[He doesn't know much from dwarves beyond what little he's read on the subject and what little he's got from Kit. He doesn't know why someone might hold the name of their city in derision. But:] Sorry, [laughingly, but it's sympathetic laughter, mostly at himself,] to have made that necessary; all I've got to blame is my own ignorance. I'll try not to think of them as only food from here on.

What's the right kind of name for a nug? And--how are they as pets, anyhow? [...He isn't seriously considering getting one. Maybe unseriously considering it.]