galvarelli/on-the-way-to-the-temple-2.txt

Kral lined up with the rest of the Guard, waiting to head to the Temple, skin burning with anger.
Calvin's milquetoast attitude to his parents, and to all the animals like them.
Self-congratulatory, masturbatory speeches, seemingly every day, about helping refugees come to Galvarelli.
But at the end of the day, political expedience would always win against actual progress.
He didn't get anything for his people by calling Mountberg, but at least he'd seen Calvin for what he was.

Omig and Jod were working near the end of their hall in their language.
The door at the end of the hall that the loop had been in was covered in some red paste, and Jod was drawing intricate symbols on it.
The Mountberg dwarf was watching intently, while Chief and Kab watched him in turn.

After a while, Jod seemed to complete his drawing.
Omig walked up to the door, and touched it for a moment, like she had done earlier.
She furrowed her brow, and seemed to grit her teeth.
As with earlier, she responded to some invisible trigger, pulling back her finger.

Jod opened the door, and immediately air rushed out.
On the other side seemed to be some particularly dark and dingy cave.
Chief and Kab lit flame torches, Chief passing his back to Hermann for the yaks.

The fire seemed unreliable, Kral thought.
The yaks had equipped emergency electric torches as part of their travel kit, and Kral hoped the dwarves had something similar.
Calvin asked something about their path, and Kab answered with some description of a transitional zone, but Kral couldn't quite catch the details.

The group filed through the door, Chief and Kab first, followed by Omig, Jod and the Mountberg dwarf.
After that, Calvin was followed by Hermann, who led the Guard through as well.

Kral passed through into the cavern, and was struck by how severe the sense of staleness was in the air.
He fell into the routine of their march, and let himself start to drop the anger he felt at Calvin.
The flame-lit cavern, with its unadorned walls, started to melt into an indistinct mass and Kral felt his mind begin to wander.