Greetings

Apr 16, 2025

The next thing to do, after we had settled in all the stuff we had with us (the rest, we were assured, would arrive within the week) was to go meet the neighbours. Dwarves seldom moved, but when we did, we had a routine, a tradition; as we did for pretty much everything. And the next step in that tradition was to meet the neighbours.

We had banged on our third door with no response, when we saw a family coming up the hallway, another family from our wagon train, led, like we had been, by a Dwarf boy; the same Dwarf boy, in fact. We watched him lead them up to the first door we had knocked at. Before he could disappear, I grabbed him.

“Hello, my name is Heinrich,” I said.

His eyes told me that he was supposed to be working, but returning greetings was mandatory amongst us. He stuck out his hand, “My name is Hans.”

He made to go, but I said, “I have a quick question.”

“Yes?”

“Are any of these suites occupied?”

“Not many-- just one or two down that way. They will be soon though. You people will mostly be placed here.”

He scampered away, and we went back to our room to discuss this. We had just gotten decently into the conversation, when there was a knock on our door.

“Hello, I am…” began the man at the door, flanked by his family, when he recognized us, “Deitrich. It is you?”

“Yes, come in. We have a problem to discuss with you.”

Georg and his family came in. Between the two families we almost filled the room. Father explained the problem. How did one go about introducing oneself when all of the suites were empty?

Dwarves love long discussions, and we had one. We were about a half an hour into it when another knock came on the door. The Fathers looked at each other and laughed.

Over the next two hours we ‘met’ all of the neighbors-- including two families we didn’t know already. It was a wild time, very unusual for Dwarves. But our neighbors told us that they had gone through the same thing when they arrived, and that we would again when the next set arrived.

To say that life settled into a routine would be an overstatement, but during the next few weeks we at least developed some daily pattern. Mother and the girls were very busy putting the house in order; which for Dwarves meant not only that it be neat, but that it be artistic. Father, Gunther and I went every day to work.

At first we did some excavation, and Father continued to do that. But Gunther and I, for at least some of the days, were given a different job: that of scout.

Even Dwarf lads need a break from routine. We don’t ‘play’ all that much, but we don’t work solidly like Farmers. Besides excavating, we did carving on the house-- our bedchambers and such. But we both enjoyed scouting the most.

You see, we Dwarves are not afraid to dig, but we aren’t stupid either. We take advantage of natural weaknesses and full blown caves. These natural caves needed exploration, to find out if a certain crack just went a few feet and stopped, or continued for miles and opened up further in. And the best explorers are the young, as they can fit in tighter places than their elders.

As scouts, we were organized into troops. Each troop would explore one crack. We would continue together as a troop until we reached a place where the cave branched into two or more directions, then we would split up. If you reached an end, or a split when you were alone, you went back to the last split and waited for your partner. It may not sound exciting, but we loved it.

It was not long after I joined my troop that the news came. One of the Dwarf lads was missing.

It was a farmer/Dwarf, from one of those families that live out in the open, tilling fields, retiring to their cave each night. The child was 18 years old, and had gotten permission to go climbing on the mountain, a very common occupation for Farmer Dwarves. He had gone missing in the afternoon, and his parents had searched for him all night before sending one of their children to alert the authorities.

We scouts got to join the search. We searched for two whole days before being called off. It was a great mystery. Usually when one of us goes missing, even if we are killed, our body is quickly found. We tend to be careful where we go, and go according to a plan. This boy had told his parents exactly where he was going to go, and we searched far out from there. But we found nothing.

We all grieved. Typically we Dwarves have few children, only six or so, and a long time between them. So each child is valued, and deeply mourned.

Our time of mourning (two full months) hadn’t yet finished when word began trickling in. We weren’t the only ones to have suffered a mysterious disappearance. Several Farmer lads and one other Dwarf boy had also disappeared. The Trolls were also complaining of depredations on their flocks, although no Trolls had disappeared (except in the normal way).

This news prompted a series of rulings from the Dwarf council (there being as yet no prince to rule over us). These brought a howl of protest from several quarters. One rule in particular affected me. No more were boys to be allowed outside the walls, except when working. And even then they must proceed in groups of two or more.

This was very annoying. Dwarf boys loved to roam up and down the mountainside during their free time. Except for farm Dwarfs, we never really had ‘work’ outside, so for most of us, this meant that we were now confined inside permanently, or at least until the rule changed. We boys had even found a small lake not too far from our main entrance, and, now that we were allowed to, we had frequently gone swimming.

No more. Now our only sunlight came from skylights cut into the larger caverns. Dwarves were not addicted to sunlight like some of the other races, but we still enjoyed it occasionally, especially we boys. Gloom settled over our city.

But our work continued, and that helped. It is hard to be too gloomy when you are in the process of creating a new city. About once a week now, a new group of immigrants arrived, and moved into caves that we had just recently excavated. And the search for, and exploration of, new caves went on apace.

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

The Bobtails and the Cousins

The Bobtails go to France

and

No Ordinary School

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