Another journal

Their time spent waiting swung between comfortable and tense, depending on if they noticed José or not. Tanis ate twice and napped once more before part of the wall seamlessly slid aside and a dwarf stepped out to meet them. A cheerily lit tunnel framed him.

“I’m sorry.” His voice was rough, but soft. “We almost never monitor this access door. And with Winter moving in, the visitor signal went ignored.”

“It’ll only be short wait, you told us.” Ian scooped the hare into his basket and slung it over his shoulders.

José hadn’t moved from where he sat since they’d given him a use name. He stood stiffly, a hand against the wall. Emily stepped over to offer help.

“You good to walk?” She lightly touched the back of the sylph’s arm. He started to twitch away, then relaxed, letting her off-set some of his slight weight while he got his feet back. Emily nodded at the dwarf. “Sorry, we’ll be a minute.” She glanced at the others before adding, “what do you mean about winter moving in?”

The dwarf inspected the ancient callus on a finger, but didn’t reply with more than a meaningful look that Emily couldn’t translate.

She sighed. “Okay then.” She nodded at Tanis and Ian. “Let’s get going. I’ll bring José along behind.” With a light but unyielding touch she steered the sylph after the others, into the new tunnel.

They blinked in the light cast by decorative globes set into the ceiling at regular intervals. The floor was more even in this tunnel, Emily walked closer to the wall, so the perfect arch of the ceiling centered over José’s head.

While they walked, José leaned on Emily less as his legs woke up. Soon enough she felt comfortable letting go of his arm.

“That was appreciated.” The sylph spoke quietly.

Emily waved her hand in dismissal. “It was nothing. I couldn’t leave you behind, or let you hobble along on your own.”

“And also for earlier. I was being presumptuous and stupid.”

“Those are often the same thing.” Emily side-eyed him. “Are you going to throw a tantrum like that again, is this a thing you do?”

“Emily!” Tanis chided over her shoulder.

“What? It’s a legit question.”

Before José could answer, Ian turned around, walking backwards confidentially. “Emily is good at talking people down, even though she’s a jerk about it. She’s talked me out of more stupid rages than I can remember.”

Ian spun on his heel, cheerfully flipping Emily off over his shoulder as he turned back.

Facing them again, the hare’s ears drooped and he sank back down behind the wicker, staring over the edge at Emily and José.

The dwarf leading them seemed to be hardly aware of the conversation. He didn’t look back or give any indication of how far they had left to walk. When he stopped, finally and suddenly, Ian and Tanis nearly tripped over him.

Another chunk of wall slipped away, revealing a gorgeous elevator that looked like something from a fancy, 1930s hotel. The dwarf held back the beautifully wrought accordion doors and gestured for them to enter. They did with a collective shrug that became a sigh of relief when the dwarf entered too.

“For real, I was ready to expect some horror-movie shit.” Ian shifted the straps of the basket, jostling the hare, who was practically nose-to-nose with Emily in the confines of the elevator.

The dwarf carefully adjusted a lever and Emily’s stomach gently jumped into her throat as they began to descend. “I was too forward before. The information we have for you shouldn’t be blathered casually like a piece of gossip. Better to wait until we’re properly in the Dvergr domain.”

“But we’re in a mountain.” José looked like he was going to be sick and the others gave him room, pressing against the walls.

The dwarf looked pityingly at the sylph. “It’s a mountain, not a Faraday cage.”

Tanis laughed, then had to explain the joke when she saw everyone else’s uncomprehending faces. She was trying to describe magnetic fields to the hare when the dwarf finally pulled the elevator to a stop.

“Welcome to Dvergr Hold.” The dwarf held the doors as they exited. “I’ll show you to your rooms and let you get settled. It’s about supper time, so we’ll feast and rest, then tomorrow we can get down to why you’re here.”

They walked down halls decorated with mosaic inlays set into the living rock. The dwarf swung open the doors of a sitting room connecting two bedrooms.

“That should be enough space, eh?” He pointed at what looked like a fancy trumpet horn sticking out of the wall. “Refresh yourselves as long as you need, then give a shout in here and we’ll send somebody up to take you to the dining hall.” He nodded cheerfully and turned to leave, but half-turned back before he reached the door.

“I realise I forgot to introduce myself! You can call me Brids. No need to worry about reciprocating right now, we’ll have plenty of time later.” He gave a wave and shut the door behind him.

Ian, Tanis and Emily all fell to examining the rooms with the thorough excitement of people who didn’t get to visit hotels often. José sat on a couch and watched.

Tanis called from an alcove, “a shower!” Water ran, followed by a joyful squeal, “hot water!”

The hare hopped casually into one of the adjoining bedrooms. His voice was muffled, “the dwarves have always admired luxury, which is convenient, as it seems too often be a by-product of their industry.” There was a scrabbling sound followed by a thump. “These beds are too high.”

“Must be guest rooms reserved for the taller, bipedal Folk.” Emily mused, running a hand along the rock wall. It was warm and textured lightly, as if the rooms had been gently hewn instead of blasted out or reshaped from existing caves. There were no hard corners to the rooms, just an elegant organic background to more technology than Emily had ever seen in the Sidhe.

Rather than lanterns and lights that were little more than contained magic or bare fire, the rooms boasted multiple lamps, lit by bulbs with what looked like actual filaments—though none were plugged into the wall nor had an obvious energy source. The lampshades ranged from fanciful stained glass to the kind of fabric shades that made Emily nostalgic for certain design elements that had been popular when she was young. “Hare, do you know if all the dwarves have nice things like this or just Dvergr Hold?”

The hare padded out of the bedroom. “Pretty much they all have the same kinds of gadgets.” He joined José on the couch. “Why do you ask?”

“Curiosity. There isn’t much of this sort of thing elsewhere.”

“That you’ve seen.” Ian joined them in the common room.

“Right, ’cause you’ve seen so much more of the Sidhe? So, in your many, supervised, couple-hour long visits, have you encountered higher or more common levels of technology?”

Ian shrugged, “no but, like, there could be.”

“You guys would argue theory forever,” Tanis stepped out of the shower alcove, towelling her hair. “When what it really comes down to is the dwarves have hot running water and therefore are awesome.” She grinned, “their toilet isn’t as fancy as the one at the Institute, but I’m not complaining.”

Nobody else felt the need to clean up before joining the dwarves, though after a sharp look from Tanis, Emily did use a looking glass while she ran fingers through her cropped cloud of wiry curls. She doubted Tanis had thought to pack her comb for what was supposed to be a short excursion, and Emily certainly hadn’t.

Ian shouted joyfully into the intercom and a young dwarf, acting as pageboy, took them through the maze of caves and tunnels to the dining hall.

Dvergr Hold presented a good spread. Everyone ate buffet-style, some clearly having a meal break between work shifts, while others looked like they were having a night out, dressed up in velvets and intricate jewellery. Tanis held Emily’s hand, smiling.

Brids greeted them with a grin and a hearty clap on the hare’s back that quite nearly knocked him over. “Now, remember, no business tonight, just good eats!”

Ian and Tanis loaded up plates and joined a table where a vigorous conversation about timepieces was going. To Emily’s surprise, José also took a plate, daintily adding a few items in careful arrangement. As they ate, the faces at the table rotated as people joined them or finished their meals and left. Emily mostly listened, sipping something like spiced hot chocolate, watching Tanis, Ian and the hare laugh and argue with the dwarves. José looked tired and wasn’t eating, but did seem to be politely chatting to an older dwarf who was fishing for advice on wind power.

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This post is part of The Consoling Divide – Serialised. See the archive and overall content warnings here, and find more of my writing here. I’m over on both Comradery and Patreon, if you feel like supporting my creative endeavours. If you’d like to subscribe to this story, here’s a handy email box for you: