“Good morning.”

Dimi yawned. She opened her eyes and saw Ivan looking down at her. She sat up on her bed and looked at the window. The sky was dark and orange.

“But it’s only sunrise.“ She yawned again.

“That’s right. It’s time for work.” Ivan smiled.

“Work?“ Dimi rubbed her eyes. “I thought you were going to train me.“

“Right again. First part of my training is to teach you some discipline.” Ivan gently took a hold on one of Dimi’s hands and pointed at the palm of it. “Your hands are fine and delicate. They have never been used to perform hard, honest work. We are about to do something about that. You are gonna need these.” He gave her a pair of working-gloves that were a bit too big.

Dimi wasn’t sure what was going on. But she had promised to do as she was told, so she got dressed for the day and followed the minotaur outside.

They went to the well outside the house.

“I need water for when I work in the forge.“ Ivan pointed at the little building next to the house. “So get it for me while I work. Use the handle to slowly sink the bucket to the bottom, then slowly turn the opposite way to get it up again. Empty the bucket into THAT bucket that’s next to the well and carry it to me and I will give you an empty one so you can go back to the well and start over. And don’t worry.” Ivan smiled. “I fetched you a stool to stand on so you can reach the handle. Enjoy!“

Ivan went to the forge as he whistled. Dimi looked at the well. She felt overwhelmed. But the water wasn’t going to come to her by itself, so she stood up on the stool and lowered the bucket into the water which was relatively easy. Getting the heavy bucket now full of water up again proved to be a challenge.

Ivan took a quick glance at his new helper. Dimi clenched her eyes as she fought with the well handle.

“She will give up in an hour or so.“ He said to himself as he put on his own gloves and began to work.

***

It had been two hours.

Dimi sat on the ground, leaning up against the well. Her arms felt like jelly.

“Girl! I need more water!“ Ivan yelled from the forge. “Chop-chop!“

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Dimi sighed as she stood up and poured the water from the well’s bucket into the one she was supposed to carry to Ivan. She then lifted the bucket with both hands and slowly walked to the forge.

“Took you long enough.“ Ivan was working on a pitchfork. “Get another bucket for the kitchen. Then I will show you how to boil eggs, which will be one of your daily jobs.“

The little princess took one of the empty buckets and left the forge without complaining. Something that surprised the bull-man. She was as slow as he had expected. But much more stubborn than he thought she would be.

“She is her mother’s child.“ Ivan mumbled for himself. “That could be a problem.”

***

It had been three days.

Dimi had gotten into a fierce war with the windows of the house. Ivan had explained how to clean them and showed her the technique, but she seemed to only be able to smudge them.

As Dimi annoyed dried up the wooden frame of the window, she noticed that there was a pattern in the wood. Rose pattern. Dimi dropped her rag and placed her bucket on the floor and went to the kitchen table. She had thought it was scratches she had seen on it, but it was flower carvings.

“Girl! Are you slacking on me?“

Dimi turned around and saw that Ivan had entered the house with a basket of giant eggs. “I’m just taking a little break.” Dimi frowned. “I saw these flower patterns-”

“Dimi, you can’t just take a break because you feel like it.” Ivan placed the basket on the table. “I gave you a job while I went to go get our dinner. And if I can’t trust you to do as I say just because I’m not here-”

“I know, I know. It’s just...” Dimi sighed. “It’s just... the flower. They look like the ones in my bedroom. You know... my real bedroom.”

“Oh...” Ivan all of a sudden found it difficult to be a disciplinary hard-ass.

“They are so tiny, but pretty.” Dimi took off her glove and touched the carved-in flower with her fingertip. “Did you make them?”

“Who, me? No. HA! No.” Ivan shook his head at himself. “I was never the artist in the family. My grandpa decorated most of the furniture and whatever wooden in the house when my family moved in here. Sure, my dad could carve animals. But my grandpa, he was a magician with a knife.” Ivan pointed at the fireplace. “There is a picture of him over there. His name is Ferdinand.”

Above the fireplace was an illustration of a minotaur in a wooden frame. The frame had pretty little flowers carved into it. The bull-man in the illustration had long horns, his hair was ginger and some of his long hair that hung like a damaged curtain over his eyes and round glasses. The old minotaur smiled and held a block of wood in one hand and a knife in the other that he used to cut the block.

Dimi looked at the picture. “He looks nice.”

Ivan smiled. “He was. He was more than nice. And there has probably never been a finer blacksmith or woodcarver.” Ivan smiled as he thought of the old ox. Then he coughed. “But don’t change the subject. You get those windows clean and then help me with dinner. Chop-chop!”

Dimi blushed. “But I was-”

“What part of chop-chop is it you don’t get, young lady? You promised me no whining, remember?”

Dimi mumbled something less than polite as she fetched her rag and bucket and went back to work.

***

It had been five days.

“Alright, I think we better have a talk about money.”

Dimi sat at one end of the little kitchen table and Ivan sat at the other. In front of him on the table was an apple, a pot, and a coin purse.

“I’m pretty sure you never had money problems at the castle, so I just want to be sure you have an idea what money is worth.“ Ivan held one of the coins in his hands. “This coin is called a coronet. One of these…“ He pointed at the apple. “… can get you an apple. You get it?“

Dimi nodded.

“Okay. Good.“ Ivan showed her four coins of different sizes. “Small ones are worth one coronet. The ones slightly bigger are worth five. The ones bigger than the fiver are worth ten coronets. And the biggest here is worth twenty. Do you follow me?”

Dimi nodded again.

Ivan pointed at the pot. “This pot cost me 120 coronets.”

“So... it’s worth 120 apples?”

Ivan narrowed his eyes for a second before nodding. “Yeah, kinda.”

Dimi kept nodding. “I get it. The bigger or more valuable something is, the more coronets you have to give up in exchange.”

“Exactly. Coronets I have to earn first by either repairing or making things for people.“

Dimi nodded once more.

“So the answer is no.“ Ivan cleaned the table for objects. “We are not going to buy a griffin so we can get fresh eggs since one of those guys costs about 5000 coronets. 5000 apples! And we would have to feed it and take care of that damn thing. So we will keep buying eggs from Aura’s farm.“

Then they had dinner. Dimi cleaned up after the meal and went to bed.

She laid in her bed and stared up at the ceiling.

She wanted to cry, but she did not dare to.

***

It had been a week.

Dimi washed her dirty face in one of the buckets she was supposed to bring to Ivan. Some dwarf woman with burned clothes was inside his blacksmith and was discussing something with him. Dimi had been told to wait outside, but she had heard the word flying when she left the forge. So while Ivan had to take a break from his work to talk with the dwarf, Dimi had a chance to clean her face. She tried to wash her hair as well, but that was a mistake. She missed baths. She had never truly understood how awesome hot water and soap were till she moved in with Ivan.

“Um... hey.”

Dimi looked up from her bucket of water. At the other side of the well stood a girl. She was shorter than Dimi, but looked a bit more square in built. She had medium length curly hair. Her chin had small hairs that were curly as well. She had a stuffed rabbit she tugged into her chest as she looked awkwardly at Dimi.

“Hey?” Dimi waved at the little girl with the beard.

The dwarf kid took a step to the left, still looking shy. “Are you... Ivan’s kid?”

“Ivan is not my dad!” Dimi snapped at the girl who took a step backward. Dimi felt guilty right away. “I’m sorry. I just... live here.”

The dwarf girl tilted her head. “Are you a human? I never seen one before.”

“Yeah...” Dimi tied her hair in tails, even though it was still a bit wet. “So... um...” Dimi realized she hadn’t seen anyone but Ivan for days. And this was someone her own age. “I like your beard.”

The dwarf girl stopped looking scared and smiled. She scratched her tiny beard. “My mom says that I’m lucky. Most dwarfs don’t get beards till they turn twelve.” She looked at Dimi. “Your hair is yellow and pretty. I’m Amethyst.”

Dimi blushed and grinned. “My name is Dimi.”

The dwarf girl Amethyst walked closer to Dimi and held up her rabbit doll. “This is Whiskers. I sewed him myself.”

“That is so cool!” Dimi looked at the stuffed toy. “I wish I could-”

“Amethyst!” The woman dwarf with the burned clothes, a full-grown beard and wearing a pair of goggles stepped outside the forge. “We have to get home, little salt-rock.” She spotted Dimi and smiled. She offered her a hand with burn marks on it. “Well, you must be new in Jadedale. I’m Agate, Amethyst’s mom.”

“Hello, ma'am.” Dimi shook the big dwarf hand with her little one.

“Mom, can Dimi come and play with me?” Amethyst asked.

“Sweetie, I think she works right now. Right, Dimi?” Agate asked the little human.

“Yeah, but maybe I could ask Ivan to let me visit you? Would that be okay, ma'am?”

Agate giggled. “What a polite young lady. You can come visit us anytime you like, Ivan knows where we live.”

Dimi smiled from one ear to the other as she waved goodbye to Amethyst and her mom.

“Girl.” Dimi turned and looked up at Ivan who had his arms crossed. “What do you think you are doing? I need water and we are wasting daylight.”

Dimi picked up the bucket. “Ivan, could I visit Amethyst and play with her?”

“That depends...” Ivan stepped inside the forge with Dimi. “Do you want me to teach you how to fight?”

“Um... yes?”

“Then you will work when I say so and not waste your time.”

Dimi glared at the big minotaur. “You are such a... such a... a...”

“I’m such a what?” Ivan picked up his hammer and started hitting red-hot steel. “Speak up, what am I?”

Dimi opened her mouth, then closed it. Then, she just moped. “Nothing...” she mumbled. Then, she went back to the well.

Ivan watched her stomp in annoyance. He was sure she was about to blow up.

Just as he had planned.