Ancestral Dragon

Chapter 14

The communal kitchen was crowded the next morning. Jak joined the end of the line, which was mostly made up of young men and women around his age, for the serving station. The majority of the large space was filled up with rows of wooden tables and benches. Not only was the physical layout different from his high school cafeteria, not a single person had a phone or even earbuds for music. Jak had thought that the old couple was just so isolated from the rest of Kaolin that maybe that's why they didn't have any technology but, now, Jak accepted that this world didn't have what he was accustomed to.

There was not much to choose from in terms of food; some kind of dried meat that Rory fed Jak yesterday, a stew, and some vegetables that looked like they were recently pulled from the ground. Not the kind of breakfast Jak had expected but he looked around at other people's plates to get an idea of how much he should take.

"Whatcha name?" a man asked as Jak finished stacking a small number of vegetables onto his plate. He spun around looking for the owner of the voice in the throng of people. "Over here." A tall, plump man stood directly behind Jak; his white clothes stained with food. "I know everyone in this village, seeing as I'm head of the kitchen here." The man leaned forward with narrowed eyes. "But I don't know your face?"

"Oh, I'm Jak. I'm new."

"I reckoned that you're new. So, are you a new recruit or refugee?"

"What?"

"Well, two kinds of people come to live in this here village; new recruits for the resistance or refugees looking for a safe place to stay."

"Refugee I guess," Jak answered not wanting anything to do with the resistance. The man eyed the sword strapped to Jak's back with raised eyebrows.

"Well I'm Hilt," he said with a small shake of his head, seeming to make up his mind about something. Hilt continued in a friendlier tone and a wide smile, "Welcome. You need anything just let me know. I've seen plenty of confused new faces walking around here. You're in a good place kid. You'll be safe here. So, where ya from?"

"I'm... a... from... the mountains," Jak just barely got out the words. "Thanks for the food." He left the cook, not wanting to expand further on the question, quickly found a seat and ate alone.

After Jak left the communal kitchen, he found his way to the training field with a few people already standing around wooden dummies, like the ones in John's barn. Not wanting to talk to anyone, he sat on a fallen log by himself and kept his head down.

Everyone looked his way but most went back to their own conversations, except for a trio of young women. They walked over and Jak searched for an excuse to get out of the approaching conversation. He wasn't looking to make friends. Viktor and Rory expected that he attends the weapons training, so, that's what he would do. That didn't mean he had to socialize. His only reason for being in the village was to find a way home. It would be a waste of time to get close to people.

"Hi," one woman said with an energetic personality and hands in pockets. "You're new?"

"Yea," Jak said as he stood.

"I'm Brooklyn," the woman said. "This is Zhuri," Brooklyn pointed to the woman with hands on her hips and black curly hair, "and Haisley," she nodded to an unnaturally thin girl with blazing red hair. "What's your name?"

"Jak."

"Well, Jak, where are you from?"

This was the second person to ask about his past today. Jak guessed that new people were a rarity and a source of fresh entertainment. Why had he not been prompted to come up with a story that he could tell people? It was clear that he shouldn't be honest about the dragon or that he was from another world.