I do not own the rights to the Hollow Kingdom or song.

Heigh-Ho

Despite Alex's pestering, Kayto refused to tell her where they were going. He was leading her away from the goblins and more into the valley. But first they had taken a short detour. After declaring that he was going to take her somewhere else, he then insisted that she go back to her room and put on actual shoes instead of flip flops she was currently wearing, not telling her why.

It was on the way back from her room that Alex met Eresha. Well, more like ran into. Alex was following Kayto down a hallway and when she turned around the corner she ran into a person. Kayto stepped to the side at the last minute letting Eresha run right into Alex. Later she would reflect that it had been on purpose.

Looking up, Alex saw a tall, beautiful, woman who was giving off an air of superiority, reminding Alex of Candace. Alex knew she shouldn't judge a person based on looks, but her experience was telling her this was a person who shouldn't be trusted. Eresha meanwhile saw an ugly human with a scowl on her face. "What," said Eresha slowly, "is that doing here?"

Alex was about to say something rude, but Kayto intervened. Kayto and Eresha weren't fond of each other either, but he figured he would probably be able to handle the situation better than Alex. Probably. "Can't say I'm surprised you haven't heard the news since you spend so much time in the library. This is Alex, Alice's sister. Alex this is Eresha, Inanna's sister."

Alice had filled Alex in on the whole Inanna/Candace/Alice debacle the night of their reunion. So she at least had an idea of who Eresha was.

Eresha raised an eyebrow at the news of who Alex was related to. "Well, I should have guess due to the family resemblance. You're just as drab as she is."

Alex's eyebrows furrowed, but she still managed to say sweetly, "Afraid I can't say the same about you seeing as how kind Inanna is, and well, how bitchy you seem."

Kayto choked back a laugh at this. Maybe Alex wasn't so bad after all. She managed to figure out Eresha in less than a minute. Eresha, however, was not pleased. She sent an intense glare back at Alex before scoffing, "Just like a human."

From there she turned her eyes to Kayto. Originally, Marak made Kayto show Eresha around in much the same way he had made Kayto show Alex around. Upon meeting each other, it was quite clear that they didn't like each other. Eresha viewed Kayto as a goblin who perversed his elf blood with his appearance. He didn't approve of her because he was the one who had watched how she manipulated Alice into almost killing herself. To goblins, all female life was sacred, and Kayto had actually been prepared to interfere even at the risk of his own bodily harm due to the seven stars spell. Luckily she had ran into the Candace girl, the attractive human othat he had spied on as well, and she had managed to talk Alice out of it. And despite telling Marak all of this, he had still allowed her into the kingdom.

Kayto and Eresha quietly played a game of who will blink first, until Eresha lost. Kayto smiled. Ignoring it she said, "I would love to stay and chat but I have other more important things to do besides waste my precious time on you." Then she walked away from them.

"She was lying," said Kayto after she left.

This time is was Alex's turn to roll her eyes at him. "I don't have magic, and I could have told you that."


After the Eresha incident they continued on their way eventually reaching some caves. "Are you going to show me a secret way out, because if so I need to go back and get my stuff."

Kayto replied, "I wish. No, instead I thought I would introduce to the people who would be able to answer all your questions. I have a good feeling you'll get along with them."

"Who?" asked Alex, her curiosity piqued.

"The dwarves."

"Wait, did you say dwarves? So dwarves exist as well as goblins and elves. Anything else I should know about? Vampires, werewolves, mermaids?"

"Don't be absurd. All those stories come from humans who misinterpreted a goblin they managed to see. I guess I should mention that demons exist as well, but I doubt you would ever meet one."

"Why?"

"It would involve you doing an ancient and complex summoning ritual and having you soul eventually devoured by it."

"That sounds like a pretty good reason. So tell me about the dwarves. Why do you think I would get along with them so well?"

"Well, originally goblins and elves lived in another part of the world. When the humans there became a bit too violent for the elves, an elf decided it was time for them to migrate. And since the goblins raid brides from the elves, they decided to follow. Eventually the elves settled here along with the goblins. The goblins found the dwarves who had already lived in the caves down here. With Marak Lionspaw's leadership, the dwarves proceeded to carve out the rest along with doing the lake spell. They're responsible for the structures, palace, jewel garden and more. And with your interest in the lake and structures I decided you might get along together. Normally the dwarves stick to themselves but occasionally they'll associate with others outside their species if their interests are similar enough. Oh look we're here."


'Here' meant a large cave that looked to be an office of some sort, with books, plans, and more spread out over numerous stone tables with little stone seats. Surrounding the plans were numerous little creatures, that Alex could only assume were the dwarves that Kayto had spoke of. Most came up a little past Alex's waist. Their hair varied from coal black tuffs, to rich earthy browns, and some even had some gray. Their ears were pointed like the elves, but not quite as elegant, giving them an almost comical appearance. As for their faces, they had the same two eyes, one nose and mouth as humans do, but their features were sharper, craggier, rocker. Alex felt like she was looking into a face of a mountain instead of the cute colorful dwarfs Disney had depicted. They had beady eyes aware of anything and everything, and sharp hooks for noses. Their hands were gnarly and rocky, but still nimble and quick. The only thing Disney seemed to get right was the hodge-podge collection of clothes that they were wearing in addition to the numerous bracelets, rocks, and rings.

Kayto approached what Alex could only assume to be the dwarf in charge due to his gray hair and golden specs that adorned his face. "Ahem," he said in English, clearing his throat when it seemed as if the dwarf was just going to ignore him.

The dwarf looked up at him, clearly annoyed at the interruption to his deep thoughts. "What," he replied in a deep, gravely, voice matching Kayto's English, "do you want?"

Judging by the expression displayed on Kayto's face, he was apparently not use to being addressed in such a way. "I have someone here who I think you would get along with. Grindstone, this is Alex, the newest resident of the kingdom. Alex, this is Grindstone, the closest thing the dwarves have to a king."

"Bah," said Grindstone as he turned his eyes upon Alex, "Kings are for races that are too dumb to get along together. Us dwarves know better to get involved in wars and trouble. Just give us our rocks and projects and we get along fine. What's the human doing here?"

Before Alex could respond to the 'human' part of the question, Kayto said something first. "Alex here has been asking all sort of questions about the lake and magic that I thought you might be better at answering than I."

Grindstone looked at Alex with intrigue written on his weathered face before replying, "We are not use to humans in these parts."

This time it was Alex's turn to speak before Kayto could. "I was curious as to the forces acting upon the lake to keep it up, how the lake responds to flooding, among other things." Then to clarify her interest, "I'm a civil engineer, or at least I was."

Taking this new information in, Grindstone then started to introduce Alex to the other dwarves. "This," he said pointing to the dwarf standing next to him on his left, who had been watching everything quietly, "is Aggregate, he can be a little coarse sometimes. This," he said indicating the dwarf on his right, who had also been watching, "is Bitum, and he can be a little hot. That," he said referring to a dwarf a couple feet away, studying a set of plans rather intently, "is Riprap. He's rather sharp. Next is," this time it was a dwarf with brown hair who was standing next to Riprap, "is Lathe. He might be a stick in the mud and wooden, but he's still good at taking orders. Over there," he said talking about a dwarf behind Alex, "is Pyrit, and can be quite the fooler. Finally there's Loam," he said about the goblin next to Pyrit. "He may be a dwarf, but he has quite the green thumb on him."

Done with the introductions, Alex finally let go of the laugh that she had been holding in the whole time. To Kayto's shock, Grindstone and the other dwarves joined in quite heartily. Dwarf humor, go figure. Normally when the dwarves would attempt jokes with the goblins, they would only be met with polite smiles or blank stares, not sure what to make of the joke. But here was a human who actually managed to understand what the dwarves had been talking about.

"You're the first non-dwarf to get that one," Grindstone said with approval in his voice. Unbeknownst to Alex, she had managed to pass some kind of secret test by the dwarves measuring her worth. "Welcome to the caves."

**Author's Note**

Big thanks to BalletGirl98 and speederina for reviews. It's always nice to hear what people think of my writing.

Next chapter is Hakuna Matata. Similar to how the song serves as a time transition for the Lion King, the chapter will do the same for After. Just instead of years, it will only be a couple months.

For this chapter, I realized that Alex would have a lot in common with the dwarves. Going through the books I couldn't find any descriptions or information on the dwarves other than the fact that they worked with the earth and goblin kings continually need to come up with projects for them. So I came up with my own, including the dwarf humor and having no king part. If I missed any descriptions or information that contradicts what I wrote, just let me know. I also thought it would be a nod to Disney by featuring seven of them.

Also, after realizing the lack of info. on dwarves I would like to see more fics including them. Especially a fic that features one as a king's Wife, instead of the usual human or elf.

Now for the dwarf humor part. Like Alex, I'm studying civil engineering, and came up with the dwarves names due to classes or things I learned from my internship this summer. Below are the definitions and explanations for the jokes. I know some include materials the dwarves might not be familiar with, but I figure they might read up on the humans and compare construction details, so please look past that.

On a side note, for any girls out there that are good at math and science, I highly encourage you to go into engineering. Girls are a minority in engineering, in fact, in a class of 30 there might be only 3 or 4 girls. This is good news when it comes to graduating and looking for jobs. Companies are always looking to hire minorities, and being a girl is a definite plus in the field. I'm proof that it's possible to love reading and writing, as well as math and science. I've always been torn between the areas but have found a way to balance them through writing fanfiction.

Definitions:

Grindstone: Sounded like a dwarf name and was the name of an area I worked at this summer.

Aggregrate: In this context it deals with material that you might see on the side of a highway for drainage. It's often a mixture of crushed rocks and gravel. Coarse is just a specific type of aggregate used, and also serves as a way to describe somebody. That's why when Grindstone says that Aggregate is 'coarse' Alex picks up on the double meaning while Kayto doesn't.

Bitum: Bitum comes from the term bituminous materials. Bituminous materials mean materials that contain bitumen, a dark-colored substance that is used in asphalt, which is used to pave roads. Hot just means that it's heated, and it typically seen when it comes to billing (at least in my experience). So when Grindstone says that Bitum can get rather hot, he means that he has a temper, but also is referring to the hot bituminous material part as well.

Riprap: Ever notice big, white, rocks next to creeks, rivers, bridges, or water just in general? That's what riprap is. It's there to absorb the impact of waves from water, and to slow down erosion on slopes that lead to waterways. Riprap is hard to walk on, and is very sharp. Grindstone is referring to Riprap being 'sharp' as in smart, but also to the material being sharp and hard as well.

Lathe: Don't know how true this is for international readers, but it's true for the American Midwest. Before construction begins on a highway, workers go out and place lathe, which rhythms with 'laugh'. A lathe is a wooden stake, with a bright neon ribbon tied around the top, and numbers written on the front facing the highway. They denote the stations along a highway and are usually placed every 250 feet. Stations are basically known points along a highway. They help an engineer determine where things are accurately located so they know where jobs might end, begin, or be able to calculate material needed for a job. Lathe might also be placed to denote where construction signs go before a job begins. 'Stick in the mud' is a way of saying somebody's no fun, but is the most basic definition for lathe.

Pyrit: This term is a bit easier to understand. Pyrit is taken from the word Pyrite, which means fool's gold, a type of mineral that can fool people into thinking it's gold due to the color. Hence, Grindstone warns Alex about Pyrit being quite the fooler, or joker.

Loam: Loam is a type of soil that is very good for farming. That's why Grindstone says that even though he's a dwarf that works with rocks, he has quite the green thumb, and can work with plants as well.

That's it for the definitions. Don't know if you'll find them funny as well, but I sorta do. Guess I just get dwarf humor. Moving on, don't forget to check out the August Writing Challenge in the forums. Submissions are due by August 31. My own submission is up and is called Happily.

I'm officially now a beta, so for those who might be interested check out my beta profile and PM me.

Don't forget to read, enjoy, and review!