[Alright, you lot take that piece! Get it up top!] Deseden commanded a few gnome men to carry a slab of stone. It was just as I'd suspected. After we pulled the huge half-foot thick slab of stone out of the wall, we were instructed to start using stoneshaping to separate it into smaller slabs, about 2 feet wide by 4.5 feet high, and each one was carried by four men.

It is a definite testament to the physical strength of gnomes that they were able to carry that much, even between four of them. Sam's concerns were very well founded in reality on this matter. Increased amounts of earth mana corresponded to increased weight and density in the stone. It made it pretty hard to estimate how such a large stone would compare to the weight of a stone on Earth, but there was absolutely no way four humans would be able to lift a stone of that size if it was made of normal rock.

Most humans from Earth can't even lift a rock bigger than their own head, let alone these monstrosities that are large enough that you wouldn't be able to load more than one into the bed of a pick-up truck and still expect it to be able to move.

These gnome work teams came down at the same time as the children mentioned previously by Abeshima, that one gnome lady who had come to tell Deseden what the plans were. There were six men and two women in the hauling crews, just enough to be transporting two slabs of stone at once.

The additional children were being watched by three adult gnome women, or at least what passes for adults among gnomes since my sensibilities from my Earth side of my previous life memories still saw them all as looking like ten year olds.

From what I gathered from the social interactions, I think every single one of the gnomes hauling stone or watching the other children aside from me and Sam belong to the 2nd generation group, which I assume to mean they were not born from an elf with the soul of a gnome as I was, but rather had two gnomes as their parents instead.

Meanwhile Ekarem, Deseden, and the newly arrived Abeshima who seems to have become our third assigned guard all seem to be what would, by contrast, be called 'first gens' like me and Sam. And it seems as though the first gens are treated with a great deal more respect than the second gens. I can only assume this has something to do with the relative amounts of power possessed by first gens as compared to second gens.

As for us, Sam and I were given a chance to rest after we'd cut up the big stone slab. That being said, I got the distinct impression it was more like "stay in one place and stay out of trouble" than it was inviting us to take a well deserved rest. Ekarem was also sitting with us and watching us closely, along with her son. Meanwhile, Deseden and Abeshima were watching the tunnel coming down and checking the work crew every time they came back down before directing them to grab the next slab and take it up.

I was still trying to make sense of the social hierarchy here in the pit. There was this Enis Abdul who seemed to be the leader of these people. Enis was a new word in the elven language to me, but I did recognize at least that it was used more like a title and certainly did not seem to be a name. As for what it meant, I guess 'chief' is the position that's closest to the role he's actually fulfilling, but he sat on that seat of fir stretched between stone pillars like he was a king on his throne. So, I am not about to rule out some kind of self-aggrandizement with the title.

Conversely, the second gens seem to more or less be at the bottom of the social hierarchy from what little I've seen, but at least in this group that doesn't mean they're treated cruelly.

I suppose this means the rest of the intermediate positions in the social hierarchy are occupied by first gens in various positions. This Abdul guy would also be a first gen himself, one who for whatever reason gained leadership over the rest of them.

I guess I haven't really seen enough of society down here to really know for sure if any of my guesses are right, but I was disturbed out of my thoughts as I tried to ponder the matter as things were starting to become a little noisy up in the tunnel that leads down to this cavern.

[The Enis approaches! The Enis approaches!] a man was shouting from up in the tunnel like a herald. Everyone looked up and the children immediately started getting urged off to the sides of the room. They were being rather compliant with the directions of the women, demonstrating they were used to behaving and being ordered around.

Deseden and Abeshida took up positions near the tunnel entrance, and Ekarem grabbed her son and moved into a defensive position in front of me and Sam.

They all held these positions until the Enis lead by the man who had shouted out earlier came into view, at which point everyone relaxed from their battle-ready positions and took up more of a respectful attentive approach to the situation.

[It is me, indeed. Very good you are staying vigilant down here. Keeping the marked children safe at all costs is essential to the survival of this Enisib. Now, Deseden, I have come to see the children and this project you have them working on,] the 'Enis' of this... 'Enisib' I guess it is called, said when he saw he was greeted by crowd of people who were relaxing from their battle poses only after seeing him.

[Of course, Enis Abdul!] Deseden said dutifully and motioned the man further in. The Enis smiled at me and Sam as he approached, but he ultimately passed us by in favor of the large hole we'd left in the side of the wall when we had removed that huge stone slab.

[Amazing!] He said with an awed expression as he reached up and touched the smooth wall. [They really did stoneshape such a large piece of earth nest stone in such a short time, and from the lower quarry even! You really did well to notice what they were capable of so soon Deseden, but I suppose a good part of this comes from you having seen them as they were descending the pit.]

[Indeed. It was not a simple matter of them moving a large amount of mana, they also demonstrated a great deal of control in the way they were descending those walls. It was clearly not the work of a child just blindly infusing the stone with mana and trying to force it to obey them. This is why I was immediately certain they possessed memories of the Agarath even then, and while I was certain of this I was further vindicated when I heard them begin to speak Agatharan to one another.]

[Oh? I would quite like to hear the tongue of the world that half my soul has come from,] the Enis said, turning to focus his attention on me and Sam again. [So, what about it? Can you say some words to me in Agatharan?] he asked.

"The hell if I know the Agatharan language," Sam said in a tone that had a huge degree of forced friendliness to it despite her choice of words. "It is you lot of fucking idiots who heard what me and Terlu were saying and decided it was Agatharan. This is English, the language of the planet Earth, not the plain of earth. There's quite a difference between the two. But, if it makes you happy to think this is Agatharan, we can keep pretending for you clowns."

[It sounds like a rather powerful language!] The Enis said with a grin and a chuckle. [This is wonderful! Indeed, it makes a great deal more sense now that the chosen of Iuutel would not be any ordinary children. They may indeed be worth all the trouble we are going through due to the mark. You did very good in bringing them to us, Deseden. Based on the work you oversaw, how long do you think it would take for them to pull another section of stone for the wall?]

[Over half the time it took them to pull the first was simply in making the front side smooth. Now that they have done it with the first, it should be a lot faster to simply rip out the already smooth section of wall behind it. I would say it will take many times longer for these second gens to haul the cut up slabs to the surface than it will for these two to pull out another,] Deseden said.

[I see. It may be worth tasking some of the first generation to help in this if that is the case. The defenses provided by a proper wall will go a long way to defending the Ensib.]

The man put on a bright smile and turned to me and Sam again after this. [I apologize to you two that I do not have time to stay and have a pleasant conversation. We do not know when someone may try to infiltrate us in order to steal or harm you. We are doing all this to protect you, and the entirety my Ensib will all be fully dedicated to this task. I would like you to follow the instructions of Deseden, Ekarem, and Abeshida until things are more safe. The more of these stones you can pull out of the wall, the saver you and the Enisib will be,] the Enis said.

[You are one of us now, so I will ask you to do just as much to keep safe as we are in keeping you safe. For now this will mean working hard to help in giving us the walls we need to protect the camp above so no one can reach you down here,] he added, and then looked over to Deseden.

[I must return up top to continue organizing the defense. I may even wind up needing to be the one to re-fuse these stones, the density of mana in them is simply enormous. I will trust you with things down here. I will indeed be sending some of the first generation to help. They will also be for you to command while down here. Do not let them think they are above this work just because they are of the first generation. We need this done quickly.]

[It will be done,] Deseden said as the Enis left with no further formalities or ceremony. He seemed like a far better speaker than I'd think would be the standard for a group this size in such a brutal environment, but I suppose that kind of oratory and charisma is a part of what it takes to be a leader. Indeed, speaking skills may be just as powerful if not more so than physical strength or mana in terms of getting things done in groups.

He managed to phrase everything in a way that focused on how serving him is in our best interest, and how we stood to gain from doing everything we could to assist this group. I knew that a large part of his apparent drive to protect us likely came from the threat of the eserdin or saladin the keeper would be forcing on them should we come to harm, but there was still something about how he talked that managed to make me feel reassured and really feeling like it would be a good idea to go along with the best interests of the group.

Thing is, helping them really very well might be in our best interests. The threat of eserdin will assure that they really do put their all into protecting us, and there wouldn't be any other group we could be a part of that would have the same drive to protect us. In fact, most others of any significant power would even have cause to harm us just to have Abdul's Enisib take the punishment for it.