(An: Here we go again... -pulls a face- Why do you put me in these situations, Di? Something I've noticed about the Tortall series- these people are like rabbits. Everyone's wife is either pregnant or has six kids. Has anyone noticed that/Rant.)

"I'm tellin' y', it was an ACCIDENT!" Remy yelled, running for his life.

"Oh, so a priceless artifact just FELL into your pocket?" snapped the head of the Mithran priests.

Remy skidded around a corner, narrowly avoiding smacking into the wall. "As a matter of fact, oui! Those things are heavy!"

"STOP!" Kel yelled at the top of her voice.

Everyone obeyed, except Remy, who took the opportunity to get a good headstart.

Panting, Kel explained. "He doesn't know our laws."

Remy stuck his head from around another corner. "I told y'all, it's all big misunderstandin'!"

"I'd keep running if I were you," Neal commented, from behind Kel. "The priests are touchy and if they catch you they'll get the Provost to cut your hand off."

Remy squeaked and took his advice.

"Didn't you hear about our 'guests'?" Kel inquired of the priests, pointedly ignoring Neal.

"You mean the odd people taking up space in our chapel?" the head responded. "Just because they're new here is no reason to steal our artifacts!"

"I DIDN'T STEAL IT!"

"According to His Majesty," Neal put in, "they're our guests. Last I checked, cutting a guest's hand off isn't exactly good conduct."

This made the Mithran priests take pause. The head frowned, and then glared at the knights. "All right, but if anything like this happens again-" He made a throat-cutting gesture. As a collective person, the priests turned on their heels and left.

"Gah!"

"Sounds like Bonedancer found Remy," Neal observed.

Said swamp rat came walking around the corner, trying to pry the skeletal bird from his hair. "What de hell is this thing!" he cried.

"Bonedancer," Kel explained. "Ressurected fossil."

"Ah, oui, I feel so much better knowin' its name... now PLEASE get it out of my hair!"

BACK IN THE CHAPEL

"Please kill him, please kill him, Ah want him outta mah hair, please kill him, he's more trouble than he's worth..." Rogue's litany wasn't very cheerful, true, but it was heartfelt, anyway.

"But if they kill him, who'm I supposed to play poker, get drunk, and have a swordfight with?" Kurt asked, poking her.

"Yeah, and then wake up in the middle of the common room completely naked with him sleeping on your clothes with," Kitty added.

"Hey, that only happened once!"

"Once is definitely enough to scar anybody for life," Logan put in.

"You did it too, once!"

"The group that was in the kitchen will never fully recover from that," Sam put in, twitching a little.

"Hey, Ah'm not complainin'," Rogue replied. She and Kitty were both wearing identical nasty grins.

"I always knew you were disgusting," Sam muttered. "But that's a new low." He went off to be mentally scarred with Rahne.

Just then, Numair, Hank, Alanna, and the King came walking in. "I don't believe I'm doing this," Hank mumbled, going over to sit with the other X-people. "Trusting my life to magic."

"What are they doing, anyway?" Logan asked.

"Apparently, they're doing a spell to send us all home. The only good thing is, they must stave off until they collect our Cajun compatriot. We're gonna die..." And with that Hank attempted to hide beneath the altar.

"Ugh. Alliteration AND a scared genius. We ARE going to die."

And then, right on time, Kel, Neal, and Remy (who had finally gotten Bonedancer out of his hair, and was actually getting along quite well with him) joined them.

"What happened?" Kitty asked, poking Remy.

"It's like I said: a really, big, hand-cutting-off-type misunderstanding," Remy muttered, shoving the offended appendages in his pockets.

"Oh, great," Hank muttered. "Now they can start."

(Woot. One more chappy to go. Fun fun.)