There were a great many things to do, and it almost seemed to Tarrin like they weren't going to have enough time to get to all of it.
After they split up from the meeting at the courtyard, Tarrin and Jenna withdrew from the others and returned to her personal rooms, one of the few places where nobody would disturb her, and Tarrin got to work. After Jenna used the Priest spell to augment her ability to retain knowledge, he started training her in the many, many spells that he'd learned through his unusual turning. There were a great number of them, and having to think about each one to teach Jenna let him get a little better understanding of them and how they were used. Some were battle spells, like one nasty one that created a very powerful acid out of flows of Earth, Water, Fire, and Divine, which was sprayed forth to injure an opponent. There were many new Transmutation spells, including the one that allowed the Transmutation of a being into another kind of being. Shapeshifting. It was one of the spells, though a Sorcerer wouldn't use that particular spell on himself. Sorcerers were wary of spells that altered the body, because it may damage or destroy their connection to the Weave. There were few ways a Sorcerer would Transmute himself, and crossing over, changing the body to make it invulnerable to heat and fire, was one of them. Sorcerers could Transmute themselves in other ways, but a tiny mistake could strip them of their powers, so Sorcerers, even the Ancients, were very wary about doing so. It was such a dangerous and unused sphere of Sorcery that even Tarrin's knowledge of it was strangely incomplete. Then again, given how extraordinarily dangerous it was, there was little surprise in the fact that a very, very rare few katzh-dashi would even dare to experiment in that area. Some were spells of an aspect of Sorcery the modern katzh-dashi had never even seen before, Divination. The reading of signs and portents to predict a possibility in the future. Divination was terribly unreliable, for the future was not set, and elements of the present changed constantly to alter the lines of possibility in the future. The one spell that Tarrin had learned in that field of study that had any kind of reliability at all was a rather interesting little weave that predicted the probability of success of an impending action, provided that the action was accomplished within a minute of the casting of the spell. But even that one was unreliable if other factors influenced the possibilities of success, especially when other sentient beings were involved. So, the spell would be fairly accurate if Tarrin used it to see if he could successfully break down a door, but it wouldn't do him very much good in predicting a winner if he and Allia decided to race down a passageway. There was another spell that tried to gauge the severity of possible danger in the near future, but the spell couldn't determine the type of danger, nor its cause. But it did operate with at least a modicum of success, but it was notoriously fickle about what it considered danger. The concept of danger was a very personal one, and what Tarrin felt was not dangerous, others would. That made the spell very erratic, especially when the danger would be caused by another sentient being, or the danger another caused was purely accidental. That made it moderately useful for a Sorcerer trying to detect the possibility of being attacked by brigands in an alley, as they intended to cause danger to the Sorcerer, but would not warn of a thief on a rooftop above that accidentally knocked a roof tile loose that fell on the Sorcerer's head and killed him.
There were a great, great many useful spells, many of which Auli had demonstrated in their endless games of fun. Sorcery was capable of battle and other things, but the Ancients had concentrated on finding ways to make Sorcery useful. That was why there was a weave to do almost any kind of chore or labor, there were weaves that affected clothing, mended broken items, and even trivial ones that changed the color of things. The Ancients placed greater value on spells that could do things for them, not spells that could kill people. Then again, back then the Sha'Kar dominated the katzh-dashi, and their pacifistic ways had influenced how they researched the ability. Tarrin taught Jenna an absolute plethora of handy little weaves that did any number of small, useful things, as well as a few that weren't quite so small, like weaves that determined the age of an object, or a weave that would tell the Sorcerer who had last touched an object, and more importantly, exactly where that person was, or even a weave that
After that, they moved into a more serious aspect of Sorcery, and that was healing. There were many spells of healing that had been forgotten, even by the Sha'Kar, and many of them were spells that affected more than just injury. There were weaves for helping the body fight disease, though the weave couldn't outright cure the disease itself. There were weaves that helped a Sorcerer heal mental damage, such as trauma or shock, but only a Sorcerer of the same race could do that. The boundary of species was a constant throughout all of Sorcery when it came to using Mind weaves, even to the Ancients. Only under truly extraordinary circumstances could that barrier be breached. Spyder was the only example of such an extraordinary circumstance. After ten thousand or so years, the Urzani had come to understand humans to such a detailed, exacting degree that it allowed her to use Mind weaves against humans. There was even a weave that partially reversed insanity, though it was not a permanent effect.
After that, they started with sphere-specific spells, going through a myriad of different Air weaves and Fire weaves and Water weaves and Earth weaves, which weren't really anything new. Sorcery was a very fluid, dynamic magical power, which allowed for a great deal of lattitude in its use. It didn't demand the exacting words and gestures of Wizard and Priest magic, and it didn't require the immense clarity of intent and discipline of Druidic magic, which meant that the results of Sorcery could often be quite different from casting to casting of the exact same spell. It was also why a spell's effect often had different potency from one Sorcerer to another, depending on any number of variables, including the concentration and experience of the caster. This margin of relaxation gave Sorcery a unique aspect that didn't exist for the other orders, except perhaps Druidic magic, and that was the ability to improvise. Experienced Sorcerers could improvise on the spot, make up new spells as they needed them, and many of the things he'd learned through his turning were more formal variations of spells that he or Jenna or Keritanima or Dolanna had invented when they had a need for them. Druidic magic was capable of such improvisation, but the consequences of failure were so drastic that making things up as one went along was a very dangerous practice.
The only sphere-specific spells that were carefully used were Mind weave spells, because of the risk of damage to the mind affected by them. One did not improvise when using Mind weaves, so the spells that he taught Jenna, a great many of them, were new to her, new and somewhat useful. Spells to intefere with a mind's operation, spells to put a victim to sleep, spells that were more refined versions of the phantasm aspect of Mind weaves, spells that made someone believe that he could see or hear or smell or touch something that actually didn't exist. Illusions fooled the senses, but Phantasms tricked the mind. They were well researched because not many Sorcerers were very adept with Illusions. Dar was one of a very rare few that showed such aptitude for Illusions, for it was a very demanding field of study and also required a very vivid imagination. There were spells to delve into the memory of a victim, allowing a Sorcerer to access memories of another, and spells to hear the thoughts of others. There was also a spell that instantly allowed a Sorcerer to lift an entire language out of another's mind and learn it, but it was a Weavespinner spell, meaning that only Jenna and Dolanna would have any real use for it, since it too was restricted to only being able to be used against members of the caster's own race.
After that was done, and they broke to get a late lunch, they came back to start learning the Weavespinner spells. These were powerful spells, ones so strong that only a Weavespinner could use them. Spells like Teleportation, a spell that would instantly kill a victim by disrupting his body's processes and leave no trace of its use, a spell that could interfere with gravity itself in a small area, either increasing it or lessening it, even changes its direction of pull for a short time. There was a spell that allowed a Sorcerer to take complete control of someone's mind, turning him into a puppet, and a spell used against Sorcerers that would strip them of their powers for as long as the caster kept the spell active. Sorcerers could block one another from using the power, but that required strength and a great deal of effort. The spell made that a little easier, but it still depended on the strength of the caster and the strength of the victim. Jenna could use it to block almost anyone in the Tower except Tarrin, Jasana, and perhaps Keritanima, Dolanna, and Ianelle. Those three weren't sui'kun, but they were both very powerful and very experienced, and could possibly break the spell. There were a great many other spells, fighting spells, useful spells, even some trivial spells, showing that the Ancients still placed a greater value on Sorcery as a useful tool or means of entertainment than a weapon of war.
As the sun began to set, they moved on to the most powerful of all the spells he'd learned, the spells of High Sorcery. These were the most powerful of all, and a vast majority of them were battle spells. The Ancients did study magic as a weapon of war, but they seemed to concentrate on using it thus only at its highest level of ability. This too seemed to make sense to him, since the Sha'Kar had dominated the culture of the Ancients, and their aversion to fighting meant that if they had to do it, they were going to do it fast and be sure about the results. High Sorcery was the most efficient and fastest means to win such a fight, and as such it was developed mainly with spells used in combat. There were non-fighting spells in Tarrin's memory that relied on High Sorcery, but the majority of them were battle magic. The Sunbolt, a spell Tarrin had learned very early on, was just one example of the kind of raw, unmitigated power that High Sorcery could unleash, and other spells of the same ilk had the same kind of destructive ability. There were spells for making rock explode, spells for turning air into a lethal poison, spells to change blood into a poison. There was a spell that caused a massive earthquake in a confined area, a spell that caused a deluge of razor-sharp shards of ice to rain from the sky. One spell even called down a meteor and made it strike where the Sorcerer indicated. Something falling from the sky had such speed and energy built up in it that when it hit the ground, it would explode with the power of thousands and thousands of kegs of Wikuni gunpowder, absolutely annihilating everything around where it impacted. Tarrin's memory told him that that particular spell had only been used in battle once, and it was used to destroy a city in the southern kingdom of Stygia, the immediate neighbor of Sharadar. The katzh-dashi had been so horrified by its effects and what they'd done that the spell was outlawed and the war between Sharadar and Stygia was immediately ended. It was the only war Sharadar had ever lost in its entire history, and they lost it because they surrendered to the Stygians in apology and repentence for what they'd done. For their own honor and pride, the Stygians accepted that apology, and it led to the strong alliance that the two nations now enjoyed.
It was a sobering thought, that one, one that Jenna brought up. The sui'kun, single, individual beings, could call forth the power to destroy entire cities. She remarked that perhaps that was too much power for a mortal to hold. Tarrin didn't really engage her in the philosophy of that debate, for the memory of what he'd done at Torrian was still fresh and raw in him. He knew how it felt to destroy an entire city, and he fully understood the horror of the katzh-dashi after doing it themselves. He did not blame them in the slightest for outlawing the spell, but he realized that it was a very rash act. Any spell, even that one, could be altered in its power to be made less potent. That was a core rule of Sorcery, any spell could be made as strong or as weak as the Sorcerer desired, up to the limits of the Sorcerer himself. They could have simply decided to call down a smaller meteor, one that devastated a much smaller area. That would be very handy in eliminating an army.
After they were done, both of them were quiet and reflective. Now Tarrin understood why those who had caused the Breaking were so afraid of the katzh-dashi. They really were that powerful. Had they really wanted to, they could have conquered the entire world. But that was then. The katzh-dashi of today weren't nearly as powerful or as numerous, and though they could help an army conquer a much larger force, the effort of wielding magic on that scale would make them only useful for short periods. Even Tarrin himself, one of the most powerful, couldn't use that kind of magic in a sustained manner any longer than a few minutes at the most. The most powerful of all spells were vast in size and intricate in construction, meaning that they took a long time to weave, and that would wear him out by the time he started the second, or possibly the third, depending on how angry he was. They were spells more suited for a Circle, where the effort to weave them was distributed among the members of the Circle.
But that too was a moot point. The katzh-dashi were an order of peace, and they would only use that power in defense of itself or for the protection of those placed under their care. They would never use it to conquer or rule, and with Jenna as the Keeper, he was sure that that would never change.
It was well past dark when they finally finished, not far from midnight. They were both tired, but there was an excited light in Jenna's eyes. She was thrilled at having learned so much about Sorcery in such a short time, and he couldn't really blame her. If he'd been in her shoes, he'd be very excited about it too. Jenna's short life was totally devoted to Sorcery now and all it entailed. The Tower was her new home, and the katzh-dashi were like her children. She was unswervingly devout to the Goddess, just as he was. Tarrin couldn't see how anyone who'd been touched by her couldn't be devout.
They went down to the kitchens for a late dinner, since they'd both only had that one meal and were both ravenous. As always, the kitchens were busy, but now the business was concentrating on cleaning up and preparing for tomorrow's cooking than cooking for today. Pots and pans were scrupulously cleaned, fireplaces swept of ash, tables and countertops wiped down, kettles scrubbed. But the instant the Keeper appeared, they fell over themselves offering her anything she wished. When she asked for a bowl of beef and vegetable stew, one of her favorites, a kettle was pulled off the peg, ingredients were retrieved, and the head cook, a large fellow named Golin, assured her that it would be ready very soon. He pushed breads and pastries at her, meat pies and a large platter of fruits and vegetables, urging her to eat a little before her meal was prepared. She took a little bread and a small bowl of grapes, Tarrin filched a joint of beef that had been roasting for most of the day, and they retired to the main dining hall, where the Novices were seated and dined three times a day. It was empty now, the long benches and tables cleaned and waiting for breakfast.
"This place brings back memories," Tarrin mused as they sat down at the table nearest the doorway to the kitchens.
"You know, I never had to sit in here," Jenna chuckled. "Sometimes I come in here and eat, just to see what it's like."
"It's alot different when it's empty," he grunted. "Try eating with the Novices some day."
"It would be just as quiet now as it would if I did that," she winked. "I'm the Keeper, Tarrin. I'm not someone that a Novice would feel comfortable eating with, you know."
"True," he admitted. "But maybe you could wear a disguise or something. You're young, sister. If you put on Novice white, I think that you could probably fool some people. Not all of them, but some of them."
"I don't think so," she said. "It's a small Tower, brother, and everyone knows me."
"Then use an Illusion."
"I'm not really very good at Illusions," she admitted sheepishly. "I can make image Illusions well enough, but there's a trick to making them move I haven't quite figured out. All my Illusions look like painted portraits, and they look silly when they start moving."
Snorting, Tarrin set down his joint. "Make one. Let's see where you're making your mistake."
She did so, an Illusion of their mother, Elke Kael, and he saw immediately that it wasn't her weaving that was the problem. "You're doing it right, but you're weaving it like it's a spell, Jenna," he told her. "Illusion is an art form, not a formula. You don't weave it, you create it. You have to breathe life into it, or it's going to look exactly like that one. A picture."
"Now I understand why they all say that Illusions are so hard," Jenna said with a furrowed brow as she tried again. The image was just as detailed as the first, but it too had that empty, soulless quality that made it apparent that it was an Illusion.
"Don't think about how mother looks," Tarrin said. "Think about her. Her presence, her personality, what makes her who she is. Then put them into the Illusion."
Frowning, Jenna banished the Illusion and took a moment to mull things over, then she tried once more. The resulting Illusion looked as the other two did, a faithful reproduction of their mother's appearance, but now there was just something a little more in it, a kind of presence that made it seem more real than the first two.
"Now you're getting it," Tarrin complemented. "It takes practice, Jenna. It's not the kind of thing you can just start doing. Just work on it a little, and you should get the hang of it."
Jenna laughed. "And I thought everyone was blowing Dar's talents out of proportion," she said ruefully. "I didn't think that being good at Illusions was such a thing to take notice of."
"Dar's very talented, sister. He has the soul of an artist. That's what gives his Illusions such power. When he weaves an Illusion, it doesn't just look real, it feels real."
"I think I'll ask him for some lessons," she smiled.
"I wonder where he is," Tarrin mused.
"Right now? I think him and Tiella are walking," she answered. "Tiella has the biggest crush on him," she added with a conspiratorial smile.
"Dar really fancies her," Tarrin added. "I think they'd be a good match."
"Maybe we should," she trailed off, waving her hand slightly.
"I don't think we need to do anything," he said. "As soon as Tiella works up the nerve to tell Dar how she feels, she'll have him. She's intimidated by him."
"Everyone is. Whatever you and Dolanna did to Dar, brother, it has quite an effect. He walks around the Tower with a confidence that makes everyone take him very seriously, despite the fact that he's still technically an Initiate. He knows more than some katzh-dashi ten times his age," she chuckled.
"After going through what he went through, he'd better have learned," Tarrin grunted. "Dolanna took him under her wing and taught him almost everything she knew. And Dolanna is a very good Sorceress. She's got some tricks that most other katzh-dashi would say are impossible."
"I've noticed," Jenna smiled. "I think it's no big surprise she was the very first of the new katzh-dashi to cross over."
"None at all," Tarrin agreed. "Even before she crossed over she was probably stronger than anyone on the Council, but it's not her nature to want a position like that. She seems more comfortable out in the world, using her abilities in direct service to the Goddess. She's a natural field katzh-dashi." Tarrin glanced towards the door. "Mother is very pleased with her," he told her. "She told me not to tell Dolanna, but I don't think she'd mind me telling you. She told me that whenever she has a delicate or serious problem somewhere, Dolanna is usually the first name on her list of children to send to take care of it."
"That's not all that surprising. If I had a serious problem somewhere, Dolanna would be the first person I'd think of to go take care of it." Jenna chuckled. "I guess I know now why Kerri is so good."
"Another pupil of Dolanna," Tarrin nodded. "Then again, she has quite a bit of natural aptitude. Dolanna helped her along, but alot of it came from Kerri herself."
"True, but if there was a better way to get started, I don't know what it would be, except maybe getting lessons from Mother herself."
"After all this is over, sister, I think the best thing you could do is bring Dolanna back to the Tower for a while," he told her. "She's an excellent field agent, but she's also an incredibly gifted teacher. She can teach anyone almost anything. I think you'd do very well to bring her in and let her teach for a while."
"That is a very good idea," Jenna agreed with an enthusiastic nod. "With results like you and Kerri and Dar to her credit, nobody can gainsay her credentials."
"Why would they gainsay?" Tarrin asked. "You're the Keeper, Jenna. When you say do something, they do it. It doesn't matter if they like it or not, they do it. If you have people backtalking you, remind them of just who is in charge."
"I was speaking figuratively, Tarrin," she smiled. "Nobody openly defies me. I've had too many lessons from you and mother and Myriam to allow that kind of impertenence. Some of them think I'm too young, and a few on the Council are quite miffed that I was selected over them, but nobody openly challenges me."
"If there was any, I think the Sha'Kar killed it," Tarrin mused.
Jenna laughed. "I think that's a good point," she agreed. " Nobody argues with Ianelle. She's very polite and has exquisite manners, but she has a sense about her that makes you feel very reluctant to cross her. She's alot like Triana that way." She popped a grape into her mouth. "And since the Sha'Kar all recognize me as the Keeper, it leaves the katzh-dashi that don't like me out on a breaking limb."
The cook, Golin, scurried into the hall and bowed. "I'm sorry for the delay, my Keeper," he said. "It will be ready for you presently. How soft do you want the vegetables?"
"It doesn't matter, Golin," she said calmly. "As long as the stew's hot, I'll be happy with it."
"We'll keep a kettle on for you at all times from now on, my Keeper," he said in an embarassed tone. "You'll not catch us napping again."
"It's the middle of the night, Golin," Jenna laughed. "I didn't really think you were napping to start with."
"It's a matter of pride, my Keeper," he said honestly. "I pride myself on providing you with whatever you want, whenever you want it. I didn't have what you wanted on hand."
"I don't expect the kitchen to be on call for me every hour of the day and night, Golin," she smiled. "I tell you what. You can make it up to me tomorrow by making me some peach cobbler. I've been dying for some peach cobbler for days now."
"You had but to ask, my Keeper!" he said in a shocked tone.
"If I got everything I wanted all the time, I'd get spoiled, Golin," she winked. "Besides, it's something of an excitement when the kitchen has something I've been craving, like an unexpected windfall. I enjoy that much more than having my every craving satisfied on demand."
"You're a complicated young woman, my Keeper," Golin said with a wry chuckle.
"Yes, I know," she said with a mysterious smile.
"I'll see to your stew, my Keeper. It should be on the table in a few moments."
"Thank you, Golin," she said. "And go to bed. You have to get up early tomorrow."
With a deep bow, Golin excused himself. Jenna looked at Tarrin, at his amused expression, and she turned a trifle perturbed. "What?" she demanded.
"Quite a change from the little sister I remember," he told her honestly. "But I'm glad to see that you're keeping your head about it. Some girls would get wrapped up in all her newfound power. It's good to see you're keeping your feet on the ground, even if your head is in the clouds."
"Why thank you, brother dear," she said with a teasing smile.
They could only spend so much time talking about serious things before the subject changed to reminiscing about life back on the farm, and that was probably the part of the night that Tarrin enjoyed the most. Golin brought Jenna her stew, and she ate as they talked about old times. But the smalltalk abruptly ceased when they both sensed a surge in the Weave, a surge that was curiously familiar to them as a presence inside the Weave. Then, just to the side of them, they both saw a spell pull itself out of the strands and weave itself into an Illusion. It was an Illusion of a rather tall, shapely redheaded woman wearing a low-necked blue gown and a small golden tiara, her thick hair entangling the tiara like an overgrown weed before tumbling down her back in crimson waves of unmanaged curls. The Illusion seemed to brighten, and then it began to move, as the maker animated the spell with her own mind.
Tarrin was mildly surprised. That was a Weavespinner trick, and this woman was completely unknown to him. But Jenna didn't seem all that surprised. She smiled at the projection and put down her spoon in the nearly empty bowl. "Alexis," she said fondly. "I see you figured it out."
"You're not much of a teacher, Jenna," she teased.
"Tarrin, this is Alexis Firehair, Keeper of the Tower of Abrodar. Oh, she happens to be the Queen of Sharadar too," she added nearly as an afterthought.
"I've heard much about you, Tarrin," she said with a graceful bow.
"I'm not much one for ceremonies, Alexis," he told her calmly. "I didn't know you crossed over. I didn't feel it."
"I'm half a world away, Tarrin," she smiled. "And it was about two months ago. Not long after the Weave was restored. I think that was while you were suffering from amnesia."
"It was," he agreed.
"I meet Jenna in the Heart every day, and she gives me lessons. But she's not very good at it," she winked at the young woman.
"Be nice, Alexis," Jenna fussed.
"Never," she said impudently, then she looked at the two of them. "Well, I was going to talk to you a while, but if you're busy, I can come back later," she said.
"You're lucky you got me at all," Jenna said accusingly. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
"It's about two hours to noon," she said.
"It's nearly midnight," Jenna told her.
"I know what time it is there, Jenna," she said patiently. "When I came over, I could feel you were awake. If you'd have been asleep, I wouldn't have disturbed you."
"I think you were trying to catch me asleep," Jenna accused, but she had a sly smile on her face.
"You'll never know," Alexis said with a swaggering grin.
"I take it you two are rather good friends," Tarrin observed.
"I'd say we are," Alexis agreed. "Enough to play pranks on each other. Your sister brings out the worst in me," she admitted with a wolfish smile.
"You're like a little girl that never grew up," Jenna accused.
"I am," she admitted shamelessly. "It keeps things from getting dull. When you're as old as I am, Jenna, you'll do the same thing to keep your mind entertained. Things get kind of boring after about four hundred years," she said with a sour expression.
"I won't find that out for another three hundred and eighty four," Jenna said with a wicked smile.
Alexis winced. "It's not fair to bring up my age like that."
"You're the one who brought it up," Jenna told her smugly.
Alexis wasn't lying. They did act like a couple of girlfriends when they were together.
Alexis was about to say something else, but she looked beyond them. Tarrin followed her gaze, and to his surprise and delight, Triana was padding into the dining hall. And sitting sedately on her shoulder was a tiny blue-skinned creature with mottled multicolored wings. Sarraya. Those wings began to buzz as she lifted off Triana's shoulder and zipped in a direct line towards Tarrin, calling out his his name happily. Tarrin lifted a paw and let her land in it, then he brought her up to his face with a gentle smile, a thousand memories, some of them actually good, flowing though his mind about his little Faerie companion. She could be a terrible pest sometimes, but she was a good friend and a solid, dependable partner. He felt better with her with him already.
"Tarrin!" she squealed again happily, leaning forward and kissing him soundly on the end of his nose. "It's so good to see you! Triana told me all about what happened, and why you asked me to come back, and-"
He cut her off before she could say anything in front of Alexis. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, but he didn't know her yet, and he knew that their enemies could be listening even now. "Careful," he warned her in Sha'Kar, then he reached up with a finger and very tenderly and carefully pressed it up against her side. She grabbed his finger with both hands and pulled it up her her face, nuzzling it. Tarrin had often marvelled at how exquisitely tiny Sarraya was, how tiny and yet how perfectly formed, and that wonder hadn't simply ceased because she'd been away. Seeing her again only made him marvel at her anew.
"A rare treat for me," Alexis smiled. "I've always wanted to meet a Faerie. How do you do?"
Sarraya looked at the woman, and then her eyes seem to peer through her. "I see you've been teaching them tricks, Tarrin," she said. "She feels far away."
"This one is from Abrodar," he told her calmly. "This is Alexis Firehair, Keeper of the Tower in Sharadar."
"Oh. Nice to meet you," she said casually, then she zipped over and landed on Jenna's hand, then kissed her on the cheek. "Jenna!" she said happily. "You've grown!"
"Only a little," she said wryly in reply. "How are you, Sarraya?"
"I'm well rested and raring for another go," she said with a bright, enthusiastic buzz of her wings. "A couple of months back home, and I'm feeling good as new and ready for action!"
"I think now would be a good time for me to go, Jenna. It looks like you'll be busy, so I'll come back another time."
"That would be a good idea," Jenna agreed.
"I'll see you later, then. Good to meet you, Tarrin," she said with a smile, and then her projection vanished, and the sense of her raced away from him within the Weave.
"Mother," Tarrin greeted, taking her paw as she approached. "That was good time."
"We would have been here sooner if Sarraya wasn't so fidgety," Triana grunted.
"I've never done that before!" she said indignantly. "It was so bizarre!" she laughed to Tarrin. "It was like were travelling a hundred leagues a second! The whole world went by so fast it was like a blur!"
Tarrin raised an eyebrow at his bond-mother. She just smiled and patted him on the cheek. "Don't worry, I'll teach it to you when we have the time," she told him.
"I can feel it in him, Triana. When did he get so much stronger?"
"Didn't you listen to a word I said on the way, bug?" Triana asked in a tone that, for her, was exasperated.
"It was hard to hear with all that rushing in my ears. And besides, I wasn't paying attention to you," she answered. "I had more interesting things to pay attention to."
Tarrin laughed in spite of himself. Sarraya was indeed back.
Sarraya flitted out of Jenna's hands and landed on his shoulder, and it immediately felt right, like something that had been taken away from him had been restored. "Now then, I want details," she said from his shoulder. "Everything that's happened while I've been away, Tarrin. And don't you dare miss a single thing!"
"You'll have time for catching up later," Triana grunted. "It's late and we don't have much time. You can go to bed now, Jenna. Until dawn, he's mine."
"I'll take that as a peremptory dismissal," Jenna laughed.
"It was one. Now off to bed with you."
Jenna laughed again. "Yes, mother," she said in a mocking tone, but there was a definite warmth in her eyes and a gentle smile on her lips that said that she was very comfortable using that term.
Triana gave her a hard look, but it was a look of pure bravado. Tarrin could see it in her posture. She was pleased that Jenna had called her mother, but she wasn't about to show any softness. Jenna seemed to see that too, chuckling lightly as she passed by Tarrin, reaching up and putting her hand on Triana's shoulder, then pulling her head down so she could kiss the Were-cat matriarch on the cheek. It was more than a display of affection, he knew. By kissing Triana, by putting herself at risk of being turned, she was showing how much she trusted her brother's bond-mother. That act did break Triana's emotionless mask, as her eyes softened and a gentle look flushed her handsome features, then she was all stone again. "Sleep well, cub," she ordered in a very motherly tone that belied the emotionless mask.
"I always do knowing you're near us, mother," Jenna answered calmly, then she waved to Tarrin and Sarraya and gracefully swept herself from the hall.
Triana put a paw on her cheek, over where Jenna had kissed her, and watched the girl pass, then she fixed a boringly dangerous look on Tarrin and Sarraya. Naturally, it had no effect whatsoever. Sarraya exploded into gales of laughter, and Tarrin gave his bond-mother a knowing little smile. Because of the touching of their minds, he knew his bond-mother alot better now, and he knew how gentle and loving she really was. It was just something she didn't show to the outside world.
"O, how the mighty have fallen!" Sarraya said with a snigger after recovering from her mirth. "I thought you were about to let her scratch you behind the ears!"
"That will do, Sarraya," Triana said in a dangerous tone.
"Aww, you want your widdle belly rubbed, Twiana?" she asked in an outrageous manner. "Does kitty want her widdle back scratched? If I scratch the base of your tail, will you stick your widdle butt up in the air for me?"
Despite knowing the consequences, Tarrin suddenly couldn't help but to succumb to a fit of laughter. Triana glared hotly at both of them, and her expression made it abundantly clear that was going to be retribution. She snorted loudly, crossing her arms beneath her breasts and waiting out Tarrin's fit like an impatient teacher waiting out a student's floundering for an answer. "If you're done, we have alot to do and not much time," she said tartly.
"I'm sorry, mother," he sniffed, still smiling. "I take it I'm not getting any sleep tonight?"
"Judging by how fast you learn? I doubt it," she said acidly and turned towards the door, waving him to follow.
"Ouch," Tarrin grunted.
"She'll get over it," Sarraya giggled. "It's good to see you! Triana told me about what happened. What was it like? How did Jesmind take it? What did you do all that time?"
"We'll have plenty of time to talk about it later, Sarraya," he told her calmly, moving to follow Triana. "I don't think I want to keep mother waiting. Not after what you said."
"Posh. She needs someone to tease her every now and then."
"Then you can do it," he said fervently. "I'm not that crazy." Then he started laughing again. "But it was funny."
"Of course it was," Sarraya said airily. "I said it, didn't I?"
The instruction he got from Triana and Sarraya was surprisingly simple, and it was also very similar to some things he had already learned from Allia. The problem was that when a Druid reached a certain level of ability or had enough natural aptitude, he attracted the All to him. This attraction increased dramatically whenever a Druid was emotionally upset or afraid, as the turmoil of the Druid was like water running downhill for the All and its power, drawing it towards him. And when the power reached the bottom of that hill, it would act just as if the Druid had reached to the All himself, looking into his mind and acting on whatever it found there. This was what Triana and Sarraya had to teach him to prevent, and there was a twofold method of it.
The first method was simple control of emotion. It was why Triana always seemed so grim and emotionless. It wasn't that she wasn't a very emotional person, it was that at her level of power, it took very little to attract the All to her. It would virtually come at a whim, and any time she even thought about Druidic magic, the All began to respond to her. She always had to be extremely careful, and she kept an almost perpetual check on her emotion. This wasn't going to be easy for Tarrin, and he knew it, but she drilled it into his head again and again that he had to at least try to maintain a throttle on his emotions. She didn't completely supress her emotion; in fact, she had gone past the need to really control her emotion to protect herself from the All, but it had become such an ingrained practice for her by now that it was second nature. But she always kept control. She offered to teach him some mental exercises that caused one to relax and regain control, but he explained that Allia had already taught him several of those things, as well as how to meditate. He had used a similar mental technique to remain in human form much longer than any other Were-cat, a method of thought and preparation that allowed him to ignore the pain. She had also taught him techniques for remaining calm and focused in the face of great turmoil, exercises to help him prevent a rage and keep his head in the many desperate situations he had faced. Tarrin had a very disciplined mind, as Triana had learned from her touch with it, and she seemed comfortable with what he had already learned. It was the only reason why she had been willing to leave him at all, because she was confident that, now that he understood the danger involved, he could keep control of his mind and not cause an accident.
The second method of defense against the All was learning how to resist it when it did come. This was the part that, to his surprise, Sarraya was much better at explaining than Triana. The whimsical little Faerie was a very powerful Druid, and that meant that she had the All coming at her all the time, since she had such little control of her emotion. So she was a master of blocking it when it did reach out to her, much better at it than Triana, and much better at explaining it in terms and images that he could easily understand. She explained that the key was sensing it the instant it began, because it was like a boulder rolling downhill, much easier to stop at the beginning than at the end, when it had built up so much momentum that stopping it would be a very dangerous proposition. If he could catch it at that stage, she told him, he could shield himself from it, using a tiny bit of Druidic power to create something of a barrier of sorts which he would put between him and the All. It would seek him out, but encounter the barrier and turn back on itself, which would do nobody any harm. She taught him the spell for that, a very simple, very easy spell that any Druid with his level of aptitude could cast without even having to reach into the All. Just the desire to cast it would be enough for the All to do it; and since it was already starting to roll towards him, it would be partially in touch with him and would respond instantly.
This concept would seem illogical to someone not accustomed to working with magical energy, which had its own rules that occasionally seemed contradictory. Sorcery also had a behavior like this, when one cut one's self off from the Weave, turning the power back against itself until it disrupted its own flow and was cancelled out. The idea of using magical power against itself was not new to Tarrin, and he found that he could embrace the idea with an ease that most other Druidic Hierarchs, a term describing Druids of their ability, did not. Tarrin noticed that when dealing with the All in a raw state, it behaved with surprising similarity to other orders of magic. It was only when it got into the mind of the Druid and was released by his will that the rules that governed it changed so radically. Perhaps in its raw state, in any magical order's raw state, magic was magic, and the rules that governed it all were a constant that could not be changed. Only after it reached the one who had summoned it did it change, transformed by the mind and body of the summoner into the form of energy he was trained to unleash.
That was a strange thought, a very strange thought, but it seemed eerily accurate to him. It seemed to be reinforced by the fact that the magical power of different orders could interact with one another. Wizards could dispel Priest spells and vice-versa. Sorcerers could disrupt the spells of Wizards and Priests as well as each other's, and Druids could disrupt everyone else's magic, as well as being able to affect other Druidic magic. The form and tradition of the magic overshadowed the fact that it was magic, and maybe, after all the rules and ceremonies and customs were thrown out, it came down to that one simple thing.
The Goddess wasn't just the Goddess of the Weave, after all. She was the Goddess of magic, in all its forms. That meant that they all had to be related in ways that most mortals didn't consider.
It took him a few hours of constant practice and supervision from his two Druid mentors to master the techniques and spells that Triana and Sarraya taught him. Sarraya taught him her technique for deflecting the All, and Triana admitted that it would probably be very effective. Tarrin was much younger than Triana, and as such had a harder time keeping a handle on his emotions. Triana went over with him what Allia had taught him, then taught him a last-ditch action to take if the All did connect with him unbidden, a trick that his mother and father had taught him long ago when he was learning to fight and shoot a bow. To empty his mind and become nothing. If he did that when the All was in his mind, it would have no image or intent, and without those, it could not manifest into the real world. It would simple be there, and would retreat from him without doing any harm to anyone once it found no guidance or release through him. His mother had taught him that when she trained him how to fight, how to keep emotions and cluttered thoughts from interfering with the task at hand, and his father had taught it to him as a means of focusing on the target and being an accurate shot. Triana refined those lessons somewhat with her vast experience, teaching him some exercises to practice that would allow him to enter that unthinking state with exceptional speed. If the All was that close to him, then erecting that final defense as quickly as possible was essential to preventing an accident. It was why she warned him before to empty his mind if he felt the All coming nearer, to deprive it of the necessary image or intent it needed to go through him and into the real world.
After that, Triana taught him something that he'd wanted to learn for quite a while, and that was a few of the spells she used to communicate with others. She taught him the spell she used that opened that window of sorts in the air and let people see and hear back and forth between it, and she also taught him the three variations of spells that Druids used to send messages to one another. There were three different versions to satisfy specific needs. The first was a simple message that reached through the All and was placed in the mind of the recipient, a mental message that was only one-way. Druids conversed most often using that spell, for it was the easiest to cast and was considered the most polite form of communication. The second method was similar to the first, but it didn't go through the All. It had the All create a direct link between the two Druids, and that allowed a message to pass between them without the chance that a strong Druid may eavesdrop on it as it passed through the All. The third version of the spell was similar to the first, but it created a message that was audibly heard, so a Druid could pass information to both the other Druid and any people that happened to be with him.
"Won't we reject that kind of communion?" Tarrin asked when she explained how it worked. "Were-cat minds don't like contact with others."
"The All acts as a buffer," she answered calmly. "The Cat doesn't object to the All, because it's always been connected to it. Remember, cub, the magic that makes us Were is Druidic in nature. The Cat doesn't reject a part of itself. All the information comes through the All, so it's as if the All was the one talking to us."
"Oh. I didn't think about that," he admitted.
"I see. You have to stop thinking like a Sorcerer, cub."
"I was trained as one, mother."
"I can't help it if they've ruined you," she snorted. "You just have to unlearn those lessons."
"If I unlearn those lessons, I won't be a very good Sorcerer."
"This is a problem?" she asked pointedly.
Tarrin laughed. "You're biased, mother."
"You're right. I am. Now do it again, just as I showed you, and step it up, cub. We're running out of time."
After practicing her spells for a while, Tarrin yawned. He wasn't really that sleepy, and his nature allowed him to stay awake as long as he pleased, and sleep whenever he wanted and for as long as he wanted. But sitting in one place for so long was starting to get to him. He needed a break. "What time is it?" he asked.
"About an hour before dawn," Triana answered. "They're going to come looking for you in a while, cub, and we're not done yet."
"I'll be with him, Triana," Sarraya reminded her. "We can work on it in the desert. Trees only know, we won't have much else to do," she said acidly. "Except maybe run from big lizards and try to avoid getting stung by poisonous beasties."
"I hope I'm not included in that," a voice came from the doorway. They all looked, and Sapphire strode into the hall calmly, still in her human shape.
"I wondered when you'd show up," Triana said.
"Little things bore me, biped," she sniffed. "Now that you're done with the basic instruction, I can bear it."
Sarraya gave the dragon a very long, very hard look. "She's not a human, is she?" she asked.
"How observant of you, sprite," Sapphire said dryly.
"Sarraya, this is Sapphire. Sapphire, this is Sarraya," Tarrin introduced.
"The dragon?" Sarraya asked. "She doesn't look all that impressive."
"That will do, bug," Triana said sharply.
"Looks can be very deceiving, insect," Sapphire said, somehow managing to sound very polite and urbane while loading the word insect with vast amounts of scorn, as if the only reason she acknowledged the Faerie was because Tarrin introduced her.
"Hmph," Sarraya sniffed.
Tarrin moved quickly to step on any kind of feud. Sarraya was picking on the wrong female. "Sapphire's going to go with us to the desert, then go on to her home on her own. So she'll be travelling with us at least a little ways, Sarraya. Remember that."
"How go the lessons?" Sapphire asked Triana.
"He'll be good enough until I can sit him down and give him some real lessons," she replied. "At least he won't blow anything up by accident."
"Can he blow them up on purpose?"
"That was never his problem," Triana said with a slight smile. "Blowing things up is something of his specialty. He's very good at it."
Tarrin flushed.
"When the time comes for that, I think I might like to take my turn with him," she said absently. "His abilities are stronger now. He might be capable of using some of the magic I know. As might you, Triana."
"I'd be willing to sit down and trade spells, Sapphire. I think we could learn a few things from each other."
"It would please me to do so," she nodded. "It's not often that three Hierarchs that don't know one another's abilities meet. To waste the opportunity to expand each other's knowledge would be a crime."
"What about me?" Sarraya said indignantly.
"What about you?" Sapphire asked. "Since I am not so impressive, surely there is nothing that I can teach one such as you," she said in a level tone, but her eyes shone with amusement. "I will be back presently. I find that some of the food your bipeds cook is actually quite good. The cook Golin agreed to give me a few recipes."
Sarraya glowered hotly at Sapphire's back as the dragon sauntered into the kitchen, but Triana's humorless chuckle drew her eyes away. "And that, bug, is why you should learn to think before you open your mouth."
"Oh, shut up!" Sarraya snapped waspishly.
There wasn't much time left before dawn, but it was time enough. They broke up their lesson and Tarrin returned to his room to rest a while. He was a little too wound up to sleep, and he really didn't feel like it anyway. So he just sat down in a comfortable chair by the fireplace and stared into the fire for a while, thinking about what was going to happen over the next few days. He was hopeful that his idea was going to work, for it would protect everyone without putting anyone in too much danger. Grandfather wouldn't mind the opportunity to give his warriors a little exercise, and he was actually looking forward a little to going back to the desert. He had always wanted to go there with Allia, and now they were going to get their chance. The only place in the desert where he'd spent enough time to be able to Teleport was that ruined dwarven city in the northwestern regions, quite a distance from Amyr Dimeon, which was his goal. But that wasn't a problem. An Air Elemental could get him there in a day, maybe two. All he had to do was get them to that city. He thought back to that city, and the great happenings that had taken place there. It was where he and Jegojah had fought for the last time, and where Faalken's body was now entombed in the marble crypt he had made for him. It was where Jegojah had given him the information that had allowed him to defend Suld. In a real sense, it was where everything that had led up to where he was right now had begun. Perhaps it was fitting that he returned there, to that somber place, a city left behind by the brave Dwarves who had sacrificed their entire race to save the world.
Two months. It was all going to be over in about two months. The morning outside was surprisingly crisp, as the late summer-actually early fall now-had a bite to it not normal for that time of year. About now in Aldreth, all the crops were either in or in the process of being harvested, and the trees were just getting ready to change colors. There would be colors on the trees on the foothills and low mountains north, and there would be snow on the peaks of the high mountains behind them. Everyone would be hard at work right now. Father would be bringing in his crops of barley and whey, and running around procuring the fruits and other vegetables he needed to do his fall brewing. Mother would be getting on him about hunting up enough to restock the basement cold room for the winter; the Kael household almost never resorted to eating the farm animals. They did slaughter an occasional pig or sheep for ham or mutton, but the sheep were for wool, not meat, wool that mother was probably spinning into cloth and yarn right now, taking off the thin summer coats and getting them nice and ready to fill out to protect themselves from the coming cold nights.
It would be a little harder on his parents without him and Jenna there. Tarrin did most of the hunting, freeing his father to pursue his love of brewing, and Jenna was quite good at spinning the wool, which left mother with plenty of time to tend the sheep. But now that the Sorcerers had fixed father's knee, he should be able to hunt up a full storeroom in a short amount of time; this time of year, there were so many deer and elk infesting the area around Aldreth that they had to shoo them out of the yard to get to the sheep pens in the morning. They were slowly migrating south, moving out of the mountains as fall took hold in them and moving slowly towards the more hospitable forests in the Frontier to spend the winter. As autumn progressed, they would move farther and farther south, and the Kael cold storeroom would be filled to the ceiling with deer and elk meat, carefully dressed and packed to maximize storage space. They wouldn't touch those stores usually, using it as an emergency reserve for when the hunting turned lean, and the food they could buy from Aldreth became more and more expensive and less plentiful.
Well, in two months, if he was lucky, he'd be heading back there. He wasn't going to live on his parents' farm; he was a grown man now. No, there was a little clearing in the Frontier, not far from the Keal holding, that had a nice little stream flowing along the edge. It was where he'd always wanted to build his own house, because he spent a great deal of time in that meadow. It was a crossroads of sorts for the many trails he'd followed in pursuit of game, or just wandering around where he knew he wasn't allowed to be. It was the heart of the territory that that young hunter had considered his own, and it would serve him now as the heart of his territory as a Were-cat. From Watch Hill to the Broken Gulley some two days east of the Kael farm in the Frontier, from the foothills of the Skydancer Mountains down to the Nameless River some two days south, that would be his claimed territory. A very large area, but he was a very large Were-cat, and he would have no trouble protecting his claim. He could have as big a territory as he could defend, and he could defend a big swath of land.
Strange that he would be thinking of after now. He'd never really allowed himself to do that before, but then again, things had never looked so optomistic. He had the Firestaff, and what was more important, he had a tremendous advantage now. They couldn't catch him, they couldn't take it from him, and everyone else he cared about would be well protected. His sisters and friends would be in Dusgaard under the protective banner of his grandfather, and his mates and children would be entrenched firmly under the watchful eyes of his sister, who was just as formidable as him. For the first time in a very long time, he felt very confident that things were going to turn out alright.
Very soon now, he'd have the peace and quiet he so craved. It made him very calm, as the Cat within finally found contentment in enduring just another couple of months, and it would be a couple of months that would actually seem quite pleasant. No running for his life, no armies chasing after him. Just peace and quiet, a holiday of sorts to wait out the year and get past Gods' Day. Provided, of course, that everything worked as he hoped.
There was a knock at the door. It annoyed him slightly, and he was too far away from the door to be able to catch the scent coming under the door to identify whoever it was. "What?" he called.
"Can I come in?" a voice called from the other side. Much to his surprise, it was Jesmind, and she was being strangely polite. Usually, she'd just barge in. Obviously, his anger with her was making her rather tractable. He still was angry with her, but he was about to leave, and he felt that she deserved at least the chance to say goodbye.
"Alright," he called.
She opened the door and stepped in. She was dressed as she always was, in clothes she favored. She liked canvas breeches because she felt they were tougher than leather, and she always did like loose shirts of linen or cotton, light and breathable, with short sleeves. She closed the door behind her and padded up, and he could tell from her scent that she was a little irritated over something. Seeing her reminded him of how angry he was with her, how inexcusably she had acted while he had been human. But on the other hand, he was about to leave for about two months or so, so it would be necessary for them to talk now. Talking through the amulets was an option, but it just wasn't as good as face to face communication. Seeing her reminded him of how much he loved her, but right now that love was stained with an oily film of annoyance and anger.
"How is Jasana?"
"Locked in her room," Jesmind said flintily. "After the thrashing she got, she won't think about coming out for a while."
"Is she going to be alright?"
"She'll be fine," she assured him. "She'll whine and cry for a while, but when she realizes that no amount of conniving is going to make us change our minds, she'll start doing things our way."
"It's about time," he said bluntly.
"It was overdue," Jesmind admitted. "I guess it's both our faults. We knew how she was. We should have done something about it sooner." She sat down on the bed, bouncing on it slightly. "Mother told me what you decided. I think it's a good idea."
"I'm hoping it's going to work," he sighed. "It's putting some people at risk, but the risk is spread out. This way, Jenna doesn't catch it all, and Kerri won't catch it all."
"Mother said we have to stay here. Mist isn't very happy about it."
"She'll get over it. Keeping Mist where Jenna can protect her is what matters right now."
"I can understand that. If they can't get to you, they'll come after those you care for."
"And that's why Kimmie, Mist, and Eron are staying in the Tower with you and Jasana," he affirmed. "I'm keeping my whole extended family right where my sister can defend them if it comes down to it."
"Strange that I'll be seeking protection from a little slip of a human girl," she chuckled ruefully. "If she wasn't who she was, I wouldn't even notice her."
"It's not protection, Jesmind. It's more like deterrence," he answered. "They've gotten into the Tower before, no matter what the old Keeper or even Jenna have done to stop them. Not even the Ward managed to keep out Jegojah. But with Jenna and the Sha'Kar here, it's going to make any attempt to get at you very dangerous, and it will take a great deal of planning and careful preparation. That will be even harder with the Knights roaming the grounds, ready to kill anyone or anything that isn't where it's supposed to be."
"Kerri came to check on Jasana, and she said that some of her Marines are going to be stationed here to help," she told him. "She still had that garrison here from the battle. She never pulled them out."
"I remember that," he mused. "Shiika still has some of her Legions here too, to help garrison the city. They're not needed anymore, but they're waiting for Kerri and Shiika to hammer out the agreement for the Wikuni to carry them back to Arak. Jenna should ask to borrow them."
"That should be funny," Jesmind smiled. "Every time Jenna talks to Shiika, she's pulling out her hair by the time it's over. Those two don't seem to get along very well."
"Actually, they're rather fond of each other. But Shiika's been after Jenna to build a Tower in Dala Yar Arak, and Jenna can't commit to that right now, so it's causing Jenna a little stress. Shiika's been very persistent."
"She's a Demon and an Empress both, Tarrin. I guess she's really used to getting her own way."
"Maybe you, me, and mother should go pay Shiika a visit and straighten her out," Tarrin said with a grim smile. "I think we've managed it with our little empress. Another shouldn't be too much work."
Jesmind laughed. "I never thought I'd be mixing in the same circles as kings and queens," she admitted. "It's weird."
"I guess I never really did either," he sighed. "Things just kind of got out of control."
"Mother said you're a prince, my mate. Is that true?"
"In a very loose sense, Jesmind," he told her. "My grandfather is an Ungardt clan-chief. That's not exactly a king, and the Ungardt don't really pay much attention to titles. Everyone just does what needs to be done and that's that. Grandfather's only real duty is to resolve disputes between clansmen, and when there's a war, he's the commander of the army. The rest of the time, he sails around in his ship to make money for the family. He doesn't really need to do anything else, because the clan knows what to do, and they do it."
Jesmind was silent a long moment. "How long are you going to be gone?"
"Two months," he answered firmly. "If everything goes as we hope, I'll be back right after Gods' Day."
"Mother said Sarraya, Allia, and that dragon are going with you."
"I'm just giving Sapphire a ride to the desert," he told her. "She'll be setting off for home as soon as we get there. But Sarraya and Allia are staying with me. I'm going to need their help in the desert." He stared into the fire a moment. "Besides, I'll need Sarraya's help with the things mother taught me."
He scented a change in her scent, and looked up to realize that she was standing right beside his chair. She looked down at him with her heart in her eyes, and his anger with her suddenly had serious competition from the desire to pull her into his lap. Had he not been about to leave for two months, he probably would have been less likely to want to do that. He was angry with her, but he didn't want to leave her again on bad terms. That was the mistake they'd made the first time. She knew why he was upset with her, and she'd have plenty of time to think about it while he was gone. He'd fully expect her to make it up to him when he came back, but for right now, perhaps a cessation of hostilities would be better for both of them. He looked up at her, a carefully neutral expression, keeping his scent restrained.
It didn't take her long. She slid herself into his lap and wrapped her paws around his neck, laying her head against his shoulder. Jesmind was a very affectionate female, if one could strip off all her bark. Such a display from her wasn't unexpected. He gathered her up and held her close, taking in her scent like it was the sweetest perfume, just enjoying the moment. A moment without fighting, without anger keeping them apart, a sincere and intimate exchange between two people who loved one another very much.
It was a moment that lasted an hour, and among the many things in Tarrin's life that he could say had been good, the time in that chair, sitting before the warm fire, his beloved mate in his lap, just being together without any words or anger to push them apart, had to be one of the best.
So as not to ruin the time they had together, almost as if they had both thought the same thing, they parted without ceremony or fanfare, and without any kind of farewell. Jesmind knew she could talk to him whenever she wanted, and that seemed enough for her. Seeing the light of dawn through the window to the side of the chair, Tarrin nudged Jesmind. She looked at the light, sighed, and then put her paw on his cheek and kissed him intimately. Everything she was feeling, everything that mattered to her was in that kiss, communication so much more effective than words that it made speech seem like grunts and snorts. After she kissed to him all her feelings, all her love for him, all her anxiety over him leaving, all of her worry over his anger towards her, she got up and walked out without saying a word.
After all, it wasn't a farewell. It was more of a brief parting. They both knew he would come back, and they both knew where he was going to end up. His love for Kimmie was sincere, but Jesmind had been his first love, and he had vowed to come back to her. He was a Were-cat, and that made his word as good as his life. He would honor that promise, honor his love for her, and he would come back to her. They would be together until time and their natures pulled them apart, and he would not deny her a single day he felt she was owed.
Perhaps two months in the desert would be good for him. After those two months away from her and his daughter, it would do much to cool his temper. He could come back anxious to see them, willing to forgive, and Jesmind would have two months to reflect on her behavior and be ready to apologize.
But that time wasn't here yet. He still had a very serious thing to do, and that fact was never far from his mind. The most active part of it was over now. He had gone from seeker to hider, from hunter to the hunted, from the chaser to the chased. He had been chasing after the Firestaff for two years, trailing along behind him a long procession of those who would either kill him before he could find it or take it from him after he succeeded. Now everything was different. They were all chasing after him now, but for an entirely new reason. And he no longer had to look both ahead and behind, towards the Firestaff and back at those who sought to bring him down. Now all his attention was set firmly behind him, at those who wanted what he possessed, and were willing to go to any means to take it from him. They were desperate now. It was only two months until Gods' Day, two months until the five thousand year cycle of the Firestaff reached its climax, and it became active. One day out of every five thousand years, that was all. And the memory he had gained from his turning told him that it wasn't just that one day, it was a specific moment in that one day.
Approximately every thousand years, the four moons of Sennadar were part of a rare phenomenon called a conjunction. When one occurred, the four moons would align in the sky, one in front of the other in front of the other in front of the other, four bodies occupying the same space in the sky directly in front of the sun, forming a grand eclipse. Eclipses weren't unusual for Sennadar, having four moons to take turns blocking the sun on various parts of the world. Tarrin himself had seen seven in his nineteen years to varying degrees, from only partial blockage to the most severe, when the White Moon Domammon, the largest of the four, blotted out the sun with its massive bulk for nearly two hours some three years ago. The most unusual had been the very rare Hourglass Eclipse, when the twin moons, Duva and Kava, blocked the outside edges of the sun with their own edges and turned the sun into a round-ended hourglass, like the core of an eaten apple. Tarrin had only been five when he saw that one, and an Hourglass Eclipse only came around to a particular region once every few hundred years. The cycle of lunar movement caused a conjunction to happen on Gods' Day only once every five thousand years, at the beginning of its cycle-or end, depending on how one viewed it-renewing the cycle for another five thousand year rotation. It was that one day, when the four moons joined on Gods' Day, that the Firestaff would activate, and it would be active only so long as the four moons were aligned. That was a period of about twenty minutes. Vala, the Red Moon, was the fastest of the moons in its orbital movements, and it would be the first to move out of alignment and break the conditions necessary for the Firestaff's activation.
Twenty minutes out of five thousand years. Everything he had done, everything that had happened to him, everything that mattered, it all came down to that one simple thing. To defend the Firestaff, to keep it out of anyone else's hands, for only twenty minutes. That was all he had to do.
Standing up, snuffing out the fire with the barest of conscious thoughts with a weave of Fire, Tarrin turned and bent to the task of packing. None of it was what he'd come to the Tower with, gifts to replace what Jesmind destroyed, but everything he needed was there. The pack Jula gave him held the knives and clothes he'd received as gifts. All the knick-knacks and trinkets would stay here, but Tarrin did pack with him the crystal bell Sapphire had given him and the metal cat sculpture that had been a gift from one of the Sorcerers. He also packed the little doll that was a constant reminder of his little mother, something that still brought a gentle smile to his face whenever he beheld it. All of it went into the pack, which was sent off into the elsewhere once it was put on his back. He brought out of the elsewhere his sword and staff, to check them and make sure all that time in that magical place wasn't harming them. The sword was fine, but the staff was feeling a bit dry and brittle, and he realized that the living wood was starting to deteriorate in the magical place his amulet created. He sent weaves of Water and Earth through it, restoring its moisture and enriching it with the nutrients the Ironwood required to survive, even after being cut from its parent tree for years. The staff almost seemed to strengthen in his paw, the wood regaining its luster and vibrancy, the feel of it on his pads that seemed so comfortingly familiar. After restoring it, he again sent it back to the elsewhere, but made a mental note to himself to take it out every day and let it bask in the sunlight and get some fresh air. A little attention every day would keep it strong and dependable.
There was another sword now, one he had almost forgotten. It was the one that Jenna had given him, the one enchanted to have such an edge that it could cut almost anything, standing patiently in the corner and waiting for him to have need for it. It was very small to his paws now, almost unusable, the hilt to small to fit in the palm of his paw, but that wasn't an overwhelming obstacle. He was confident he could enlarge the sword without disrupting its magic, getting it large enough for him to use. It could certainly be useful. His black metal sword was keenly sharp and very strong, and it had the strange ability to harm extra-dimensional beings like Demons. This sword could chop basalt apart and slice through steel, especially given the amount of power he could put behind it, and it would be extremely useful. It took him a moment to get everything organized, having to pull everything except the Firestaff out of the elsewhere and rearrange it. The swords were put under the pack on his back, crossing between his back and the leather pack, and his staff remained in his right paw, with the Firestaff occupying his left. After he got everything arranged, it was all sent back to the elsewhere, leaving only his clothes and the Cat's Claws out in the real world.
In a matter of minutes, he was done. His pack was packed and stowed, his weapons were checked and stowed, and he'd ensured that he didn't forget anything. After he got a little breakfast and told a few people he was going, he'd be ready to leave.
For obvious reasons, his leaving was not going to be a big event. Almost everyone in the Tower, even his own close friends, would find out about it after he was gone. He didn't want anything unusual going on to even hint that things were not as they wanted them to appear. He would tell Jenna and Keritanima that he was leaving, Dolanna if she was awake and happened to cross his path, but no one else. He wanted to be gone before they started talking, and he wanted Keritanima and Jenna to tell them he was gone to keep them from wondering what happened to him.
Stepping from his now unguarded room, he went down the stairs, considering that. He was a little regretful that he couldn't say goodbye to his friends, but it was for the best. Any protracted goodbyes would seem odd, given that he wanted everyone to think that he would still be with them. So it couldn't look like he was going anywhere, and that meant that he couldn't visit all his friends and tell them he was going. Everything had to maintain an illusion of events as they wanted them to seem to unfold. Him visiting people he intended to travel with was not normal for him. His pattern would be to gather with them only when they were ready to leave, not go out of his way to visit all of them before hand. But him visiting his sisters at any time of the day or night, sometimes for no reason at all, were not unusual. That was why him visiting Keritanima or Allia or Jenna wouldn't seem unusual.
It turned out that he didn't really have to worry about that, for he came across Jenna, Jula, Dar, Allia, and Allyn in the kitchens. They had all also gotten up early, and Dar was wearing a rugged pair of undyed leather breeches and a stout brown wool shirt, with a brown cloak pinned over it. Travelling clothes. Allia was already in her desert garb, a small, simple pack sitting by her feet as she waited for a pair of cooks to finish cooking her some ham steaks. Allyn too was wearing desert garb, but it looked a bit baggy on him, and he didn't look very comfortable. This made Tarrin smile a bit; Allia was already starting her re-education of her husband-to-be. If he even knew what she intended for him yet.
"What is this?" Tarrin asked lightly, pointing at Allyn. He spoke in Sha'Kar, which was actually a necessity when dealing with the Sha'Kar. Only a very few of them spoke any other language, and all of them were original Ancients, like Ianelle. But a thousand years of disuse had made most of them forget most of it, and they had to refresh themselves in its use. Tarrin had heard Ianelle speak Sulasian once before, and she did so with a very strange accent, using archaic words that had fallen out of use long ago. But Ianelle had learned Sulasian back when those words were common. It was a strange testament to how things changed over time, even things that seemed immutable, like language.
"I wanted to see what it was like, honored one," Allyn replied after giving him a graceful bow. "It's not quite what I expected, I admit. These things are alot heavier than they look."
Desert garb, at least desert garb actually worn in the desert, was very loose in fit, and was done in layers. There was a layer of loose-fitting trousers and a long-tailed shirt, and a very full, almost robe-like cloak that went on over the outer shirt. A very long, wide strip of cloth was wrapped around the head, a tail of it hanging down to serve as a veil against blowing sand, and some Selani had cloaks that had hoods for additional protection. Since Allia had silver hair, she preferred to leave it uncovered, flowing out from the bottom of her wrapped headgear, since it was much more effective at reflecting the sun's heat that any cloth. Tarrin had noticed that though white or silver hair were uncommon among Selani, those that did have it tended to leave it out as well. Allia would let it fan out over her back and let it help protect her from the sun's heat. Since her hair was so thick, she could probably go without the headgear, but then she'd have no easy way to wear a veil against blowing sand. When Tarrin first saw it, he wondered how they could wear all those clothes out in a desert and not bake. It turned out that the layers of clothes created an effective barrier against the heat. Tarrin at that time had been thinking in terms of keeping heat in, when the purpose of the desert garb was to keep heat out. Heat created by the body and trapped by the layered clothing was much preferable to allowing the searing heat of the desert in against their skin. In comparison to the desert heat, it was comfortably cool under those layers of baggy cloth. The Selani made their clothes out of a plant fiber that was very light, breathable, and exceptionally strong. It wouldn't accept dye, but the fibers were naturally tan or brown, and in the desert, those were camaflaging colors, the colors of sand and rock.
"It takes some adjusting," Allia told him in a gentle manner, looking at him with open affection. "Don't worry, deshida, you'll get used to the weight."
Tarrin had to suppress a smile. Allia had called Allyn deshida. Next would come the term jisha, which meant beloved, and then dejisha, which meant husband. He wondered if Allyn had any idea the trap into which he had fallen. That Allia was addressing him as a friend as close as her own brother meant that she had obvious designs for him, so obvious that anyone with even a passing familiarity with Selani language would instantly realize it.
"I feel like a bolt dowel," Allyn complained. "Like I have cloth wrapped all around me."
"It can't be too much different than those robes you wear," Jula noted.
"Robes are open, Mistress Jula," Allyn answered. "I don't think I've ever worn something that rides up between my legs. It's almost a nervous feeling."
Jula laughed, and Tarrin smiled. "He fears a sense of restriction," she said delicately to him, winking in Allyn's direction.
"In Allyn's case, that's a real fear," Tarrin told her absently. "He has a bit much to restrict."
Allyn blushed furiously, and Jenna gave Tarrin a shocked look before bursting into laughter. "Tarrin!" she finally managed to say. "Behave yourself!"
"He only speaks truth, sister," Allia said with a wicked gleam in her eye, glancing at her intended in a rather sultry manner.
"You're as bad as he is, Allia!" Jenna laughed.
"Probably," she agreed without a hint of embarassment. "Don't worry, sister. We'll find a good man for you, and then you'll be as bad as us."
"I'm not ready for marriage, Allia," she chuckled, waving a hand before her.
"Who says that you have to marry a man to enjoy him?" Allia asked with pointed amusement.
Jenna blushed to the roots of her dark hair, then laughed helplessly. "You're not as bad as Tarrin, you're worse!" she accused.
"She's young, Allia," Jula told her sagely. "Give her a little time." She then swung her head and looked at Dar, who had been very quiet so far.
"Oh, no, Jula," he chuckled, putting up his hands. "I learned too long ago that I can never get out of these kinds of talks unscathed when Were-cats and Selani are involved. I'm not coming anywhere near this conversation."
"I see he learned alot more than Sorcery in your care, brother," Jenna laughed. "He learned wisdom too."
"He's not as moralistic as you may think, sister," Allia told her with a smile at him. "Dar is Arkisian, and they're quite progressive. Much more progressive than your very strait-laced Sulasian culture."
"You see?" he complained to Jenna. "I try to stay out of it, and they find ways to drag me in!"
"That's because they like you," Triana's gruff voice called as she came up behind them. She put a paw on Jula's shoulder, and the smaller Were-cat female deferred to her almost immediately, stepping aside so she could stand beside Tarrin. "Is everything ready?" she asked, looking at Jenna.
"Kerri has the ships waiting," Jenna answered her. "Miranda went to go wake her up. As soon as we get her Majesty's sleepy backside out of bed, we can get all of them herded onto the ships and on their way. Is everything ready?" she asked in reply.
Triana nodded. "I've made all the arrangements you needed," she elaborated.
"Where is Sarraya?" Tarrin asked curiously.
"Fetching Camara Tal and her husband, but that was too long ago. She probably told them to get up and then got distracted. You know how Faeries are," she said dryly.
"I'm mad at you for stealing Koran, Tarrin," Jenna flared. "He's one of my most trusted advisors."
"You'll live, sister," Tarrin told her. "Besides, you'll have to take that up with him. I'm not pulling his strings. He's going because he wants to be with Camara."
"I heard she's pregnant," Allyn said. "Is that true?"
Tarrin nodded. "Koran's going with her to keep her out of trouble. She'll need him."
Tarrin looked to Triana. "How long are you going to stay here?"
"Not long," she answered. "I want to make sure Mist isn't going to have a fit, and then I'll be off again. I'm getting a bit stir crazy staying in one place so long," she said with a snort.
"I hope Sapphire's ready to go," he said pointedly. They all knew that Tarrin had other travel plans, and Sapphire was part of them.
"She's down the hall, in one of the private dining rooms," she told him. "She's ready whenever we tell her it's time to go. She's too dignified to stand around and wait with the rest of us."
"That's probably for the best," Jenna said. "I really like her, but she does seem a bit rough-tongued."
"She's arrogant and overbearing, and for her kind, that's perfectly normal," Triana told her bluntly.
"I think this waiting for me to get better put her on edge," Tarrin explained. "Her temper's gotten worse over the rides. She's usually alot nicer than this."
"Well, we can all hope she calms down," Jenna sighed.
Tarrin realized that things were actually falling into place rather nicely. If Sapphire was alone, then him going to see her to say goodbye wouldn't be strange. He could arrange things to appear very clean and smooth while he actually made his getaway. He needed to see either Jenna or Keritanima and tell them he was leaving, and here was Jenna. He was a bit disappointed that he wouldn't get to say goodbye to Keritanima properly, but it was her own fault for being so lazy. "Well, I don't think I told you, but she plans on leaving today," he said pointedly, looking right at Jenna. "She's not going with us. She's going home."
"She's going to cause quite a row flying over the city," Jenna said, her eyes serious, and a bit annoyed. She obviously thought she was going to have to make an Illusion of a manor-sized dragon flying over the city.
"She's going to use some kind of magic to send herself home," Tarrin told her. "I don't think she'd enjoy flying all the way, especially when she has her own ways of travelling."
Jenna picked up on his hint immediately, and her expression turned slightly relieved. "Is she going to see you off?"
"I doubt it," he answered. "She was just waiting on me to get better, then she was lingering because of what happened to me. Now that I'm better and all that's been settled, there's really nothing holding her here. It's not like her to be sentimental enough to go see me off."
"No, I guess it's not," Jenna said with a smile. She understood perfectly.
"I need to go tell her goodbye," he said absently. "Before everything starts getting crazy."
"I'll go with you, brother," Allia said after Jenna inobtrusively elbowed her in the ribs, reaching down and picking up her pack. "I've been meaning to ask her a question, and this will be my last chance."
The look that passed between them was understanding. Tarrin was going to leave, using seeing Sapphire as the excuse he'd need to disappear for a few moments. Dar said goodbye with his eyes, and Jula put a paw on his upper arm in a warm touch of farewell. Tarrin bridged up into the Weave, and Whispered in such a faint and tightly focused manner that only Jenna and Jula would be able to hear him. "Jenna, go get the imposters and have Dar put the Illusions over them, then either you or Ianelle Teleport with them into the room where Sapphire is. Make sure you fill them in on everything we just said, so they don't look confused. Just make sure you do it fast. I can stall a little with Sapphire, but it's going to look strange if we're in there for an hour."
"They're already waiting," Jenna told him in a similarly tight manner. "We knew we were going to have to pull a switch, but we hadn't had the chance to get with you and work out the details. Jesmind was with you, and, ah, we didn't want to disturb you," she said delicately. "This is going to work well enough."
"Did mother get the human ready?"
"He's a little stiff, but he's ready," Jula answered. "Triana stretched him like taffy with Druidic magic. He's as tall as you now, and he's a very clever and fast-thinking human. He'll do fine pretending to be you."
Tarrin nodded to Jula, then looked at Allia. "Well, we'd better get moving," he told her. "Where is Sapphire?"
"The small formal dining room," Jenna answered.
Tarrin nodded again, then reached within, through the Cat, and made a connection to the vast energy of the All. His intent was all he needed for the All to do what he needed, and that was use the spells of sending messages that Sarraya and Triana had taught him but hours ago. Sarraya, we're leaving, he cast his thought into the All, directing it to send that message to Sarraya. Come find me, and make sure you're invisible. Don't let anyone know you're there.
I'm on the way, came her immediate response, like her own thoughts filtering into his mind through the All. Triana had been right, the Cat did not reject that strange communion. Because it was a communion with the All, not with the mind sending the messages from the other side of it.
"I forgot, I need to tell Darvon we're going to be leaving soon, or the Knights are going to slow us down as they try to get organized," Jenna grunted. "I'll be right back."
Jenna gave Dar a short look, and he seemed to understand. "I'll go with you," he said. "I know that without you here, the Were-cats and Allia are just going to try to get me in trouble," he said, giving Tarrin a friendly grin.
"I know, they're all just big bullies," Jenna teased.
Her pack on her shoulder, Allia stepped up with Tarrin as he separated himself from Triana and Jula. "I'll be back in a little bit," he said, but they all knew that he was actually saying goodbye.
"See you in a while," Jenna said with a look that warned him to be careful.
The silent look that passed between Allia and Allyn was intense, and Allia's hand flicked in the Selani hand-code. Tarrin was a bit surprised that she'd been teaching it to Allyn already, but then again, it was something he'd have to know to fit in with the Selani. She spoke brokenly in hand language, probably only using the gestures she'd taught to him, but it was enough to get her message across. -Leaving. Be careful. Love to you.-
His response was a bit unsteadily formed, but legible to Tarrin's eyes. -Will do. Love to you. Return soon.-
Tarrin suppressed a sigh. He knew that leaving Allyn was not what Allia wanted, but the circumstances left little choice. Allyn's disappearance would be too hard to explain, and he'd only be a hindrance to them in the desert. This was not the time to take Allyn into the desert for the first time. Even with Allia, Tarrin, and Sarraya looking after him, he didn't know enough to not be an extreme danger to himself.
They parted from the others and walked silently down the hall. Tarrin could tell that Allia was suppressing the urge to turn and look back over her shoulder.
Sapphire was right where Jenna said she would be, in a large, richly appointed dining room. It was one of the formal rooms where Jenna would entertain royalty, and it was furnished to accommodate the rich. A deeply polished mahogany table was surrounded by what had to be twenty plush upholstered and cushioned chairs, the mahagony chairs similarly polished and with red velvet covering them, complete with shined brass tack rivets holding the velvet onto the wood. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling by a golden chain, a brass contrivance with a multitude of small crysals hanging from it like icicles, each crystal glowing with a soft, pleasing magical light. Four small service tables were set in each corner of the room, stacked with expensive porcelain china, delicate crystal goblets, and gold-plated silverware, all arrayed neatly or stacked in ivory and gold plated boxes on shelves beneathed the burnished cherry tabletops which were covered with delicate lace throw cloths. The room had no other furnishings, but two huge tapestries adorned the walls on either side of the door, one of them a massive depiction of a shaeram, and the other an impressive depiction of the flag, crest, and Lion device that were the symbols of Sulasia. Sapphire was seated at that very grand table, fingers rapping on the polished mahogany of the table idly as she seemed to be waiting. She stood up immediately when Tarrin and Allia came in, and the Selani closed the door behind her. "I was getting worried," Sapphire said. "Is everything going alright?"
"It seems to be," he said, then he quickly and efficiently Warded the room against eavesdropping, and hid it from any Sorcerers that may be looking for such a thing. "We can speak freely now," he told her.
"You're quite good at that," she said appreciatively, as he could sense her probing his Ward.
"I've had enough practice," he said dryly. "We're leaving as soon as Sarraya gets here, and they bring in the people that are going to pretend to be us," he said. "You waiting alone gives us a perfect excuse to disappear for a bit, and that's all we need to pull the switch."
"I hadn't thought of that, but you're right," she agreed. "How long?"
"Jenna said she has Auli and this human Triana prepared waiting. She just has to get to them, have Dar put the Illusions on them, and then they'll be Teleported into the room. Sarraya should be here by then. She can move very fast when she needs to."
"Very good," Sapphire nodded complacently.
Sapphire wasn't one for idle chat, and for that matter, neither were Tarrin and Allia. So they waited in general silence for several moments, Sapphire's fingers continuing to rap rhythmically on the table after she took her seat once again. That silence was broken when the door cracked open, and the incessant buzzing of Sarraya's tiny wings beating the air heralded her arrival. The door closed on its own, Druidic magic, Tarrin sensed, and then the Faerie's slight weight touched his shoulder as the sound of her wings ceased. "I'm here," she announced. Tarrin couldn't see her, but from the way Allia and Sapphire's eyes seemed to fix on his shoulder, he knew she must have returned to visibility.
"Did anyone see you?" he asked.
"That's a stupid question, Tarrin," she said chidingly. "Of course nobody saw me. I was invisible, you ninny!"
"You know what I mean," he said tartly.
"Then say what you mean," she replied impudently.
"This had better go quickly," Sapphire noted. "I don't think I would like being in her company for very long."
Tarrin mirrored that notion. He didn't mind the Faerie's acidic comments and constant badgering, but Sapphire was not the sort to harass. He'd like to get those two separated before Sapphire did something unpleasant to the Faerie.
But Sarraya seemed to take the hint. She fell silent, and Tarrin was silently thankful that the Faerie wasn't going to be her usually obnoxious self. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait for much longer, for he felt the probing tendrils of a spell reach into the room. They moved very quickly, so fast that only Tarrin could sense and track them, locking into a space on the far side of the room. They enveloped that area like a coccoon, and then the spell triggered, exchanging everything in that space with everything on the other side of the spell.
To the others, in a wavering flash, three people appeared on the far side of the room. Jenna, and what looked like Allia and Tarrin, complete in every detail, all the way down to the clothes they were wearing, but Tarrin's new closeness with the Weave let him actually see beyond the Illusions, behind them, to the people beneath. One was obviously Auli, and the other was a human man with strong Ungardt features. He was as tall as Tarrin, the result of Triana's tampering, and he moved with a stiffness that demonstrated how unpleasant that had to have been for him. He had a strong jaw and a slightly larger nose than Tarrin, and his hair was red and eyes green. Redheads were quite common among Ungardt.
"Alright, we're here," Jenna said quickly. "Think they look the part?"
"Dar had to have done that," Allia said critically, looking the two of them over. "It is absolutely perfect."
"Who else would we turn to when we need a convincing Illusion?" Jenna smiled.
"Sir Tarrin," the human said with a nod. "I hope I can act as good as this supposedly looks."
"Just act like everyone annoys you, and you'll do just fine," Jenna told him seriously.
"Well, I'm looking forward to this," Auli said in Sha'Kar with a bright smile. "A chance to get out from under mother's eye. A chance for a little honest adventure, not the stuff we made up around here!"
"I'm sure they'll do their best to make it everything you hope it'll be," he told her.
"Who cares?" she said with an honest grin. "I've never been on a ship before, and I've never been anywhere that wasn't under mother's rigid control," she said with notes of vast irritation in her voice.
"This is not your chance to go wild, Auli," Tarrin told her disapprovingly.
"I know that, Tarrin. I'm just saying I'll be glad to go out and do something new and exciting, that's all."
"Remember, it is my honor you are borrowing, Sha'Kar," Allia warned in a very dangerous tone. "If you dishonor me, I will repay you for it threefold. Do I make myself clear?"
Auli swallowed, and then nodded with with an anxious look.
"Good. I am glad we understand one another."
"I'll do my best to keep her under control, Sir Tarrin," the human said in flawless Sha'Kar, which surprised Tarrin a little. Triana had obviously prepared him in other ways.
"Be careful of this one," Tarrin warned him. "You may think you're controlling her, but she'll end up controlling you. She's a dangerous one."
"Well thank you for warning him!" Auli snapped at him waspishly.
"It's only fair he understand just what he's getting into," Jenna said with a sly smile. "Darvon told me that you're quite a sneaky little devil, Fox. I think you and Auli are going to get along very well. Being sneaky is what she prides herself on."
"Oh, is that so?" Auli asked with a sudden bright smile, looking at the Knight Cadet hopefully.
"Not when I'm carrying Sir Tarrin's honor, it's not," he said grimly. "I admit, I have my share of fun when it's harmless, but this is serious. It's not the time or place for it."
"You could learn from this one, Auli," Tarrin told her with a steady look.
"Time is pressing, little friend," Sapphire reminded him.
"You're right, we can't be in here too long without it looking funny," he nodded. "We have to go, Jenna. Keep everything nailed down around here, and tell everyone that missed me I said goodbye."
She stepped up and hugged him warmly. "I'll do that. You be careful out in the desert, and make sure you tell me what's going on. The Heart isn't exactly empty anymore now that the Sha'Kar are back, but it's private enough for us to talk without it going any further."
"I'll send word through Jesmind or Jula whenever I need to talk to you," he said. "Their amulets are linked to mine in a way that won't allow anyone to eavesdrop."
"That'll work," she nodded, then she turned and embraced Allia. "Keep him safe, sister," she said.
"Always," Allia answered as Sapphire stood up. "Be careful, little sister, and remember that help is but a call away whenever you need it."
"Good luck, Tarrin," Auli smiled. "I'll miss you."
"May the hammer of Karas sweep your troubles clear, sir Tarrin," the human Fox said gravely.
Tarrin nodded to them and motioned Allia and Sapphire to draw close to him. Jenna stepped back as Tarrin set his will against the Weave and began the spell, weaving it on his side and sending the probes far to the west, to that ruined Dwarven city. The place he wanted to go was the empty square of sorts where Faalken's tomb now stood, for it was a place with which he was very familiar, and it was open enough to let them see everything around them as soon as they arrived. He didn't want to appear right in front of a hungry kajat. That would not be a good thing. The probes found where he wanted to go, and they wrapped around the space on that side. Tarrin completed the spell from his side, and the flows of the Weave surrounded them in a blindingly fast display, weaving and twisting together even as they enveloped the four of them. When they finished their intricate pattern, enclosing them, the weave discharged its energy, and then it exchanged everything in the space enveloped in one side of the weave with everything enveloped in the other side.
In the blink of an eye, Tarrin, Allia, Sarraya, and Sapphire were transported thousands of longspans to the west, appearing in a windswept ruin of such antiquity that perhaps not even Sapphire could remember it.
Faster than the span of a heartbeat, the four of them were in the Desert of Swirling Sands, and as soon as he felt the heat of the noontime sun beating down on his uncovered head-the desert was further east of Suld and as such it was later in the day there-and saw the sandy ruins, he knew they had arrived.
And for the first time in a very long time, he felt safe.
To: Title EoF