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Lin gave him a strange look for being bored was as normal as being hungry. She could not imagined how anyone could not be bored, though she supposed it could be distracting. The little iglr laid there looking up at him, it made no sense.

"How can you not be bored?"

After a while, Nadya felt that they had arrived at their destination, and she stopped and opened her eyes to see that she had led them to an enormous stone door. It was so huge that it really didn't even look as if it were openable ...

She spotted a smaller wooden door built into it and moved to stand in front of it. She looked at it thoughtfully for several long moments, then reached out with both hands and brushed her fingers against the wood, searching for any indication of what might be found on the other side, or whether there were any traps or anything in store for them.

Nothing.

She looked back at Gion and Donovan, then took a step to one side.

"Would one of you like to go first?" she murmured softly, sounding much braver than she felt. To be honest, she was terrified of what might be found on the other side of the door. She knew there wasn't anything dangerous - at least, not immediately dangerous - but that was where the dwarf leader would be, and who knew how many dwarfs with him? She had never prepared for anything like this, never been trained in the use of weapons or negotiating. She had never even spoken to a dwarf before, and the first time she had laid eyes on one - her physical eyes, at least - was when they had first caught sight of the exile's settlement.

Lin had not yet learn the concept of being aware of one's surroundings, even if she had, one would doubt she would understand the concept of continuing doing os. Still, it was something to think about, she couldn't see it, always having something to think about, which meant one was busy, which meant one was not bored out of one's mind.

"Hmm.... I don't see much to watch," she murmured.

It was still boring, there was nothing to watch, not that many people came this way did they? Or maybe people did, she didn't know.

Gion nodded, though personally he would have preferred to stay in front of Nadya as well, where he was more likely to be closer to any danger. Still, he wasn't going to argue with Donovan. The man had been doing this for a long time anyways, he probably knew better. Gion after all had only wandered and had his enemies come to him, never the other way around.

He kept one hand on the hilt of his sword, trusting that Daemon would let him know if anything was going to happen.

"Is more den vatching," the guard replied thoughtfully. "Is also list'ning, to talk, to sounds, to actions ... obserfing, t'inking about ev'ryt'ing dat yhou see ..."

He really didn't know how to explain it, it was something that was just ingrained so deeply into his consciousness as well as his sub-consciousness that it had become a part of his being that he couldn't separate it and put it into words.




The room they entered was, in its own way, as majestic as the palace of the Southland. As large as the largest room in the palace, the dwarfs had carved it out of the rock with as much skill as they were known for, and it was not for no reason that they were known as the best earth-workers in the Four Lands. Columns lined the walls of the cavern, columns that were carved with designs - runes, symbols - that were as intricate as those that the elves created with their pens, in a perfect design that no elf could ever hope to imitate.

A large stone table dominated the far end of the room (which was otherwise almost bare). It was covered with what looked like building plans. Behind the table was a circle of stone chairs (was there anything here that was not stone?) where a group of dwarfs were sitting, apparently in the middle of a discussion. One, who was sitting at the head of the circle on a slightly higher chair, was obviously the leader, and was dressed accordingly in a tunic of black instead of the usual grays and browns.

When the intruders entered, each of the dwarfs looked up. They were surprised to see the non-dwarfs there, and they made no effort to hide it. The leader rose to his feet and folded his arms across his chest, as well as the man to his right. He spoke gruffly, his voice deep and rumbling, his tone angry.

A moment later, the other one spoke - apparently he was a translator.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in a tone matching his leader's. "How did you get here?"

The first thought that came in Donovan's head as he surveyed the room for hidding assilants that the translator was a really good one, which was saying something. Then again the guy was probably the leader, or some high rank fellow who could afford a good translator. He stepped to the side to let Nadya in, keeping her on the side where he could draw a weapon with ease.

He stayed quiet taking on the kind of secondary position he had been use to under Kara. Besides, he didn't know a damn thing about what people considered manners around here.

The guard raised one eyebrow at Lin's comment. To him it was far from quiet - though he reasoned rightly that she only felt that way because she was human, and therefore her hearing wasn't as attuned as an elf's. He didn't reply. Soon enough he would be allowed to put her down again.




The translator's eyes narrowed as he looked at the elfin woman, and his ruddy cheeks puffed in and out as if he were thinking hard. He stroked his thick gray beard thoughtfully, looking between the human, the woman, and the tiny elf - child? He spoke to the leader briefly, then turned back to them.

"You have entered our land," he rumbled, "and so we will be asking the questions. What are you doing here, and how did you get here? What do you want?"