Page 98 of Mountain of Mirrors and Starlight
Minerva had imagined her return to Avalinth a hundred times in a dozen different ways. When she had left, and the great steel doors had closed behind her, she’d been certain she would never return. It felt like a relief to be gone, and after she got used to the strangeness of the sky, she decided she enjoyed the world above. For the first few months, a part of her expected to float up and away into that vast, empty space. The stone was not there to hold her anymore.
But the sensation of weightlessness left her, and after they had settled in the cottage, the boredom started to set in. She kept it at bay for years, focusing on improving the homestead, helping Magna with her inventions, hunting game with Diana, keeping the kitchen stocked and the garden tended and playing whatever crazy new game Fort came up with. She liked their pace of life, she liked the smell of the air and sounds of the forests and the sweet simplicity of life.
And yet, despite it all, she longed for home. She missed the constant whir of the city, the dozens and hundreds of faces she’d left behind, the rumble of the deep, the call of adventure.
And Venus. She missed her too. How could she not? She saw her face every time she looked in the mirror. Different as they were, they were two halves of a whole. Rare to have dwarven siblings close in age. Rarer still to have them twinned. There were no others like them.
“There willneverbe any like us!” Venus would claim constantly, usually when she was planning coordinated outfits for them for the latest courtly occasion. Always different, never the same, but something complimentary. Dresses of iron and copper, blue and magenta, moon and sun. Minerva wore whatever her sister wanted.
In all other respects, Venus followed her. On her few excursions into the deep, she listened to her every instruction. In classes, she looked to her for guidance, for explanation. She never bore her any ill-will for being first in line, nor hinted that she planned to challenge her. Because she never, ever wanted that life.
Not until…
Minerva shook that memory, old and painful. What did Venus’ reasons matter, anyway?
She’d been surprised to find her so formal upon her return. In most of her imaginings, when she thought about going back, she imagined finding Venus either still furious, or completely forgiving. Not… cold. Distant. Not after all this time.
But there she was on the throne of their ancestors, a young relic, spouting orders like a true queen… making an alliance with a fae advisor. Minerva definitely needed to know more aboutthatdevelopment.
A knock on the door stirred her from her revelry. “Minnie? Can I come in?”
Tiberius.At least he hadn’t changed, or grown to blame her in her absence. Although he hadgrown.He was a man, now. He’d been a boy only close to one when they left. Dwarves aged slowly, and the difference should have been minute, but Minerva could still see it. Bell too.
“O’ course you can,” she announced, as the door slid open and his grinning face appeared in the gap. So like his mother. So likeher.
And Clay, too.
“Hello,” he said, still beaming ear to ear. He held up a metal arm. “A spare,” he explained. “In case you wanted one.”
Minerva smiled, pulling him into the room properly and wrapping her arm around him. He smelled good—warm and earthy and distinctlyTiberiusin a way that was difficult to pin to words. “I prefer your arms,” she whispered into his curls.
“Well, I’m not about to lend them out…” he said, squeezing her tightly. “Not long-term, anyway.”
Bell came forward and wrapped her arms around them both, and they stood there for a long, long time.
“How have you been?” Bell asked him, when they eventually parted. “Tell us everything.”
“Shockingly, there is little to say. Avalinth is the same as always. Old Evans retired. Jemina’s leg finally gave out and she consented to have it replaced with a clockwork one. Patrick died, I’m sorry to report—but he was old and it was quick. Oh! Marcel and Felix got married. Don’t think anyone saw that happening.”
“And you, lad?”
“What about me?”
“What have you been up to?”
“I’ve been the same as ever, except without you lot,” he said. “Truly. Nothing important has happened whilst you’ve been gone.”
Minerva met Bell’s gaze. It seemed highly unlikely. “What about this Aeron chap?” she asked. “He’s new.”
“Aeron? He’s been here for years.”
“And how did he get here?”
“A patrol found him in the tunnels. He was researching the outposts. I don’t think he expected to find the city at all, but he’s been an excellent advisor. His knowledge of plants surpasses even Flora’s, and he’s led several successful expeditions into the Deep. Reclaimed one of the mining levels.”
“Is that so?”
“But enough about him!” Tiberius clapped his hands together. “Tell me about the world above, and the Mortal Realm! Tell me about the sky. Name the colours. Do clouds really look like they do in the books? How many stars are there now? What are the animals like? Aeron worked with Master Hadriana to build a replica horse in clockwork, but—”
