Our escort hurried us into the house.

I had expected something a lot bigger than a two story house with a stone fence around it. It seemed that the Dwarves weren’t big on greenery because other than a well kept grass lawn, there was no other foliage inside the walls that I could see.

Without my attention solely on a Manticore, I was able to look around the upper city. The sun was almost directly overhead, which meant that I’d slept in. Because while the meeting with the king had taken some time, it hadn’t taken four hours. There were a few other houses that looked similarly built, but instead of grass in between them, it was a bunch of gravel, dirt, and large rocks. It seemed like the Dwarves only cared for grass when it was within the borders of the homes that they were maintaining for outsiders.

I couldn’t see much of the city, even though the top of the mountain had been flattened to make room for all the buildings and people. It appeared that we were in an elite part of the residential area, and from what I knew about most cities, the elite section was only a small portion.

The stonework was amazing, as it appeared that there wasn’t a single seam anywhere in the rock. I wasn’t sure how they compensated for the expanding and contracting of materials during the change in temperature, though I had a feeling that any of the owners of the homes in this area would be able to afford an army of Earth Elementalists to smooth out any cracks that might appear in their flawless buildings.

The inside of the house was anything but plain, though everything was made out of some form of stone. The artwork on the walls was carved into the stone with different stones to make up the colors. It was almost like a mosaic, except the way that the stones were mixed together into a single stone rather than individual pieces. I’d seen what I’d thought was Dwarven art before, but I’d never seen anything like this.

“It’s very difficult for someone to get the work of Mallen Brighteye here. My master had it dropped from orbit, then retrieved and installed by master stone sculptors.” Our escort was beaming as he bragged about the owner of the home.

I turned from the depiction of the Dwarf on the wall. “We’ve never been introduced.” I held out my hand. “I’m Sectum Irongut.”

The Dwarf cautiously took my hand. “Ferrous Evengale.”

“Evengale?” Starna looked confused. “Isn’t that an Elf surname?”

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“It is.” The timid Dwarf pulled back his hand and looked down at his feet. “My father was the result of a fling. Rather than kill her, my great grandfather had my grandmother sent here to keep her away from the public eye. We should have taken my mother’s clan name, but my father was proud of his heritage.” I could tell by the look on his face that he didn’t agree with that sentiment.

“Your grandmother was sent here simply because she had a half Elf child?” I knew there were some petty reasons why some of the denizens of Tefira had been sent here, but that seemed particularly petty.

“The Twelve have a lot more power out there.” Ferrous waved at the ceiling without looking at me. “They’re out in the open here, but out there, they strike from the shadows with no one knowing who they are. The whole family would have been killed to send a message.”

I sighed. Killing here was easy, but not something that was done by the leadership on a whim. Every able body was another person who could help fight against the natives or the monsters that roamed the untamed wilds. I had a feeling that things would be different if there wasn’t the constant threat of danger lurking outside the city walls.

“It seems you’ve found a nice corner of the world to live in?” I tried to add a positive spin to the dampening mood.

The Dwarf looked up at me and smiled. “Of course! Master Gladstone is a great boss!” He brushed his uniform as he stood straighter, then motioned towards the stairs. “Allow me to show you to your room!”

The Dwarf bounced up each step as we went up the stairs. I ran my hand over the rail. It was warm to the touch, not cold like I expected. There was something inside the stone itself that was keeping it warm and that heat was emanating into the rest of the house, keeping it from having the cool edge that I would have expected to feel.

The upstairs was lined with a deep red wood that had the smell of nuts. On this floor there were potted plants in the corners and traditional paintings on canvas in frames hanging on the walls.

“Master Gladstone has us keep this floor styled after how you surface dwellers live, so you’ll be more comfortable when we have guests.” The Dwarf opened the first door on our right and motioned for us to go in.

The room was built like something I would have expected in a wealthier inn. A fur rug in the middle of the hardwood floor, a wooden dresser, large canopy bed with a nightstand on either side, and magicstone lights if the large windows on either side of the corner room didn’t let in enough light. There were two doors in the room. One led to a bathroom and the other to a closet where our clothes were hanging.

“It’s lovely.” Stana’s voice was just above a whisper as she looked around.

“Yes…” I knelt down and touched the rug. It was where I’d probably be sleeping while we were here. Starna hadn’t given any indication that she’d be comfortable sharing a bed with me and I wasn’t going to push the subject. At least it’d be more comfortable than the stone floor had been last night.

“If you require anything, I’ll be downstairs.” Our escort bowed, then backed out of the room.

“So…” I shed the suit jacket and began unbuttoning my shirt. “What do you want to do first?”