Chapter 24

The Goddess was right about one thing, and that was Tarrin was strangely excited about the idea of traveling to another world.

Phandebrass wasn’t the only one caught up in the idea of it. There was something exciting about the idea of going to a place where nothing could be taken for granted. The rules and laws of Sennadar wouldn’t exist in that other world, where even the most basic concepts might be different. It might be a world where the sky was green, or the grass purple, or where giant slugs could talk, or just about anything.

That was an exaggeration, of course. The Goddess told him not long after he accepted her mission that most worlds were much like Sennadar in climate and geology. Odds were, the world on the other side of the gate was a place similar to Sennadar in that it would have trees and grass and animals and maybe have intelligent beings, but that wasn’t guaranteed. Plane-hopping, as many of the people who came in through the gate at Haven did, was a dangerous undertaking. One could gate into a world that had poison for atmosphere, or was like the Elemental Plane of Fire, or a place where everyone was gigantic and they looked on “little people” as food.

Then again, there was always the power factor. Tarrin was, quite literally, one of the most powerful beings on the planet. His magical powers were beyond that of virtually everyone else, even his daughter Jasana, because he was a Mi’Shara. Jasana may be a stronger Sorcerer, but Tarrin could exceed his mortal limitations if the need was great enough and hurl enough power at Jasana to overwhelm her. As a mortal, Tarrin had withstood the power of a god and had proved to be his equal, if only for a moment. Only Spyder had the magical capability to challenge him, but since they were friends, such a confrontation would probably never occur. If that wasn’t enough, he was also a living, mortal god, and could draw on the power of divine might if necessary. If it were truly needful, he could transform into a being that could fully use that power in the mortal plane, turning him into a power with which even the gods could not contend while in the mortal plane. And even without those things, his status as a Were-cat and the fact that he was one of the most highly trained warriors on the face of Sennadar made him just as deadly even when he didn’t use magic. Only a handful of the greatest warriors on Sennadar could challenge Tarrin, but again, since most of those legendary warriors were part of his inner circle of friends, such confrontations were most unlikely to occur.

Tarrin was the pinnacle of mortals on Sennadar. This gave him a great deal of security and sense of safety, but it also left a void inside him. Tarrin needed to be challenged, needed a goal that could not be easily attained in order for him to feel like he was accomplishing something. That was why he took up study of Duthak, and agreed to be the Guardian in Spyder’s place. They were difficult tasks that required time to accomplish. Tarrin enjoyed being challenged, rising himself up to face it, but there was little left in Sennadar outside of the gods who could seriously do that anymore. And since a confrontation like that could do considerable damage to the regional geography, it was unlikely to ever happen.

Traveling to another world, well, that would certainly be challenging. Not knowing anything or anyone, where everything was new, was different, was excitingly unknown…well, that made it worth trying. It would be a challenge, if only because it would present things he would not know.

But he had to wait. Allia was pregnant, and he wanted to be there for the birth of her child. He also had quite a bit to do before he could leave. He had to organize what he was going to take, make sure that Jasana was going to be handled, make sure that Spyder was alright with his leaving for a while, and decide who was going to go with him. Phandebrass was certainly going to go. He was so excited about the idea of it that he was already packing a trunk.

But there would be no group of old friends this time. Keritanima had a kingdom to run and a son to raise. Allia too was pregnant, and couldn’t leave. Dar had a wife and two children of his own. Dolanna was busy in Sharadar, and Azakar was currently exploring the unmapped interior of Wikuna at Keritanima’s request, a mapping expedition, and he had Ulger, Darvon, Kargon, and several other Knights with him, as well as General Kang of the Arakite Legions and a contingent of Vendari. That was a fearsome enough fighting force to protect the cartographers and scientists that were along to survey the land. Camara Tal had a daughter to raise, and Sarraya was busy on a mission for the Hierarchs. Mist and Kimmie had their children, and Jesmind wouldn’t live long enough to reach the gate. All of his close friends had lives of their own now, and couldn’t drop everything to chase off with him on another crazy mission. The idea of going on this trip alone with Phandebrass was a bit unnerving to him. He was afraid he’d kill the addled Wizard long before they found anything. He wanted some other company along with him, but after everything that had happened during their quest for the Firestaff, he didn’t want to impose on any of them. They’d done enough traveling, had their lives disrupted enough.

He had some other preparations to make as well. The Goddess also hinted that perhaps he might want to approach this trip like a human would, and think about what he would need. If he were human, what would he want to take with him? Well, first and foremost, a horse. He’d need transportation. He’d want a good supply of food and water, at least a month’s worth, which would give him enough time to assess the local wildlife and find suitable hunting sources, or track down sentient populations and trade for food. He would want to take some gold, silver, and platinum with him for money, just in case they recognized it as money, since it was small, light, and easy to carry.

He was sitting in his library, going over his list, when Mist came down. Mist didn’t come into his library very often. She considered it his personal space, and she respected it as such. “I’m about to start cooking,” she called as she came down. “Any preferences?”

“Whatever’s handy,” he answered, writing tent on the list.

“What you up to?”

“Making a list of things I’ll have to take,” he answered.

“Make sure you put enough down for three,” she told him.

“I only have two people right now.”

“Three.”

He looked at her. “And who is the third one?”

“Me,” she declared. “Eron’s young, but he knows almost everything I have to teach. He already knows how to hunt, and he knows all the rules. I’m presenting him to the Hierarchs next month. After that, he’s on his own.”

“He’s only seven, Mist,” he argued.

“I was released when I was six,” she snorted. “Ten’s not the magic age. He’s big enough to handle himself, and he knows what to do. He’s ready.”

“Are you sure you want to go?” he asked. “We might be gone a while. If we get sick of each other, we’ll be stuck together until we get home, and there’s no telling when that will be.”

“We have a few good years yet,” she said dismissively. I don’t think it’s going to take that long.”

“You don’t?”

“No. All we do when we get there is find people and ask them where the Dwarves are. If they know, then we just follow their directions. If they don’t, then we know there’s none left.”

“Well, that’s a simplistic way of looking at it, but it’ll more or less work,” he admitted. “But we have to find the Urzani and human Sorcerers too. It’s not just about the Dwarves.”

“Same deal,” she shrugged. “Venison, elk, beef, or mutton?”

“Elk? Where’d you get an elk?”

“He wandered down from the foothills. He won’t be wandering back.”

“Let’s go with that then.”

“What else?”

“Surprise me.”

Urzani. He said it in passing, but that was the case, and he pondered on it as Mist went back upstairs. They were Urzani back during the Blood War. It was that titanic event which caused the Urzani race to split, to become the Sha’Kar, Wikuni, and Selani. But back during the war, during the time when they would have taken the Dwarves through the gate, they were Urzani.

A strange thought. If Tarrin brought them back, if any were still alive, then Spyder wouldn’t be the only Urzani left anymore.

He wondered if she’d like that.

The Phandebrass problem was an easily handled one, as far as Tarrin was concerned, for Phandebrass knew Tarrin well enough to know exactly when to stop pushing. He did pester Tarrin nearly every day through an amulet about when they would find the gate that they would use, but Tarrin bluntly told him that Tarrin would find it when he was ready, and when he did, he would not tell him. They were leaving in six months, not until Allia had her baby, and by the Goddess, he’d better shut up and accept that fact, and think about how he might want to prepare for the journey instead of wildly flying around with a half-packed trunk trying to get them on the road. Phandebrass realized rather quickly that Tarrin wasn’t about to budge, and since only him and Mist were going outside of Phandebrass himself, that gave him no opportunity to try to get someone else to talk him into leaving early. Phandebrass knew that Mist would not go against Tarrin’s wishes, would actively defend his decision, and her concept of defending was a physical one. Rather than get his face clawed up, Phandebrass quietly let the matter drop, and started counting the days towards when they would leave.

It wasn’t that Phandebrass was being cold about Allia’s pregnancy. When he talked about it, he was just as sincerely happy and excited about it as anyone else. It was just that, Phandebrass being Phandebrass, he forgot about it when he got caught up in the fervor of leaving Sennadar and starting on the journey to find the Dwarves and Sorcerers who had left Sennadar. He was one of the smartest men alive, but he was so hopelessly scatterbrained sometimes that it made him seem much less intelligent than he actually was.

Tarrin had some other things to do himself. He wouldn’t go against the wishes of Clangeddin, and he dutifully prepared his Gnomlin Traveling Spellbook. Phandebrass was almost hatefully jealous when he found out that Tarrin had one. Those items were dreadfully rare, and they were the one thing that most Wizards dreamed about possessing, a book that fit in the palm of one’s hand that held every spell they could ever scribe. Tarrin deflected Phandebrass by telling him that if he wanted one, he should make one. He was a good enuogh Wizard, and it would give him something to do waiting to leave.

It was a clever little device. Shrunk, it fit easily in Tarrin’s paw. Expanded, it was the size of the Book of Ages, and was nearly as thick. But, unlike the Book of Ages, it didn’t have an unlimited number of pages magically compressed. It had exactly one thousand, on pages as thin as a razor’s edge but as stong as steel, a strange leather-like paper that accepted ink easily and didn’t smudge. Tarrin had one hundred and twelve spells in his own books, but Loremaster Arka had put thirty spells in it himself, all of which Tarrin had never seen before, leaving him with one hundred forty-two. Kimmie borrowed the book to study it, and when he got it back, he found that she’d put all her spells in it too, which made the total three hundred and nine. He wondered why she’d put her spells in it, and when he asked, she just winked and said that someday he’d be able to cast them, so why not just scribe them now?

Scribing the Gnomlin Traveling Spellbook took one month of total time. After that, Tarrin left the house and scouted the five gate locations to find the right gate to use, which took three days. He started with the gate near Aldreth first, then went west to check the one in the Valley of the Gods. That, it turned out, was the gate. It was exactly as he remembered seeing it through the vision, set against a cliff at the end of a box canyon which split off a narrow, jagged pass that had a fast-moving river flowing through its bottom. It was raining when he found it, the floor of the bare canyon little more than mud, and he realized that they wouldn’t be riding up here after he scouted the pass. It was too treacherous for anything but an agile mountain goat, most of the pass’s navigable roads falling into the river at the bottom of the gorge long ago. The box canyon was large enough for a small group of horses, so that meant that they’d be Teleporting to that spot in order to begin their journey.

That made for an uncomfortable day in the rain and the mud as Tarrin grounded himself to the site—or, at least surrounded by it. He wasn’t about to put his feet down in that mud, so he sat in midair and used a Ward to keep out the rain. It was so messy that Fireflash didn’t even bother going out to explore, staying in his basket the entire time. There wasn’t much to see or do, and looking at rain, mud, and rain-slicked walls of jagged grayish rock got boring after a while, and though the swirling interior of the gate was rather pretty, it too got old. He pondered what it would be like to go through that gate for a while, what it might feel like, if it was anything like Teleportation, then gave it up and joined to the Weave, then projected out to Wikuna to visit with Keritanima for a while.

He had to spend the night there, which annoyed him. He was having trouble grounding to the site, and he wasn’t entirely sure why, though he suspected the proximity of the gate might have something to do with it. He warned Mist he couldn’t make it home for the night and resolidified the Ward, then used Sorcery to dry out the mud so he could put his feet on the ground. He was more than capable of staying in midair for as long as he wanted, even sleeping in that hovering position, supported by the divine energy which emanated from his wings, but he had a personal hang-up with that idea. He was always worried that he’d drift off while sleeping and wake up over the middle of an ocean somewhere, or floating in the sky halfway to the moons. He decided to do things in a halfway normal manner, Conjuring the things he needed for a camp, but doing it all by hand once he got the raw materials. He set up a tent, dug a firepit and got a fire going, and though he had no horses, he set up a picket area for them anyway, because it would have to be done. He had to Conjure his dinner, which he cooked over the open fire, and when he was done, he curled up in his tent and went to sleep, imagining what it would be like with Phandebrass in the next tent and Mist curled up with him. Then he wondered how he was going to keep Mist from killing Phandebrass during the journey. It would only be a matter of time until he did something dumb and got Mist mad at him.

He’d figure something out. He always did.

By morning, he was grounded to the site, so he could leave. He returned home and found himself besieged by Mist’s curiosity. She’d been rooting through a chest in his room and had stumbled across the belt that Tarrin had made for Jesmind when they were traveling to Gora Umadar to save Jasana, the belt which cloaked them in Illusion and let them walk on top of water. “Did you make this, Tarrin?” she asked immediately when they arrived. “Jenna said you did.”

“That was a long time ago,” he said, his eyes distant as he remembered the chamber with the hot springs and the big subterranean lobster that Jesmind kept wanting to eat.

“Make me one.”

Tarrin blinked. “You can have that one, Mist,” he told her. “Jesmind doesn’t use it anymore.”

“No, I want my own, not one you made for her,” she said bluntly. “And I want it to do something different.”

“What?” he asked curiously.

“I want it to hide me behind an Illusion of a human, not in that cloak of camoflage,” she said. “Where we’re going might not like Were-cats. You can hold the human shape a very long time, but I can’t. I’ll need some way to hide other than staying in cat form all the time.”

She made perfect sense. He nodded and put the belt on the table. “I’ll have it for you by the end of the month,” he promised.

So, Tarrin withdrew from friends and family for a while in order to make Mist’s belt. He remembered exactly how he had made the belt he’d given Jesmind, so worrying about the process of it wasn’t the problem as much as working out exactly what it was going to do. Just like the belts, he had to know exactly what it was going to do, and he had to carefully design it so the belt’s functions didn’t interfere with one another. So, he needed to decide what the belt would do.

The Illusion would be the cornerstone of the belt, he decided. That was its primary function, and would be the main spell. But it would also do other things, he decided, things he felt would protect Mist or be useful to her. The water-walking power of the original belts would indeed be a useful ability, so he decided to keep it in the belt’s operation. Tarrin was a fire-based being, so giving her some kind of protection against fire was also going to be very important, so he decided that she should have that as well. That way he could unleash his power with her in the immediate vicinity without fear of hurting her. She also needed some kind of weapon outside her claws, but Mist didn’t use weapons. The Cat’s Claws, he decided, would be perfect for someone like Mist, but he wasn’t about to give her his, so he decided to create a new set.

And for that, he needed Jenna. Jenna made the first ones, so he needed to know exactly what she did, and exactly how to do it. So he had a long visit with his sister, and over the course of three days, she explained how she had made them. It turned out that the Goddess had had a heavy hand in the creation of the Cat’s Claws, and he’d need her help to create the second set. That wasn’t a problem, for she agreed to help him make another pair.

The belt came first. After reattaching the charm to his amulet to allow him to work without needing sleep, he worked out exactly how he was going to do this, how the weaving would be laid down. The belt would have four abilities, two of which could not be operating at the same time. It would hide her behind an Illusion of her as a human, which would be faithful to her actual appearance, mainly because he made her take the human shape and memorized how she looked as a human. It would also hide her inside the cloak of Illusory camoflage as a measure of self defense if she needed it, but she couldn’t do use that and the human Illusion at the same time. It was one of the other. The belt would also give her the ability to walk on water like the original, and it would have interlaced in it a weave that would render Mist utterly immune to fire, a protection as powerful as that of a Weavespinner, a weave lifted off the amulet that Shal Tal’s amulet had to protect her from accidental Hellhound fire breath. Once he had its functions set, he spent three days designing the way the weaves would be placed. And once he had that ready, he began.

It took him two days of continuous work to complete the belt, but the charm made it much faster than it would have been had he had to sleep. Like any work with magical devices, he first had to prepare the Created belt for accepting the magic, again working around that curious sterility present within a Created object. After that was done, he then laid the weaves into it, strand by strand, holding the entire construction stable as he added them in, before completing the work and sealing the weaving to make it permanent using the binding weave that was used at the very end. The charm made him much less exhausted this time because he didn’t have to sleep or feel the need to sleep. But when he was done, he had his belt, and it worked exactly as he meant it to work. It would hide Mist behind an Illusion of her human self or cloak her in Illusory invisibility, it would allow her to walk on water, and it protected her utterly from fire. Faithful to the creation of the original belt, this belt had that power of non-detection inside it, hiding Mist from magical detection. The original belt had been made to help him and Jesmind get to Gora Umadar without being attacked and to hide them from Demons searching for them. This belt wasn’t meant for that, but Tarrin saw no reason to remove some of its original design.

The new set of Cat’s Claws were considerably more difficult, and required the direct help of the Goddess. They would be perfect replicas of his, which was necessary because the formula for creating them was already known, and trying to change it would cost him months of research time. Once he began on them, he could not do anything else, and it required sixteen days of constant work to complete them. Where it had taken Jenna over a month and the help of Ianelle, Tarrin did it in sixteen with the help of his charm. The Goddess had to do some parts of it, mainly the layered behavior of the claws when they were extended, and she also had to provide the Adamantite bracers. Tarrin couldn’t Create Adamantite, as it was an other-worldly metal, and was as such beyond even Tarrin’s Druidic power to create.

But, after sixteen days of constant work, he placed the binding weave on the bracers and assensed them, and found that they were faithful, perfect replicas of his own Cat’s Claws. These didn’t belong to Mist, they belonged to him. But he would let her use them for a while.

Overall, the creation of the belt, the new Cat’s Claws, and the time it took to prepare to make them took nearly two months. By then, Allia’s belly was starting to show her pregnancy, and everyone was starting to get excited about the coming reunion. By some stroke of luck, the baby would be born during the early winter lull in the sandstorms, the quiet season, not long before Gathering. Allia’s tribe wasn’t very happy about having to go to Mala Myrr, but Allia was absolutely adamant, and her tribe wouldn’t allow her to bear the child in that ruin alone. Fara’Nae had quietly told the Goddess that she’d make sure that the tribe’s flocks would have foraging and water for the journey and while they were at Mala Myrr, something she wouldn’t have done for anyone else, which made Tarrin feel much better.

They were halfway there, and Tarrin felt that they were nearly ready.

News of this mission certainly didn’t remain in the inner circle for very long. Tarrin’s friends and family had friends of their own, and it wasn’t a secret, so they told their friends, and their friends told their friends, until quite a few people knew what was going to happen. This dissemination of information brought with it quite a few changes, and a few very welcome changes.

The first was Dolanna. She arrived at the Tower in Suld not long after Tarrin made the belt and new Cat’s Claws, then, after a brief talk with Jenna, showed up at his house with a resolute look on her face. “I have heard you intend to search for lost brothers and sisters who might have left Sennadar,” she said immediately.

“Yah,” he said absently as he finished levelling the leg of a table that he and Mist were building, as Eron, Tara, and Rina watched. Basic carpentry was something that both of them felt the cubs should know.

“I will go with you.”

Tarrin gave her a look. “You’ve thought this through?”

“Come now, dear one,” she said with a smile. “Since when do I not think things through?”

He chuckled. “Point taken,” he said. “If you want to come, Dolanna, I’d be overjoyed to have you. It just wouldn’t feel right without you being there.”

“Why did you not ask me?”

“Because you have a life of your own now,” he answered evenly. “I put you all through enough already. I’ll never impose on you again.”

“Oh, dear one, you were never an imposition,” she said with a light laugh, touching his arm fondly. “And I have found myself with far too little to do of late. An excursion into truly unknown territory appeals to me greatly.”

“Ooh, can I go?” Rina asked breathlessly.

“No,” Tarrin and Mist answered in unison. “This is no journey for a cub,” Tarrin added sternly.

“Aww!” she pouted.

“Where is Kimmie?” Dolanna asked.

“Working with Anayi on something magic,” Tara answered. “She doesn’t want us to bother her, so she stuck us with father and Aunt Mist.”

“Your mother does not see you as a bother, young one,” Dolanna told her. “She is simply making sure you stay safe, that is all. Magic of any kind is very dangerous.”

And so, Dolanna joined the small list of intrepid explorers who would leave Sennadar and search for the lost Dwarves and Sorcerers. Dolanna’s addition changed little as far as Tarrin, Mist, and Phandebrass were concerned, but it also spawned its own events.

One such event occurred when he traveled to Suld to have a dinner with Tomas and Janine and Janette with his parents and Jenna. After a quiet, enjoyable meal, Tarrin happened to chance meeting Haley on the street as he walked Janette back to the Tower. That wasn’t that unusual, for he was only about a block from Haley’s inn, which was no nearly the size of the entire block and had run every inn, tavern, and festhall within ten blocks of it out of business. “Tarrin, I heard Dolanna’s joining you on your mission,” he said quickly after they exchanged greetings. “That doesn’t leave anyone there to watch over her.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you and Mist are going to have your hands full with Phandebrass,” he answered. “Dolanna can’t really ask a Knight to go with her, not on this journey, so she has nobody to protect her.”

“I think I can take care of Dolanna, Haley,” he said bluntly.

“Not with Phandebrass on the loose, you can’t,” he answered with surprising, almost shocking, vehemence. “I’m going with you. Someone has to help protect Dolanna.”

Tarrin was a bit surprised at this. “Are you sure?” he asked.

“Very sure,” he answered. “There’s that, and there’s also the idea that I’d be doing something important for once in my life, instead of just lurking in the background as I’ve done for the last few centuries. Helping you find the Dwarves and the Sorcerers sounds like a good way to feel important.”

Tarrin laughed. “Well, I won’t say no, Haley,” he said. “But don’t make that kind of decision quite yet. I’m sure that a Knight will volunteer to go with Dolanna.”

“They can’t protect her the way I can,” he said bluntly, and his statement again made him consider that perhaps Haley’s feelings towards Dolanna were not, at least for him, contained at a platonic level. “If Dolanna goes, I go. It’s that simple.”

“Well, then, you’d better find someone to run your inn for a few months.”

“I’ll make arrangements,” he smiled, then he put his hands in his pockets. “I’ll talk to you a little later, alright?”

“Fine.”

They watched him go, and Janette gripped his tail a little tighter. “He’s in love with Dolanna,” she announced.

“He might be,” he agreed. “But either way, I’d be glad to have him. Haley’s a very resourceful fellow, he’s got a fast mind, and he talks very fast. That’s a skill we might need before it’s all said and done.”

Haley and Dolanna weren’t the only people who wanted to go, but unfortunately, they were the only ones so far who could. Sarraya pitched a fit when she found out that she couldn’t go, and Fireflash sulked for nearly a month. Both of them were tied too deeply with the All, too much an integral part of the very fabric of Sennadar, to leave it. Triana made that declaration the day after Sarraya asked Tarrin if she could go. Leaving Sennadar would kill them, so they were stuck being left behind. Tarrin would have liked to have had Sarraya along, for the Faerie was quite an asset if one could ignore her sharp mouth, and he’d really miss having Fireflash with him. She wasn’t worried at all about the Were-kin, whose connection with the All and the land was much more indirect, much less integral to their beings. They drew on the All for some of their powers, but their very lives didn’t depend on that connection. The magic that made a Were-kin a Were-kin was internal, integral, and could survive without a connection to the All. She did warn them that they might lose their other powers, like their strength and regeneration, but they’d be quite able to survive outside of Sennadar.

He was glad she told him that before he stepped through the gate.

True to his prediction, a Knight did indeed step forward and volunteer to accompany Dolanna. Azakar, who saw himself as Dolanna’s personal Knight, declared that he would go with Dolanna after he and his expedition returned from their exploration mission in Wikuna and found out what was going on. Ulger also volunteered to go, and Darvon, who still had not retired, consented to allow both of them to go. Darvon wanted two Knights on this dangerous mission, double protection for the group, and Azakar and Ulger were among the very best he had.

Azakar and Ulger’s addition to the group did not dissuade Haley. He still intended to go, and would not change his mind. And in a way, Tarrin was glad of it. That put three Were-kin in the group, and them in combination with two Knights was an overwhelming physical force that could protect the group from nearly any danger.

With three months before the trip, the Cat’s Claws made and everything more or less on schedule, Tarrin took care of the final piece of the puzzle about the journey…getting home. It required a trip to Haven and a very long talk with Spyder. Spyder was the only Sennadar mortal who had travelled into the Astral for the last thousand years, and she taught him all about that strange place, even took him there briefly.

It was the most odd place he’d ever seen. It was nothing but emptiness. There was a grayish hue to the place, like a vast gray nothingness that went on in every direction out to eternity. There was no ground, no air, no nothing…yet there was also no gravity, and as long as he was there, he felt no need to breathe, and didn’t even feel his heart beating. It was like life was suspended in that gray void. The gateway into Sennadar was a dull gray disc of swirlnig energy, like the gate on the other side, but its gray was so perfectly matched to the background color of the plane that it was virtually invisible unless one was literally on top of it.

After a few moments in the gray void, where she explained that moving in the weightlessness required willing yourself to move—a concept that any Sorcerer would have no trouble understanding—she brought them back. She told him that since he was a native of Sennadar, all he had to do was will himself to the gate, and that was where he would go. It might take hours, or days, but he would eventually arrive. The chances of coming across another traveler were remote, at best, so the journey should be a safe one.

That was a relief. It was nice to know that it would be easy to get back to Sennadar through the Astral, but it left open the question of how they would get to the Astral from that other world. Tarrin pondered that as he Teleported home, to his spot inside a circle drawn in his library, a place where everyone know not to go at any time to prevent a fatal accident. The instant he arrived, a scent touched his nose, a scent he had not had the pleasure of smelling for too long than he cared to think.

Wild elation bounding up inside him, he rushed into the main chamber of his library. She was sitting at a normal-sized chair at a normal-sized table, a guest table, and she turned and looked at him, giving him a bright, earnest, unbelievably beautiful cheeky grin.

Miranda.

She was wearing of her self-made wool dresses, a pretty blue dress with white goring in the sleeves, one that was surprisingly modest for the mink Wikuni, who preferred bodices that showed her furry cleavage. She had on rugged leather shoes that were well worn, and a silver chain was around her neck, disappearing under her bodice. She was such a sight to him, he had missed her so!

All the breath got crushed out of her lungs as Tarrin swept her out of the chair and embraced her, spinning her in circles, letting the smell of her surround him. She had been gone for years, and though at first he watched over her, right after he contacted her before the birth of Faalken, he was quietly asked by Kikkalli to back off a while. Because of that, he had no idea where she had been or what she had been doing, and he wondered after her nearly every day.

“Whuff! Tarrin, I need my ribs!”

He set her down, and she threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. “I’m so glad to be home!” she told him.

“When did you get here? Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” he demanded, putting his paws on her shoulders. That touch seemed to tingle, and there was a fundamental change in the feel of her. She was different now…she screamed of magic.

Tarrin gave her a wild look.

She gave him a coy smile. “I didn’t think I could hide it from you,” she said with a wink, pulling the silver chain from her bodice. At its end was a silver medallion, a ship’s silhouette on the sea with the four moons arrayed behind and above it, the holy symbol of Kikkalli.

“Miranda! You’re a Priest!”

“Priestess, actually,” she chuckled, motioning for him to sit. He pulled up one of the little chairs, turned it so its back was forward, and slunk down into it as she returned to her chair, but he kept hold of her hand. “Well, you shouldn’t be too surprised, if you think about it. Kikkalli’s my mother, in a way. After I found myself, I realized that. I’m just being a good little daughter, that’s all.”

“So you’re a Wavemistress,” he chuckled.

She nodded. “I met a Priestess in Xian who took one look at me and told me what I should do. I blew her off, of course, because I was still lost, still not sure about what I was and what I was supposed to be. She just gave me a look and said to me, ‘when you understand what makes a Wikuni, you’ll understand everything.’ Well, I didn’t understand that for a long time, almost a year, but I never forgot it.”

“And what does it mean?” he asked.

“That I was so worried about what I was that I didn’t think about what I am. I’m a Wikuni. I was born, I grew up, and someday I’ll die. I thought I was a thing, a creation. In a way I am, but I’m still just…Wikuni.”

He smiled. “It took you long enough.”

She slapped him on the shoulder. “The instant I realized that, the Priestess just showed up again. She told me I should learn about what I was. And she started me down the path that led me here.”

“She put you into the Priesthood, eh?”

“It turns out I’m a fairly good Priest,” she winked. “I think Kikkalli cheated a little. I think she kind of favors me a bit.”

“You’re her daughter. Of course she’s going to cheat a little for you,” he smiled. “Mothers do that for their children.”

She laughed. “Being a Priestess has been quite eye-opening,” she confided.

“I bet it’s been different.”

“Not all that much, actually. I spent most of my life watching over Kerri, Tarrin. I learned while I was out there that it’s not just what I was made to do, it’s what I like to do. As a Priestess, I just have more people to watch over, that’s all. It’s not as much fun as politics, but it’s a sacrifice I had to make, I suppose,” she winked.

“No more seducing the unwary,” he laughed.

“Priests of Kikkalli aren’t celibate,” she said with a naughty little smile. “Seducing the unwary is fun. You should try it sometime.”

“Were-cat females are never unwary.”

She laughed. “I suppose not,” she agreed.

“Are you going home?”

“No, I came here to see you,” she answered. “Kikkalli sent me to you.”

He gave her a look. “Why?”

“Your mission, of course,” she said. “Your Goddess talked to Kikkalli, and she sent me to you. You’ll need me, so I’m going with you.”

That surprised him quite a bit. “I’d love to have you, my friend, but why do you need to go?”

“Well, before the Blood War, Priests could cast a spell that created a gateway into the Astral. You have to get into the Astral to get home, and without me, you have no way to do that.”

He gave her a long look, pondering her words. “I could do the same thing.”

“No, you can’t,” she said. “You’re a Priest of an Elder God, and they can’t use their power outside of Sennadar. Kikkalli is a Younger God. She doesn’t have that restriction. If I were a normal Priest, only my simplest spells would work outside of Sennadar, because Kikkalli has no presence in that other world. But I’m an Avatar, and that changes the rules a little bit. I can use all my magic, anywhere. It’s one of the benefits of being special,” she winked. “My Priest spells will work in that other world. Yours won’t.”

That’s the brunt of it, kitten, the Goddess said to his mind. You need her to get home. She’s the only being on Sennadar that can do it.

He filed that information away for future consideration. There was something in it that he felt he needed to ponder, a truth lurking inside it he needed to understand. After deciding that, he put his chin in his paw and just smiled at Miranda, for a considerable time. “What?” she finally said with minor exasperation.

“I’m trying to imagine you in a cossack.”

She slapped him on the arm. “I’m not the only one who’s had a few changes,” she said with a cheeky grin. “I want to see them.”

“See what?”

“The wings, you silly boy!” she said with a laugh.

“I see you ran into someone.”

“Tarrin, I heard about them the same way most other people have, through word of mouth,” she told him.

“Who would talk about me?” he asked with a snort.

“Only half the world, you nit,” she winked, danging her amulet by the chain. “I showed you mine, now you show me yours.”

“Huh, they must have nothing to talk about,” he said as he stood up.

“You’re a legend, my friend, so you get a great deal of talk around bars tables and campfires. It comes with saving the world, you know.”

“I see you haven’t lost your clever mouth,” he said with obviously fake surliness.

“No. Now satsify my curiosity before I get unpleasant.”

He laughed even as he brought for his wings, expanding them out to their full size, even flaring them in a melodramatic gesture before folding them behind his back.

“Wow,” she said breathlessly, standing up. “Will they burn me? I just have to touch them.”

“No, they won’t hurt you,” he assured her as he opened them again.

Her touch was gentle as she slid her hand along the inner slope of his left wing, felt her touching, prodding, inspecting the solid fire that made up their substance, fire that was warm to the touch, soft, and surprisingly pliable. “If feels like silk,” she told him, putting both hands on it and sliding them around. “The little flame licks look just like feathers until you get close and see them flickering.”

“I know,” he answered.

“Kikkalli told me that you’re a demigod now,” she imparted absently. “These wings certainly scream of divine power. This close to you, I have no reason to doubt my goddess. Not that I would have anyway,” she said with a wink.

“Careful, some gods punish for talk like that.”

“Posh,” she said derisively. “Kikkalli knows my mind, my friend. Talk is just that, talk. It’s what I think and feel that matters, not what I say.”

“Practical goddess,” Tarrin said absently. “No wonder she seems to get along with Mother.”

“Now that we’ve gotten the dirty little secrets out of the way, how is everyone? How old is Faalken? What’s he like?”

“Nothing like his mother, that’s for sure,” Tarrin chuckled. “He’s nearly four now, and he’s quiet, thoughtful, considerate, gentle, and very, very smart.”

Miranda laughed. “You’re right, that’s nothing like Kerri, aside from being smart,” she agreed. “Was that Tara and Rina I saw upstairs?”

He nodded. “They’re almost seven now.”

“But they’re, they look like their fifteen! They even filled out!”

He chuckled. “Were-cat children aren’t like other races, friend. Jasana’s seven, and she’s a mirror image of her mother. She looks like she’s eighteen. She’s quite proud of her cleavage, and doesn’t wear any shirt that doesn’t show it off. She’s going to be a popular one with the males. All of Jesmind’s best attributes without the temper.”

Miranda laughed. “Where is she?”

“With Triana, training in Druidic magic,” he answered. “Jesmind’s probably with her, but I don’t know. Me and her reached the end of our rope a couple of years ago.”

“I figured. I remember when Mist left, so I take it she came back?”

He nodded. “I can tolerate Kimmie, so she never left. I think it’s because we’re both turned.”

“Sometimes we forget about that,” she told him. “So, if Jasana’s the size of an adult, complete with cleavage, that Were-cat monster I saw outside when I came in with that little brown fox has to be Eron.”

He nodded. “He’s absolutely huge,” he said with a bit of pride. “I wonder why he didn’t say hello.”

“Because they never saw me,” she winked. “I used a spell that hid me from their senses, something like invisibility for a Priest. I didn’t want anyone to know I was back before I talked to you.”

“Why is that?”

“I wanted to find out what was going on first. Old habit, I guess,” she answered.

“Not a whole lot, Miranda. I’ve been busy with getting ready for the journey. Mist’s been completing Eron’s education because she’s going to introduce him to the Hierachs next month, and when she does, he’ll be an adult. Everyone not going with me has been busy with their own children or their own projects.”

“Any new faces?”

“Yes. Dar and Tiella have another child now, a daughter. And, of course, the big news is that Allia’s pregnant.”

“She is? It’s about time!” Miranda said happily.

“We were all about to go over there and have a few stern words with her and Allyn,” he smiled. “Outside of the single people in our little circle, she was the last to not have a child.”

“Speaking of children, how is Shal?”

“Big, pushy, stubborn, demanding, and obnoxious. Just your typical Amazon girl,” he smiled. “I think Camara’s doing it on purpose.”

“She probably is. Amazon society says those are good personality traits.” She glanced at him. “Mist’s going, isn’t she?”

He nodded. “It’s her turn as my mate, and I think she’s not going to let a little thing like this mission put her off.”

Miranda laughed. “If she felt cheated, we’d all have hell to pay.”

“That about sums it up,” he agreed dryly.

“Who else is going?”

“Dolanna,” he said immediately.

“Thank the Wavemistress,” Miranda sighed. “That puts me much more at ease.”

“It does everyone,” he agreed. “Azakar and Ulger are going as Dolanna’s Knights, Phandebrass is going, and Haley’s going to go as well.”

“Hmm,” she mused in a slightly predatory manner. Miranda had a certain attraction for the Were-wolf, for she thought him quite handsome when he was in his hybrid form. “Well, at least I’ll have something nice to look at.”

“If you can get him in his hybrid form anyway,” Tarrin chuckled.

“So, everyone else is too busy or has too many responsibilities.”

He nodded. “We all have lives now, my friend. Well, everyone but me, I suppose. Dolanna and Phandebrass are putting their other projects on hold to do this.”

“This is my project, much like how Camara Tal’s goddess sent her to you,” she told him.

“I just can’t get away from gods,” he said with a helpless laugh.

“Ever notice that you get all this help from goddesses? You are kinda cute, you know. Now that you’re a god, maybe they’re trying to woo you. You could be some goddess’s hunky babe.”

He took one look at her, then burst out laughing.

I’m not sure if I should be offended by that or not, the Goddess sang in his mind, which made him laugh even harder.

I think we should have a long talk with Kikkalli over this one, Fara’Nae’s voice joined Niami’s.

Certainly, the strong voice of Neme joined. She’s a pert one, that’s for sure.

I like her just the way she is, so hands off, the voice of Kikkalli warned.

Miranda gave him a wry smile. “See? They never actively denied it.”

“You can hear that?” he asked, getting control of himself.

“I’m an Avatar, my friend. It does give me certain advantages.”

You’d better mind your manners, little missy, the Goddess warned, but the playful tone of her banter told them both that she was being utterly insincere.

Besides, we’d have to cross Mist if we started chasing you. I’m not sure even I would want to try that, Fara’Nae’s voice added in a dry tone that made Tarrin burst out laughing anew.

It was good having Miranda back.

She revealed herself to the rest of their circle after meeting with Tarrin, first to Mist and Eron, then to Elke and Eron senior, then Tarrin Teleported them to the Tower to have something of an impromptu reuinion lunch with Jenna and Dolanna in attendance. News was spread quickly that Miranda had come back, and within a half hour of finishing lunch, everyone was at the Tower to greet her and welcome her home.

It was the reunion of Keritanima and Miranda that was both the most joyous, and in its way, the most heartbreaking. Keritanima was absolutely ecstatic that Miranda had returned, but Tarrin knew that Keritanima always thought, deep in her heart, that Miranda would come right back to being Keritanina’s maid, her confidante, and her silent guardian. But Keritanima didn’t need that anymore, and Miranda had been called to another duty. It was painful for Tarrin to see the incredible hurt in his sister’s eyes when she turned away from Miranda so she could pick up Faalken, to see in her eyes that now she knew that things would never be the same, that Miranda was no longer solely hers. But it was also a testament to his sister’s strength and her consideration for her friend that she never allowed that hurt to show again, in her eyes, in her scent, in her words, in her body language. She truly was happy for Miranda, that she had found herself, but she also mourned the loss of a part of her own life, for Miranda had been so utterly intertwined into Keritanima that it seemed unnatural to think of them as separate entities. But those roots had been pulled apart, and though they would always be the closest of friends and would always love each other as deeply as friends could, they were no longer together. Both of them had grown up, had matured, had moved beyond the need for that symbiotic relationship. Miranda had come to terms with that long ago, had learned to move past it, but Keritanima had not, because she had not wanted to admit to herself that things would change.

But change came, no matter how strongly one dug in his heeld and refused to accept it. The change in his children over the years certainly proved that. Tarrin glanced at Tara, Rina, and Eron as they played with Faalken and Shal. They were only a few years older than the two humans, but they were nearly the size of adults—Tara and Rina were as tall as Keritanima, Eron considerably larger. It seemed that just yesterday he was holding them in his arms, that they were only babies. Perhaps all parents always thought it was just yesterday, but for Tarrin, that yesterday really did feel like it was only yesterday.

So young, yet so mature. Were-cats truly displayed their differences from other races in that one respect. Were-cat children grew up faster than any other sentient race, even Bruga. They were only six, nearly seven, but Tara and Rina were matured enough to have menstrual cycles, and had been having them since age five. At five years old, they had been old enough to reproduce, though the chances of them actually getting pregnant were vastly remote. To Tarrin’s knowledge, both of them had already been introduced to certain young males and allowed to experience the mature side of Were-cat existence, when he was being the Guardian in Spyder’s stead, but he preferred not to think about things like that. Too much of the human still left in him, he supposed. Odds were, Kimmie arranged things like that just so he wasn’t there when it happened. He knew it wasn’t easy for Kimmie either, since she too was turned, but she had to raise her cubs in the Were-cat way, and that required her to occasionally teach them things or do things that her old human morals did not find to their liking.

“And what has you so pensive over here, my brother?” Allia asked, sidling up to him and worming under his arm. Her belly was pronouncedly distended now, quickly swelling up as the child insider her developed at a vastly accelerated rate. She had barely showed for the first half of her pregancy, but now that the time was growing close, the child inside her was growing so quickly that Allia’s skin was actually starting to tear as her belly expanded faster than her skin could stretch to accommodate it. That was why so many Selani females had those faint vertical scars on the sides of their abdomens and horizontal scars at the bases of their ribcages and lower stomachs, the very visible scars of childbearing. Selani too were very much unlike humans when it came to birthing.

“Just raging against the marching of time, I suppose,” he said, nodding his head at his three children. “Sometimes it feels like things never change, then I look up. They’ll be grown and gone within a year, I think,” he predicted. “They’re both nearly ready. Mist is introducing Eron to the Hierarchs next month. When she does that, he’s an official adult, and she’ll throw him out of the house. Literally, if I know Mist,” he chuckled wanly. “It feels like I woke up in the Heart after the Goddess put me back together just yesterday sometimes. Then again, sometimes, like right now, I feel old. I’m only twenty-six, Allia. Did you know that? I’m twenty-six, but I feel like I’m ten thousand years old.”

“You’ve lived enough for men a hundred times your age, my brother,” she told him sagely. “And never forget what you are. You are a Were-cat, but you’re also a demigod. The turning and the touch of divinity upon you truly did change you, in ways I think you never really understood. You may not even be thirty, but your mind and soul have been touched by power and knowledge that no mortal could comprehend, in more ways than Shiika’s kiss ever aged your body. They’ve aged you, in ways I think make you better. Look at Jenna.”

He did so.

“She’s nothing like a twenty-two year old woman, is she? The touch of Spyder’s knowledge changed her, but I think it changed her for the better. But despite all that change, she’s still simply Jenna. The change altered how she acts, but not who she is. Change happens to all of us, my brother, but in the case of you and your sister, it was good. And though you’ve changed, you’re still my brother, and I still love you. And I always will, no matter how hard change tries to tear us apart.”

He sighed, then hugged his Selani sister to his side gently. “You always know what to say,” he said teasingly, though his words and tone were very kind, gentle, and loving.

“That’s because I know you, deshida.” She looked at the others. “Keritanima didn’t take Miranda’s return as well as I’d hoped.”

“She didn’t want change,” Tarrin told her. “And Miranda has definitely changed.”

“She still acts as she did before.”

“Not entirely,” he answered. “She’s very powerful now, sister. I can sense it. And that power did change her some.”

“Power tends to do that to anyone in one form or another.” He sighed. “Believe me.”

“What will she do now?”

“I think she’s staying at the Tower,” he answered. “She told me she doesn’t want to go back to Wikuna for more than a ride or so. She just wants to visit. She’s afraid if she stays, that things between her and Kerri might get strained.”

Allia was quiet a moment. “That’s possible, I suppose, but Kerri’s not the spoiled child she was when Miranda left. She’s grown a great deal. I think having the responsibility of kingdom and child has made her grow.”

“Maybe.”

Tarrin agreed with his sister, but up to a point. He knew Keritanima a little better than Allia did, and after the reunion broke up for the night, as everyone wandered sleepily up towards their beds in the rooms on the upper floors, Tarrin caught up with Keritanima in the hall, had Rallix take Faalken upstairs, and took her out onto a balcony off an unoccupied room. He never had to say a word to her, just look into her eyes. That was all it took for Keritanima to break down and start crying like a little girl, clutching herself to him tightly as she allowed her pent-up feelings to come out.

He held onto her for a long while, let her grief run its course, until she fell asleep in his arms, and then he carried her up to her room and put her into her bed. He traded sober looks with Rallix, and then he picked up his tiger-striped nephew and put him in the bed with her. He seemed to understand immediately that his mother needed him, and he cuddled up to her. She put her arm over him in her troubled sleep, and the anguished look on her face relaxed immediately.

“Thank you,” Rallix said earnestly after they left the room.

“Any time, Rallix. Any time.”

Since Miranda was going now, she started sitting in on the three day councils that they started to hold in the Tower, where each of them updated the others on the progress that they had made in their preparations. Jenna thought it was a good idea to continue those councils to keep everyone abreast of what was going on, and also to keep a firm leash on Phandebrass. By making him give an accounting of himself at regular intervals, they were keeping his mind firmly on the task at hand and preventing him from getting distracted by any little side projects. That really wasn’t a problem, because all of Phandebrass’ attention had been squarely fixed to this mission since it was conceived, and he asked Tarrin at least ten times during every meeting if they couldn’t leave a little early.

Each of them did have tasks to perform. The task of gathering the supplies and the horses they would use had been given to Azakar and Ulger. Since they had just come from an extensive expedition into the unexplored interior of Wikuna, they were very well versed in what they would need for an extended journey into unexplored territory. Dolanna had been given the task of researching that particular gate and trying to discover if anyone had ever gone through it and returned with information about what was on the other side. Haley and Miranda had been given the task of preparing everything for their departure, at least within the city. That task mostly focused on Haley’s inn and thriving business, but Miranda decided to give him a hand. Tarrin had already finished his task, finding the gate and organizing their departure and return, which drove Phandebrass absolutely crazy. Tarrin wouldn’t tell him where the gate was, because Tarrin knew that if Phandebrass knew where it was, he’d run off and immediately go through it without even thinking twice. He’d probably do it without taking a single thing with him that he’d need, and that would get him into a world of trouble on the other side of it.

With his part of it more or less done, he dedicated his time to his children. He didn’t want to leave them behind, for there was no telling how much they would grow while he was gone, so he got as much time with them as he could, for as long as he could. He spent the entire month with Eron, enjoying the last of his childhood by going hunting and fishing with him, teaching him about fletching, something Tarrin hadn’t practiced for years, and even took ten days and made Eron a bow worthy of his strength and taught him the basics of archery. Mist sniffed at the practice, for she felt a bow was a useless weapon for a Were-cat, but she said nothing about it.

It took a bit of digging, but he found his own bow, the one that had been altered to make it unbreakable to allow Tarrin to use it in his natural form. But then he thought that he might need a bow to use as a human, so he went over to see his father and asked a favor of him.

“I guess I could, son,” he answered. “But I haven’t made a bow or arrows in years. I’ve been making more money brewing than I did at fletching. I might make you a bow with three arms.”

Tarrin laughed. “One of your worst is still better than one of my best,” he assured him.

“You’d be carrying two bows around, son,” Elke said disapprovingly. “They’re too big for that.”

“I know, but what choice do I have, mother?” he said. “I can put one on a pack horse.”

“You’re a magician, boy,” she told him sharply. “Can’t you figure out a way to make your bow change itself to you rather than you having to change bows? They used magic on the one you have so you couldn’t break it and you could use your full strength when drawing it, and it’s your old bow. Just fix it so you can turn that magic off when you’re a human.”

“I—“ he started, then he realized that Elke had hit on something of an idea there. “You know something, mother? That’s a damn good idea.”

“Of course it is,” she said waspishly. “Now go get some venison out of the cold room. You’re eating here tonight.”

It took him six hours to figure out how to insert a trigger into the magic of his bow to disable the strengthening spell that made it all but unusuable to anyone of human strength, but it took him nearly a day to work out how to add that trigger into the weaving of the bow’s magic without having to purge all the magic and start completely over. The bow’s magic was already bound, and that made changing it impossible without some divine intervention. After wasting that day on study and concluding that it was impossible, he had to ask Niami for a little help to clear the binding spell and allow him to make an alteration to the power of the bow, then rebind it with the new trigger intact. But after he got that assistance, it took him all of three hours to clear the binding, insert the trigger, and rebind it, which gave him the ability to use his bow either as a human or as a Were-cat. He only disabled its aspect of the stronger draw, leaving intact its unbreakable nature as well as the unbreakable bowstring.

Now that he had a bow again, he needed some arrows. He packed a fletching kit to be added to the equipment going with them on the journey so he could make more arrows in case they found themselves in a place where he had no access to fletching supplies, which consisted of a case of fine arrowheads, fine sinew for wrapping, good whittling knives for shaping shafts, and a sack of fletching feathers. He gambled that he could make shafts where they were going, for they’d be too bulky to take along with him. A case of two hundred arrowheads fit into a medium sized box, but it was a bit weighty. The feathers were bulky, but were very light. The shafts would be both bulky and heavy.

When he was done, he and Eron sat down and made two barrels of arrows. Most of the arrows that went into the barrel were Tarrin’s, but by the end of it, Eron had gotten the knack of it and was starting to put out some good arrows, more than worthy enough to go into the barrel with Tarrin’s, arrows that were going with him on his journey. Like a wise fellow, Tarrin was taking both two barrels of finished arrows and the supplies he needed to make three more, for they had no idea where they were going or how long they would be there. It was only smart to be prepared.

Not long after they finished the arrows, Mist collected up Eron and left the house, journeying to where the Hierarchs would meet to assess their son. Tarrin had never come face to face with the Hierarchs before, because of his past. He had broken nearly every rule that Fae-da’Nar had, but they had had to overlook it because of who he was and what he was doing. They couldn’t be seen actively supporting him, so they simply turned a blind eye to him and pretended he didn’t exist. And he wasn’t allowed to be there for Eron’s introduction either, both because of the Hierarchs and because a cub’s father had nothing to do with it. He was forced to wait at the house impatiently, contacting Mist through her amulet every day to make sure they were well and to keep him abreast of their progress. Tarrin looked after Sandy while Eron was gone, who spent most of that time playing with Fireflash and Forge.

A few days after that, Kimmie rushed in and dropped a bundle on Tarrin’s couch, startling Sandy, who was nearly where she put it. “Can you watch the cubs for a few days, hon? And can you give me a lift to Suld?” she asked quickly. “Phandebrass just contacted me and told me he had a breakthrough, and he wants me to come see it!”

“What kind of breakthrough?”

Kimmie laughed. “Who knows, but it must have been a good one. I thought he was going to start dancing on the ceiling!”

“I told him to make his own version of a Gnomlin Traveling Spellbook. Maybe he managed to do it without blowing himself up.”

She laughed. “That might be it,” she agreed.

“Alright, I’ll keep an eye on things for a while,” he told her. “Is Anayi going?”

She shook her head. “She got summoned by her mother this morning. She went back to Dala Yar Arak to see what she wants.”

“Why would Shiika call Anayi back home?” Tarrin asked curiously.

“I think she wants to see how far Anayi’s progressed,” Kimmie said with a clever little look on her face.

“How far has she progressed?”

“Her spellbooks are about half as full as mine,” she winked. “She’s quite a Wizard.”

“Speaking of spellbooks, can I have mine back now?” he asked.

She laughed. “Yes, you can, it’s on the table in my lab.”

“You put more spells in it, didn’t you?”

She winked. “Go see.”

“More spells I can’t cast?”

She snorted. “I think you could cast any spell in my library if you were serious about it,” she accused. “I know you pretend you can’t when I’m around, Tarrin.”

He flushed a bit. “Guilty,” he admitted.

“Since we’re not going to pretend, I went ahead and copied all my spells into your book. That way I have one more emergency backup.”

“I thought you did that already.”

“Not all of them. I didn’t put in the spells that I can’t cast. I went ahead and did those too.”

“Oh. Alright.”

“I’m not jealous,” she giggled. “Calm down.”

“Sorry. I, well, you know.”

“I know. But you’re special, my love. I think I can accept the fact that if you weren’t who you are, you wouldn’t be able to cast them either.”

He laughed. “You’re probably right. Now off with you. The sooner you get there, the sooner you can come home.”

“You have to take me, silly,” she said with a mischevious little wink.

He stood. “Now?”

“Why not? I’ll grab a bite there, and the cubs already know I’m going. They’re out playing right now.”

“Alright, hold on a second,” he said, opening himself to the Weave and drawing out the flows which he needed to weave a spell of Teleportation. She blew him a kiss as he wove the spell, snapped it down, and then released it, and her image shimmered into nothingness as the spell Teleported her to Suld.

There was little to do now but watch over the cubs and wait. With Mist and Eron gone, Kimmie in Suld and Anayi in Dala Yar Arak, he and Kimmie’s cubs had the house to themselves…and it felt a little empty. But he wasn’t alone, and it was a chance to teach his daughters a few things without Kimmie being around to see it. Tara wasn’t interested in much of anything, and Rina was interested in everything, so the trick was finding something that Tara found interesting and that Rina didn’t already know. They already knew most everything a Were-cat needed to know to make it as an adult.

He knew his aggressive little cub fairly well, and knew that she was much smarter than she pretended to be. It was almost as if she were ashamed of it, and acted like a wolverine with a burr in her butt to hide that fact. She did have interests, but they were firmly along the lines of a Were-cat’s interests; hunting, tracking, outdoor skills. Mist and Jesmind had helped put a hand in to teach Tara and Rina woodcraft, mainly because their mother was admittedly inept at it, so they were not lacking in that department. They’d learned five different languages while they grew up, Sulasian, Torian, Sha’Kar, Selani, and Wikuni, and though their father knew several more languages, it wasn’t something he could teach in the month and a half or so that was left before he started his mission.

What he finally found that set fire to Tara’s curiosity was something he would never have expected, and in a way, something that took him by surprise. It was after he’d reclaimed his spellbook from Kimmie’s tower and was studying the Wizard spells she’d put into it that she came into the common room downstairs from outside, carrying a ripped shirt in her paws, leaving the cub—who had the body of a sixteen year old human female—bare to the waist. Despite the fact that she was his daughter, he had to admit, Tara was quite a well-formed female, with all those generous curves that males found appealing. “What happened to you?” he asked her.

“Aww, that stupid old bear up the valley got pissy,” she answered gruffly. “He ripped my shirt off!”

“I told you to leave him alone.”