Gorrlin's Skydock jutted out in between the peak of the Bastard's Spear and the Bastard's Climb: a natural arch that formed a kind of overhanging bridge that spanned the two tallest peaks of the Nelos Mountains. At the end connected to the Spear, the Skydock exited into a large cave. From the outside, it looked dark. Completely and utterly dark; as if the dull gray of that noon's sky could never penetrate it. As they entered, however, a new light source: a golden orb suspended in the air by unseen tethers. Alluvar had heard of it before: it was a Heart of Gold. A Dwarven invention that captured the gleam of gold, and amplified it a thousand times through the use of magic runes and enchantments.
It hung in the air and illuminated the small town. Each building was carved out of the stone of the mountain, and each roof was covered in clay and mud and soil. Atop each one, a variety of crops grew: corn, potatoes, carrots, and fruit trees on some of them. Some roots would spill over the tops of these square buildings and run down to the wooden door frames.
Water fell from the walls: runoff from the ever-white peaks of the Spear, no doubt, and gathered in a small creek that ran through the town and filled a large cistern in the middle of the cave.
The water undulated and reflected the gold's gleam, adding more light to the dark cave. From the cistern, the water was diverted in small rivulets that ran to each house in the town: as if the center cistern was a hub of a great wagon's wheel, and the rivulets the spokes. Inside was balmy and warm: was it the light of the golden sun that cast this warmth, or was it some other, ambient heat that existed deep inside a mountain's core?
Alluvar's ears sagged, and her mouth held agape as she stepped down the Skydock, and set foot on the soft, loamy ground.
"Wow! This is amazing!" The young boy shouted.
His voice, contrary to what one might think, died a few feet ahead of him, as the moss carpet on the ground caught the echo before it could even begin. Some of the dwarfs that were loading the Bihtrop looked to the young boy and chuckled among themselves, but Alluvar couldn't help but agree with the boy. It was amazing. Perhaps the most amazing town she had ever seen; if they made even their small merchant towns like this, how did the cities and towns in the Heart Empire compare?
Thatch and the Captain were led through the town by a well-dressed young dwarf, whose beard hadn't yet grown in. He talked excitedly with the two as they stepped over the small arching bridges that spanned the little rivulets to the Mayor's House, built up upon the far end of the cave, carved from the stone.
Rows of merchant stalls were set up where the ramp down from the Skydock met the ground.
"Blankets! Jackets! Mittens and Vestments of all kind! Warm as can be!" One merchant shouted. "Fight off the chills of the Bastards with real-life Woolyphant fur!"
"A real woolyphant?"
Thom had only seen one: it was the central act of a circus that came to Astaire. Jein had snuck both of them out of the Slums, and paid for tickets with money that he stole from their mom and dad.
"Do you even know what that is, Kei?" Thom asked loudly.
"Yeah! Remember the circus back in Astaire?" Kei said, none too quietly. Alluvar's face pulled in a slight grimace and she glanced around. No one had overheard that, right?
The Ringmaster had made the Woolyphant balance on a bright red ball on a single foot, and a Gnomish man then lifted both of them above his head. It was the most amazing thing that she had ever seen.
The merchant must have heard Kei's question: his eyes, as dark as coal, but as glistening as diamonds, shot over to her.
"That's right, young lady! In the far reaches of the Heart Empire, Dwarven farmers have found a way to breed them so that their fur is extra soft!" He grabbed one of the scarves on the table — a scarf with alternating turquoise and black stripes, and reached out toward the young girl. "Feel it!"
Kei hurried over to the stall and grabbed the fabric in between her fingers. She rubbed it a bit and looked to Alluvar.
"Can we get it?"
Alluvar sighed.
Both the churches of the Mother and Father had given her some money to buy the children a few things on their way to the capital, but she had wanted to keep most of it for herself.
"Fine. How much is it, dwarf?"
"A mere pittance, really!" The dwarf said as he wrapped the other end of the scarf around his knuckles to keep the young girl from running off with it preemptively. "50 Silver."
"50 silver? For a scarf? That's ridiculous. How about 20?" Alluvar asked.
"45 and 50 copper."
"25."
"40 even."
"29 and a half."
The dwarf thought about it for a moment.
"How about 36?"
"33."
"Deal."
The dwarf let go of the end of the scarf, and Kei wrapped it around her neck and face immediately while Alluvar counted out the silver coins and dropped them, one by one, into the waiting Dwarf's hands.
"Do you want anything, Thom?" Alluvar asked as she closed the drawstring of her coin purse.
The young boy scanned the stalls. It was loud and bustling as the merchants haggled with the disembarking crew members of the Bihtrop, or loaded loudly bleating animals with goods to be carried onboard. Others stashed bags brought out of the hull of the ship, while still others hung around and chatted with one another, smoking long pipes of sweet-smelling tobacco. He spotted something hanging on the supporting beam of one stall named "Anco's Musical Emporium," a single six-stringed lute. It hung among glimmering trumpets, ebony clarinets, and silvery flutes. Hide-headed drums with straps to hang around one's neck sat on the counter, and countless other instruments from all around the world sat within that wonderful array, but his eyes lay solidly on the lute.
He had heard bards play in the city square and had always wanted to try his hand at playing a lute and singing; whenever he tried to sing back home, however, his father would step in and yell at him to stop his caterwauling. Jein would draw his father's attention in some manner when he got too close, which usually resulted in a beating for his older brother.
"One day," Jein had told the young boy as he nursed a blackened eye, "One day you'll be able to sing as loud as you want."
Alluvar followed the boy's gaze.
"Excuse me, sir?"
The person seated at the Emporium with his back turned, spun around on his stool and faced the three of them. He was a gnome with pointy, green hair, and eyes like stained glass — common among his kind. He wore a large smile that spanned from pointed ear to pointed ear.
"How can I help you, Madam Elf?"
"How much for the lute?" She pointed to the red one hanging on the stall's beam.
He climbed off his stool and onto the countertop, and deftly stepped in the spaces between the hide-headed drums to look at what she was pointing at.
"Ah! This one, eh?" The gnome stood on his tiptoes and pulled it off its hooks. He strummed through it with a quick motion, eliciting an incredibly melodic chord. "I think I can let it go for…1 and a half gold."
"I can do that." She said as she reached into her purse and pulled out the coins. She dropped the single golden coin and the fifty silvery ones on the counter. They rattled to a stop, and the gnome handed the instrument over.
"Here you go," Alluvar bent down and handed the lute over to the young boy.
Anco watched this and raised a brow.
"Say…I think I recognize you." The Gnome said. "I was playing with a circus a few years back…you and your brother…what was his name? Stopped by and listened to me play."
"Really?"
"You are from Astaire, are you not?" The Gnome asked, a twinkling in his gnomish eyes.
"I am." The young boy said.
"Of course! How could I forget those sharp, steely eyes, and that deep, brown hair! I'm sure the young girls of the town will miss you now that you're gone! What was your brother's name again?"
"Jein!" Kei shouted as she saw the strange thing in Thom's hand.
"Right! Right…auburn hair and bright blue eyes. Who could forget…is he here with you?"
Alluvar smiled as the children talked with the friendly gnomish musician.
"No. He's back in Astaire, waiting for the…what's it called."
"Conclave." Alluvar found herself saying, as she ran her hand through the young girl's black hair.
"Ah, I see…" He looked at the instruments. "Would you like to hear a quick little song I wrote just now?" He picked up one of the silvery flutes.
"Yeah!" Kei said, her little head popping from the scarf.
He put the flute to his lips and played a little upbeat song that carried through the cavern. He danced upon his countertop: finding the space between the hide-headed drums, and the golden bowed lyres and pounded bass cymbals, like a spider stepping carefully upon his radial threads. Kei and her brother both began to tap their feet, and even Alluvar, not really a fan of the flute, found herself swaying and clapping on time with the music. Once it was finished, as if to punctuate the song, a flock of white doves fluttered out of the mouth of the cavern with a loud beating of all of their wings.
A round of applause broke out among the people in the market. The gnome took a deep bow: the flute raised high behind him.
"Thank you for the song, Gnome." Alluvar laughed.
"You're very welcome madam Elf." The gnome said.
After they parted ways from the gnomes, the children looked through the other stalls: snacks, trinkets, small clay pots, and a cooking set they would need once they landed and were living on their own, waiting for their brother, they assured her. Once they (and their bags) were full, the evening sky was already shining in Alluvar's eyes.
"We have to go now, kids."
"Aw, okay…" Kei tucked her chin into her scarf. "Bye, Gorrlin!" She waved.
The dwarfs were finishing packing up the last of the items, and a few other people, heading either to the Vale or beyond, boarded as well after paying a handsome sum of gold to the Captain for a spot among the bunks.
When the latch that led into the Bithrop was closed and the mooring undone, the dwarves raised the sails. Wind caught within them immediately, and that mariner ship lurched forward: barely scraping underneath the bridge that spanned the Bastards.
Thom plucked at the strings of his lute: trying to find music within the silvery strings. Alluvar leaned forward.
"Once we're in the Capital, I'll find you a teacher, alright?"
The young boy nodded.
A heavy set of footsteps knocked on the deck behind her, just as the Bihthrop began to descend from the Nelos and into the Emerald Vale. She stood up straight and turned to see a hooded man standing directly behind her.
He leaned forward: sulfur on his breath, and whispered a single phrase.
"Hail Carro."