I can see gazes of hostility toward the man who has just carried us back down to the chasm floor. These harsh gazes come from the people who have been pushed aside by his buddies, but as soon as his foot leaves the bottom step of the stairs they'd carved into the stone that hostility is replaced with looks of shock and fright, and they are looking at some point behind and above the guy who's holding the two of us under his arms.

[What, huh?] The guy says, and then turns right around while still holding us as he realizes something is wrong. I have to crane my head quite painfully from my position to see what's happening. It turns out the thing that had everyone in a panic was the old man we'd seen up at the top, and he even had Abu and Kain with him. He'd followed us down. I didn't even know how, but considering the speed of his arrival and the fact I'm sure I did not feel any earth-shaping nearby, they must have just jumped and landed solidly on each shelf on the way down. Had they been following us the whole time? He must have at least been watching us somehow to arrive with this kind of timing.

[Well, well!] the old man said. [That was rather fast for such a timid and gutless method of getting down. I suppose it makes sense for kids like this to be afraid of heights, but I never thought they'd actually have the mana to keep stone-shaping at that rate all the way down. It is no wonder Iuutel himself would have chosen these two and had them entered into the program at only three years old,] he said. He was acting like he was talking to himself, but it was more than obvious what he was doing. For some reason, he wanted every single person down here to know exactly what our value was.

[It is the ...Enisib of Abdul that will be welcoming them, correct? I will be noting that. Do know that detaining them when they see fit to ascend the pit will not be tolerated though. You understand, there are some rather high expectations for those two. Now, I suppose while I am down here I should do a little cleaning up, these two left quite the trail on the way down so it will take some effort.]

After saying this much, a huge wave of earth mana swept out over the bottom slope and those stairs carved into the lowest foot hill warped immediately back into smooth stone, causing several sounds of dismay to escape form the gathered crowd. The old man completely ignored this, however, and simply turned and, with a casual jump, crossed the entire distance back to the vertical cliff higher up. He placed his hand on the wall and the two grooves cut into it by me and Sam instantly stitched back together, looking just as smooth as they did before we crossed that way. I suppose that would explain why I'd seen no signs of stoneshaping on our way down.

Abu and Kain were easily able to replicate the old man's jump, and after he'd finished mending the cliff face he simply leapt straight up to the next shelf. The three of them were easily able to hop around on their way up the cliffs like some kind of fleas, and the sight of it left me feeling completely baffled.

Back down here at the ground level, I got another look at the people gathered around when the guy carrying us turned around. The faces that had been looking at us with hostility and envy before were now showing looks of smug schadenfreude with a few looks of pity mixed in. Whatever happened, it was obviously a big deal with some kind of serious social dynamics issues down here.

[Shit!] The guy carrying us cursed. [Well, the brats are ours now. We're taking them back to Enis Abdul. We've got to inform him of what we just got ourselves into. This is going to be a serious pain.]

With those words, he shoved us off onto two of his companions to carry us, and the jeering crowd separated to allow them through as they all stalked off with the two of us in hand.

The group stalked through tent city that served as the dwellings of all the people down here at a hurried and guarded pace. Well, I say tent city, but the majority down here did not even have tents. Most seemed to just place a border around what was designated as their territory and call that good enough.

This was within what one would expect. What was somewhat more unusual was what the tents were actually made out of. The 'tarp' of the tent was the same sort of animal skin as the boys and girls... or rather, the men and women of this group were wearing.

Shit, I really can't tell how old these gnomes are. I don't even know if any individual in this group is older or younger than I was in my last life. They are supposed to be initiates to 'the program,' right? That should probably mean they are on the younger end as far as gnomes go, but the organized way they were all behaving for our 'greeting' seemed to indicate a fairly adult level understanding of how they should be acting in difficult situations and such.

I've also heard that adolescence was a fairly modern phenomenon back on Earth though. Supposedly, back in the middle ages, a 15 year old would be considered a full adult and be quite capable at doing all the things that are considered proper adult workplace activities (or the equivalent there of in those times) as a 26 year old would be capable of in modern day Earth. So, the way they behaved really told me nothing much in terms of their actual age.

Eventually, the group of gnomes carrying us along came to their destination, and what I saw basically proved that I was 100% correct in how I'd assessed them earlier. These guys definitely had some serious pull and power around here.

What we came upon was a circular wall made of firs strung up between pillars of bone set into the stone below or fastened together with stone that had been liquified and re-formed to act like concrete. Overall, a really efficient use of mana in terms of creating such structures. And as we approached the opening, guarded by two gnomes who were presumably also from this community, I could already see inside that there were lines of tents for every single person who lived here.

By the standards of what I was seeing on the outside, this pretty much meant these guys were among the richest and most powerful people down here.

As we approached, the ones guarding the gate looked us over, gave me and Sam an assessing look, and then turned back to look at the leader of this little party. [Hey, Deseden, looks like you failed eh? These kids belong to the ones who got the new initiates or something? Whoever it is, I doubt any Ensib is gonna let them trade an initiate for a couple of second gens.] 

So, this guy leading this little party is named 'Deseden,' huh? In Elven, 'Deseden' would mean something along the lines of 'foot in prison,' or something of the sort. There seems to be a pattern in the names given to gnomes, and that pattern is making a lot more sense now that I consider we're all born to mothers who are in prison, and we are bred for the purpose of becoming slaves. It seems the names we are given tends to reflect that.

[These are the initiates,] Deseden said.

[Eh? Come again?] The guard replied.

[I said these two are the new initiates that were climbing down the pit.] Deseden confirmed in a rough and annoyed tone. [Let us in, I have to report to Ensib Abdul. There was a problem after we got them. A big problem. Watch the gate, raise the alert if you see anyone approaching at all! These kids are some serious big fish, and they're marked by the keeper. This is going to get bad.]

[They're marked! Seriously!]

[Yes, so do the job and watch the gate! I'm going to report.]

After he said this, he lead the group carrying us in. I hadn't really been aware of it before as they were silently carrying us through the desolate looking place. I did understand that SOMETHING was wrong, but I had no inkling it was something as serious as it was starting to sound now.

We marched straight through the camp, receiving the curious gazes of people coming out of their tents or who were already milling about the camp, and approached a man who was already sitting on a raised throne in the center of the camp. The throne was made from four small pillars raised out of the stone below, and another fir was suspended between the four of them, even curved so that the same fir acted as both the seat and the back. It was a crude seat, but with the aid of earth magic, it still looked like it would be rather comfortable to sit in.

The man sitting atop it did not look very comfortable at the moment though. He was staring back at Deseden as he carried us in.

[I heard what you were saying at the gate. You say these children are marked, but are they really the ones? You are not making this up? They can't be more than two cycles old,] the man on the throne said.

[Three!] Sam shouted back.

[Eh? What did... are you saying you are really only three cycles in age, child?] The man on the throne asks.

[Yes, we're both three!] She said.

I looked over and Sam seemed rather satisfied with herself for some reason. She quickly turned to look at me and was holding up a finger over her lips for some reason, telling me to be quiet. I couldn't understand it. What was she up to?

The man on the throne, meanwhile, was sighing with his head in his hands. [Well, you had better tell me the whole story. They are definitely wearing apprentice clothes, and they are not tattered so they are probably not fake. They must have really been woven and tailored like that up above by the elves. That means they actually are initiates. I guess you had best tell me the whole story about how all of this happened.]

[Of course, lord Abdul!] Deseden said with a slight bow. [After you dispatched us to retrieve the new initiates who were seen using stone shaping to slowly descend the cliffs, we went to retrieve them. Of course I thought it was ridiculous when I saw they were just babies, but I decided to grab them anyway. But, as soon as I took them, the keeper showed up. He said that it was Iuutel himself who commanded these two be put into the program at such a young age, and they have incredible power. After saying that, the keeper marked them as being under the care of the Enisib of Abdul, calling you and my affiliation to you out by name.]

There was a definite stir of unease through the camp when everyone heard what was said. Some of the people in at the edges seemed to be actively panicking. I really didn't understand it. Marked? Was what the old man said back at the foot hills really that serious?

The leader guy was silent for quite a while, but he had a very angry face and was glaring off to the side toward a patch of ground like he wanted to burn a hole in it.

Finally, he sighed. [We will have to prepare our defenses then. I am going to need someone to bring those two into the mines. Ekarem!]

[Eh? Yes?] A confused woman's voice called back.

[You have a son, correct? Take him and these two kids down to the mines. You can feed the boy all the earth-nest stones he can eat while you have these two mine them up. Maybe he will actually grow up with enough power to be of use. Deseden, you were responsible for this mess so you will be guarding the mines and them in particular. You all get moving!] He said.

[As for the rest of you,] he continued, [there will be a lot to discuss in terms of how to defend us against any opportunists who want to come and take advantage of this mark!] He said with a note of irritated disgust.