A little before dawn, we awoke to a glorious sound. In the large square between the council building and the rider outpost, gnomes, nearly a quarter to half of the city, were gathered and singing to the sun. Nigle and other oddlings were side-by-side with the council and other "prominent" gnomes. We quickly dressed and went down. Anna found Arkgo and his family among them. We, besides Anna, merely watched. Dawn sang with them as well, glowing brighter than the last time she sang to the sun. When the sun broke over the horizon, I felt a great weight fall off the city, replaced by a peace similar to the embrace of an old lost friend. From somewhere, I "heard" a hearty laugh and knew the gnome gods were pleased.
The gnomes proceeded to Sourmortane while the oddlings, their morning ritual complete, went to work. I could sense that their title of "oddling" was falling away. Alice and Anna, when she rejoined us, confirmed this and told us their new title was "Gourdno", indicating they practiced the oldest traditions. Maudrin saw us and called for us to join the riders for breakfast.
The former oddlings, as expected, were in grand spirits as they worked and their food reflected their joy. Maudrin and the dwarf riders, however, did not share their feelings.
"Sisters, the grey ones are getting bolder," he told us, "No place inside the mountains is safe. Failing to get the Rod has only angered and provoked them. King Gorval is, uncharacteristically, begging for any aid."
Maudrin was not pleased when we told him they had the Master Miner's Foot, which was giving them access to every place, no matter how secure. He was glad that was the only one of his parts they possessed. We told him to inform the king we would help. He nearly cheered. He told us to tell the council and he would see to our transportation. We finished breakfast, toured the finished outpost, and waited for the council
As we waited, I could feel the peace expanding in the city. Gourdnos walked openly in the near empty streets. They hummed, whistled, and sang as they worked. We met the council before they went inside and informed them of our leaving and destination. They understood, but were still sad to see us leave. They went to breakfast and we went to pack for the trip.
We were ready in short order. Maudrin met us outside along with the council. Arkgo and some of his family, Nigle, and many from the outpost, plus a host of others were also there. Out in the square, Emerald and six other dragons waited along with their riders. I could feel my sisters' confusion. I pointed out that each dragon had a double saddle. Many of them paled when they understood how we were traveling to Stahendring. The riders took our gear and secured them. Callie and Maudrin mounted Emerald. Erik and I mounted Scarlet. Lisa was aided by a gnome onto a blue. Gretta was assisted onto a green. Alice gingerly settled onto a copper behind a well-muscled dwarf. Anna accepted help from the gnome rider and Arkgo onto a brass. Sarah took a minute to get situated on another blue behind a gnome only slightly smaller than herself. The assembled Gowgornok gnomes waved and cheered as we took off, accompanied by screams from a few of my sisters. Set, Dawn, and Bo flew on their own as we lifted into the air.
Out of Gowgornok, we headed straight for the mountains. Even in the cold winter air, the heat radiating from the dragons kept us from getting too chilled. Bo decided to wrap around Lisa instead of trying to keep up. Set had little difficulty in matching Scarlet's cruising speed. Dawn not only kept up, but circled, swooped, and played around our formation.
The mountains, massive from a distance, grew larger as we approached. Through the dragons, I saw the specific mountain that was our destination. While not the highest, it was still one of the largest. I allowed myself to feel around us. On the slopes, the mountains looked void of dwarf life even though animals abounded. Inside, however, life teemed and thrived. I received a village name and asked Erik how deep it was. In shock, he told me it was a mile below the surface of the slope. He became stone silent when I told him how I learned its name. Scarlet brought him out of it by announcing that Stahendring was in sight.
I saw its aura before I saw the actual city. Anna told us it was named for a "stubborn obstacle" the first dwarfs encountered while mining the mountain. This obstacle forced them to refine and improve their tools and skills, during which time a town developed near it. Finally, they discovered its composition, iron infused with veins of diamonds, and cracked it, revealing a wonder. Their "stubborn obstacle" was actually a geode holding yellow crystals that, when exposed to sunlight, became charged and held light for many hours. Also, upon being charged, they attracted deep dwelling grubs that made their own light and quickly replaced torches and other flame lights where there was a danger of gas or combustible items. The leaders of the infant city used this shining geode as their symbol: a sun inside a mountain. As other "obstacles" were uncovered, the settlement grew into a full city and the leaders named as royalty. The "sun crystals" became their prize as no other mountain revealed such a treasure.
Stahindring erupted into view as we rounded a smaller peak. While I could feel that only a fraction of the city saw sunlight, the visible portion was still a sight to behold. Also, I could see why human mapmakers only marked it as a large town or small city.
We landed on a large flat area sticking out over a sheer cliff. A group of dwarf guards met us. Callie was wearing her gifts, which caused a mild reaction. Maudrin called us together as the riders gathered our gear. He and the group escorted us towards a large building. At the door, our companions were stopped.
"Animals remain outside. Handlers will care for them."
The seven of us stepped back, away from the door.
"Then, we remain outside," I said, "They are our companions. They go where we go."
The group looked puzzled. They turned to Callie.
"Your servants are being rude, m'lady. What punishment shall we give them?" one asked as they drew weapons.
Callie was a bit surprised, wondering why they were asking her and why they wanted to punish us.
"They are not my servants. They are my Sisters," Callie told them.
It was their turn to be surprised and confused. Maudrin tried to explain, but was pushed out of the way.
"You claim kinship to these? These are not dwarfs. There are elves, humans, and ," looking at me, "strange creatures. How can these be your sisters?" the one who looked like an officer asked.
"They are the Seven Sisters of the Swords and they and their companions are not to be prevented from entering the palace," came a deep male voice from the shadowy interior.
The officer turned to confront the male then bowed quickly, followed by the other guards. An older dwarf male in regal dress walked into the winter sunshine. He bore the same symbol as Callie.
"Forgive my foolish men," he said warmly, but gave the guards hard looks, "They have been on this mountain too long and forgotten that different races and species can be companions, friends, even Sisters. Welcome to Stahendring, I am King Gorval Stormhammer."
We introduced ourselves as the guards put away their weapons. King Gorval led us inside the palace. While dwarfs average a foot shorter than the average human, the ceilings towered twenty-thirty feet above our heads. While not painted, the carvings on the walls had shadows that fooled the eyes into seeing colors. King Gorval led us to what was probably considered a small room where other dwarfs, males and females, were already assembled. Their talk stopped when we entered. Not bowing, the others did incline their heads as the King went to the head of the table where they sat. We arranged ourselves around the table. Tunnel maps were spread out over the table, marked at random points.
"Everyone, these are the Sisters.The one wearing my crest is Callie of Denar, a distant cousin of mine. It is our hope these ladies can offer assistance from their unique perspectives. They know some of our situation as they just left Gowgornok. Dularg, fill them in on the rest."
Another male dwarf stood with a thin stick.
"These maps are the interiors of our city. These marks are Duergar attacks. As far as we can tell, they are completely random. Other than some trivial items, nothing has been taken. We cannot understand the purpose of these events."
We looked over the maps. The places marked were on nearly every level below the areas that received sunlight.
"Their activities make no sense. They are there only a short time, take some trivial item, cause, no damage, and leave when confronted. What can they be doing?"
"Are there any of these nearby?" some of us asked together.
They looked at us silently for a moment before Dularg responded, "Yes, just a way down the tunnel. Follow me."
We followed him, followed by King Gorval and the rest of his council. In a few minutes, we were at an intersection of many tunnels. Dularg began to speak, but Anna started first.
"A picture was stolen, one of little importance. The gray one only moved around this small area until he was discovered, vanishing without a fight."
"But, why? What purpose did it serve?" King Gorval asked.
"They are scouting," Alice reported, "They do not have the detailed maps you have. The items they steal are for a transport spell to lock onto places inside your city. They are not satisfied with the way of travel with the Minter's Foot. They still have to physically walk from their territory to here. They are planning attacks on you and are plotting attack points."
The dwarfs began grumbling loudly. We all returned to the room. With this information, the random points no longer appeared so random.They started naming key areas that were not far from the marks. The dwarfs sat in silence, trying to think of a solution. We also batted around ideas mentally with the swords.
"This is racial," Alice told us, "The Duergar believe they are the 'true' dwarfs because they have no interaction with non-dwarfs and remain 'untainted' by other races.They want to purge the entire dwarf lands of so-called 'bastard' dwarfs and other 'inferior' races. The Miner's Rod was going to let them collapse whole mountains and crush or trap the other dwarfs to kill them. I could not tell if they knew Nurz had failed."
We were amazed that there was such a division among the dwarf race. Callie felt the most pain, not understanding how her kin could hate themselves. The King and council told their staff to bring us all lunch in the room.
We were staring at the tunnel maps when something caught my eye. I saw a mark moving over the map.No one else seemed to see it. I continued to watch it as it traveled from the lower levels to the higher ones. So intently was I watching it that I didn't notice everyone watching me. Callie, finally, got my attention.
"I am sorry. Someone is working their way up from the deeper tunnels. That is what I was watching."
I showed them the moving mark. It was still coming up, crossing tunnel walls, floors, and ceilings. Even though I followed it with my finger, the rest seemed to have difficulty following it.
"Kayla, we see nothing. Are you certain?" one of the dwarfs asked.
Looking up, I was surprised, "You can't see this? It is in level sixteen, heading northeast, slowly, like its searching..."
"The armory!" King Gorval barked as he stood.
He ran to a wall with many chords dangling. He pulled several at once, causing a cacophony of bells to sound all around us. Gorval returned to stand beside me. He looked at the tunnel maps intently.
"Where is it now? Do you still see it?" he asked tensely.
"It is still on level sixteen, but it has stopped. The bells are causing it to be confused."
"Good, maybe we can catch one of these intruders," he said, not taking his eyes off the maps, "What's happening now?"
I saw different markings converging on the intruder mark, which still had not moved. They were on levels fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen. When the intruder mark was surrounded on sixteen, it dropped to seventeen. Those on that level engulfed it. It appeared to have been captured. They were all headed back. The ones on the two higher levels met the rest as they came up towards the surface. Suddenly, they all stopped.
"Sarah, pull in now! Brace yourself!" I sent urgently to her.
She complied just before all of the marks vanished. Gorval was most upset and confused. He sent Dularg and a few of the others to investigate. It pained me to tell him that I suspected they were dead. As Sarah reopened her senses, she confirmed she could not feel their presences any longer.
When they returned, Dularg and the others gave a sad report.
"The Duergar must of had the Foot, but someone retrieved it and replaced it with something that killed the Duergar and all of the guards. No one survived."
Gorval collapsed into an empty seat, pain shrinking his glow.
"Your Majesty, let us go down and check it out. We may get the answers," Alice offered.
Gorval barely nodded. Dularg led us to the spot. We sadly watched the bodies being carried away. Another dwarf was poised to record our observations.
"The gray ones actually wait for the guards so they can escape right through their hands. They believe the dwarfs here are too stupid to prepare for their plan of escape. This one was actually stunned that guards were below him. The guards secured the Foot. It took whomever was watching a bit before they knew they lost the Foot. They transported the Foot at the same time as a fragile bottle of an acid cloud. The guard holding the Foot crushed the bottle, releasing the cloud and killing everyone around."
The dwarfs, listening silently, nodded as they digested this information.
The scribe finished, then she asked, "Is this preparing for invasion?"
"Yes," Anna replied, "they are building transport points to put soldiers in all of those spots at the same time. They know that they can't overpower you, so they are betting on surprise."
The scribe finished while the other dwarfs fumed and fussed.
Once she finished, she sighed," There lies our dilemma. How do we stop this?"
We all nodded. We all knew the Foot had to be taken from them to prevent any more incursions. If they could not complete their placement, they would not dare their invasion.
The bodies were gone save for the Duergar. The physical difference between the two groups was stark.Gorval and his people were tanned, robust, with hair in shades of browns and reds and eyes of all colors. This "gray one" was scrawny and just that, gray. Skin, hair, and eyes all in shades of gray. Even his clothes were gray where Gorval's people wore browns, greens, rusty reds, and muted blues.
"What of his body?" Callie asked.
"We're not sure," Dularg replied, "They've all escaped before. This is the first we've had to handle."
The other dwarfs were also at a loss. We suggested returning him to his people, not to get rid of him, but to allow them their death rituals.
"Courtesy to the enemy? You girls really do have kind hearts. Very well, but how?" Dularg asked.
We said nothing. Drawing swords, we touched the tips to the corpse.
"Return to your people so they can properly mourn," we ordered.
The body glowed, then vanished.
We all went back to the room we had left. King Gorval was still there. He read the scribe's writing. We were all seated by the time he finished.
"As I see it, we must get the Foot away from them. Since they are still scouting, we can surmise that their plan is not complete.We must prevent its completion, but how? They can call it out of our hands when we seize it. Reinforcing the tunnels will do nothing since the Foot lets them walk though walls and floors. Ladies, I do not put this all on you, but any help will be appreciated. We will let you retire to Callie's home to think, rest, and do what it is you do."
A valet was called to escort us to the home that was also a gift to Callie. All of our gear was waiting on us as well as a handful of staff people. The valet left us to them. We were each shown to a bedroom "tailored" to us. Callie, of course, had the "master suite", which also had books on building and mining and like subjects. Sarah's was very airy with religious and medicinal items. Gretta's had gem cutting and appraising items in an open but solid room. Lisa's looked like a small armory and training area. Alice's was a gallery of past kings, heroes, and important events along with books of the same. Anna's had paintings and tapestries of great battles and discoveries and all the supporting documents. Mine was all dragon: tools, books, paintings, and decor. I guess it was hard to decorate for a seer although I did find an assortment of scrying bowls and wizards' glasses. Set sniffed everything. We were all still looking them over when dinner was announced.
We made our ways to a grand dining room. Such a feast! Callie was a bit overwhelmed when she was placed at the head of "her" table and asked if she approved of everything.
Sometime during dinner, I felt Callie getting very sad.
"Callie? What's wrong? What saddens you?" I asked.
"I cannot accept this house. I can't pay these people or buy food or maintain it. I am a simple girl from Denar. I don't have a staff or a mansion. I will have to give it all back," she cried after speaking.
"Miss," one of the older staff women spoke, "there is no need to worry about all of that. We are paid by the King, who also provides the food and upkeep. As for being a simple girl, it was told to us you would have a very important job that will require most of your time. We are here to do the minor daily stuff so you can focus on your job. We chose to keep your house. I hope you choose to keep it as well."
Callie sniffed as she composed herself, "You might find me working beside you. I don't want you to think I think I am above you."
The whole staff laughed.
"Miss Callie, we would happily work beside you, when your job permits," the same woman told her, "but you may find that rarely happens."
Callie relaxed and finished dinner. It was odd to be in a room without my sisters physically present. Still, we spoke mentally as we prepared for bed. My bed was large enough and sturdy enough for Set to sleep beside me. Vanity was laid in her usual spot.
Stahindring erupted into view as we rounded a smaller peak. While I could feel that only a fraction of the city saw sunlight, the visible portion was still a sight to behold. Also, I could see why human mapmakers only marked it as a large town or small city.
We landed on a large flat area sticking out over a sheer cliff. A group of dwarf guards met us. Callie was wearing her gifts, which caused a mild reaction. Maudrin called us together as the riders gathered our gear. He and the group escorted us towards a large building. At the door, our companions were stopped.
"Animals remain outside. Handlers will care for them."
The seven of us stepped back, away from the door.
"Then, we remain outside," I said, "They are our companions. They go where we go."
The group looked puzzled. They turned to Callie.
"Your servants are being rude, m'lady. What punishment shall we give them?" one asked as they drew weapons.
Callie was a bit surprised, wondering why they were asking her and why they wanted to punish us.
"They are not my servants. They are my Sisters," Callie told them.
It was their turn to be surprised and confused. Maudrin tried to explain, but was pushed out of the way.
"You claim kinship to these? These are not dwarfs. There are elves, humans, and ," looking at me, "strange creatures. How can these be your sisters?" the one who looked like an officer asked.
"They are the Seven Sisters of the Swords and they and their companions are not to be prevented from entering the palace," came a deep male voice from the shadowy interior.
The officer turned to confront the male then bowed quickly, followed by the other guards. An older dwarf male in regal dress walked into the winter sunshine. He bore the same symbol as Callie.
"Forgive my foolish men," he said warmly, but gave the guards hard looks, "They have been on this mountain too long and forgotten that different races and species can be companions, friends, even Sisters. Welcome to Stahendring, I am King Gorval Stormhammer."
We introduced ourselves as the guards put away their weapons. King Gorval led us inside the palace. While dwarfs average a foot shorter than the average human, the ceilings towered twenty-thirty feet above our heads. While not painted, the carvings on the walls had shadows that fooled the eyes into seeing colors. King Gorval led us to what was probably considered a small room where other dwarfs, males and females, were already assembled. Their talk stopped when we entered. Not bowing, the others did incline their heads as the King went to the head of the table where they sat. We arranged ourselves around the table. Tunnel maps were spread out over the table, marked at random points.
"Everyone, these are the Sisters.The one wearing my crest is Callie of Denar, a distant cousin of mine. It is our hope these ladies can offer assistance from their unique perspectives. They know some of our situation as they just left Gowgornok. Dularg, fill them in on the rest."
Another male dwarf stood with a thin stick.
"These maps are the interiors of our city. These marks are Duergar attacks. As far as we can tell, they are completely random. Other than some trivial items, nothing has been taken. We cannot understand the purpose of these events."
We looked over the maps. The places marked were on nearly every level below the areas that received sunlight.
"Their activities make no sense. They are there only a short time, take some trivial item, cause, no damage, and leave when confronted. What can they be doing?"
"Are there any of these nearby?" some of us asked together.
They looked at us silently for a moment before Dularg responded, "Yes, just a way down the tunnel. Follow me."
We followed him, followed by King Gorval and the rest of his council. In a few minutes, we were at an intersection of many tunnels. Dularg began to speak, but Anna started first.
"A picture was stolen, one of little importance. The gray one only moved around this small area until he was discovered, vanishing without a fight."
"But, why? What purpose did it serve?" King Gorval asked.
"They are scouting," Alice reported, "They do not have the detailed maps you have. The items they steal are for a transport spell to lock onto places inside your city. They are not satisfied with the way of travel with the Minter's Foot. They still have to physically walk from their territory to here. They are planning attacks on you and are plotting attack points."
The dwarfs began grumbling loudly. We all returned to the room. With this information, the random points no longer appeared so random.They started naming key areas that were not far from the marks. The dwarfs sat in silence, trying to think of a solution. We also batted around ideas mentally with the swords.
"This is racial," Alice told us, "The Duergar believe they are the 'true' dwarfs because they have no interaction with non-dwarfs and remain 'untainted' by other races.They want to purge the entire dwarf lands of so-called 'bastard' dwarfs and other 'inferior' races. The Miner's Rod was going to let them collapse whole mountains and crush or trap the other dwarfs to kill them. I could not tell if they knew Nurz had failed."
We were amazed that there was such a division among the dwarf race. Callie felt the most pain, not understanding how her kin could hate themselves. The King and council told their staff to bring us all lunch in the room.
We were staring at the tunnel maps when something caught my eye. I saw a mark moving over the map.No one else seemed to see it. I continued to watch it as it traveled from the lower levels to the higher ones. So intently was I watching it that I didn't notice everyone watching me. Callie, finally, got my attention.
"I am sorry. Someone is working their way up from the deeper tunnels. That is what I was watching."
I showed them the moving mark. It was still coming up, crossing tunnel walls, floors, and ceilings. Even though I followed it with my finger, the rest seemed to have difficulty following it.
"Kayla, we see nothing. Are you certain?" one of the dwarfs asked.
Looking up, I was surprised, "You can't see this? It is in level sixteen, heading northeast, slowly, like its searching..."
"The armory!" King Gorval barked as he stood.
He ran to a wall with many chords dangling. He pulled several at once, causing a cacophony of bells to sound all around us. Gorval returned to stand beside me. He looked at the tunnel maps intently.
"Where is it now? Do you still see it?" he asked tensely.
"It is still on level sixteen, but it has stopped. The bells are causing it to be confused."
"Good, maybe we can catch one of these intruders," he said, not taking his eyes off the maps, "What's happening now?"
I saw different markings converging on the intruder mark, which still had not moved. They were on levels fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen. When the intruder mark was surrounded on sixteen, it dropped to seventeen. Those on that level engulfed it. It appeared to have been captured. They were all headed back. The ones on the two higher levels met the rest as they came up towards the surface. Suddenly, they all stopped.
"Sarah, pull in now! Brace yourself!" I sent urgently to her.
She complied just before all of the marks vanished. Gorval was most upset and confused. He sent Dularg and a few of the others to investigate. It pained me to tell him that I suspected they were dead. As Sarah reopened her senses, she confirmed she could not feel their presences any longer.
When they returned, Dularg and the others gave a sad report.
"The Duergar must of had the Foot, but someone retrieved it and replaced it with something that killed the Duergar and all of the guards. No one survived."
Gorval collapsed into an empty seat, pain shrinking his glow.
"Your Majesty, let us go down and check it out. We may get the answers," Alice offered.
Gorval barely nodded. Dularg led us to the spot. We sadly watched the bodies being carried away. Another dwarf was poised to record our observations.
"The gray ones actually wait for the guards so they can escape right through their hands. They believe the dwarfs here are too stupid to prepare for their plan of escape. This one was actually stunned that guards were below him. The guards secured the Foot. It took whomever was watching a bit before they knew they lost the Foot. They transported the Foot at the same time as a fragile bottle of an acid cloud. The guard holding the Foot crushed the bottle, releasing the cloud and killing everyone around."
The dwarfs, listening silently, nodded as they digested this information.
The scribe finished, then she asked, "Is this preparing for invasion?"
"Yes," Anna replied, "they are building transport points to put soldiers in all of those spots at the same time. They know that they can't overpower you, so they are betting on surprise."
The scribe finished while the other dwarfs fumed and fussed.
Once she finished, she sighed," There lies our dilemma. How do we stop this?"
We all nodded. We all knew the Foot had to be taken from them to prevent any more incursions. If they could not complete their placement, they would not dare their invasion.
The bodies were gone save for the Duergar. The physical difference between the two groups was stark.Gorval and his people were tanned, robust, with hair in shades of browns and reds and eyes of all colors. This "gray one" was scrawny and just that, gray. Skin, hair, and eyes all in shades of gray. Even his clothes were gray where Gorval's people wore browns, greens, rusty reds, and muted blues.
"What of his body?" Callie asked.
"We're not sure," Dularg replied, "They've all escaped before. This is the first we've had to handle."
The other dwarfs were also at a loss. We suggested returning him to his people, not to get rid of him, but to allow them their death rituals.
"Courtesy to the enemy? You girls really do have kind hearts. Very well, but how?" Dularg asked.
We said nothing. Drawing swords, we touched the tips to the corpse.
"Return to your people so they can properly mourn," we ordered.
The body glowed, then vanished.
We all went back to the room we had left. King Gorval was still there. He read the scribe's writing. We were all seated by the time he finished.
"As I see it, we must get the Foot away from them. Since they are still scouting, we can surmise that their plan is not complete.We must prevent its completion, but how? They can call it out of our hands when we seize it. Reinforcing the tunnels will do nothing since the Foot lets them walk though walls and floors. Ladies, I do not put this all on you, but any help will be appreciated. We will let you retire to Callie's home to think, rest, and do what it is you do."
A valet was called to escort us to the home that was also a gift to Callie. All of our gear was waiting on us as well as a handful of staff people. The valet left us to them. We were each shown to a bedroom "tailored" to us. Callie, of course, had the "master suite", which also had books on building and mining and like subjects. Sarah's was very airy with religious and medicinal items. Gretta's had gem cutting and appraising items in an open but solid room. Lisa's looked like a small armory and training area. Alice's was a gallery of past kings, heroes, and important events along with books of the same. Anna's had paintings and tapestries of great battles and discoveries and all the supporting documents. Mine was all dragon: tools, books, paintings, and decor. I guess it was hard to decorate for a seer although I did find an assortment of scrying bowls and wizards' glasses. Set sniffed everything. We were all still looking them over when dinner was announced.
We made our ways to a grand dining room. Such a feast! Callie was a bit overwhelmed when she was placed at the head of "her" table and asked if she approved of everything.
Sometime during dinner, I felt Callie getting very sad.
"Callie? What's wrong? What saddens you?" I asked.
"I cannot accept this house. I can't pay these people or buy food or maintain it. I am a simple girl from Denar. I don't have a staff or a mansion. I will have to give it all back," she cried after speaking.
"Miss," one of the older staff women spoke, "there is no need to worry about all of that. We are paid by the King, who also provides the food and upkeep. As for being a simple girl, it was told to us you would have a very important job that will require most of your time. We are here to do the minor daily stuff so you can focus on your job. We chose to keep your house. I hope you choose to keep it as well."
Callie sniffed as she composed herself, "You might find me working beside you. I don't want you to think I think I am above you."
The whole staff laughed.
"Miss Callie, we would happily work beside you, when your job permits," the same woman told her, "but you may find that rarely happens."
Callie relaxed and finished dinner. It was odd to be in a room without my sisters physically present. Still, we spoke mentally as we prepared for bed. My bed was large enough and sturdy enough for Set to sleep beside me. Vanity was laid in her usual spot.
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