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Diane had heard many stories about the brave, generous miners who spent their lives digging precious metals out of the earth for the beautification of Cythera. She hurried toward the door, hoping that no-one would notice; but it was not to be.
As she turned the corner into the entry hall Diane collided with a boy scooting himself around on a chair with wheels. They crashed to the floor apologizing profusely, but Diane did not stop to make sure the boy was alright, she bolted for the door & was half way down the coast before stopping to wonder where he'd gotten the strange scar on his forehead.
There were ruffians up ahead so Diane slipped into the trees & skulked along until she reached the miners camp in the evening. The camp cook gave her some soup & she went to sit with a couple of miners playing dice. She tried to start a conversation, but all the miners would say was, "There's no way any of us are going back in that mine with that ghost in there!"
Seeing her distress the cook called out, "Why don't you go talk with Amphidamus? He's the foreman around here."
Diane was able to quickly find Amphidamus & queried him, "What's this I hear about the miners being scared of ghosts?"
"Well," replied Amphidamus, "here's how it happened:
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About a week back, Atymnius, one of my men, is digging a new tunnel and discovers a bit of a cave. This would normally be good - less to dig, you know. But this cave isn't empty. There's something in it. It seemed to be sort fo man shaped, but not quite. And it seemed to glow with a whitish light, and spoke a tongue we'd never heard. Atymnius hauls out of there, scared, so myself and a couple of others go back and check it out. Sure enough, he was right. Never seen anything like that in my life, and never hope to again. I sent Atymnius to Cademia to talk with Thuria, and see what she says, but let me tell you, until that thing is gone, we ain't going back in."
Diane nodded sympathetically, but that night she found a torch & went down the mine to the ghost's cave. It was still sitting there as if carved from the very roots of the mountains & muttering sadly to itself. Diane couldn't know what it was saying, but she knew her heart had been moaning in the same way ever since Bellerophen slew Emerald. She went over & hugged the strange being then left wondering how the miners could have been so stupid as to mistake such a solid, earthy being for a ghost.
The miners were obviously selfish cowards, unable to help her seek justice. Perhaps magic training would give her power to achieve her quest. Diane headed back to Pnyx.
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