Diary of Jools Machinescalded
<After several pages of the single repeated word DOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYSSSSSSS!!!!! surrounded by sketches of dwarves hugging donkeys surrounded by hearts>
The Sanctuary has three more donkeys, thanks to the human traders. They had the gall to actually make us pay to take these poor, overworked creatures off their hands - obviously we had to make the deal to rescue these poor creatures, otherwise they would have been condemned to a horrible death on some distant road, weighed down by a ridiculous burden, dragging trinkets and baubles about to enrich a few humans or dwarves, but I hope some day that we can enlighten the world to pull their own damn carts and let the donkeys live in peace.
After I'd got the new arrivals settled in, I rushed across to the Temple to tell Kuli the good news (he's the only one who seems to take much of an interest - there are a few others who take a polite interest, but everyone else just makes tasteless comments about meat or leather). When I got there, it appeared that someone had made a delivery of statues to the temple. Iron statues. Six of them. Nothing on them saying what they depict, and I can't work them out, but they're a bit... unsettling. I'm not normally worried by much, and I like iron and statues as much as the next dwarf, but I don't think statues should be made of iron. It's too cold, too wrought by dwarven (or human, or worse) hand. Stone is good - carving figures and scenes from the living rock is fine, for the best crafters it's not even chipping away at the stone, more helping it to reshape itself to the shape you want, using all the little faults and weaknesses in the rock.
But there's no faults in iron. Not good iron, at least. Strong, yes, but soulless, without the weaknesses, flaws and imperfections that give character. And the statues look like dwarves. Like us, but stronger.
I'm worried. If this had been the result of Kuli's tireless smelting, it wouldn't be so bad, but to have these statues just appear...
I'm going back to the Sanctuary. I'm sure I'll get used to these things, but they just feel a little wrong right now. Donkeys, fortunately, can never be wrong.