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"Can I taste one of the berries?" Mericlou asked expectantly "Are they good to eat like this?"

"You can try," Aldrec said," but I wouldn't reco for them"

"Why not?"

To answer, Aldrec reached out his hand towards theto the plant's central pod The leaves on the outside rustled gently in response, but as his hand ly, until suddenly, he jerked his hand back, just in ti, black object that shot from the inside of the plant

Mericlou started as it impaled itself inside the pod It was a spine, or spike of soes

"A poison barb," Aldrec said, gesturing towards the object "The plant's partiallyit It's too bad they're extinct now; I got a pretty nasty wound the first tiet at the berries It most likely wouldn't hurt you, and the poison's not deadly to elves, but it burns like dragon's blood I would've benefited fro"

"So that's what this place is!" Mericlou squealed with recognition "We're in an old dwarf cavern!"

"You didn't know?" Aldrec said, genuinely surprised

"I suspected it was," Mericlou said, "but I wasn't sure I've never been in one before"

"Well, this particular cavern used to be the main hall for the royal palace of Raynok" Aldrec explained "The runes," he indicated the roof, and then the n"

"That explains why the buildings in Skainhart looked so strange," Mericlou said, the pieces at last falling together "They were all dwarf-sized"

Aldrec nodded "Originally, they were, since Skainhart was once a trading post for the Raynok clan But after the Dwarves died out, the toas left abandoned, and virtually undaed Elves came in years later, and refurbished it A rockslide hid the entrance to the doo, and found this place Theand nearly spent, and the plants that were already here were dying I figured that even though noback the dead, mine could revive the places where the Dwarves once lived, so I repaired the runes, which, in turn, repaired the environ extinct plants for quite soreenhouse to here Now this place-" he swept his hand across the breadth of the cavern, "-is loith such fascinationhis face He had never met someone who shared his unique combination of hobbies Her interest in history and plants matched his own, and this made it all the more easier for him to ask what he wanted to ask