The Tree's Heart

VIII

They made their way to the gnomes without any further incident which Clover was quite happy about. Willow seemed to stay distant, after she had been asking about what happened, but she seemed to have softened a little after getting a night of sleep. The second day they were just walking in silence until they finally reached the hills that Willow had been talking about. The hills were quite extensive and there seemed to be a wooden gate that would lead deep into them. There were a few little houses on the hills, as well.

The houses were tiny, compared to Willow and Clover. Clover knew that she would never have been able to go into one of the houses that were built on top of the hill, but the gate leading into the hills was about six feet tall, which meant that Clover and Willow would just about fit through it. Clover wondered what the gnomes would look like – she assumed they were much smaller than humans, but other than that she didn't really have an image of them in her head. But she was soon to find out.

Willow had knocked at the gate and exchanged a few niceties with the guards before they let them in and led them through tunnels that seemed to stretch and wind endlessly through the hills. The gnomes themselves just looked like small humans, except that they were built a little stockier and had pointed ears. They didn't seem to get much taller than maybe two or three feet, from what Clover could guess. Her and Willow were towering over them, and she was sure that the two of them looked pretty intimidating to the gnomes. Still, they seemed to be very friendly and open after a while.

The tunnels were partly propped up with wooden structures and partly with stone. Some structures seemed to be reinforced with metal parts and from what Clover could see there were many little halls that contained little workshops. Some of the workshops seemed to have a whole lot of mechanical parts, others seemed to have a lot of little flasks and bottles standing around – Clover could only guess what they were making in those places. Despite all the metal parts, there wasn't really any gold or silver around the place. There was some copper, but other than that it seemed like gems and precious metals weren't something the gnomes were interested in. They liked to work with more practical materials.

By the time they reached the king of the gnomes, Clover was hungry and tired. They had packed rations for themselves, of course, but Willow had calculated them very sparingly. They would have just about enough for the way home. Still, Clover had to sit through the exchange of niceties and small talk between Willow and the king for a long time until they got to the point of their visit. Willow was presenting him with the gifts they had brought and asked for some potion with a long and complicated name that Clover couldn't remember. She was quiet the entire time they were there.

It seemed smarter to let Willow do the exchange and let her do all the talking, since she seemed to know the king and seemed to be on somewhat friendly terms with him. It was hard to say, really, since the gnomes seemed to be a very proud people and this was an official visit – of course, things wouldn't be all jokes and laughter. After they had finally come to an agreement, Willow and Clover were led into a big hall where food was being served. The portions were tiny, of course, but the gnomes didn't seem to be stingy with their refills. There was stew, there was bread, there was even some meat and plenty of berries that must have come from the surface. And there were mushrooms – more mushrooms than Clover had ever seen in her entire life. Her mouth was watering at the sight of all the food.

"Don't be too greedy with the food." Willow warned her, before they sat down cross-legged and started to eat. But that was easier said than done, because the food was delicious and Clover hadn't had any sort of meat in weeks. Besides, the gnomes seemed to be happy to feed them. And they were happy to let them have plenty of the ale they were brewing, as well. To Clover the big tankards seemed more like large shot glasses, but the ale was amazing. Clover hadn't been a big fan of beer, because she didn't like the bitterness and the hoppiness of it, but this was different. There was barely any hint of that bitterness – it was light and refreshing and Clover thought she could taste some fruit notes, as well.