Dwarves

His leg is twisted. It has ever been thus. It is not his job, he says, to change the work of the architect. It is not for Him to dream a new dream. His name is long, for a Dwarf, and when asked what it means he looks almost awkward. It translates poorly. It is something like 'He who mends the house', although he explains this as if it is something distasteful. He is embarrassed by the rendering of it in common tongue. He explains that he strengthens walls, stops floods, braces doors. That the heart is made of chambers, that teeth are crenelations. That Dwarves and their fortresses are interchangeable. His work is the maintenance of labyrinths, and he is proud of it, in his own language. You might ask, if he is a healer (and he is) then why must he limp? And he will reply- it is either that, or leave the dream.