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.
Kral had hoped to try to catch Omig's eye, but she was either too busy to notice or was actively trying to avoid making eye contact.

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, seemed to flicker around Kral's consciousness, as if it challenged his notion of reality itself.

Sooner than Kral expected, they came to the end of the passage.
A vast door stood before them, stone and iron, intricately carved with dwarf imagery that Kral didn't recognise, with a large central panel left smooth.
The Mountberg dwarf was talking to Jod, animatedly but in hushed tones.
Jod wore an annoyed expression on his face, and Chief stepped in to intervene, joining Jod's side by the looks of it.
But eventually the Mountberg dwarf threw up his arms, seemingly conceding whatever argument they had.

Jod began smearing the red paste across the uncarved, flat portion of the door, which Kral now thought could be some sort of clay, across the door.
As earlier, he began to draw some sort of glyphs into it, and Omig touched the door to use her dwarf magic.

They opened the door, and as they did the air rushed out of the chamber, outwards.
Chief led them forward, and Kral felt an immediate refreshing cool, fresh air.

―The Temple is higher altitude, Omig said idly, to the group.

That explained how much better it felt, Kral thought.
They emerged in a massive room, at least forty feet high, and very long.
The walls were lined with massive stone columns, the rest open, showing that the hall was surprisingly above ground.
And, as Omig said, Kral could see that they were surrounded by mountains.
They faced out, the mountain they were currently on largely behind them.
Jod looked very uncomfortable, casting glances at the open air to the left and right.
The Mountberg dwarf was, if anything, affected even worse, trying to crouch down to feel as enclosed as possible, Kral thought.

A dwarf dressed in dark red and green, almost the colours of deep rubies and emerald was waiting for them a bit further ahead.
Kral could only assume they were some kind of ceremonial robes, from the way they were studded through with stones.
Which now made him wonder if the robes also had actual rubies and emeralds.

―Welcome, all.
	Chartkeeper Cruimo of Mountberg, Chief Aoeuoie of Westgate, the Temple welcomes you and your people.
	Please come inside, where you might be more comfortable.

Kral caught Vaughan mouthing "Aoeuoie?" to Calvin.
Rubydwarf began to walk back towards the door they'd emerged from, where a handful of channels had been cut into the mountain.
The Mountberg dwarf, Cruimo apparently, began to follow, along with the rest of the group.
However, Rubydwarf