"Y-you're so...hard," Krag Blastbore said. "Is this granite—you know what? Forget it. I thought we were goin' to talk before takin' the rite together." His hand traced the cool and unusually smooth stone surface of his mate's skin—if it could even be called that anymore—clasping one of his partner's rocky hands in his own. Their eyes met. "I know," the other one said, seemingly lightless eyes shadowed by the flickering light of their house hearth. "The call—it came upon me. It pulled and whispered deeply into my soul until I could not but give in." "Beryl..." "I'm still yours. Always will be. But there's someone else. The Great Dwarf is a bigger part of me now, as he'll soon be a part of you," Beryl Sootstone replied, giving his fleshy partner's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Moments of silence passed between the two before Krag found the stones to speak again, a cheeky grin spreading across his rosy face. "Do you think we still can...you know..." "Does a dolyak regrow its horns? C'mere, you!" Beryl laughed. The two toppled onto their bed with a cracking sound; the wooden frame protested under the stony Beryl's mass, both dwarves cackling as Krag planted a single kiss on his partner's statuesque cheek. "Tell the Great Dwarf he can have me, then," Krag whispered, forehead to forehead. "Anyone would be lucky to have you, love," Beryl replied, beaming. On a more raucous night, any passerby would have seen the haunting blue shimmer from inside and heard the distant chants of dwarves past, but the pair slept—unaware, unbothered. --- In the stale and musky air of the next morning, as the final embers in the hearth were breathing their last, the elemental heart of the dwarven home received a bellow of wind, reviving the old flame. Rising from their collapsed bed, the two stone dwarves grumbled and grouched before meeting the frigid Shiverpeak morning, warm without the fire, wrapped in the love of the Great Dwarf. *A small note is seen in the margin:* For book club discussion: While I'd left my home before the first rite began, I've since learned that the Deldrimor transmuted into stone during ceremonies held by the high priests, usually in groups to save time. They would not have been sleeping in their homes or stark naked, as captivating as that may be.