outside the city and those that reluctantly worked within, the Deep Gnomes had long maintained the frost tunnels and forgotten routes—useful paths they preferred not to share.
The newcomers understood secrecy.
They understood being unwanted.
Conversations began.
Deals followed.
The gnomes offered:
safe routes
storage vaults
information networks
The mortals offered:
structure
coordination
and an impressive ability to take blame when necessary
It was not a friendship, exactly.
But it worked.
Many surface dwellers were deeply uncomfortable with this partnership.
Several still are.
(Kender find this puzzling.
The tunnels were already there and have no idea when the Deep Gnomes began mining them.)