Yue

 17th January

19:02 GMT +1

I look around the entrance to the Altdorf gnome warren, which is now an armed camp. The Swiss military do not dawdle when they're informed that the only thing preventing a dragon roasting their cities-. Ah, towns, was a group of teenagers. Not a single superhero in the country, but they have conscription of all able bodied men and a very high standard of training and equipment.

And they're towering over the poor bewildered gnomes whose isolation has been permanently violated.

To be fair, the soldiers aren't being dicks about it. Batman's message to their government was extremely clear that Karfang was responsible for the mutants, and that the threat of violence was what kept the regular gnomes in line. And they're accepting that as true. They aren't lashing out, they're being polite to the gnomes and now that they've firmly established that there isn't an ongoing threat they're scaling back the military presence and bringing in civil servants.

But the reason why they're bringing in civil servants is that the gnomes are being issued with identity cards and all of the related paperwork that comes with modern nationality. Because while Greece can't claim Themyscira due to the threat of divine intervention, absolutely nothing was going to stop the Swiss claiming the interior of a mountain that is already part of their country.

And while they're not blaming the gnomes for the dragon, they aren't exactly happy about nine hundred years of petty theft.

I think there are citizenship classes in their future. Interestingly, I think this means that once they're finished Switzerland will have the largest official non-human population of any country on Earth. Certainly in terms of percentage of the total population they're leading by a mile.

"Orange Lantern?"

I look around as my escort approaches, trailed by an awkward-looking gnome. He's wearing breeches, a smock and pointy toed shoes, and is cringing, hands rubbing each other in nervous activity. His skin is a pale earthy-brown, wispy black hair sticks up from the top of his head, his ears are pointed and extend to be level with the top of his head and most weirdly of all his eyes are solid black.

"This is Elmen. He's.. sort of in charge."

"I'm not." The gnome straightens up slightly, though he's still only a metre tall. "It's just that everyone else is less in charge than me."

"What happened to the gnomes who were in charge?"

"The dragon ate most of them. The rest were amongst the first to be transformed and had longest to grow. Um. So you and the witch girl probably killed them."

I nod. "I'm sorry for your loss. Our original plan was to sneak in, but Zatanna was affected by Karfang's breath and… The plan no longer seemed important. We also didn't know that Karfang existed until she showed herself, and we didn’t know how to bypass her invulnerability until she'd already broken out of the warren."

Elmen nods, still downcast. "No one knew what the dragon could do. If we'd known what she could do we wouldn't have woken her up. We remembered that she was strong, and forgot what her being strong meant for everyone else." He looks up at me. "The gnomes who survived fighting you said you healed them the instant they started turning back. A lot more would have died if you hadn't, so… Thank you. I'd be more effusive, but it's all just so horrible."

"I'm sorry I killed as many as I did."

"Were you affected by the dragon breath?"

I shake my head. "No. But between what it did to my team mates and how powerful it made the.. mutant gnomes, I couldn't… Pull my punches."

"Mutant?" He frowns. "Oh, drakunomes, we call them drakunomes." I nod. "And… They attacked you. I know they were.. powerful. I'm grateful that you could afford to leave any of them alive." He turns to look at the military camp. "What a mess."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Can you turn back time?"

"The best information I have is that altering time is a very bad idea. But no, not easily."

"What do we do, what do we do?"

He sniffs as if only just withholding his tears, and wipes his right hand across his eyes.

"I understand that you generally haven't had much direct contact with humans to date. Is there an.. extra problem I'm not seeing?"

"We can't… Cope with it. Laws and rules. Machinery. All the bits that make humans human and us not. We're creatures of flesh so wrought iron doesn't hurt us, but we can't understand… We've got piles of bottle caps because they're shiny and piles of credit cards because we like the colours. They're… Status symbols, not… Currency. And now… We can't live like gnomes-. We can't be gnomes any more. And I don't know what to do."

"In the old days, when you lived under Karfang and her kin. Did you collect trinkets then?"

"I don't know."

"Did the drakunomes fight for the dragons?"

"Yes." He looks a little puzzled. "You saw them."

"But you regular gnomes didn't. If we assume that the drakunomes in the old days behaved a lot like the modern ones did, that's very different to regular gnomes. At some point in the past, your forebears stopped acting like drakunomes and started acting like gnomes."

"Did they?" He slumps, shaking his head. "I suppose they might have."

"So you know that your people are capable of change. Even major change."

He looks a.. little less dejected. "Really?"

"Believing that you can is better than believing that you can't, isn't it?" He nods uncertainly. "Do you have a concept of trade?"

"We have a concept of making a trade. I-give-you-thing-you-give-me-thing?"

"Can you make dolmen gates?"

"Ah… Yes? Not just anywhere, but… Yes?"

"Can you make big ones?"

"It would take a while."

"But you could do it?"

"I've seen one big enough for a cart and two draught horses."

"I believe that skill would be very valuable for humans. Would you be prepared to use it in exchange for other things?"

"I couldn't make many."

"I mean 'you' collectively. The gnomes of this warren."

"I don't know."

We look at each other for a moment. "I'm afraid.. finding things like that out is part of leading. Did the late leaders of your warren do things for the community as a whole?"

"Well… Yes."

"Then I'm afraid that someone needs to step forward, and since everyone else has stepped backwards, you need to get on it. The essence of trade is finding something someone else wants, and dolmen gates are valuable."

"Okay, but… How does that work?"

I nod, and generate a zeta tube construct.

"Recognised, Dubbilex, A Six Zero."

"I believe that my colleague can help you with that."