10 year writers block finaly broke loose and I got swept away in a flood. What follows is the start of a rather long, novel length book I'm in the middle of writing. Feel free to post whatever comments you have. I will post other parts to it as I go, though I don't promise how often.

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Sojurn

Darkness covered the city, flowing down the streets and collecting in the alleys. Silence sat heavily on the sleeping town, it's buildings swathed in a thick fog, light pooling in liquid puddles under the occasional street lamp. The town drunk stumbled down the street, his head spinning from the pots of ale he'd just finished off in the pub. Reaching the nearest alley, he leaned heavily against the wall then slid down to sit on the ground. Leaning against the building
wall, he threw his head back and began singing loudly and badly off-key. A brief flash of light a few feet further down the alley startled him and he peered into the darkness.
'Who's der?' he slurred, trying to make out anything in the inky blackness. No answer was forthcoming however, so after a few seconds he shrugged and went back to singing.

The reason for the flash stood silently several feet away, his eyes adjusting to the sudden darkness. The putrid smell of rotting garbage caused him to wrinkle his nose in disgust.
"Wonderful," he thought to himself sourly. "A backwater planet in the middle of nowhere. And where do I materialize? In the middle of their garbage dump!"
He closed his eyes for a second, then took a deep breath.
"Well, it could be worse I guess. I wonder just how primitive these people are."
He picked his way slowly through the alley, trying to avoid the larger concentrations of refuse. By the time he reached the street, the town drunk was happily snoring, the words to his song long forgotten in the stupor produced by the ale.
"At least" he thought to himself as he inspected the drunk, "I look like they do physically."
He squatted down beside the drunk and carefully moved his cloak back a bit, examining the others clothing, then frowned.
"Clothing now, that's another matter," he thought, dropping the cloak back down over the snoring man. "I'll never fit in dressed like this."
He stood up and glanced cautiously around the street then left the alley, hugging the wall of the building and trying to stay well out of the light.

The buildings ended fairly quickly as the street turned into a lanerunning out into the open land. The man sighed and turned around.
"Better and better," he shook his head. "Backwater planet, primitive culture, local inhabitants who appear to have all the civility of poorly bred pigs and now this." He stared back up the street at the few buildings visible through the fog.
"Maybe it's bigger if I go the other way. I need clothes."
He took a couple steps then stopped again.
"No, I need a farm. With a clothesline. And a sympathetic farmer," he frowned thinking about the drunks singing. "Whose language I probably don't speak. Why me!?"
He glanced back over his shoulder into the darkness of the lonely countryside then turned back to the town again. If there was a farm out there it certainly didn't show up in the middle of the night.
"When I get my hands," he thought, "On the idiot that opened that warp..."
Light spilled out of a doorway a few feet ahead of him and he
flattened against the wall. A couple strolled out, waving behind them at a fairly crowded, smoke filled room, then wandered off down the street arm in arm. He waited until they were lost in the fog before breathing a silent sigh of relief.
"Clothes now," he thought again. "And food. And sleep. Retribution later. After my powers come back."
He glanced around then continued on up the street toward the alley he'd materialized in.

As it came in sight he could see a dark figure bent over the drunk who had been happily snoring away in it's entrance. He froze, watching as the figure drew a knife out of a sheath and silently cut the drunks pouch from his belt. His eyes narrowed. The alley was only a few feet away and the figure obviously was unaware of his presence. Trained reflexes took over and he moved silently like little more than a shadow toward the alley as the figure opened the pouch and began rummaging through it. He paused for a moment until the figure was completely absorbed in the contents of the pouch then stepped forward, one hand going to the figures throat,
the other grasping its' knife hand. In a single fluid motion he bent the figure backwards, lifted it off the ground to it's toes by the hand on it's throat and forced the knife hand open. The knife hit the ground with a dull thud and he forced the arm up behind his captives back. The other struggled slightly, stopping as his hand tightened
around it's throat.
"You know, for a thief, you're not very observant," he said, his voice low.
His captive grunted and he applied a bit more pressure to the arm behind it's back.
"Ow," his captive protested.
"Not only that but your choice of targets is lousy," he continued, then waited for a reply.
"Let me go!" the other managed, then gasped as a bit more
pressure was applied to his arm.
"Well," he thought, "language is evidently not a problem. That's one positive aspect to this."
"Let you go," he said, musing. "Let you go? And then what? wait while you pick up your knife and try to kill me? I think not." He squeezed slightly on the others throat again.
"NO!" his captive cried out, sudden fear filling his voice. "Just let me go and I swear I wont.."
"No, you're right," he interrupted. "You won't because you really won't like what I'll do if you try."
He twisted the others wrist slightly, provoking another cry.
"I'll let go but you move and you die. Understand?"
"Yes," came the reply through slightly gritted teeth.
He let go and the other stumbled forward, whirled around
then stood uncertainly in front of him, rubbing his wrist and
watching him cautiously.
"Your name?" he asked, crossing his arms.
"Why?" the other asked hesitantly.
"Because I asked," he stated bluntly.
"Kheri," came the response after a moment.
He nodded, then bent over and picked the knife up off the ground. Kheri's eyes darted to the street but prudence kept him from moving.
"You can call me Dale," he said, straightening up and handing the knife back to it's owner.
Kheri looked at the knife suspiciously, the carefully reached out and took it, sheathing it quickly.
"So now what?" he asked, looking back up at the man who towered a full 12 inches over him.
"First, give him back his pouch," Dale replied, indicating the drunk.
"And second you just became my guide to this place. I need other clothing. You're going to help me find some."
Kheri opened his mouth to protest, caught the look on Dale's face, nodded once, then dropped the pouch next to the drunk.
"What kind of Clothes do you want," he asked, his gaze wandering over Dales strange black jump-suit.
"Average stuff. That any not-too-well-off man would wear."
Kheri stared at the jump-suit for a couple more seconds then
nodded.
"Alright," he replied apprehensively, "I know where you can get something but we'll have to leave town. The only stuff around here's either on someone's back or in a store. And they're locked."
"And stuff outside town isn't?" Dale asked, a warning tone to his voice.
"Well..." Kheri fidgeted and tried not to feel frightened. "My aunt's got a farm. It's about 6 miles. I can try to get you some of my uncles old things unless you object to a walk?"
Dale caught his eyes and held his gaze for a moment until Kheri shivered and looked down.
"Alright," he said, satisfied that Kheri was telling the truth, "we'll go visit your aunt. Which way?"
"Uh.." he stammered, his heart pounding, "T-this way."
He stepped cautiously past the larger man out of the alley and started up the street. Dale turned and followed silently behind him.

Kheri's thoughts raced as he walked. The desire to dash off into the fog filled him and he fought it down, certain that he would fail in the attempt. His arm still ached from the pressure Dale had exerted on it back in the alley and he had no desire to find out just how strong he really was. He also needed a plausible story for his aunt to explain why he wanted his uncles old clothes that she had packed away in her attic but the events of the past few minutes had him badly shaken and nothing he came up with worked. He was still trying to sort things out as they approached the final buildings on the other side of town. He started, his contemplation shattered as Dale dropped a hand on his shoulder.
"Stop," came the soft command behind him. He froze and glanced around.
A few seconds later movement in the shadows a short way up the street caught his attention. He flattened against the wall next to Dale and held his breath, watching. A figure detached itself from the shadows and crossed the street, visible now as one of the town guards. The two of them stood motionless, waiting as the guard glanced around, then made his way on down the street.
"Alright, let's go," Dale said quietly.
Kheri nodded and started off down the street again. The guards usually weren't a problem but he preferred to avoid them if possible. He glanced back at Dale and the other raised an eyebrow in question.
"Yes?" he asked.
"How'd you know he was there?", Kheri asked.
"I heard him," came Dale's quiet reply.
Kheri blinked.
"You heard him?" he repeated dubiously.
"Yes." Dale replied bluntly.
A shiver ran up Kheri's spine and he stopped, turned to face Dale and took a deep breath.
"Who..I meant what.." he stammered, unable to turn thoughts into words.
Dale sighed inwardly.
"You sure you want the answer to that question?" he said. Kheri nodded, his eyes locked on Dales face.
"At the moment, I'm just a stranger who would prefer not to be noticed. You get on my bad side, I might turn out to be your worst nightmare."
Kheri swallowed slightly.
"You do as I ask, and behave, and I may turn out to be a valuable friend," he continued. "You want more explanation than that, earn it. How far is it to your aunts farm from here?"
"Uh..", Kheri shook his thoughts free from the somewhat
frightening flight of fantasy they'd taken.
"About 5 1/2 miles. A hour or so walk." he replied.
"She get up early?" Dale asked.
"Usually yes, and this is market day. There'll be traffic coming into town in a while too."
Dale crossed his arms and looked down into Kheri's eyes.
"Then I suggest you turn around and we get going," he said softly, a flinty edge to his voice. Kheri broke into a sudden sweat and turned quickly around, leading the way out of town.

The night was stretching thin and day was beginning to break
around the clouds as they left the town and started down the small country road. Birds soared by overhead and filled the air with a variety of calls. A smile tugged at one side of Dale's mouth.
"This might not be too bad," he thought. "Not nearly as alien a world as it might have been. Still very primitive though."
He brought his gaze down out of the sky to study Kheri for a
moment.
"Early 20s," Dale thought, "and very inexperienced but not impossible to work with. Might even have decent potential, given enough time. We'll see."
"What do most people use for transportation around here," he
asked, breaking the silence.
"Horses mostly. Mules sometimes. Carts or wagons for hauling," Kheri replied glancing back at him. "Why?"
"Just wondering."
Kheri nodded and went back to working out an excuse to get his uncles mothballed clothing out of his aunt. Five minutes later he sighed, shook his head and stopped walking. Turning around to face Dale, he glanced up at him hesitantly then studied his own hands.
"Look," he said, "I'm not really sure this is actually a good idea."
"Oh?" Dale kept his voice strictly neutral, waiting for Kheri to finish.
"Yeah, my aunt..well she's pretty sharp...and she's going to want to know why I want my uncles clothes, you know?" He looked back up and met Dales eyes, "and well I can't..," he stopped as Dale crossed his arms again.
"Ummm," he swallowed and tried to finish, frightened now. "I, umm, can't think of..."
He trailed off and stood silently fidgeting, looking down at his hands and Dales feet. Dale sighed to himself, used to dealing with much more hardened, worldly wise types.
"Kheri," he said calmly, "let's just get to your aunts farm. We can deal with what to tell her when we get there." He forced the impatience at the situation and his frustration with being powerless back down. Kheri fidgeted a moment longer, then sighed his shoulders slumping slightly
then nodded.
"Alright," he replied unhappily as he turned back to the road, "but don't say I didn't try to warn you."

(to be continued)

I like the way you describe your characters. It's late, yet I stayed with the story. I'm a little concerned about the language question. Perhaps, with a space traveler, it might be better to ignore the issue completely, rather than have this unexplained coincidence that they all speak English. (Either that, or resort to a "babble-fish" in his ear.) I'm looking forward to the next episode (-:

The sun burst over the mountains a few minutes later, filling the air with golden shafts and painting the landscape with all the colors of morning. Clouds sailed overhead tinged with golds and pinks and the birds broke into a riotous chorus of welcome as it's first shafts began to warm their nests. Dale found himself smiling and shook his head slightly.
"I might actually enjoy this," he thought. "If I can get past the hurdles of no clothes, no money, no food and no idea when my powers will return, if ever."
The thought was sobering and dulled the promise of the new day to a degree.

They walked along in silence, each wrapped in their own thoughts for the better part of 3/4 of an hour. Dale kept a sharp eye out for any approaching traffic but the road remained deserted and finally the farm they were making for came into sight. It was a fairly small place, with a tidy yellow farm house not too far back from the road and a chicken yard nestled against the back fence. Tall rows of corn stood neatly to one side. A large swatch of tilled earth ran right up to the fence next to the road and the tiny tips of plants could be see poking up out of it in places. A low mooing sound drifted towards them accompanied by the jangle of cowbells. Dale grinned at the sound and looked around for the barn.

"She's probably out there milking the cow," Kheri commented. "It's about that time of day."
"And your uncle?" Dale asked.
"Dead," Kheri stated flatly.
"oh." Dale paused, taken by surprise.
Kheri shrugged.
"Been dead for nearly 30 years," he said. "Got drunk one night, thought he could fly, climbed a tree to try it. Didn't survive the fall. No loss."
Dale lifted an eyebrow at Kheris back.
"My aunt says life got 300 percent easier after he died, dunno though, I didn't know him." Kheri explained, rambling slightly. "He was already gone when I came out here to live after my parents died when I was 6."
"Right," Dale thought and glanced around the farm again.
"So your aunt lives here all alone then?" he asked as they neared the front gate.
"Yeah," came the response. "Just her and the animals."
Kheri paused and glanced up at him, his hand on the gate.
"Don't do nothing to her, ok?" He was half pleading, his eyes locked on Dales face. Dale returned the gaze levelly.
"Is there a reason I should?" he asked in a neutral tone.
"I hope not," Kheri muttered, then shook his head and opened the gate.

They made their way up to the house and walked around to the
back. Kheri's aunt stepped out of the barn just then, a heavy metal pail in one hand and a basket in the other. She stopped at the sight of them for a second then set the pail down.
"Well now, I suppose you got something you want," she said. "Well it can wait. I've got eggs to fetch and breakfast to cook and chores to do."
"We just want," Kheri began and Dale interrupted him.
"It can wait till later," he said. "And we'd be happy to help you with your chores."
The aunt looked Dale over silently.
"You sure are dressed outlandishly, where're you from boy?" she asked.
"A fairly long way off mam," he replied.
"Must be. You ever hoed weeds before?" she asked then nodded at the blank look on his face in reaction.
"Didn't think so," she stated. "Kheri, take this basket and go get the eggs. Take your friend with you. I'll be in the house."
She held out the basket and stood there waiting.
Kheri bit his lip to keep from laughing at Dale's confusion over his aunt's question and walked over to take the basket.
"Come on, the hen house's this way," he said.
His aunt watched them for a minute, shook her head and picked up the pail of milk.
"City folk," she grumbled. "Ain't never done a useful lick o' work in his life most likely. Well the hens'll give 'em some exercise."
She lugged the milk into the house, the screen door slamming
behind her.

The hen house and chicken yard were completely enclosed in a wire fence and Kheri paused before he opened the gate.
"Chickens are kind of funny," he said. "They can't fly but they'll try to run out the gate. Don't let them or we'll be chasing them all day.
Also, the hens don't like it when we take their eggs, so they get kind of nasty and watch out for the rooster."
Dale glanced at the chickens milling around inside the chicken yard.
"Alright, what's a rooster?"
Kheri looked at him incredulously.
"You don't know..", he began, stopped himself and pointed to a rather large imposing chicken. "That's the rooster. The only male in there and he thinks it all belongs to him. He'll think we're invading his property once we go in there. He likes to pick fights and that beak's sharp. So watch out for him."
"Great," Dale thought to himself studying the rooster. "One more thing to add to the list...no clothes, no money, no food, no access to my powers and now I'm about to be a sparring partner for a bird with a bad attitude. I can't wait to see what else is lurking in the wings!"
He looked over at Kheri and nodded.
"Alright, let's get this over with."
Kheri nodded, opened the gate and slipped inside, shutting the gate quickly behind himself. Dale frowned slightly in the roosters direction then followed suit.

The chickens scattered squawking as Kheri walked toward them, swinging the basket and the rooster gave a loud angry crow. Flapping his wings, he drew himself up to his full height, stretched out his neck and attacked. Kheri fended him off with the basket and made for the hen house, then disappeared inside, the rooster in hot pursuit. Dale stood there speechless. The chickens eyed him suspiciously for a moment then went back to pecking for bugs. A few seconds later Kheri came running out of the hen house, the rooster still in hot pursuit, the basket over his head. He vaulted
over the fence, caught his foot on it and landed in a heap on the ground. Dale bit his tongue and swallowed the laugh that threatened to explode out of him. The rooster, satisfied now that the intruder was gone, strutted off to take up his sentry duty among the hens.
"I see what you mean," Dale commented, looking over the fence at the pile on the ground. "Did you get any eggs?"
A muffled sound came out from under the basket and Kheri pushed himself up on one arm.
"No I didn't get any eggs. Here!" He tore the basket off his head and flung it in Dales general direction. "Let's see you do any better," he growled, his temper frayed beyond controlling for the moment.
Dale caught the basket and shrugged. He glanced over at the
rooster who was eyeing him with suspicion and then looked at the hens who had scattered once more as Kheri came flying back across the chicken yard. Moving slowly, he made his way across the chicken yard, trying to avoid scaring them as Kheri had and paused at the hen house door. The rooster was still watching him but he seemed content not to do anything since his hens still appeared unruffled.
Dale opened the door quietly and slipped inside, shutting the door behind him.
The hen house was small, and rather dark with the door shut. He blinked a couple times the waited for his eyes to adjust, wondering just where the eggs were.
Boards with nests on them ran around the hen house wall and
several chickens were nestled happily down on top of them. Peering curiously into one without a chicken he noticed a couple round white objects.
"Ah, alright," he said to himself and carefully retrieved the eggs from the nest, setting them gently into the basket. Working quickly, he removed the rest of the eggs from the other empty nests, then stood back considering the chickens. There were only 4 settled on the nests and the basket was nearly full. The possibility of raising a squawk and having to dodge flying rooster out weighed however much good the eggs in the remaining nests would do. He opened the door quietly, and looked around for the rooster.

The rooster was busily worrying a bug in the grass on the far side of the chicken yard so Dale stepped outside the hen house, shut the door softly behind himself and made his way out of the chicken yard with as much stealth as he had used a couple hours before to sneak up on Kheri.
He'd half expected to find Kheri fled while he was occupied with the chickens, and was pleasantly surprised to find him waiting for him at the gate. He opened the gate, stepped through it and handed Kheri the egg basket with a slight grin.
"What was so hard about that?" he asked innocently. Kheri frowned at the eggs, glared at the rooster and stalked off toward the house carrying the basket, carefully avoiding replying to the question.

(to be continued.)

Sorry it took so long for me to reply. I've been a little bit busy. You do a really good job of giving out details as needed instead of explaining things in large blocks. I can definitely hear Dale's personality, though Kheri isn't as defined for me yet. (Since this is somewhat from Dale's point of view, that's not entirely surprising.) It's probably from trying to get the formatting down for posting, but there's a few places here and there where paragraphs start that should be part of the previous paragraph, especially with dialogue. There's a few typos as well, but again, that's natural in posts. One point - if you use elipses, you need to use 3 dots or 4. If the thought trails off, use "..." but if the thought also ends the sentence, use "...." I noticed that you had a lot of elipses with just 2 dots. The premise so far is interesting and you're doing a great job avoiding all the usual pitfalls with writing. I'm definitely looking forward to the next installment. Cheers!

The smell of something cooking drifted from the house and Dale's stomach growled unexpectedly. He winced slightly, trying to forget the fact that he hadn't eaten in over two days, then followed Kheri into the kitchen. "Here's your eggs," Kheri said, handing the basket to his aunt. "Put 'em on the counter," she said over her shoulder from the sink. "You and your friend go wash up and then fill the water barrel. Bucket's by the pump. Get a move on or breakfast'll be cold 'for you're done." "Come on," Kheri said as he set the basket on the counter and headed back out the backdoor, running into Dale who had just stepped through the door. "OOOF!" Kheri grunted, and hit the floor, landing solidly on his backside on the tiles. His aunt glanced over her shoulder, shook her head and went back to peeling potatoes. "Clumsy, how many times I got to tell you to open your eyes and look where you going?" she grumbled. Dale winced from the impact as Kheri ran into him then reached down, hauled the younger man to his feet and stepped back outside. Kheri followed, rubbing his head. "You know," Dale commented, "Walking through solid objects is a skill I don't think you've had much practice with." Kheri frowned at him silently then walked over to the pump. "Yeah well," he began as he picked up the bucket and set it under the pump, "You weren't so slow coming into the house you wouldn't have been in the door." "No," Dale agreed, "but if you were more observant it wouldn't have mattered where I was." Kheri glowered into the bucket as he worked the pump handle. "Lay off already ok? I've never been very good at this farm stuff, that's why I don't live out here." "Which is why you're trying to make a living stealing from drunks?" Kheri jerked his head up, a furious retort ready and froze, staring past him. Dale whirled then ran for the house. Black smoke was billowing out of the kitchen window and he could hear the crackling of flames. He jerked the door open then leaped aside as smoke billowed out, filling the air. Kheri still hadn't moved, his gaze fixed on the house. Dale slapped a control on his belt and sighed with relief as the force field shimmered into place. "Small favors gratefully accepted," he said to no one in particular then stepped inside the kitchen. The iron cook stove had flames shooting out it's top, and part of the wall had started to burn. Kheri's aunt was crumpled on the floor, overcome with smoke. Dale scooped her up in his arms and carried her back outside. "Kheri, water!" he commanded, laying the unconscious woman on the ground. "Now!" Kheri blinked, then hefted the pail and lugged it as rapidly as possible over to where Dale was kneeling beside his aunt, spilling about 1/3 of it in the process. Setting the bucket down he stood there looking lost. Dale stood up. "Get her away from the house. How close is the nearest neighbor?", he asked, picking up the bucket. "Next farm, about 1/2 mile," Kheri said, trying to get his aunt to wake up. "Carry her out of the way, " Dale commanded, "then go get help." He turned, carrying the bucket, and plunged back into the kitchen. The curtains over the sink were burning, flames still shot up out of the stove and streams of fire were working their way along the countertop. Dale dumped the water into one of the holes on the cook top, drowning the wood inside and headed back out to the pump. Kheri's aunt was laying on the ground, unconscious but breathing, right where Dale had left her and Kheri was no where to be found. Dale dropped the bucket, lifted her up and carried her to the barn then went back to the pump. It took him a few seconds to figure out how to work the thing but finally a stream of water gushed out of it into the bucket. He put all other concerns aside, focusing only on the job of getting bucket after bucket of water into the house and onto the fire as rapidly as possible. He was so absorbed that it took him several seconds to fully comprehend it when the fire was finally out. Gasping for breath he stood in the middle of the drenched and blackened kitchen and looked around. It was a mess but most of it was still intact, though the cleanup wasn't going to be easy. His arms ached, his legs felt like rubber and now as the adrenaline stopped running he started to shake. He stumbled back out of the kitchen and flopped down on the top step, dropping the bucket beside himself and just barely managing the strength to hit the button on his belt to turn off the force field.