"Dwarves are different people," she says. "Like humans, vampires, werewolves, trolls and so on. And they own the mines, of course. Ruled by the Low King, in his halls below Bonk where we live in our castle. My parents sometimes go down there, but they say I need to wait until I am a little older."

Pause.

"I have a private tutor because there is a lot to learn, and you can't learn even half of it at Madame Blapsky's."