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“Gisella!” he cried. “How are you doing?”
“Well,” the little girl answered. She was wearing what Macey could only describe as a blue pinafore dress with a checked shirt underneath and a pointy red hat. She hated thinking it but the little girl was every stereotypical thing she’d expect from a gnome. Other than being female, anyway.
“Is your grandpa in?” Jared asked.
“Yes, should I take you to him?”
“Please.”
Gisella squirmed in Jared’s arms and he set her down on the floor. She trotted off into the distance, leaving the two adults to follow.
“How come I can understand her?” Macey asked.
“I wondered if you’d notice that.” Jared chuckled. “It’s something to do with the magic of this place. Everything is translated to the hearer’s natural tongue. Even childlike language is basically non-existent. This place just changes it into what is meant.”
“Wow. Magic…”
“Is pretty cool, right?” He grinned widely at her.
“Are all the kabouter like…” she waved in front of her at Gisella rather than voicing the words.
“Short? Yes. They’re pretty much like they are in your culture, but you know… Flemish.”
“And I shouldn’t call them by their other names,” Macey finished for him. “Got you. Anything else I should know?”
“I don’t think so.” Jared shrugged. “But I’m not sure. I can’t say I’ve ever brought a water being here before.”
“Reassuring,” Macey muttered.
“Jared!” a voice boomed. “You finally brought a girlfriend for us to meet.” The man in front of them was a quintessential gnome as far as Macey could tell, even down to the wide grin on his face as he studied her incubus.
“Jerimiah,” Jared acknowledged, dipping his head in respect..
Jared turned to Macey with a wide grin.
"Meet Jerimiah, crown prince of the kabouters, son of King Kyrië, and father to lovely Gisella." He tickled the little girl's neck and she squealed in delight.
Yet another royal, Macey thought as she smiled at the gnome.
"It's a pleasure, Jerimiah," she said pleasantly, wondering whether she should announce her titles as well. But in the end, they didn't really matter. Nobody here would care that she was a kelpie princess.
The gnome laughed heartily. "Don't be so formal, little one. Any friend of Jared's is welcome here."
"Little one?" Macey mouthed to Jared who was visibly trying not to laugh.
"He's not talking about size, he's talking about age," he whispered. "Kabouters can be centuries old, and I think Jerimiah is close to two hundred."
That made more sense, but still, Macey couldn't get over the fact that a gnome whose long hat barely reached her chest had called her 'little'.
"Come, come, follow me," Jerimiah called and ran off with the same energy his daughter had shown earlier. Jared chuckled and began to run, leaving Macey to follow him. She would have loved to walk along the beautiful corridors and admire the gem-crusted walls some more, but apparently, kabouters loved running at a neckbreaking pace.
She was out of breath by the time they reached a cosy, warm cave, the walls sparkling with rubies and garnets. The furniture was a mixture of fur covered stones and simple wooden shelves, which made it all even more comfy looking. It was a home, not just a random cave.
"Sit, sit," the Kabouter prince encouraged them, pointing to a sofa in the middle of the room. "Smal! We have guests! Make some tea, will you?"
Before they were even seated, a tiny gnome appeared from another tunnel entrance, her long brown hair almost reaching the floor. She had a perfect hourglass figure and instead of a hat, she was wearing a yellow cap, matching her amber eyes. For a kabouter, she was extremely pretty.
"Smal, my wife," Jerimiah introduced her. "Do we still have some of the dandelion root tea, darling?"
