a few words with his old friend Torbal firsthand. The training cave where the only place they met since about the last hundred and fifty years. They were close friends, though they saw each other only in this place, but in battle they would fight alongside like brothers. During every training there was much to tell about, while the young ones would stumble across their own feet and weapons. Gondrims beard was a deep black, but during the last century it got more and more streaks of white into it, giving it a shimmer of grey and silver.

His beard washold together with beautiful ribbons and metallic pearls of various kind – so called Izrilaki – into many wonderful braids, which itself were knotted together into thicker braids.
Every clan has got its own colors and code of dresses which repeated itself in their beards, These codes exists since the dawn of dawi, so it was told. But apart from some main clan-colors and main braiding themes there was fashion, too, to made some of these knots, braids and the use of ribbons. And now that was the domain of the beloved wifes of the dwarves – if they had one, that is – to braid the beards of their husbands, when they would go out for longer periods. Among dwarven society – at least according to the women - it was very important to be up to date with colors and ribbons! And according to Gondrim’s beard “cave-cherry” and “apple-mushroom, striped” was the thing and a must have within his clan.
But not only fashion and clanwise tradition were to be seen in a beard, also other things! If you know about beards – and dwarves usually do – You could tell, that Gondrim was married for over 30 years now. Her name was Bryna, she was called that because her hair was golden like the best gold ever found, therefore Bryna from bryn, a very pure form of golden ore.
Gondrim thoughtfully run his hand over his beard, especially he nuzzled his golden Izrilak at the seventh braid of his middle main-braid, which told of the birth of his daughter at the seventeenth year of his marriage. A small braid at his lower lip stood for the fourth decade started.

Bryna and he got this Izrilak as a gift from friends, because female-children were rare within dwarves society. They both were terribly proud of her little sunshine and she even got the golden blond hair of her mother! So ever since Bryn braided his beard like this – in dependence of actual fashion not to forgot! – to let everyone know about it, so that others too could participate to their happiness. Little Brynsdottir was their precious all over, their one and only Uz-zaraz. Hair of female dwarves was braided very similar, although due to the weight of metal pearls often just with ribbons of various kinds. Unbraided hair was to be seen among dwarves only within friends and relatives … or it just meant you simply weren’t married.

There were for example agriluz, galazu and mithriluz Izrilaki, saying silver, golden or mithrilian pearls and others of less valuable metal. Silver stood usually for male children, gold for female. Only when in even more rare cases twins were born a mithrillian pearl was to be braided into the beards. There were even some rules, when it was allowed to ask for children, cause one never know what sad story there was hidden behind some births of children.
The etiquette says, that if some dwarf did play seemingly thoughfully with his pearls it was proper to ask. Some females even seem to know that it was rude not to.
Gondrim knew of only one dwarf, whom he met during some exchange-training in another distant clan-cave decades ago and that dwarf got the most wonderful mithrillian pearl he has ever seen in life. Both pearls were even of finest gravings and the very proud owner told him, that he got these mithriluz Izrilakis from the king of his hold himself.
At that time these pearls were the finest he could ever imagine and he believed he would never again see something more beautiful in life. But now he remembered the first laughing of his babbling little daughter and there surely couldn’t be something more beautiful than this, now could it? And fourteen years ago he wouldn’t thought this possible.

But there were other things a beard could tell to the attentive reader! Gondrim’s beard had some pearls made of iron and copper, too, anguz Izrilaki and izoruz Izrilaki. And he even got some made of stone. They were of different size and there were so many valuable and not so valuable materials and ores Izrilaki could be made of and could be used. And then there were so many good and bad years in a marriage … better ones and worse ones. The finer an Izrilaki was the more and better the year of marriage. However, not every wedding day was to be represented with a pearl. It often was made to show some very special years. Each Izrilaki was stored and if need be taken out and braided into a beard. This could be good, but also it couldn’t, since it also depends on the wife’s mood while braiding the beard. And wife’s tend to forget even less than ordinary dwarves, all the more so when they are able to have a look at all the Izrilakis of long forgotten years.
For sure every dwarf want its beards as decent as possible, married ones even more so, but if a married dwarf mess things up it was visible in his beard, since females always braided the beards in a marriage. So a beard could tell a fellow dwarf EVERYTHING.
The amount of Izrilaki tell everyting about the ongoings in a dwarven marriage, about hard times as well as about the more quiet ones. And that is not the end. Even the way a braid was knoted was important. It simply told everything about everything, how a dwarf treat his beloved wife.

So, in Grondrims beards there were a lot of Izrilaki, with colorful ribbons braided into wonderful bigger braids. He had some good years, but also some bad ones. Years with much trouble and many arguments with his wife. It wasn’t easy to care for a dwarven household. Dwarven life wasn’t easy anyway, much less for females, when their beloved ones were away for years and very often decades.
But especially the last twentycade was a very good one, very harmonic and very lovingly., crowned with the birth of his daughter fourteen years ago. So Gondrims beard has been graced with loving knots and braids and even more Izrilaki of all sorts. Even Bryn’s decoration of her hair has besome more and more wonderful.

But Gondrim wouldn‘t see his wife often during the next year, if at all, so the farewell has been very emotional after the last wonderful decade. Though he would never have admitted this to these Velvet-Beards, maybe not even to his closest friends.
However especially the fine braidings, knots and ribbons to tell a lot about his marriage and even more so these knots were telling a distinctive story to all fellow dwarves. The way, the knots were done, do tell about a very caring and loving relationship. But even that do increase the respect among dwarves. Because the more complex and intricate the knot was, the more … well … since last night there was another very intricate knot seen in his beard and his thoughts wandered back a moment.

But now Torbal was beside and they greeted each other like they have met just yesterday. Torbal carefully tried not to touch his beard. It looked somewhat cared for, but somehow more rustled and messed up, too, almost scrubby of some sort. On the edge of looking unmarried, to be honest! thought Gondrim and luckily his beard made his smile nearly unseen, so Torbal could well pretend to actually not have seeing it, therefore having not to react upon it.
Torbal had married lately, just short of a decade ago and obviously he was father of a little fellow. A ribbon with a beautiful agriluz Izrilaki was holding together two of his braids. But the way they were knotted told a lot. The braids looked a little loose and they were straight, very straight. Nearly not worth calling them knotted at all. Actually only the most necessary knots were made.

“Everything well at home?” he asked quietly. Looking meanfully at his friend’s beard.
“Ah, well, you know, my little one, havent’t slept at all a few weeks now. And what with this training, my work and all, you know how it is.” Torbal mumbled.
Gondrim nodded with understanding, because Torbal was the chief-tunnelmaster of the first order in his clan, so he got an awful lot to do.
“So?” Gondrim didn’t intend to let his friend off the hook so easily.
“ … and last week was our wedding anniversary!“ Torbal carried on.
Gondrim lifted an eyebrow.
“I forgot it like a dumb Werit!” whispered Torbal and looked to either side, so that none of the Velvet-Beards might hear.

Gondrim nodded sympathetically and thought about what hell of a week this must have been for Torbal. Better fight a bunch of Grobi, than dealing with a grudgy wife at home, he thought. Yes, there were good years, but also bad ones.
But for now they had talked enough and the speech was soon about to begin. They would have much time to talk about all this and other news.

agril = silver
ang = something of iron, an iron piece of work
bryn = gold, looking exceptional well, special brightness
galaz = gold
izor = copper
Izril = jewls
mithril = mithril
ut = us

grammar invented
agriluz = made of silver
anguz = made of iron
galazuz = made of gold
izoruz = made of copper
Izrilaki = little e.g. metallic pearls in a beard
mithriluz = made of mithril