Dear diary, my name is Cestla now.

I wake up tired and with pain in my everything. Sleeping on a cold, hard cave floor was no fun. I tried activating the plate several times with no luck, and now I am woken up by heavy footsteps. Wait, footsteps, people. I stand up and look around me. In the distance, I can see some kind of blue light.

I stand up and slowly head for the light, being as quiet as possible. I do want to get out of here, but I also don't want to run into the blue people again. Suddenly, the sounds of footsteps stopped, and I hear two thumps of something heavy hitting the ground. Then, I can hear the sharp, resounding clicking of pickaxes. Or at least that is what my mind thinks it is.

I resume my slow crawl towards the light. As I come past a corner, I see two small figures hacking away at some rock around one of the sparkly silver spots, two heavy backpacks lying to the side, and some kind of lamp-looking contraption standing on top of the bag, producing the blue light. The figures are interesting. Their skin is not blue; instead, it is almost completely black and not the human version of black but the actual coal-black kind.

Besides that, they are short and stout, and both of them have massive beards that almost reach the ground. I take out the necklace again and press the crystals. Green, blue, purple, green. Nothing happens. I sigh. Well, they're not blue, I tell myself.

I clear my throat, announcing my presence. “Hello, I am lost. Could you tell me the way to the surface?” I ask politely or what I think is polite as I speak. I notice that what I am trying to say and what actually comes out of my mouth are rather different.

The two men stop and slowly turn around to look at me. “By Orleck’s bloody beard, lad, you scared us there.” He says in a jovial tone that did not reach his blood-red eyes.

“I am sorry. I am just very lost and was getting chased by people with blue skin, and then I was in this cave all of a sudden, and I don’t have a light and don’t know what to do.” I ramble out.

One of the men steps forward, wrapping his hands around me. His short stature means that we are almost the same height. “It’s okay, lad. You’re safe now; no need to cry.”

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I then release that I have been crying and try to wipe my tears away. “I am sorry; I did not mean to bother you like that.”

“It’s okay, lad, you must have been scared,” he says with a smile. “My name is Gimdar, and over there is Glinknor; what is your name, lad?”

My mind goes blank. That is right; people use names. What about me? I have always hated my name and don’t like to use it. But they don’t know me, so I can come up with a new one, but what I don’t really know is

Gimdar has noticed my distress and continues. “Something wrong, lad. Have you forgotten your name?”

I shake my head. “No, but I don’t really like my name, so I was thinking of using a different one but can’t think of anything,” I say

Gimdar nods. “How about Cestla? Then it suits you, lad,” he says.

I smile at him. “Yes, that sounds good, but one more thing, I am not a lad; I am a girl, so I guess lass would be better.”

Grimdar looks a bit dumbfounded at that. “What is a girl?” he asks, confused.

“Uhm, like man and woman, you are a man, and I am a woman,” I say.

“I don’t get it,” he says, “but if that makes you happy, it is only a little adjustment, lass,” he says with a smile on his face.

I smile back at him. They might look scary, but they don’t feel all that scary to me. “So, about the surface,” I ask.

Grimdar's face becomes more pained. “That is more difficult.” He says, “You see, lass, we are about five days away from the surface, which is a bit further than we were planning to go.”

I deflate. “I see that is a problem.”

“Tell you what, lass, Glinknor and I have almost finished our mining trip. After which, we will go back to our clan. They might have a solution for you,” Gimdar says.

I nod and then lean down, picking up one of the spare pickaxes. “Okay, let's get to it then,” I say to pump myself up.

Gimdar releases a big belly laugh. “That is the spirit. Are you familiar with mining techniques?”

I shake my head. “No, but it is just hitting rock, right?”

“It is not just hitting rock, lass. It is hitting it in the right place,” he says

“So as long as you point to the correct spot, I am fine,” I say, a bit unsure.

Gimdar starts laughing again. “That is correct. Well, lass, let’s see what you can do then.”

We spent the rest of the day mining or at least what passes for a day here. I find out a lot about Gimdar and Glinknor; they are dwarfs apparently, or at least that is what my weird translation skill makes of it in their own language. It is a long word consisting of many vowels that almost hurts to pronounce.

Once we had finished extracting the ore, we put it in one of the bags the dwarfs brought with them. we head back but their clan is a bit too far away to make it back in one day, so we have to camp out in the cave, which is not so bad this time since they both brought extra food that they are willing to share with me. I still have to sleep on the cold hard floor, but this time, at least with a full belly.

Before I go to sleep, I try the same sequence on the metal plate again, but still nothing happens. And that is how I fall asleep.