The light faded almost as quickly as it had flared, but nevertheless left Lathan blinded for a moment. With a vicious, sickening sensation of being twisted and tossed about, the rumbling cacophony of the Palace collapsing was replaced by a dissonance of a different and totally unfamiliar kind. He could barely focus upon it, however, for his head felt as if it had been turned inside out. He was no great mage, possessing only a rather basic command over the element of Air, but it was enough magic-sense for him to know something had gone wrong with the transportation spell. Certainly his head wouldn't have been spinning like it was if the spell had gone correctly, would it?

When his senses finally disentangled themselves from one another and Lathan could orient himself again, he realised he was oriented horizontally, and it wasn't exactly comfy. He was on his belly, on a very hard and uncomfortable floor. Had he passed out in the casting room? How embarrassing!

Cracking an eye open, Lathan made a little noise of dismay at the indistinct blurs of colour that met his vision. Wonderful. Now where had his glasses gotten to? Carefully, the scholar started to push himself up to his knees--and found helpful hands taking him by the arms and assisting him back to his feet, accompanied by a strangle babble of meaningless noise.

"Oh! Thank you!" he exclaimed, assuming the aid to have come from one of his companions, but then froze as a large blue-pink blur came about in front of him, making the same odd babbling sound and brushing at him with hands that were nothing but fuzzy blobs to his horrid vision. What in the name of Ru-Urven...?

Am I hallucinating? he wondered, gaping up at it, more fascinated than concerned by the prospect, as the blur ducked over and stood again. Something must have gone terribly wrong with the spell, to affect him so! Oh, if only he could see to make notes on these odd symptoms...if only he had a notebook!

The blur pressed something hard into his hands, the tone of its babble suggesting an inflective. Fumbling about, Lathan realised his glasses had been returned to him. "Oh, thank you!" he said again, more from habit than anything else, and slipped them back onto his face with a mix of apprehension and eagerness.

The world jumped back into clarity, and he recoiled from it with a yelp of surprise. The blur, now sharpened into some strange beast, blinked at him with wide eyes set in a disturbingly Dajina-like face and lifted its hands with open palms, again making its strange noise. The world around it was bright and metallic, swarming with the motion of shapes his mind could not recognise.

Lathan's head reeled again as he tried to take note of everything all at once, and failed utterly. Too much information assaulted his senses and he clapped his hands over his eyes after merely getting a sense of being very small and very not-at-home.

The blur made an inquisitive babble-noise again, as Lathan took several deep breaths to steady himself...and cautiously put his hands down, restarting his look-about by focusing only on the ex-blur.

It was much taller than he, and almost looked Dajina...but definitely was not. Its legs had too few joints, its skin was tan instead of blue, its ears were all wrong and it had no tail...and there wasn't a single horn to be seen upon its head anywhere! Its eyes were wide as it looked down at him, its Dajina-like face bearing an expression both inquisitive and concerned. Again, it made a noise at him.

The Dajina had no real concept of intelligent races outside of themselves, but on some level, Lathan nonetheless realised that that was what he was presented with: something not Dajina, but certainly not a mere beast. Where had he ended up, to find such a thing?

Looking around, carefully, taking it all in a little piece at a time, it seemed that the 'thing' was only one of many. They stood at the side of what could only be a street, but Daeln had no buildings like the strange metal fabrications that flanked it at either side and stretched towards a blank and colourless sky. Creatures like the one before him moved about in all directions, and Lathan had the sudden mental image of a crowd at a marketplace. A horde of...people...all going about their business without concern. Some of the "people" didn't even look like the one facing him, boggling the scholar even further--two limbs, six limbs, scales, wings, fur, feathers! What were these things?

Lathan had never known it was possible to feel such terror and such wonder all at the same time. Part of him wished he had a notebook on hand so he could be making notes and sketching diagrams...but the rest of him was very aware that he was very lost, and very alone. Who knew where his kinsmen had ended up?

The ex-blur appeared to lose interest in making its noises at him, for it finally gave him a doubtful look and moved off, leaving him abandoned and ignored on the strange sidewalk. Lathan wasn't sure if he was relieved or not.

He tried to stay calm and think rationally...but what was there to think over? If he wasn't hallucinating and some twist of magic-gone-wrong had brought him here--wherever "here" was--how in the name of the good Star-God was he supposed to get home again?

Lathan began to fret, wondering if his comrades had been far-flung as well, but then suddenly heard a shout that caused his heart to leap.

"A-ray-nora Ru-Urven!"

A battlecry! 'For the Star-God!'

"Natay!" Lathan exclaimed, frantically looking about and startling a passer-by that was rushing past him. The scholar suddenly realised that the mood on the street had changed, and many heads had turned in a single direction. Shaking free the worst of the fear that had frozen his feet, Lathan hurried the way those gazes were cast, skittishly dodging around large, alien creatures, and cringing every time a voice went up in anger or surprise.

Finally he spotted her. Brandishing her glimmering irivanee sword, the warrior had cleared a wide circle about herself. Frightened by her battle-ready posture and fierce scowl, people were hurrying to get away from the aggressive woman even as Lathan tried to get to her.

"Natay!" he called again, struggling to get through the press of retreating people-creatures even while trying to avoid touching them.

Natay wheeled towards the sound of his voice, the arch of one dark brow her only indication of surprise. The instant that she spotted him, she raised her sword and charged towards him. Creature-people scattered away from her rush, and Lathan finally had the freedom to move and meet his friend halfway.

"Thank Ru-Urven!" he cried out in relief, clinging to one of Natay's arms. "I thought I was alone!"

She shook him off with a short-lived expression of distaste, though her gaze never stopped watching the strange creatures around them. Though they had all fled a long distance away and most were quickly making themselves scarce, Natay acted as if one of the remainders might produce a weapon and charge them at any moment. Her face was as expressionless as it always was, but her lashing tail betrayed her agitation. "One of the trunks appeared with me," she murmured with a faint nod of her head. "Perhaps the others landed elsewhere."

Lathan looked about, and saw that, indeed, one of the wooden chests was wedged up against the wall where Natay had originally been making her stand. With a flash of hope, the scholar momentarily forgot his fright and rushed over to it. Natay stayed on his heels, guarding his back with her sword still at the ready. He fought the lid of the trunk open, and released a cry of dismay when he saw the contents. It was Dedani and Siral's trunk, with not a single notebook or writing utensil to be seen amongst the clothes.

"Drat!" he exclaimed, drooping with disappointment and earning a glance from Natay. "Everything goes oh so terribly amiss, and I can't even chronicle it!"

"And just who would you be 'chronicling' it for?" Natay muttered dryly.

Lathan gave her a blank look, and then saw something over her shoulder that made him blanch with terror. Natay saw his eyes widen and spun around in an instant, sword back over her shoulder and ready to swing a fearsome blow...but the thing that approached was so terrible that it made even the impassive Natay stagger.

He had never seen such a beast. It was bright blue, spattered with violet, and larger than any animal Lathan had ever seen, except perhaps for some of the giant ocean-dwellers...but those were beasts he had read about, not actually seen for himself. Aside from the colour and the presence of a great mane of horns, it looked like a gigantic version of the little winged reptiles that some Dajina liked to keep as exotic pets. It looked very dangerous. A pinkish biped creature-person walked at its paw without fear, as if the beast were a pet.

None of the creature-people still in the street seemed at all concerned. In fact, most of them looked relieved. Was this giant beast going to be set upon them?

It cocked its massive head and came to a halt halfway down the block, but its size was such that even that distance seemed like far too little. The beast rumbled deep in its throat, and Lathan heard a deep voice go off in his head at the same time.

::So what kind of troublemakers is it that we have here?:: it said.

Natay dropped her sword.

Lathan fainted.