Dwarven Soul - All the Way Across the Sky edition

“Mithril is the lightest metal, iron is heavier, then comes copper, and silver is heavier still. After those comes tin, then ithildin, then gold, followed by mercury. Lead is the heaviest of all.” Math sat on a comfortable leather chair in one of the reading rooms deep in the chambers owned by The Daughters of Midda. He closed the heavy book and thought about what these words meant. Remkkel had hinted that there was a secret to be found in this passage, perhaps several.

The lamp next to Math was dim and would not have appeared to give much illumination to most humans, but Math was different now. He had lived under the mountains with the Dwarves for many months and his eyes had grown so accustomed to the dim lighting that even a single candle or a small patch of glow moss appeared to be bright. His eyes were also aided by the mushroom tea that The Daughters gave to him once a week. It tasted terrible, but the Daughters said that it would make his eyes more like Dwarf eyes so he did his best to calm his stomach as he sipped the revolting brew.

Bang! The thick iron and oak door into the reading room exploded open and in strode a startling Dwarf woman, she had plaited her abundant brown hair into two heavy braids with one on each side of her head. They hung down past her waist and swung freely as she walked. She wore a huge decorative axe in her belt and her dress was made red leather and purple velvet. Math looked at her and let a huge grin slowly form on his face. “Yaffah Shadeed!”, he exclaimed, “who are you trying to impress!”. He said it more as a statement than a question. She grinned back at him and replied, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Perhaps the mushroom tea was working its magic, because the small lamp seemed so bright and everything seemed so clearly lit. For almost as long as Math had known Yaffah, she had been distant and serious. By Dwarf reckoning she was not much more than a girl, but she almost always seemed to carry her responsibilities on her shoulders so that she appeared to be much older. When Math had first met her, she had acted light hearted, but returning to the mountain and her people had weighted her spirit down.

Something in Yaffah had changed soon after Math had met Aaben, the prophet; she seemed somehow carefree. Had she decided to share some of her responsibilities? Had she made some decision that Math was not aware of? All he knew was that she now stood in front of him looking like a girl playing dress up and he liked the change.

She clapped her hands together and announced “it is time for you to return to the light!” Math had no idea what she meant but he felt his pulse quicken. Was she going to take him to the temple district? When Dwarves talked about light it usually involved something about the maker or hearth fires. “Math, we Dwarves love our mansions under the earth, but we also love the sun, you have been away from her for too long and you must not forget her warmth and beauty.” Math couldn’t believe what he was hearing, she didn’t sound like the serious leader of hundreds of Dwarf women. She wasn’t acting like the master of the distillery. She had a musical quality in her voice when she said, “come, I want to show you something rare, but to see it, you must return to the light.” He followed her through the familiar passages owned by the Daughters of Midda, then through the foundries, and finally through the markets. Always they traveled upward. Math began to feel a bit dizzy as the air took on a freshness that he had almost forgotten. They came to a smallish door that was surrounded by a halo so blinding that Math could not stand it. It was so painfully bright. He realized with a kind of horror that his eyes could no longer tolerate daylight.

Yaffah pulled open the door and Math screamed in excruciating pain and the light burned him. He bent over trying to escape it, but Yaffah pulled him forward with her iron hands. She was stronger than five human men and math could do nothing except follow.

His eyes were clamped shut against the cruel sun and his headed pounded. He crouched to the ground and rocked back and forth like a madman trying to hide from the brilliance. Time passed and he began to become aware of the sounds around him. He both heard and smelled water everywhere. There was a brisk freshness to the air like a spring afternoon after a heavy rain. In fact, he could feel millions of tiny droplets all over his skin. He knew that it was not rain, but some sort of spray.

Yaffah spoke in a gentle voice that Math found to be comforting in spite of the pain. “What you are about to see only happens several times each year and only for a few hours. I don’t want you to miss it. Open your eyes.” Math tried to open them, but the light was still too much. He could only manage to make them into tiny slits and the tears from the pain made everything cloudy. He was aware of only brilliant colors unlike anything he had seen before. Maybe the colors were simply from his eyes adjusting, but he knew that the colors were truly something more. Yaffah wanted him to see something and the fairy colors were real. He just needed to open his eyes. He stood up straight and slowly opened them. This time he could bear the colors and the light. At first everything was a blur, but slowly it resolved into the most beautiful vision that Math had ever witnessed, he stood in a small brilliantly sunlit valley. All around were hundreds of waterfalls crashing over rough rocks so that every bit of the air was filled with a fine mist. The sun came from behind him and by some magic everything was surrounded by countless brilliant rainbows. His eyes were drawn upward to an enormous rainbow that spanned all the way across the sky and outshone everything else. It was so bright and so vivid.

Math was about to speak when he felt something on the back of his neck. He turned suddenly in surprise and the rainbows were all forgotten because he knew that what he had felt had been Yaffah’s lips. He saw that she was standing on a rock so that her eyes were level with his. He saw her brown braided hair hanging down to her waist. He saw her dark eyes and her nose that was so different than any human nose. He noticed how her body moved as she breathed, but most of all, he was captivated by the faint smile on her lips. It was a smile that was for him only. Math was struck with the realization that The Maker had created a very beautiful world.