Lewis, Simon, and Duncan were, as they always were lately, working hard on baked bean fort. Simon was looking over their progress. With sarcasm dripping from his words.
"We've got a shitty hole in the ground," he paused to think before continuing, "with a lot of crap in chests."
Lewis tried to put in some words, saying, "Well, come on it's less of the shitty" but he was mostly ignored.
Simon continued, "We have a jaffa cake, a potato, a pig hat. We're making progress. Come on! We have to pick up the pace!"
Lewis then interjected into Simon's rant, saying, "You can't build a rocket in a day!"
"I'm not asking you to build it in a day! But we need to hurry up!" Simon began to yell.
"Why!?" Lewis asked, voice raised like Simon's
Simon froze. He didn't mean to seem so mean, but he had a highly specific reason for his strict tone that he was embarrassed to tell...
Lewis had calmed down and was speaking normally, "Why do we need to get done so quickly?"
Simon clutched the necklace around his neck. "Fine, I'll tell you, but it's a long story."
I was the son of a Dwarven king, Honeydew I. King under the mountain. He was always supporting of me...
Then, an image of a small dwarven child came to honeydew's mind while the song of their ancestors rang in his ears. Going "I Am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole, diggy diggy hole, digging a hole".
"I enjoyed my life, but I had one ambition. To reach the moon..." An image of a teenage dwarf speaking before the dwarven council came into Simon's vision... "They laughed at me, and said I'd fail if I tried." So I planned to leave...
A young dwarf near the doors of the surface was the next image. "My father found out my plans..."
The memory of that night, still clear in his mind, played out before him.
"If you're going to try to stop me it won't work. I've made up my mind." Simon remembered saying.
"I don't plan to." The Dwarven King said. Simon was shocked at his father, "I want you to try for your heart's desires, but I want you to have this."
The dwarven king handed Simon a pickaxe shaped necklace. "It will glow when you are near Khaz Modan, promise me that after you get to the moon, you'll come back. Can you promise me?"
The young Dwarf admired the necklace, blue topaz center surrounded in gold. Glowing faintly...
"I-I Promise Dad." The young dwarf wrapped his arms around his father, crying into his shoulder. "I promise when I go to the moon, I'll come back and show you and the council what I find. I promise to all of my ability."
the Dwarven King returned the hug, "and, just return home safely, please?"
Simon was silent, the only thing he couldn't promise surely, he finally found the right words after a time, "I-I-I'll try..."
"I love you son, go now, start your quest, I guess you could say, your Moonquest."