It's not exactly a pleasure to see a fellow dwarva. It's not that Kitty doesn't like her own people - no. The opposite. Very much the opposite. She loves them so fiercely that sometimes it feels like her heart will get torn in two. The continued oppression of the castes, the social inequality, all fill her with deep fury, but that fury is only possible because of her feelings towards her nation and her people.
No, the problem isn't dislike. The problem is knowledge. Kitty pretends to be a former merchant-caste surface dwarf, topsiders accept it. When they see a dwarf, they expect her to be a former merchant-caste surface dwarf. They don't question. Another dwarf, though? They know what merchant-caste look like. They know what surfacer culture is like, and what Stone culture is like. A dwarf is far more likely to peg her as a liar.
So Kitty watches the woman (Scout Harding; she's not even going to pretend that she doesn't know exactly who that is) as she comes into the tavern. As she sits down, Kitty debates whether to come over or not. Risk it or not...
Finally, she risks it.
"Hello," she says, turning a bright smile on Harding. Surely she looks like nothing more than a good young maid fetching drinks for the tavern patrons. There's nothing more to her than that. "You look like you're in need of a drink."
no subject
No, the problem isn't dislike. The problem is knowledge. Kitty pretends to be a former merchant-caste surface dwarf, topsiders accept it. When they see a dwarf, they expect her to be a former merchant-caste surface dwarf. They don't question. Another dwarf, though? They know what merchant-caste look like. They know what surfacer culture is like, and what Stone culture is like. A dwarf is far more likely to peg her as a liar.
So Kitty watches the woman (Scout Harding; she's not even going to pretend that she doesn't know exactly who that is) as she comes into the tavern. As she sits down, Kitty debates whether to come over or not. Risk it or not...
Finally, she risks it.
"Hello," she says, turning a bright smile on Harding. Surely she looks like nothing more than a good young maid fetching drinks for the tavern patrons. There's nothing more to her than that. "You look like you're in need of a drink."