Young Writers Society

His frown deepened. "Putting your hands on your ears helps?" Maahes asked. He wanted to make sure that Zech really was okay, and he also knew this was a valuable learning experience - he didn't really have ears of his own, and he knew it was probably a good idea to build his knowledge of how they worked.

"Yes," Zech said after a pause. "For me, anyways."

"Huh," Maahes said.

He studied Zech for a moment, and then an idea suddenly came to him: he'd try to make Zech feel better by doing what he had just for Siren! He made sure to get a good look at the man before letting the transformation take hold; in a quick blink of the eye, an exact replica of Zech was sitting in Siren's copy's place.

Zech shouted and scrambled back. Is that what he looked like? He'd never really seen himself in a mirror before, but the resemblance was uncanny. Then again, he'd never thought of himself as looking that big, or having such white fur. But, really, it didn't matter - this was a copy of himself created by a kid. That was more weirdness than he could tolerate.

Maahes frowned. "That didn't make you feel better, did it?" he realized, the frown deepening the more he thought about the reaction. He had wanted to make Zech as happy as Siren had been, but maybe that kind of happiness was a Siren thing only?

The tiger closed his mouth and hesitated. As scary as Maahes's powers were - to say nothing of what Maahes had gone through - Zech didn't like the idea of upsetting him. It seemed cruel.

"No," he said, opting to be as honest as he could be without showing any dislike. "It was just, not what I was expecting. I didn't know I looked like that."

Ryder leaned near to Zech.
"Don't worry. I'm also confused," he whispered, before casually goimg back to eating his food.

[~~~~]

The light of the sun faded completely, leaving the land to be only illuminated by the moon itself, and their small campfire that was in it's last stages of life. As it coughed out it's final embers, it died peacefully as they all took their places to sleep.

Then again, he didn't need sleep just yet. Maybe he should give them company? Some familiar faces? They certainly seemed very, very scared. He didn't want that for them, oh no no no. He set out to give them some friends to...give them some...comfort.

[~~~]

The next day, when the sun was nearing the highest point in the sky, the group arrived at the town's gates. After being let in and the Princes ushering everyone quickly and quietly through customs, it became evident that the town was one of engineering and inventions. Everything had a distinct steampunk feel to it. The dwarfs, as expected, were short, stocky people. But alongside them lived the Indievs, as Rose explained on the way there.

"The dwarfs are great at making things. They're some of the best blacksmiths and architects you can find. Indievs, on the other hand, are enchanters. You won't find someone who can enchant your thing better than an Indiev. As such, the Dwarfs struck up an alliance with the Indievs, and nowadays it's unusual to find a settlement containing one without the other," she had said. Of course, she was just quoting from what she had learned from her parents and tutors. She'd never seen many places herself, though she was familiar with this city.
On her command, the group was to move toward the center of the town, where there was a fountain. She reasoned that if they were to get lost, perhaps, then at least they'd know of a meet up place they could find.

[~~]

Perfect. The fountain.

What a strange town. It wasn't strange in the sense that it was unfamiliar; quite the opposite, actually. The smithies and the smell of metal and the gears and cogs and tools lying around reminded him of the towns in the desert. It felt like he'd gone back in time to fight Adolphus again, which put him on edge.

The few residents out and about at this hour didn't help. They reminded him of smaller versions of Derrick (who also happened to be a blacksmith). So the glares and sideways glances and raised eyebrows they gave him made him that much more uncomfortable. He knew this wasn't a place where he belonged, and they said as much without having to say a word.

Zech went to the fountain as soon as he could. It was, save for the trickle of water, a quiet place. Stretching his tired and aching limbs - the ground had been a terrible place to sleep, even if warmed - he sunned himself.

He'd be home soon. He just had to remind himself of that.

Maahes didn't like water, but he followed Zech over to the fountain. He was guessing Siren was probably going to be close behind, too - she liked water, and she also liked hanging around him. He didn't look like Zech anymore. He had adopted the same form from when he had first arrived in this place. It had taken a few minutes to readjust to the new proportions, but he made it work.

Lorcan and Juniper stayed close behind. Juniper was pointing out a bunch of different things to Lorcan, asking him if it was like that back on his home. Maahes didn't quite get that. Weren't they from the same world? That's how they had made it seem earlier, but he guessed he was wrong.

He plopped himself down right beside Zech, kicking his legs back and forth against the fountain's sides as he waited for Princess to tell them what they'd be doing next.

Wincing as he heard popping noises in his back and arms, Zech looked over at Maahes. "How did you sleep last night?" he said.

Maahes froze at the question. He should have been good at answering it after all the times that Odris asked him, but he never could think of an answer without sounding like he was lying. "Good!" he blurted, eyes still very wide and expression both guilty and nervous. The kicking of his legs increased in its intensity.

The tiger tilted his head. "Did something happen last night, or was it just bad sleep?" he said. "Nobody did anything, did they? Was it me? I move around a lot in my sleep, so I'm sorry if I ran into you or something like that. For what it's worth, I didn't sleep very well either - it's been a while since I haven't had Lunis around."

He frantically shook his head. "I slept really well!" he lied to Zech, eyes still very much wide as he went incredibly stiff. "I-I dreamed of lots of good things! Like, um...." What did people dream about? He would have asked Odris, but then he would have revealed that he couldn't sleep to begin with.

"It's not something to lie about," Zech said. "You don't need to impress me or anything like that - it kinda wasn't a great place to sleep."

"Yeah, but hey. It was warm, at least. I think anywhere else would have been a bit colder," Rose said, walking close to the two. Ryder followed, dropping the large backpack of stuff on the ground.
"Ahhh, that feels good," he said, rubbing his shoulders.
"Anyway, what do we do now?"
"Hmmm..." Rose rubbed her chin, "I think we should do what we came here to do, while also doing some information gathering. There's a few merchants around, so we could go ask them if they know anything."
"Sounds good. An unlimited backpack would be SUPER useful right now," Ryder said, plonking down next to the rather large backpack.

[~]

Aannd, now.
A bit of a click, like the snap of a finger, could be heard around the fountain. Immediately after, several figures fell from the sky, directly above the fountain.