"Fjolla!" you shout back at them, "recite the Rule of Pride for me, up to it!"
"No more than one item may carry the same combination of runes?" she shouts back in confusion.
"Was that a question beardling? Don't know the rules of the career you're entering, do you? Why, old Hroki would be rolling in his grave if he were here to witness this!" You shout back.
Despite their best efforts, you can hear them whispering to each other despite being a good 7 meters ahead of them.
"Oh? Cavorting with your fellow apprentice? Well Dolgi, spit it out then!"
"Master, the Rune of Pride says for each creation to be unique, bu-but we saw you engrave the same three runes on five different axes."
You slow down and turn to look at them both, eyes narrowed.
Best to let them stew and think they did something foolish, never seen anything funnier than a beardling try and backtrack. But alas, the moment can't last forever.
"Why now, was that a question that was a quarter of the way to halfway decent coming from one of you? My, my, maybe the both of you will make your first rune in this century if you keep it up! Well, I will grace you both with the answer...after you recite all of the rules of the runes to me, in unison! Up to it!"
They begin shouting the second you finish turning your head back around. Already you can hear Dolgi stutter and force the two of them to restart.
More than enough time to get to where you were going, and more importantly to come up with an answer that would make sense to them.=
…
"- Nor do they copy other Runesmith's work except as an apprentice!" they finish together just as the both of them reach the bottom of the hill where you were waiting.
"Bah! I could've done that chant a good 5 minutes faster than the both you! Let that be a lesson, coordination is key when working with more than just yourself, don't go in with the ingredients for a rune of warding when your partner was chiselling a rune of preservation, you understand?"
"Yes master!" they shout back.
"Bah! Now, you're question. Sit down and listen good beardlings, because this is important," you say seriously while directing them to a bare rock.
"The rule of pride is tricky and takes a fair bit of knowhow to understand and navigate. For example, did you count the number of Runes of Light in your hold? Probably not, but you can be damn sure that there were far more light runes than there were runesmiths. Does that mean whoever chiselled all those runes broke the Third Rule? Yes and no. In the literal sense yes they did, but unless you're a puritan, most other runesmiths have as well. On the other hand, using up every combination of the light rune is a waste of ingredients and ironically ends up with you getting closer and closer to breaking the Third Rule with little to show for it. Imagine wasting a rune to light a latrine, just so you could say you didn't break the Third Rule. And only ever making one Rune of Light is about as useful as a babe in the mine. Utter nonsense. Now, before you ask, yes, the apprentice technically can go past that one use rule, but no dwarf in their right mind is gonna pay for an apprentice to do something. So do you see the issue?" you say, waiting for one of them to reply.
"It's a question of doing what's practical and what was told to us?" Fjolla replies, brows scrunched up in confusion.
Heh, there's the bit of Hroki she inherited. Not the brow thanks the Ancestors, Hroki could bludgeon a dwarf with that, no she had the same crinkle whenever she got confused.
"Not horrendous, but still worse than terrible," you praise her, " It's a question of what's good for the hold and what's good for honouring the ancestors. You do good by aiding the hold, all those Runes of Light pay off in the long run, less fuel wasted on torches, less dirt to clean, more consistency, things like that. But following the tenets of our guild honours the ancestors, and some would argue that is more important. Personally, I'm of the mind that helping the hold prosper also honours the ancestors, and a hold that lasts longer and grows more prosperous also honours the ancestors. So me redoing a Rune of Light dozens of times ends up honouring the ancestors in its own way. Now, not every runesmith believes that, and you'll learn over time that there are some smiths you can share that opinion with, and others its best to keep your trap shut to keep the peace. Understand?"
"Yes master!" they shout.
Feh.
"Now!" you say loudly, "that doesn't mean we can't find a way to follow the tenet in another way. The Rule of Pride as some runesmiths reckon is meant to remind us that our work is an art form, a divine gift used to aid our people passed down from Thungni and Grungni. Whose gift we can partake in by virtue of our blood relation. So, these smiths will strive to make true works of runic excellence, something neither of you will get to do for a century or three just yet, as a tribute to Thungni. In their eyes, this thereby lets them follow the tenets of the Rule of Pride, for they've now made a work of art they can be proud of. What does this mean?"
"There-There are multiple ways dwarfs see things?" Dolgi says, cheeks as bright as his fiery mane of hair.
"Bah! And a good many dwarf will argue their way is the only way. Thungni knows when this whole debacle will get settled. Either way, even if the puritans end up being right, I'm going into the Underearth head held high no matter what they say. Because no matter what, I can say with clean conscience that I helped our people, maybe not in the way they want it to be done, but it's not like I was throwing around Master Runes to beardlings. Now, onto a lighter topic. Look over there garazi, what do you see?"
