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"I am a follower of Ulesh," she answered Ursa, ignoring his quip about surplus clerics. "My name is Galiena Reyns and I have offered," she glanced toward Trotsky then back to Ursa, wishing to make perfectly clear exactly what she had offered "to stay and offer what aid I can on the condition that Fr Michael and Adan are released back to the surface."

She paused before answering his other question.

"As for Lord Percival's deal, he has requested a few trucks worth of coal in exchange for these needed supplies."

"Does Ulesh support the dwarves' fight against the oppressor, or is he only a god for humans?" asks Ursa, "it's good that you have offered to stay. But Fr Michael I cannot release. I'll send the Dunstan dwarf back to the surface with my message".
"No" says Adan, "let the humans go back to the surface, where they belong. Use me as your hostage".
"Trotsky" gives him a slap. "How dare you speak to great comrade Ursa like that!" he says.
"The human woman says she is willing to stay" says Ursa, "so she stays. You go back to the surface with a pouch full of diamonds, and explain that this is the payment for the oil and ale we request. Dwarf Mine won't be mining coal any longer."
He then turn to Galiena.
"Would you be prepared to preach to the dwarves of Dwarf Mine?" he asks, "give me a text of what you are saying".

Galiena pushed down a shiver of apprehension when Trotsky slapped Adan. Not that she was overly concerned that he'd actually hurt Adan, but that it removed any pretense that they were having a civil and reasonable conversation.

"The hand which strikes first invites destiny," she said, repeating a piece of her god's mantra as she looked meaningfully at Trotsky. Turning her gaze back to Ursa, she said, "Ulesh welcomes followers of all races, but He does not look favorably upon those that disturb the peace by forcing their will upon others.

"I said I was willing to stay IF you release Fr Michael and Adan. Otherwise, I am an unwilling hostage. Perhaps the difference is semantic only to you. Lord Percival does not want the diamonds, though he may be swayed to reason by a show of good faith in releasing Michael."

"Why does Percival not want the diamonds?" says Ursa. "Humans like diamonds, they are not worthless rocks to them, as they are to swine. Has your Ulesh swayed his heart against them?"
His voice rasps, but you can also tell that he is alarmed, and hurt.

She shook her head. "The diamonds have gained a reputation of being unlucky... which I don't believe is true," she added quickly. "But others do, which is enough to make them difficult to sell at a fair price. If you wish to sell them, it will either require time enough for people to forget or to take them somewhere else to peddle them. Ashdown, perhaps? I know of two jewelers there who might very well appreciate your diamonds" she suggested, wanting to give him a direction to plan for the future... some way to get him thinking beyond his immediate gripes against Lord Percival.

"An enemy of the dwarf workers must have said this" says Ursa, "we will find and destroy him, and we dwarves have long memories. Now this Dunstan dwarf lies when he says we take hostages. You are not hostages. I give you a choice, you can both go now, or only the Dunstanite can go - we don't want him in Dwarf Mine - and you [Galiena] can stay and preach to the dwarves."

"Then I will ...," she almost said "go", anxious to be gone from the mine. But then what? Would Lord Percival take Malfey's suggestion and just condemn all those below to die? It seemed unlikely that every dwarf down here was of the same mind. Most likely it was only Ursa and "the committee" that were fully committed to these ideals. And what of Fr Michael? She still didn't know where he was.

"stay," she finished. "At least long enough to give a sermon. Adan, do you still have the gift we brought?"

Though the liquor had been for the chief and it was banned, she couldn't help but suspect it would still be accepted and perhaps shared privately. With a little luck, news of such might travel to the other dwarves.

"Dwarf Mine is a liberated zone of pygmanity" says Trotsky, "We have expelled the evils of hard liquor, and will expel the evils of ale, when the water is fit to drink. But we will take the gift rather than insult Lord Percival." He takes the bottle from Adan with a slightly greedy hand.
Ursa gives Adan a pouch. "These are diamonds for Lord Percival. Tell him we want the supplies in exchange. Kaynin (Troksky's real name), get the committee to escort the Dunstan dwarf to the shaft, and make sure it remains secure."
The three dwarves you saw before come back in. Adan waves to you and gives a thumbs up, as he is led away.

"Now I need you" says Ursa to Galiena, "I need you to preach to the assembled workers of Dwarf Mine and raise their morale. Can you do this for me?"

She nodded her willingness, then asked "Has Fr Michael preached any sermons for the dwarves?"

"Fr Michael has some funny ideas" says Ursa, "He's alright physically, but mentally he's in bad shape. I'll let you see him."
He leads you through Dwarf Mine, past the big crushing machine and the rock sifting table, and to a small barred chamber.
"Fr Michael" he says, "we have a sister priestess to see you". He opens the door. Inside is a pitifully pale, disheveled figure.
"Hello" he says, his voice thin and cracked, "have you come to discuss the dwarf revolution with me again?"
"No just to see you're alright" says Ursa, "we worry about you, Fr Michael."
He starts barring the door again, but it takes him a while to do this, there is time to say something to Fr Michael.

He's only been down here 2 days, she thought, dismayed that he already looked so pale.

"May St Barbara and Ulesh grant you peace and strength, Fr Michael," she said quickly as Ursa closed the door again. She hadn't seen him in nearly two years and wasn't even certain he'd recognize her voice. But perhaps it would grant him some hope to hear a friendly voice.

"Why is he kept as a prisoner?" she demanded then of Ursa.

"He was a friend of Chief Grimely's", says Ursa. "When he found out that Grimely was dead, it blew his mind. He couldn't take in the reality of it, and started throwing about wild accusations. We couldn't risk letting him go back to the surface."

"How did Chief Grimley die?" she asked then, wanting to hear what Ursa would say. She was dealing with an idealist, but was she also dealing with a liar? Having seen the evidence in the living quarters, she could not help but suspect that Fr Michael's "wild" accusations might not be so far off.

"A dwarf diamond miner uncovered a really big diamond" says Ursa, "I've got it here, I'll show it to you". He dips into a pouch, and shows you what looks like a congealed piece of glass, about as large as the bowl of a dessert spoon. "Now according to the agreement, half should have gone to Lord Percival. But Grimley wasn't going to give him that. Also, we all knew that once one such diamond had been found, there might be another, we had to put all our efforts into that pipe. Anyway, Grimley calls a strike to try to get control of the diamonds, retrospectively. But he keeps the diamond for himself. This causes antagonism with the other dwarves, also there's talk of starting coal mining again, which the dwarves hate - it's far dirtier and more dangerous than diamond mining. Eventually, the dwarves who become the committee and me agree that this can't go on. We confront him, and say that we will tell Lord Percival about the diamond - Grimley is thinking of smuggling it out, you see - unless he agrees it is for all dwarves to share. He flies off the handle and attacks me, and in self-defence I strike back. Too hard, he's dead. But his own fault really. So now as deputy I should become chief, but to show the dwarves that I'm not that kind of leader, I reject the title. The dwarves rule themselves now, and I'm just comrade Ursa".

She listened carefully, trying to decipher what had a ring of truth versus what reeked of deception, perhaps even self-deception.

"So all the dwarves share it now?" she asked, gesturing to the raw diamond in his hand. "Will you break it apart then? Or do you take turns holding it?" She was careful to keep a mocking tone from her voice, but couldn't he see he was doing exactly what he had accused Grimley of?

"Oh no," he said, "it's far more valuable as one big diamond than even as thousands of little ones. It's too precious to trust to a dwarf diamond cutter. It's going to the gnomes. Then yes, there will be little diamonds cut off the edges we may distribute to the workers. But as for the big diamond, it depends. But we will put it to good use, we might make it into some jewellery for a woman, or into an idol for a temple. But it will be the glory of clan McCain."

She nodded. "It will be lovely, indeed," she said softly. It seemed Ursa believed what he preached at least, perhaps more purely than did Kaynin, who struck her as a greedy dwarf high on a power trip.

She gestured back to the barred door. "Would you mind if I checked on Fr Michael closer? He looked a bit pale, don't you think? Then I should like somewhere quiet to prepare my sermon."

"Try to persuade him that Grimley needed to be eliminated for the dwarf revolution to go ahead" says Ursa. He leads you back to Fr Michael's cell. He unbars the door, and you go inside. Then you hear the sounds of the bars being put back in place.
Fr Michael is looking rather weak, but he perks up to see you.
"Sister Galiena" says the priest, "are you a prisoner too, or have you become one of .. one of them?"

And there goes the self-defense theory... she thought to herself, though did not voice such, lest she find herself in exactly the same state as Michael.

She took his hands in her own as she sat with him. "I don't think I'm a prisoner, at least not yet. I'm here trying to find a peaceful resolution to this situation, though I'm not sure if I have accomplished much yet," she said, honestly.

"Ursa permitted me a few minutes here. Lord Percival worries for you. Have they mistreated you, brother?"

"They were polite and discussed terms with me, until I insisted on seeing Grimley himself." says Fr Michael, "Something told me they had murdered him, and they realised I knew. So then, of course, they wouldn't let me back up to the surface. Then they haven't harmed me physically, but they have threatened me. They say that unless I accept that Colston colliery belongs to the dwarves who mine it, and not to Lord Percival, then I am a reactionary force, and will need to be eliminated."