Again to the Gate

May 28, 2025

I had been at work for a couple of hours when my whistle came up. Each of us had a whistle, so the leader could call them back when needed. I was with three of my troop still, and could start back without having to find someone to tell I was leaving. And luckily going down was quicker than coming up. It only took me half an hour to drop out of the crack we were exploring.

There, standing next to my leader, was Heidi and Benedicta. What were they doing here?

“Heinrich,” my troop leader said, “you are wanted again. Go to the registration office, and they will tell you where.”

Heidi had left as soon as I had arrived, and Benedicta said, “You done that work. I come with now.”

So Benedicta and I went off to the registration office and once there, were told to report to room A95C1. This meant trooping almost all the way back to where we had been. I sighed, and went back the way I had come, with my shadow. I amused myself along the way with asking Benedicta to pronounce various things we passed. I think she found it annoying that most of them were various different forms of rock. But Dwarves have a lot of words for rocks.

A951C was a door like any other. I went up to it and knocked. A Farmer opened the door. “Yes?” he said.

“I was told to report here,” I replied.

Suddenly a Farmerlad a bit older than me pushed past the Farmer, “Heinrich!”

I stared at him. I had never seen him before but-- "Seamus?"

“Father, this is Heinrich!”

“Ah. Yes. I am sorry, I was distracted. Besides which, you two were always sleeping with others. I don’t think you brought him to our hammock but once or twice.”

“Oh, Heinrich! Never mind him. He recognized you as soon as he saw you. He is just teasing. Come on in. And who is your friend?”

We came in. The room seemed crowded, there were at least three families in it. Two of them were in Fisher guise, only Seamus’ family had made the change to Farmer.

“This is bethQuirinus, the Sister of my friend Renatus.”

I don’t know whether it was because he was in Farmer guise, and Farmers tend to stay out of people’s business; or because he was a Fisherboy at heart, and they read emotions really well; but for whatever reason he didn’t ask me why she was hanging around. I, on the other hand, had a question for him.

“Why am I here?”

"Oh, your leaders told us at the registration that we could have someone show us around. I knew from your letters that you were here, so I asked for you to show me around. I want to meet all of your friends.”

“Well, come then,” I said, waving to the pack of boys gathering round. I knew better than to ask any single Fisherboy to do anything. Then I had another thought. “Would the girls like to meet people too?”

A superfluous question! They all jumped up eagerly. Oh, how the Dwarf women were going to be scandalized. Only Seamus’ Sisters, in their Farmer dress, would come close to being ‘dressed’ according to Dwarf standards.

“bethQuirinus,” I said, “Take these girls to Heidi. And you and Heidi take them around to meet all of Heidi’s friends and your family.”

She nodded, almost happily. And the girls set off in a giggling troupe.

Most of my friends were in my troop, and my troop would still be at work, so I decided that we would try to visit Renatus. I knew we could get there, and be gone, long before Heidi and the others arrived. But that didn’t work, as Renatus was busy attending some meeting with his Father.

So we decided to go and wait for my troop. Fisherboys never mind waiting, if they have people with them. Sitting below the cave opening, with my troop leader watching us curiously, we caught up with each other… in Fisherboy, of course.

/So, what have you been doing since I left your ship?/

/Back and forth, back and forth. Same as before. I was really glad when Father said we had been called to this meeting. How about you?/

/Well, we had the trip here… which probably took us much longer than it did you as we had to haul wagons. Then we have been building and exploring./

/When did your friend Renatus arrive?/

/Just yesterday./ I decided to take pity on him. Benedicta was away, so I wouldn’t look like quite such a fool. /I know you are dying to ask me what is going on with bethQuirinus. But unfortunately I don’t know. Something happened yesterday and since then she has been following me around./

/What happened?/ he asked, and they all leaned forward.

Dwarves are good at stories, and I told this one as best I could. It is always harder to tell a story you don’t quite understand yourself. I noticed my troop leader listening as well.

Seamus seemed to understand better than I did. /So. That then./

/What then? Tell me./

He shook his head. /Not much to tell that you don’t already know. Some things the girl herself will have to tell you, when she understands them. Till then, well, she needs to learn, as they said./

/But what am I to do?!/ Even my best friend wasn’t helping me here!

/Do what your Father said, of course. Tell her what to do. Teach her how to obey you./

That last hadn’t been quite what my Father said, but I didn’t have too long to think about it, as the boys were beginning to come back down. I guess the caves had petered out soon after I had left. I spent the rest of the morning having my ship friends meet my Dwarf friends. Dwarves are, in general rather reserved around others, but some of them knew these Fisherboys, and all of them had recently been on ship, so things moved along really well.

Island People

Island People is a young adult fantasy book centring on a young prince. The book starts with his kidnapping and follows his adventures as he not only escapes from his kidnapper but gains critical allies and friends.

The entire book is scheduled on Substack, and there are several sequels. This is a book I wrote years ago, so it is in a bit of a rough form. Critiques and comments are more than welcome, they are requested.

Thank you for reading Von’s Substack. I would love it if you commented! I love hearing from readers, especially critical comments. I would love to start more letter exchanges, so if there’s a subject you’re interested in, get writing and tag me!

Being ‘restacked’ and mentioned in ‘notes’ is very important for lesser-known stacks so… feel free! I’m semi-retired and write as a ministry (and for fun) so you don’t need to feel guilty you aren’t paying for anything, but if you enjoy my writing (even if you dramatically disagree with it), then restack, please! Or mention me in one of your own posts.

If I don’t write you back it is almost certain that I didn’t see it, so please feel free to comment and link to your post. Or if you just think I would be interested in your post!

If you get lost, check out my ‘Table of Contents’ which I try to keep up to date.

Von also writes as ‘Arthur Yeomans’. Under that name he writes children’s, YA, and adult fiction from a Christian perspective. His books are published by Wise Path Books and include the children’s/YA books:

The Bobtails meet the Preacher’s Kid: A Christian historical fiction chapter book about four orphans who go to live with their aunt on a dairy farm.

The Bobtails and the Cousins: The sequel to Preacher’s Kid. The aunt has married, and the cousins come to visit. Meaning town kids dealing with chores and manure and…

The Bobtails go to France: The sequel to cousins. The Bobtails, and Preacher’s Kid, get to take a trip to New York, London, Paris, and a small town in France. To get some cheese.

and

No Ordinary School: A brilliant but socially clueless boy gets recruited for a special school. Where he makes a lot of money, gets a girl, and solves a mystery.

As well as GK Chesterton’s wonderful book, “What’s Wrong with the World”, for which ‘Arthur’ wrote most of the annotations.

Arthur also has a substack, and a website. On the substack you can listen to some of his published books. Free.

Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,

Von