The ramming of my hammer echoes the pounding of my heart, deep, deep underground hidden from the light. In the depths of the earth, we trudge on as time passes us by. We have no Age, no sign. What does it matter? I taste stone in the air as my pick chisels away searching, endlessly searching. It chokes my breath and forms a haze around my tired eyes, but on and on we dig. Why? What are we searching for? The Eldar children, the first born Children of Ilúvatar, they call us greedy, mining forever the treasures in the deeps. But they had the stars to mark their coming, and the moon cherishes their memory. And for Mortal Men, the sun was set in the sky, but we have no sign, and our light is the light of torches and the glisten of gold and gems deep, deep underground.

The Elves flaunt their superiority, as they would fine raiment. They stand high above us, their eyes like stars, laughing down at us, mocking us, because we are not beautiful as they. Dancing on nimble feet, playing artfully in the trees, singing with voices as sweet as nightingales'.

We are not named among the Children of Ilúvatar. Do any eyes watch us tread in the depths of the earth? Is Mahal pleased with us, I wonder, the children of his impatience? We, who he created from the stone in secret, deep, deep under the mountains? Can he hear us? Does he know the language that no Elf or Man can comprehend? Does he heed our blatant wailings, our screams, high and wild, that echo in the tunnels of the dark? Why will he not answer? Ceaseless tears in corridors of stone we would utter, and we would tear out our beards for the pleasure of our maker's voice. Why will he not answer? Has he abandoned us, as Eru has, giving Aman to the Elves and leaving the rest of Arda to Men, to do with as they please? Will he remember me when my time comes to die? For we have no sign or Age. We matter little, no one will remember us the stunted people, the dwarves of Aulë. And life has grown so tiring, my back aches, and my hands grow raw, but still we must dig on, searching, endlessly searching, deep, deep underground.