Young Writers Society

Kilian lifted an arm subtly in front of Rin as he observed Kellach's newly arrived friend - or perhaps not friend. He decided that neither of them should get close until things were straightened out.

"You mean the smelling salts? They wake you up." Kixig explained, watching the fallout of the punching action curiously. "You've got a nice arm by the way. Do your people greet one another with punches in the face? Us ogres tend to just go for the arm."

An ogre? What on- Kendrik thought, before looking up at Kixig. Oh. Kendrik thought of lizards that he'd seen, except Kixig was far less scaly and looked much happier. Nothing like he'd ever seen before, though. Where was he?

"Nope," said a voice from under the table. "He just likes to punch people."

Kendrik recognized the voice as Kellach's, and so wasn't surprised when Kellach raised his head, hands covering his nose. "Thanks," Kellach said, glaring at Kendrik.

"It felt like someone was trying to stab me through the nose," Kendrik said.

"You sure did," said Kellach.

Kendrik laughed. "Like you haven't had worse." He looked around and immediately scowled, his sense of danger returning. "Anyone mind telling me where I am? I can't remember much."

"You're in the town of Hetke, on the island of Preeta, one of the larger islands in the archipelago of the Western Isles," Kixig informed him. "Also, in a tavern," he said with a gesture to the room around them.

Kendrik looked at Kixig and blinked. Grabbing Kellach by the arm, Kendrik pulled him close. "Is this some kind of joke?" Kendrik hissed in Kellach's ear.

Kellach, yanking his arm from Kendrik's grip, whispered back, "No!"

"Where's Jaron?" Kendrik whispered, eyes narrowing. "Let him tell me."

"You're the only person I've found here that I recognize," said Kellach. "It's not our world."

Kendrik pushed his chair back and stood up. "What've you been drinking?" Kendrik said. "Where else would we be?"

Maahes cleared his throat. After traveling to so many different worlds with different cultures, he had become quite skilled at explaining how people could be brought from one planet to another. He also had his fair share of experiences where he had to explain that other worlds existed.

"Other worlds exist," the djinni started. "I'm not sure how you got here, but there's all sorts of methods to travel between them. Stargates, ships, magic...I'm not sure what your world is like, but it's not impossible."

Kendrik scoffed, which sounded like a faint bark. "I'd buy it," he said, gesturing around him, "if this didn't look so ordinary. We're in a bar, and it looks like all the others I've seen. Only him" - pointing to Kixig - "and me don't look human."

Kellach laughed. "And you won't change to human form?"

Glowering at Kellach, Kendrik said, "And you did?"

A shrug. "It fits better here," Kellach said.

"I'm not interested in fitting," Kendrik replied, crossing his arms and scowling.

"To be fair, even though I'm the only one native to this land, I don't really fit much in here either," Kixig replied. "I might've uhhh, stretched the truth a bit about people being more chill here. I guess, more what I meant was uhh, they're just used to seeing me around. But that doesn't mean everyone necessarily likes me. But that's just how it is with humans here! I mean... not... not that I have anything against humans, but, you know..."

"Look, we can all agree that you don't know where you are," Ciannet suddenly spoke up; she had her knife in one hand, though it wasn't in a threatening way. (He was just a bit nervous about her waving it around, but he didn't want to argue with her when they had only just been reunited. "So let's figure out why you're here."

Kendrik focused his eyes on the knife. Its wielder didn't appear to be threatening him, but he'd spent enough time in war to distrust any weapon. "Why?" Kendrik said. "I just woke up - there isn't a why anywhere." That wasn't strictly true, but he didn't know how else to explain it.

"The hound-man has a point," Kixig said, pointing to Kendrik with one scaly finger. "There might not be a reason why. It could just be just because!"

"I seriously doubt it," Ciannet argued. There was always an explanation for a gathering like this. Whether it was due to the meddling of the Goa'uld or the accidental usage of Ancient technology was up for debate, but her point still stood. There had to be a reason he suddenly woke up here and not wherever he was before then.

Kendrik shrugged. "Whatever. I just want to get out of here and get on my way." He turned to walk away, but Kellach grabbed his arm.

"Could you stay for a bit?" Kellach said, looking up with pleading eyes.

"No," Kendrik snarled, "I don't want anything to do with your little group." He wanted to add how he resented anyone calling him hound-man, but decided it'd be a bit too rude (the ogre also made him uneasy, but he wouldn't admit to that).

"We haven't seen each other for how long now?"

After a few seconds' thought, Kendrik sighed and sat back down.

Kixig leaned over the table, looking at Kendrik and Kellach curiously. "So you're both friends?"

Kendrik rolled his eyes. "Not really. We work for the same guy."

Happy to have someone familiar around, Kellach reclined on his chair and grinned. "That's close enough, right? We've also got a mutual friend-"

"Not a friend," Kendrik said, eyes narrowing.

"My friend," Kellach replied. His smile widened. "I thought, with your brother and all-"

Kendrik scowled. "Can we talk about something else?"