Meddling in Foreign Affairs

Chapter 6: Preparations

Dismas woke up, once again very disoriented. His shoulder was stiff and his right arm was full of pins and needles, and he was in the nicest bed he'd seen in years. He hadn't noticed it before because he was so sleepy, but the door knob was gently glowing. He reluctantly got out of the bed and opened the door.

It was bright. Blinking to try to adjust his eyes, Dismas started to stumble forwards before realizing that was probably not a good idea. After a few seconds, his eyes had gotten used to the light and he looked around the room. The only other person in the room was Dyomahai who was sitting at a desk across from the main door that led to the rest of the city. He appeared to be focused on his work and didn't acknowledge Dismas' presence until he coughed to get his attention. Dismas had decided that trying to escape while he was still slightly groggy was pointless.

"Ah, Dismas, I was wondering how long you would sleep for. I was beginning to consider attempting to wake you up." Dyomahai set down the pen he was writing with and walked over. "I am not aware of your preferred weapons or clothing, so you should come with me to the market to gather your supplies. It is past lunch time, but I saved some food for you. It is early afternoon right now, so we have some time before most of the market stalls will close." Dismas greedily ate the food that Dyomahai gestured to before burping rather loudly, with a satisfied smile. "If you thought that was good, you will certainly enjoy having a hot meal this evening. We should get your supplies quickly so that we will not miss dinner."

"Kay, I guess." Dismas yawned. "Hey, Dyomahai?"

"Yes?"

Dismas rubbed at his eyes blearily. "Where're the other dwarves in the Dyomahai Clan? Shouldn't they be around working or something?"

"To tell you the truth, mine is one of the smallest clans. But even if we were larger in numbers, it would not be likely that there would be many dwarves working in the hospital when the only patient is a human criminal." Dyomahai started walking to the doors, beckoning for Dismas to follow. Only when they were in the main hall did he start talking again. "Most of my family works among the people. It makes everything more convenient to have doctors that make in-home visits. Only extreme cases and outsiders are treated in the hospital."

"That makes sense. People who aren't doing great shouldn't have to walk to the hospital to get better." Dyomahai hummed in agreement, but continued walking in silence. Dismas followed along as he went upstairs to the main entrance room of Dragtsyenost. The large cavern with a harbor and market was just as awe-inspiring the second time he saw it.

"Come along, I was given a certain amount of money to pay for your things. I believe that our market will be beyond satisfactory, considering that most of the year's wares have yet to be shipped down the Brosayas to sell. Hopefully there will be human-sized clothing available."

Dismas looked down at himself. While his trousers seemed fine (other than needing a thorough washing), his shirt had a hole from the arrow and was stained with his blood. "Yeah, new clothes would definitely be appreciated."

Dyomahai smiled and started weaving his way through the market stalls. As Dismas trailed along behind, he stared in wonder the various goods for sale, and the assortment of shoppers. Although it had never crossed his mind as a possibility, it seemed as if the dwarves allowed outsiders into their capital, if only to buy their wares without having to wait for them to be shipped down the river. There were no elves, but there were many humans, and even a few halflings mixed in with the crowds.

And there was also the assortment of animals Dismas hated the presence of in markets. He wrinkled his nose as they passed a group of morops being herded by, the huge grassland animals twitching their flexible snouts. Earlier he had noticed a pen full of dexis eating slop or hopping around happily. He wondered if any of them realized that their fate would likely be to end up in the stomach of a random dwarf. Probably not, but if they did, there wasn't much they could do to stop it at this point. In addition to the livestock being sold, Dismas noticed a few stray thylaks hanging around the food stalls, and even a few following their masters loyally.