“Hello,” Kas called to them. “Good morning to all of you.”
“Good morning, Your Majesty!” they called back. “Blessings on you and your new mate!”
“Thank you. That's very kind.”
I grinned at them, but once we were past the group, I whispered, “Are you telling me that little people—dwarves—are miners here?”
“Miners?” Kas frowned over the word.
“Excavators. People who dig into mountains and pull out shiny things.”
“Ah. Yes. Retrievers. As I said. They don't dig with tools. They use their magic to compel the earth to release its treasure.”
“But theyretrievemetal and jewels?” I wasn't letting this go. I couldn't. I owed it to Walt Disney.
“Yes. And they sell their goods to the Ricarri. Some even go into business with Ricarri. They make great partners.”
“Oh, my God! They're dwarves. They're real dwarves.”
“They are Chelli.”
“Uh-huh. Sure thing, Snow White.” I paused. “I guess you wouldn't be Snow White. You'd be the Evil Queen with the magic mirror.”
“Again with the magic items.” He rolled his eyes. “Weare magic here, Mate. We don't need items of magic.”
“But you do have items of magic. The lifter, your cold cabinet thingy, and probably more.”
Kaspian considered this. “Yes, those are items that function through magic. They are empowered by spell crystals that are enchanted with magic by an individual who possesses that magic. Neither the crystals nor the objects they empower, have magic of their own. They aregivenmagic.”
“Yeah. I get it. That's pretty much the same as our stories. Magic wands direct a person's magic and I think the Evil Queen enchanted her mirror. Or she got it from someone who enchanted it. Whatever. The mirror had to be made. It wasn't born. Someone created it. So . . . do you have a magic mirror that someone enchanted withtheir magic?”
Kaspian sighed.
“Oh, my fucking God, you do!”
“I have a mirror empowered with a far-seeing spell. It is linked to a mirror in my parents' home so that I may speak to them whenever I wish. I need it to keep an eye on my home enclave.”
“You have a magic mirror! Youarethe Evil Queen!”
“I'm neither a queen nor evil.”
“No, I know. It's a fairy tale. Never mind. Although, Snow White might work for you because of your hair. I should have stuck with that. Damn. Dwarves are real.Everythingis real here.”
“What is a fairy tale?” Kaspian swung my hand to get my attention.
“It's a story to entertain children. There's one called 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.' In it, there's a king and queen who have a beautiful daughter they name Snow White. The Queen dies, and the King remarries, but the new queen is evil. She has this mirror that tells her stuff. It's kinda far-seeing like yours. But instead of really important shit, the Queen keeps asking the mirror one question, over and over. Every frickin' day. She wants to know if she's the most beautiful woman in the land.”
Kaspian snorted.
“Yeah, it's kind of insulting toward women to make her only interested in her looks. But I mean, it's a mirror.”
“No, that's not why I'm amused.”
“Oh?”
“I don't need a mirror to tell me that I'm handsome.”
I burst into laughter. “Youareher.”
