The Steel Curtain

Koth looked around at the cave, his only thought being I wonder if there is any ore in these walls? Koth began to get lost in his own mind as he imagined what ores would belong in these rocks, and his mind got lost in thoughts of home. The mountains where he grew up, where he would explore their many caves as a child. As he thought of his many happy memories, a small smile crept across his face, the hard lines of his body smoothing out slightly.

His attention was wrenched away from his memories as the fur man held up a paw to silence the girl. Marsha, Koth thought. The thing has a name, I should use it. Koth's body went rigid once more as he listened to the Kha.

The Ka-chuan shimmered on the stick, and the kha nodded, satisfied. He turned to the mouthy, chattery Kha girl, clearly annoyed. He listened to her questions, and then to their names as he slowly mulled them over in his head. None of them sounded like true Kha names, save perhaps K-oth, but for the most part...There. He had seen it. Only for a moment, the image of a Kah before him shifted to that of a gar, only for a moment, and then back again. The Kha's feline eyes scanned each one, until he came to one that seemed to be...not Kha, or gar, or any other sort of creature he had seen. It was tiny, smaller even than some gar children, and part of it appeared to be made of some kind of metal. The Kha's mistrust grew as Marsha asked questions any Kha would know, and slowly, her own image began to flicker until it no longer concealed her. The noble's eyes narrowed as each 'Kha' slowly formed into something...else. Some strange versions of Gar...and some thing she had never seen. He cut the girl off and raised his paw. "You aree not Kha." he said, looking at each of the individuals suspiciously. "That creaturee is thee Akamaihd, a monster that thee youngest Kha and gar aree taught...and I am Lau-Tak, Keeper of Records for thee Great Assembly. Fairly well known, I might add." He said, and turned toward the end of the tunnel, waving for the others to follow. "Comee anyway, wee may havee usee of you." He continued.

When the beast raised its paw, the water drained from my face. I quickly realized that we were dealing with a noble, and if it was anything like the ones from my world, Marsha had insulted him greatly. When I heard it speak, however, I was dumbfounded. Things I had never taken into account exposed us, our names, our mannerisms, our knowledge, or lack thereof...All these things were not of this world. "Well...this...is awkward..." I whispered, unsure of what to say. The Kha had, after all, learned more than enough from Marsha about us, and there was no need to give him still more information. I caught up to Marsha, and whispered "It seems we need to keep even our names hidden...how are we suppose to know all the thi-Where is the Traveler from this world?" I asked, knowing they could have told us the basics of this world.

Lars was dusting himself off as Marsha spoke to Lau-Tak. About the same time she was silenced, he began to feel a twinge in his circuits. He raised his hand to his head and closed his eyes, as if he had a headache. He was trying to listen to what was going on and manage the pain in his head at the same time. It became more intense over the next few moments and then, suddenly...nothing. It stopped. Just gone. But why? Lars opened his eyes and shifted them back and forth, as if expecting the pain to jump out from behind a rock and yell "Abloogy-woogy-woo".

"You aree not Kha."

Lars looked up at Lau-Tak. "That was an amazing coincidence" He thought. A strange fluctuation of energy affecting his cyber-plant, increasing in intensity until vanishing completely...and then one of the natives, who were supposed to see them as natives as well, suddenly knew that they weren't? "There's got to be some kind of connection." He didn't have time to investigate at the moment, though, as the old Kha had bid them to follow, claiming they had some usefulness.

"All due respect, sir" Lars began, addressing Lau-Tak "I think we'd all feel a little better about following you if you could give us some answers about just where you were taking us and, perhaps, in what way we can be useful to you." Lars approached Lau-Tak with his hands kept behind his back, his chest puffed out and his head held high in a dignified and commanding, yet non-threatening, manner. "As I'm sure you're aware, we're not from around here. As such, we have no way of knowing what you might intend to do with us. For all we know, you could be leading us off somewhere to work in a mine for the rest of our lives or to a kitchen so that we can be served up as dinner." He locked eyes with Lau-Tak, his stare reinforcing his determination for answers.

Koth breathed in the damp air of the cave. Though it had a certain organic feel he didn't quite appreciate, he still felt quite comfortable. He rolled his eyes at all of the bitching and moaning from the other travellers, and strode forward right beside the Kha as he lead them down the tunnel.

I winced as Lars made his way up to the noble, making it seem like he was in charge, not the Kha. I could count at least twenty reasons why that was a bad idea, the most obvious of which being that the Kha noble was nearly three spans taller than Lars was. It was blatantly obvious that Lars had no idea how to treat a noble, and it may or may not cost us. I was relieved when the Kha did nothing, but instead ignored him and continued down the path. It seemed he had given us the "Follow or stay here" option. I shrugged at Marsha's look, and followed behind the cat-man.

The gar was quite full of himself. The more these strange beings spoke or interacted, it became more and more apparent that they were from...elsewhere. whether from another world or from across the Great Sea, The Kha did not know, but they were beginning to test his patience. He quickly turned to head back toward Gringlor, unconcerned whether the creatures followed him or not. If they wanted to face dangers they knew nothing about, that was their choice.

The Kha made his way through a winding tunnel, and though it was long and winding, there was but one, and so it was impossible to get lost. In time, the group came to a spawling slum, surrounded by a palisade with a few Kha standing by gates. Within were the gar, small, frail creatures capable of less work than cattle, but were good for delicate things, like cooking, cleaning, and farming. The girl, Marsha, looked exactly like any one of these nameless gar, but the others...varied, to say the least. "These aree thee homes of thee gar. Abovee is thee grand Kha city of Glingor. What you decidee to do from heree is yours. I caree littlee for you." He said, and then proceeded toward a large staircase-like structure.

Lars stood and watched as the old Kha completely ignored him and continued onward. "The nerve!" He thought. "As if he's so very important that he doesn't need to answer questions posed to him." Lars turned to look around to find another tunnel but there didn't seem to be any. When he turned back he found to, his bemusement, that the rest of the group had continued on without him.

He made no effort to try to catch up. He could see the group ahead of him and, as he found no wrong turns to be made along the way, he couldn't very well go off without them. Lars was getting very tired of following the very rude Kha so when they came upon the slum that Lau-Tak declared to be the homes of the Gar, Lars was quick to voice his happiness. "Ah, at last! Perhaps down here I'll find someone of a more reputable character!" Lars said, rather loudly so as to make sure Lau-Tak knew it was an insult and directed at him.

Taking a few steps toward the huts and hovels that served as the houses of the Gar, Lars looked over his shoulder and said "Well, you heard him! He doesn't care what we do! Way I see it, any debt we may have owed him for saving us from that big ol'...thing up there has been wiped away by his high-and-mighty attitude. So anybody who doesn't like being led around by the nose, possibly to our doom, is more than welcome to come with me."

Not checking to see if anyone broke away to follow him, Lars made his way down towards the gates. Happy to be away from Lau-Tak, he strode confidently up to the gate. As the guards moved to bar his entry, he attempted to assume a disguise. Hoping that the illusion of being a native was only broken to Lau-Tak, he did his very best to imitate the Kha he had seen so far. "Hail" He said, hoping he wouldn't need to effect a change in his voice. "I have been sent to inspect thee...Gar. Some have been sick, and I am to check for diseases."

Koth followed the group in silence, irritated at his uselessness. We're gonna have to keep ourselves in disguise. Which means acting like these furry things. I'm a terrible actor. Koth decided it was best to just play mute, refraining from saying anything. It was the best way for their group to achieve anything, even though he didn't like it. I miss Mirrodin. Koth thought. I miss my home, whre I was firmly in control. I feel like a child here.

As they got to the city, with all of the gar trapped in some giant pen, Koth couldn't give any thought to it. He just kept thinking of home. He decided he needed to snap out of it, and went to the only thing that could keep his mind off of anything. Battle.

He began thinking of several battle strategies in his head. He took into account all of the abilities his fellow travellers had exhibited, their environment, their potential enemies, and all of his talents. He soon was lost in thought, coming up with a hundred different battle plans for a hundredd different hypothetical battles.

It never actually occurred to Koth that it may seem weird that he was just standing and staring blankly off into space.

The two kha guards looked at each other, and one chuckled as he turned back to Lars. "Silly kitten kha. No onee in to see the gar, no diseases spread to Kha. Those the rulees. Nowe go away beforee we calle your dasro'tchak." The Kha that spat the threat then lowered his spear slightly, showing his willingness to use it if Lars truly did try to do anything...foolish. The other looked over to see another, smaller Kha attempting to play with the gar children. "Renosak! Youee know better! Gete awayee!" He said, and stomped toward the small Kha to pull him away.

Lars was an idiot. A complete and utter idiot. Either he did not understand how nobility functioned, or he absolutely refused to see it. I glanced at the gar, and then at Marsha and Lars, and bit back the astonishment that their people existed here alongside the Kha. I nodded at Zac's words, and whispered back "They are indeed...but these seem far more...frail. Like a petal in the river..." I said, catching Zac's last comment. "I don't think any of us were, least of all Marsha." I said, and then walked toward the girl, placing a hand upon her shoulder. "Be strong, my little seedling." I said, and then turned to eye Lars with a death glare. "And you! You bumbling idiot!" I yelled, now certain that we appeared as Kha to the others present. "Have you not had any contact with nobility, or are you just stupid? We could be put to death because of your loose tongue and disrespectful attitude! Nobles don't care about what you think or feel, they'll just kill you!" I said, and then grabbed his shoulder to drag him away.