They left the Inn early the next morning.

At least, I think it’s early. I mean, it’s not like I can see the sun or anything, and the dwarves live in shifts, so I guess it’s morning, maybe, sort of. You know what, I’m not going to think about it.

The streets on this level were the same as the ones on the first, though there were more houses and workshops than inns and shops in each block. The dwarves here rushed around doing whatever dwarves did when they weren’t drinking or working. She was walking next to Thokri who was pulling the cart.

“So, this is where you grew up?” she asked.

“No, lass. I grew up down on floor ten. I moved up here after I became a forgemaster. Met both my wives up here too,” he replied.

“Oh,” Anna said.

“So, are your parents still on floor ten?” Elaine asked.

“Aye,” Thokri replied.

“Are we going to go and visit them?” Lyreen asked. He hesitated for a moment.

“I’ll go and see them on my own,” he replied.

“Why?” Anna asked.

“Da don’t like elves so much, and after what happened with the forge lords, I don’t think he’ll like humans that much either. Ya don’t want to deal with that, trust me,” he replied.

“I’ll just toss him if he’s rude,” Anna said. Thokri gave her a look.

“Ya can’t go and toss my Da!” he replied.

“I can’t?” Anna asked.

“No, lass, you can’t!” he replied.

“Okay,” Anna said. She looked at him with big innocent eyes for a moment.

“Bah!” he said, and she burst out laughing.

“Got you!” she said. He just shook his head but started to grin.

“Is that common?” Lyreen asked.

“No, I actually only tossed that one man,” Anna replied.

“Not that! I was asking if it was common for dwarves not to like elves!” Lyreen said.

“Na. Da just got screwed in a few deals over the years, that’s all,” Thokri replied.

Lyreen nodded. She seemed to be fine with that answer.

After walking for a few more blocks, Anna darted off, spotting a place that was selling food out of a big opening in the side of the building. She squeezed past the dwarves that were crowded around and right up to the front.

The dwarf inside the building was putting handfuls of meat, mushrooms, and what might be vegetables into a round piece of possibly flatbread. She watched him pour some grey sauce onto it and then roll it up and hand it to a dwarf who dumped a copper on the counter. She watched him quickly make another one, and she snatched it out of his hand before another dwarf could get it, and dropped a silver on the counter.

“What do you think you’re doing, lass?!” a dwarf asked, clearly upset she’d gotten to the food first.

“Easy, lad. I just paid for you and all these lads to get one. I’m just in a rush, that all,” she replied. The cook looked down at the coin and grinned.

“That’s more than enough for this lot, lass,” he said.

“That’s fine. Keep the rest,” Anna replied.

The dwarves started to crowd around her. They were smiling though, so she didn’t think they were mad at her. The one that had asked her what she was doing a moment ago put his big meaty hand on her shoulder.

“Thanks, lass!” he said, giving it a squeeze.

She took a bite of the wrap. It tasted wonderful. The bread was chewy and had absorbed both the creamy sauce and the grease from the meat which was tender and full of flavor. The mushrooms were fresh and chopped roughly, adding both an earthy flavor and an interesting texture. Lastly, there were the vegetables which she’d never seen before, though they did taste similar to a few surface ones she’d had in the past.

She squeezed past the dwarves again, heading back to where her friends were waiting. The dwarves all patted her on the arms, back, and rear as she walked past in an appreciative manner. Voekeer gave her a look when she returned to the cart.

“What?” she asked.

“You just couldn’t wait, could you?” he asked.

“No, this was the best smelling food ever!” she replied.

“Whatever you say,” he said, shaking his head.

They walked away from the food place, heading towards Thokri’s home.

“Hey, can I have a bite of that?” Elaine asked, walking next to her.

“Sure,” Anna replied, passing the wrap over.

Elaine took a big bite and made appreciative sounds before passing the wrap to Lyreen who seemed very interested in it after the necromancer had deemed it worthy. The others ended up passing it around, each taking a bite before handing it back to her.

“We need to go back and get a few more!” Lyreen said.

“Bah! They sell those all over, and that place was too close to the stone carver’s guild. It’s always crowded,” Thokri replied.

They found another place selling wraps a few blocks away. This shop wasn’t as crowded, so they got a large basket full of them to eat as they walked.

They reached Thokri’s home a few hours later. He grinned when he saw his home and put the cart down beside the door. They took their things. Rose picked up the sleeping Lord Emerald who had been hiding in the cart or with her the whole time.

Traitor!

She wouldn’t have been so annoyed if he’d been a normal rabbit, she and Rose were built about the same after all, but this bunny knew better, and he had been snubbing her for some reason.

Thokri pushed the door opened, and they all walked inside. The main room was large and filled with chairs. There was a long table pushed up against the left wall, and the rear wall had ale barrels stacked up against it. There were people already sitting in the room. Two woman and what looked like twenty children all looked up with huge eyes at the newcomers.

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“Thokri?” the older of the two women asked, her voice wavering slightly.

“Aye, lass, it’s me,” Thokri replied softly. The woman stood up and rushed over to him, pulling him into a hug, kissing him passionately.

“Where have you been?” she asked once she released him.

He pulled away slightly and looked at her in confusion.

“I sent letters, lass. Didn’t you get them?” he asked. She shook her head no.

“We haven’t heard from you in ten years, lad. Thought you might be off on the other side of the sea or something,” she said. Thokri just shook his head.

“Na, I just hooked up with a new crew, and we’ve been pulling the coin in,” he replied.

The other woman stood up and walked over to them. She threw one of her arms around Thokri and kissed him as well.

“That’s not important, as long as you’re back,” she said, hovering right next to his lips. The baby she was holding started cry, and she stepped back and started to rock the child.

Thokri looked at the baby and then around the room.

“I see you two are watching half the clan’s children,” he said.

“Aye, pay is good, and the lasses around here need someone to do it,” the first woman said.

“So, how many of them are ours?” Thokri asked. The first woman looked around the room for a moment.

“Four of them. We got eight living with us right now, total. Your three are out of the house. The lads are doing the apprenticeship, and that lass of yours took after you and is off guarding caravans stone one knows where,” she replied. Thokri grinned.

“Might meet that lass out there some time then!” he said.

“Aye,” the first woman replied.

“What’s the apprenticeship?” Lyreen asked.

“Remember when I told you how all dwarves spend time learning about every job, and then they can pick the one they like?” Anna asked. Lyreen nodded. “That’s what they call it,” Anna said.

“So, they leave home to do it?” Lyreen asked.

“Yep. They’d be about, oh, fifteen for a human or elf when they start and about twenty-five or so when they finish,” Anna replied.

“So, where are the other four children then?” Elaine asked.

“All dwarves receive a basic education. They do that when they are old enough to not shit themselves to when they start the apprenticeship. They live at home while they do that though,” Anna replied.

“Wait, everyone gets an education?” Elaine asked.

“Yes, I mean, why wouldn’t they?” Anna replied. Elaine didn’t seem to have an answer for that.

“Oh, and they also have a choice to wave the apprenticeship and work with their parents if they own a business, kind of like that dwarf girl at the inn,” Anna replied. Elaine nodded in response.

“Drop your packs and come sit,” Thokri said.

They put their things next to the wall and then introduced themselves to his wives. The first woman was his second wife, Gilira, and the second woman had been Bralla. Thokri was handed the baby while the two women went to get some snacks and mugs for the ale.

As soon as the women left the room, all the children seemed to turn their attention to her. She smiled at them and scooted off the chair onto the ground. The moment her butt touched the floor, she was inundated with them. They climbed on her, pulled her hair, chewed on her a few times, and did the things young children always did when they found a colorful person like her.

She didn’t just sit there and let them get her. She tickled, tossed, and otherwise spun them up into a pile of giggles. She heard a laugh and looked up from the swirl of children to see Bralla grinning at her. The dwarf woman was holding a try of dried mushrooms and lichens along with bread. Gilira was standing next to her with enough mugs for each of them. Anna grinned back and stood up, gently prying little fingers out of her hair before sitting down. The crowd of children tried to climb on her a few times before giving up and scattering around the room to bother the rest of the adults.

Gilira and Bralla set the tray and mugs on the long table.

“Come and get it,” Bralla said. Thokri and Anna got up.

“You get your own food and drink when you visit a dwarf’s home,” Anna said.

Her friends got up and followed them over to the table, dodging screaming children as they ran around aimlessly.

“You just had to spin them up, didn’t you?” Elaine asked.

“Yep,” Anna replied.

“At least they’ll sleep good tonight,” Barika said.

“If they make it that long,” Gilira said.

Anna picked up a piece of the bread. It was flat bread like the wrap had been. She piled up the dried mushrooms and lichens on it and then took a mug and went to fill it.

She was able to fill her mug one handed but realized that maybe she should have done this first. Once the mug was full, she turned off the tap, walked over to the long table, and set it down, not wanting to sit back down and have to guard her food and drink from the children.

She picked up one of the dried lichens and took a bite. It was crunchy and kind of salty, reminding her of the dried meat from Fishport. She ate the rest of it and then took a drink of the ale. It wasn’t black ale like she’d expected. Instead, it was a light amber color. She took a drink and found that it was mild and on the sweet side. She was a little confused as to why a dwarf would have ale like this in their home until she thought of the baby Bralla was holding.

Oh, that’s right. Women with babies in them shouldn’t be drinking.

She knew that dwarves were much tougher than any of the other races, so whatever little amount of alcohol that this ale contained must be fine. She picked up one of the dried mushrooms and stuffed it in her mouth. It felt like all the moisture was sucked out instantly. She took a drink of the ale which helped a little.

Next thing in her mouth was the flatbread. It was soft and chewy and delicious, even better than the bread that had been used to make the wrap. She pulled another piece of bread off and ate it.

“So, what do we do now?” Elaine asked.

“Just eat and talk,” Anna replied.

“That’s it?” Elaine asked.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Anna replied.

“I thought there’d be more to it,” Elaine said.

“As far as I know, yeah,” Anna replied.

“No, you got it right, lass. Our people figure the best way to get to know someone is to eat and drink with them,” Gilira said, walking over to them.

“I guess we aren’t all that different, at least, when it comes to getting to know each other over food,” Elaine replied.

“Most races are like that, lass. The gods must have all gotten together and picked things we have in common, that’s all,” Gilira said. Elaine sighed.

“Too bad they didn’t pick a few more things,” she said.

“Aye, ain’t that the truth,” Gilira replied with a laugh. Elaine laughed as well, and then both of them grinned at each other.

“So, did you bake this bread yourself?” Elaine asked.

“Aye, we bake bread every morning,” Gilira replied.

They started to chat about food, and then for some reason about children. Anna didn’t have any particular want to talk about either thing, so she finished eating her food then downed her ale. She walked back over to the ale barrel, preparing to fill her mug again.

“Over here, lass,” Thokri said.

He was standing next to a barrel on the other end of the wall filling his mug. Anna walked over to him. A dark amber liquid was pouring out of the tap. It smelled like a strong spirit, and there was no foam in his mug as it filled.

“Dwarven whiskey, lass,” Thokri said.

“It just smells like whiskey. What makes it dwarven?” Anna asked.

“Dwarves made it,” Thokri replied.

“Oh, so that was dwarven bread I just ate and dwarven dried mushrooms?” Anna asked. Thokri frowned at her.

“Bah! You want some or not?” he asked.

“Is my butt bald?” she replied holding her mug out.

She filled her mug with the dwarven whiskey when he finished with his. Both of them took a long drink of the powerful whiskey before letting out a long-satisfied breath. Bralla looked back and forth between the two of them for a moment.

“Is she yours?” she asked.

Anna and Thokri looked at each other for a moment then back at Bralla. They both shook their heads no. She kept looking for a moment then shook her head.

“Never mind,” she said.

There was a knock on the door and then it opened. A dwarf woman walked in. She was wearing workers clothing and was covered in dust.

Smells like mushroom stalks. She must be a stalk worker.

They were the dwarven equivalent of wood workers, which dwarves had, but they didn’t use as much wood, so that job was less common. At least, according to Thokri it was. One of the children squealed and rushed over to her, hugging her leg tightly. She picked the child up and hugged him.

“There’s my bug!” she said. She shifted him over to her hip and looked around. “So, you finally dragged your carcass back, eh Thokri?” she asked.

“Aye, and it’s good to see you too, Grudare,” Thokri replied. She just laughed.

“Well, I’ll leave you all be. I’m sure you have all kinds of things to talk about. Thanks for watching the lad!” she said before leaving.

“Some history?” Barika asked.

“Aye,” Thokri replied, clearly unwilling to talk about it.

“Ex-girlfriend,” Bralla added.

“Oh, you have to tell us now!” Lyreen said.

“Not going to happen, lass,” Thokri replied. Lyreen made a pout face.

“He hasn’t even told me about her,” Anna added.

Lyreen huffed and walked over to the food. Voekeer scurried after her.

“She looks like a handful,” Bralla said.

“She’s actually gotten better,” Barika replied.

“How old is the lass?” Bralla asked.

“They’re both in their twenties,” Barika replied. Bralla winced.

“What are they doing away from home?” she asked.

“He ran away, and she’s just spoiled,” Anna replied.

“And what about you? You look younger than them. What are you doing away from home?” Bralla asked.

“I’m three, and I don’t have a home,” Anna replied.

And she doesn’t believe me. No one ever believes me! I can’t wait until I’m over twenty. Then people will believe me.

“She’s telling the truth,” Thokri said seriously.

“But how?” Bralla asked.

“I wasn’t born three years ago. I was made three years ago,” Anna replied.

“Made? What does that mean?” Bralla asked, thoroughly confused.

“Well, one night in the spring three years ago, a group of evil men kidnapped most of the virgin women from a human village called Fishport…” Anna replied beginning her story.