The Faithful Ones

Part 1- Chapter 8

Piper took the seven to the Hollow Clan to see the bards. They went past the Forgen and down a deeper path towards the gëmenzrzëtûm (community center). As the Forgen Song faded they began to hear many voices chattering and then they were at the gëmenzrzëtûm. If Raine hadn't known there were no markets in the Caverns She'd have thought this was one for all the people in the huge space. Piper wove through the crowd and down another tunnel. It was quieter but there were still a fair few dwarves walking along. It lead to a smaller cavern that was equally busy and filled with dwarves, although music and singing took the place of babbling.

"Hello Miedôlle, Glazalkr, and Jadaihz-Hailëm. How's your project going?" Piper said to the three dwarves. Two were female and one was male.
"Oh hey Piper. Nearly finished. Come on, we'll show you," replied a female with gold hair. The three stood from their scribing and led Piper and the seven Westheathites through the tunnels. For the first time since entering the Dwarvern Caverns, the seven encountered stairs. They were going up inside a hollowed-out mountain. Usually the floor sloped instead of having stairs.
"Who are you, young seven humans?" the male asked friendlily, smiling. They introduced themselves and the dwarves replied with their own names. Miedôle had gold hair, Jadaihz-Hailëm had ginger hair and green eyes, and Glazalkr was the male.

When at last they stopped climbing stairs, they'd arrived in a smaller cave with natural walls. A river babbled through a deep channel in the floor.
"This cave is where the entrance of the Zôthëriemtrazle River is. It runs through much of our caverns and we've irrigated its two tributaries to supply a third of our water," said Jadaihz-Hailëm.
"Our project was to add a little whimsy to some of the waterfalls and stretches of the river. With the help of the water keepers and carvers we've made music," Miedôle explained. "Glazalkr, do you want to put the first one in?
"Yep, I just ned to-" He grunted, pulling some object across the smoothed stone floor. There was a splash as it settled in the water, and then music began to play. The seven listen to the wonder of it as Piper helped Glazalkr attach it firmly to the floor.
"First one in. Would you like to come with us while we put in the rest?" Miedôle asked, and the seven nodded eagerly. So the eleven of them traversed the caverns, the three dwarves setting up their musical contraptions. Sometimes it was a xylophone that sat beneath a waterfall, and other times it was a box nestled into a river channel that made music that sounded like a music box as the water flowed through. These boxes were almost always in community centers, and were sometimes made to look like a bridge.

One such box, Raine's favourite, was in the Ice Clan's community center which was sort of like a garden. There were magnificent stone plants, some with jewel flowers, and an oak with little jewel mushrooms at its foot. It was wonderfully intricate and detailed
"How long did it take to make that oak?" Raine asked.
"A year and a half's hard work from fourteen fine carvers," Glazalkr replied, grunting as he set the box in place with a small splash. The music began, a nice tune that matched the grandness of the oak.

"So why did the Water Spirit tell you to come here?" Piper asked as they returned to their rooms.
"We came because she said we were trapped by this life, this world. She said we have the courage and strength needed," said Raine.
"That doesn't make sense," replied Piper, and the seven nodded. Freya told the story about how they fell into the sea at the lighthouse.
"How does that help? Are these things you have to do random?"
"Seems so," answered Rose.
"You know, I've talked to the Water Spirit a couple of times. The first time, she said music is the heart and soul of a people. The second time, when I was last there, she said that hope had come and there was something on the move with powerful magic," said Piper. Salma suddenly remembered something.

"The rhyme the Spirit taught us! 'In an autumn deep beneath the stone, keep in mind all the stories I've told. For when, in the next spring, you must wait, a thing truly wonderful will unfold. Something, someone, shall be on the move, with powerful magic eons old," Salma recited with the others.
"Yes! 'Keep in mind all the stories I've told'! That's what my dream meant by 'You'll have to remember all the Water Spirit told you, and remember why you're there'," realised Raine.
"To keep a promise safe you must not lock it away in the dark. Share it so that everyone can know the promise and keep it alive," said Sunny. It was a lesson the Water Spirit had taught them with a story once.

Raine, Sunny, and Salma spent the day in the Buchod Room, while Rose and Blaze visited the Ice Clan and Matthew carved with Evan the trader and Zadut. Raine started reading a trilogy about someone who had to throw a ring into a fire, Sunny found a book about four children and a lion, even though it was in the middle of its series, and Salma began that series from its start. It took them a fair while to finish, not being the best at reading but getting faster as they went. When Raine finished reading after about two months of solid, dedicated reading, she went with Rose and Blaze to the Ice Clan. She enjoyed listening to and learning from the record keepers, healers, and gatherers that made up most of the clan, and became friends with a bard who seemed out of place in that clan but still managed t fit in. The Ice Clan members loved their music box. Dwarves of the Ice Clan seemed to prefer the world above, unlike their fellows, and that showed in the bard's songs. It reminded Raine of travelling, and she realised she missed it.