C3 Chapter 3

The birthday surprise

There was a knock on the door. Before anybody could utter a word, the door was wrenched open and young, dark- haired dwarf stormed into the room. It was Gomek, the thirty- nine-year-old fine specimen of his tribe. His body was more like a human’s…like Dana’s. He was athletic and – to his utter dismay – handsome, which resulted in the other dwarfs picking on him, since for dwarfs this was widely known as a flaw. For dwarfs, beauty had always gotten mixed up with unrefined manners, heavy build, and a rough appearance. But here, in Dana’s home, nobody cared about that. After all, he was her best – and only – friend.

The dwarf children and teenagers avoided them both, since they believed them to be different, smart-alecky, and ugly. Due to dwarf-standards, Gomek was still considered a child up until his 40th birthday, and was only allowed to start school once he hit that age.

There had been plenty of tries to get the young dwarfs used to school earlier, but they were simply to jittery, lacking concentration. That’s why school started after the 40 th birthday. What followed were fourteen years of education, school, and then the preparation for a job. Afterwards, they were adolescent, only to then advance to adult-contenders later in life. After 40 years of contending, which was used to extend their knowledge in their respective fields of work, they finally came of age. Thus, Gomek was still a greenhorn. He quickly greeted Tala, and then glommed Dana to congratulate her on her birthday.

Shari’s aura darkened. She didn’t think much of Gomek, instead believing him to be wacko. Thanks to their new connection, Dana realized the change in her friend right away, and called her to order. She didn’t want Shari to butt heads with anyone today, least of all Gomek, who was usually a prime target for the little pixie’s wrath.

“Happy Birthday”, Gomek greeted her. Dana beamed at him, happy about the unexpected visit.

“Thank you! But… don’t you need to be at work today? Or did you take a day off?”

Gomek wasn’t any different in that aspect than the rest of the dwarfs his age. They needed to work like they needed to breathe – they could, and happy to, work until they hit their tenth year of life and even beyond that until they hit school age. Also, they liked tinkering for the community.

“No, I’ve got to get going. But I wanted to wish you a happy birthday. I’ll see you this afternoon, thought!” He quickly handed her the gift and disappeared again.

“Now I didn’t even thank him for the present. Well, I’ll see him later”, Dana quietly mumbled to herself before turning to her mom, who was already talking to her:

“Listen, Dana, your father has another surprise for you. He’s waiting for you at the ministry and will tell you all about it.”

Dana hugged Tala enthusiastically and then said her goodbyes, storming over to the front door, jerked it open, only to disappear into the twilight of the tunnel’s lamps. She was quickly followed by Shari. Unsettled, Tala looked after them. “Hopefully she’s taking good care of herself?”, she sobbed. Slowly, she closed the door again and returned to her chores.

Outside, Dana looked around. She was at the end of a narrow dead end, of course equipped with a stone ceiling. So basically, a finished tunnel that wasn’t much different from a regular alley. On both sides of the passage, more doors led to other homes, but they were all closed.

Their alley was in the oldest part of the dwarf-city. Just like the small apartments, it was artfully carved into the ancient lime sandstone. The ministry had offered Olo and his wife a new apartment plenty of times. But he had rejected the offer every time, saying that he and his family had been living in this place for the longest time now, and that it would stay that way.

Small lanterns on the walls of the houses bathed the path in a warm light. Shari was shining brightly, full of unrest, so that the lanterns seemed faint next to her. That was her way of getting excited every time she and Dana would get on their way to downtown and the large gathering plaza. It was new and exciting every single time.

From their home, “No. 7, Old Alley”, Dana and Shari only had to walk through three different alleys. They reached the plaza in fifteen minutes. Then they rounded a corner and the extensive plaza was stretching out right in front of them. They were standing at the entrance of a gigantic cave. She was at least forty meters high and extended far to the left – much further than they could see from this point.

The houses on each side of the plaza had been carved from the stone, as well as their magnificent decorations. Stately arches carried the circumferential balconies of the second floors, so that the sidewalks seemed to have roofs.

The houses all sported a façade decorated with plenty of gold and gemstones. It was widely known that dwarfs didn’t care for materialistic things, and so they used the gems and the gold that had found while digging to beautify their city.

Since everybody had a job and everyone contributed to the well-being of the society, nobody needed money, gold, or gems. Except, of course, for trade with strangers. The windows and doors were adorned with complicated wood carvings and sheathed in gold leaves. Small, beautifully polished diamonds interrupted the carvings from time to time. To the left of the plaza, behind the first row of houses with the small shops, boardinghouses, and restaurants, there was the craftsmen neighborhood. There, in the tiny alleys, several craftsmen had settled down. Everything existed, from the goldsmith to the diamond polisher, from carpenter to tailor – it was all right there. Behind that was the “developing area” – uptown.

It was a fascinating sight and Dana enjoyed it anew every single time, while Shari was more interested in the shops. Every single time, she flew over to the shop that sold several different kinds of honey, in the hopes of sponging some sweets. Dana didn’t follow her. She knew that Shari would bring a treat for her as well.

Instead, she sat down on a bench along the edge of the large plaza, and watched the goings-on in front of the government pyramid. The large monolith, jet-black and a little threatening, towered in front of the pyramid. She liked sitting here, and enjoyed studying the breathtaking sight before her. The impressive pillars of the tremendous caves majestically blended into the fairytale picture.

Dana admired the dwarfs’ handiwork – the skill with which they had carved and pounded those staves from the stone in a regular pattern. They worked together, forming large squares that supported each other as well as the ceiling. In the middle of each square, there was a large lighting crystal that exuded bright-as-day, soft, and warm light into the cave.

“The crystals are a fine substitution for the sun”, Dana whispered. “A great invention! They don’t just warm us, but they let our plants blossom and grow.”

She knew that from the stories the adults told her, even though she herself had never seen the sun. Then her gaze returned to the steps of the pyramid, which was the seat of government and home of the king. The pyramid was the stunning finish of the plaza. She rose above the neighboring buildings with ease, and just like it was common for a pyramid, she slimmed out towards the top. The structure was special. Those who had built it, the dwarfs most likely, had only erected the front and sides. The various landings of the pyramid gave the opportunity to enter the wall of stone. From each of these terraces, there was an entrance to the left and the right, which had been pounded into the stone, and from where one could reach the different administrative offices. The top of the pyramid was formed by an ornate golden arch. This was the passage to the throne room and the private rooms of the dwarf king.

Dana compared the pyramid to the other buildings in the city in her mind but there was nothing else like it.

“Where did the dwarfs get the idea for this building?”, she pondered.

The entrance to the administrative building was to the right. Yes, even dwarfs need an administration, and this was also where Olo was working. The sleepy museum with the old library were close by, only separated by a tiny alley. If you followed the alley, you reached the laboratories, the mines, and the storage area. One had to be prepared for the bed times, after all. Dana sadly regarded the museum. She wasn’t allowed to go in their yet, since she was still too young.

By now, Dana was growing bored. Shari still wasn’t back, and so she started counting the cast-iron lanterns that lined the plaza. Afterwards, she studied the mosaics that could be seen everywhere on the ground of the plaza: consistently formed of tiny, multi colored gemstones.

The pictures recounted the tales of the dwarfs – how they had found these mountains thousands of years ago, and how they had extrapolated this vast cave-system to live in. There were picture stories showing dwarfs fighting dragons, goblins, and trolls … and of course they came out victorious. Other pictures showed the dwarfs in the mines, on the fields, with the animals, and again others told the stories of the dwarfs meeting strange people from the outside world. There were also pictures of animals that solely existed outside these mountains.

“It must have been a wild time”, Dana thought. While she was still studying the pictures, she felt a slight tickle in her neck, and the locket started to warm up a little. She grabbed for the jewelry and looked around. Only the monolith was behind her, and she had been close to it the entire time. It seemed to light up for a second – or had that simply been her imagination?

Before Dana could even react, Shari returned with a handful of honey drops. She jerked from her thoughts when the tiny pixie nudged her and dropped a few drops into her hand. The strange feeling and the warmth of the locket had subsided in the meantime.

Dana only now realized what time it was. She jumped to her feet and started racing towards the office building that held her father’s office.

A golden sign at the entrance announced the building to be the administration of “sciences”. The entrance hall sported another, much larger board, that listed the various departments and their workers, to show the way to the right office. The direction to Olo’s department was, of course, also listed.

“Blacksmithery and Inventions – 2 nd floor – Area 2

– Room 4.”

She knew her way around to where Olo worked, and didn’t need the map on the wall or the directions on the board. She looked around the hall quickly. The entire building had been carved from the stone in one piece, all the while with great love for details. The floor, like outside on the plaza, was made up of old pictures consisting of colorful stones. The images showed dwarfs with their achievements in science and engineering.

The walls showed pictures, separated by more gold and gemstone, of the office’s chairman. Dana and Shari climbed up the stairs; well, Shari was flying, naturally. The two of them turned right and walked down the hall until they had almost reached the end. Dana stopped plenty of times, always looking at the fantastic pieces of art on the walls. They were similar to those from the entrance hall. But these all showed dwarfs with their inventions and scientific discoveries.

There were also pictures of dwarfs whose inventions were not quite that awesome, like that of “Zeg the underprivileged” who had invented a stone plane to create sand, or his brother “Zog the dumb one” who had then filled the sand into amphorae to “save space”.

Dana reached the door to her father’s office, knocked, and waited for somebody to call for her to come in. She didn’t have to wait long until the door opened. Toben, Olo’s friend and colleague, as well as Dana’s ‘godfather’, opened and let her come inside.

At that moment, a choir of strong dwarf voices rose, presenting a birthday song that wasn’t beautiful, but very loud. Dwarfs knew how to do so many things, but singing wasn’t one of it. Dana was touched and hesitated in the doorway, patiently waiting for the song to end. She was the favorite of everyone in the department and had promoted several inventions and experiments despite her young age.

Shari was much too excited to wait, and so she flew towards one of the machines in the corner of the room that was producing large, colorful bubbles. It was one of Dana’s inventions.

Unsettled, she followed her tiny friend with her eyes.

“Hopefully, she knows how to behave herself today.”

She watched Shari and enjoyed the bubbles at the same time, mostly to distract herself from the well-meant song that was still increasing in volume.

“It looks like dad solved the problem about the stability of the bubbles. They don’t burst when you touch them, but instead take their time to disappear. Awesome!”, she thought, while the singing made for an unpleasant pain in her ears. Still, she forced a smile.

By now, the choir of employees had finished their song and were now pushing around Dana to wish her a happy birthday in person. Olo was the last one and he hugged her tightly with his strong, short arms:

“Happy Birthday and all the best to you”, he said in a pleasantly deep voice. Then he continued talking, winking at her:

“We have perfected the bubble machine, as was the wish of a little lady around here. Are you happy? It’s your invention after all.”

“It’s perfect, dad”, Dana happily agreed. “How did you know that we…?”

“Mother weaseled us.” “Ah…and where is “Miss Hurry” now?” She looked around, searching the room.

“I guess she’s wolfing down food somewhere around here!”, Olo replied.

“Miss Hurry” was a weasel and belonged to the family. Weasel, polecats, and ferrets were used as a matter of communication for the dwarfs, as they delivered the mail and private messages. Those who didn’t own an animal could use “The Rodent Post Service”, where one could borrow an animal for transmitting messages.

After clearing that up, Olo looked around as well.

“Where’s your little golden dragonfly? We have a few small presents for you two.”

In this department, Shari’s nickname was “golden dragonfly” because nobody knew what kind of race or breed she was, and because her wings were reminiscent of dragonfly wings.

Then she looked around for Shari and discovered her playing with the bubbles, chasing after them. She called Shari using her newfound ability. Stubborn as she was, Shari followed reluctantly, but in the end, she fluttered over to her. Shari sat down on Dana’s shoulder and had Dana carry her. The bubble fun had obviously exhausted her. Both followed Olo over to a nicely decorated table where a few small presents and a cake were waiting for them. Shari, who was much too excited to wait any longer, could open her gift first. It was a spider-silk combination of a silvery-white vest and a matching pair of pants.

Shari had to try it on right away and both pieces of clothing fit like a glove. Even the holes for her wings were in the correct place. Dana, who had unwrapped her own present by now, was also holding a two-piece in her hands, albeit hers was in the correct larger size and the silk was a little thicker.

Olo explained: “The secret of working with spider-silk and the production of clothes from this natural silk is only known to one dwarf woman in this whole kingdom. My colleagues and I have collected this silk in the caves for years. It’s tear-proof, flame-resistant, and dirt-repellant. And it also grows with you. This clothing is … - indestructible- so it’s ideal for the two of you. Also, Shari can’t keep fluttering around half-naked for the rest of time.”

Not many got close enough to Shari to know that she was covered in short, golden fur. The fur reached from her neck all the way down to her ankles. From afar, it really looked like she wasn’t wearing anything at all. But the only truly ‘naked parts’ were her face, hands, and the feet, which all gleamed golden as well, naturally.

After they had both put on their new clothes, everyone fawned over them. Of course, the clothes fit Dana perfectly and emphasized her athletic body. Afterwards – after the impromptu fashion show – they cut the cake and drank a sweet honey beverage. Then Dana opened the two coupons that were still on the table.

The first contained an invitation for a visit to the museum. Dana knew that a visit to the museum was usually only permitted for adult dwarfs or school trips. The second envelope contained another invitation, one to take part in the next expedition into the depth of the caves.

After she had read the invitations out loud, one of Olo’s colleagues handed her a small backpack. It contained several utensils Geologists needed. Geology was one of Dana’s favorite hobbies, everybody knew that. The backpack was large enough to make room for food and drinks, despite the necessities Geologists needed – like a magnifying glass, a brush, and a small hammer.

Dana was incredibly proud and enthusiastically thanked her father and his co-workers. She looked around for Shari, who was still flitting through the room chasing bubbles to pop. Most of the workers had returned to their stations by now. The operated glass bulbs, cogs, and compressors that were situated on various tables. They were all busy with their experiments again. Dana watched the busy going-ons for a while, before Toben addressed her:

“What do you say, are you ready for the museum? I’m your companion for today since Olo unfortunately needs to take care of a few more things before we take you out on the expedition this afternoon. … Are you excited? … For the museum, I mean?”

Dana grinned at Toben. “Of course! It’s sad that dad is so busy. But I’ll have him with me this afternoon…

What about Gomek, by the way? I promised him that he could spend the afternoon with us!”, she wanted to know. Toben chuckled:

“My nephew has gotten time off work for the expedition. He’ll tag along this afternoon.”

After that was taken care of, Dana was even more excited for what was to come. She called Shari and took Toben’s hand.

“Let’s go. You can explain everything to me.”