Chapter 5

The demise of Damon Eram—or just Damon, since Keritanima had stripped him of his noble name—was carried out in complete anonymity. Tarrin was one of the people Keritanima had asked to witness the execution, as well as the heads of the twenty-eight remaining noble houses. Damon, to his credit, didn't blubber or beg or snivel. He accepted his fate with a quiet dignity that seemed strange after Tarrin had seen the infuriated, angry Wikuni in the throne room. After the sentence was carried out, the body was carted off and buried in an unmarked grave. That was the end of Damon, and nobody outside the thirty witnesses, eight guards, and four executioners knew that the former king of Wikuna was dead.

Tarrin's humanity thought it a bit ruthless that Keritanima would order her own father put to death, but the human in him couldn't argue with the very long list of crimes that Damon Eram had committed on the throne. The simple fact that he had killed one of his daughters, and attempted to kill Keritanima, was all even the human in him needed to justify the act. Damon Eram was an evil, ruthless man, and it was a service to the entire world that he be removed from it. Keritanima obviously had no love for her father, and Tarrin couldn't blame her. If his parents never showed him any love, never supported him, and then tried to kill him, he'd probably hate them too.

The execution of her father didn't show at all on Keritanima's face. She returned to the throne room with the witnesses, ordered that a feast and ball be held that night to celebrate her return, and then she ended the audience. Tarrin walked back in the general direction of his room with a servant guiding him, lost in thought about what he'd seen. He'd witnessed the worst of the Wikuni society in action, the infamous political chicanery that was famous throughout the civilized world. It really was as bad as people believed, but Tarrin could see an end to it in Keritanima. She was slowly but inexorably taking hold of things, either eliminating or wooing the opposition. She was using the same general tactics she had learned from her father and trying to use them to institute an alternative form of government, and he saw the paradox there. She had to have a lighter hand if she wanted people to embrace her new system, but she couldn't use a lighter hand against those who were using heavy hands against her. Keritanima was caught in a nasty little trap, being forced to ram a system that promoted peace and cooperation down the throats of the very people who were eventually going to be responsible for its maintenance.

The key here, he saw, were the commoners. If Keritanima wanted her new form of government to succeed, she had to bring the common man to her side. He was pretty sure that she probably had their support—the commoners were wildly loyal to Keritanima—but she had to get out there and tell them that she needed their help. The nobles would resist Keritanima, but if the commoners that worked for them stopped buying their goods, or stopped working for them, the nobles would buckle in short order. The way to get at the rich was to take away the luxuries and comforts that they had grown to depend upon. A rich man was a formidable opponent, but make him dress himself, cook for himself, and clean his palatial estate by himself, and he was a rich man on his knees.

Tarrin himself didn't entirely understand Keritanima's new system, and, like the Vendari, it would not suit him if he were inside it. Tarrin's instincts would make trying to operate in this Republic almost impossible for him. Then again, Tarrin knew he wouldn't operate well in any system where he had to bow to the authority of someone he didn't respect. Were-cats were never meant for organized society.

After returning to his room, he set Sapphire down by her water bowl, then sat down and decided that a surprise talk with Jesmind would be a good idea. She'd told him to tell her when he reached Wikuna, and besides, she was still a little peeved over his missed appointment. She'd appreciate him contacting her. He took hold of his amulet and called her name, and then waited. And waited, and waited a little longer. He called her name again, a little louder this time, and then got a rather muffled reply through the amulet.

"What's the matter with you?" Tarrin asked.

"I was asleep," she said, a little blearily. There was a pause, and she spoke more clearly. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, not at all. You wanted me to let you know as soon as I got to Wikuna. Well, we're here."

"That's good. Did you have any trouble?"

"Not since the last time I talked to you," he chuckled. "Kerri stuck me in these apartments that makes the one you have there look like a broom closet. I'm almost lost in here, love. It's too much space for one person."

"What about Kimmie?"

"What about her?" he asked. "She's not living with me, Jesmind. She just comes around whenever she wants attention, that's all."

"Oh. Ohhhh, alright," she said in a much happier tone. "You didn't tell me that."

"You kept getting bitchy every time I tried to bring it up," he countered.

"Well excuse me," she chuckled. "She was always in the room when you were about to stop talking to me. I thought she moved in."

"That's because she was coming into the room, Jesmind," he said patiently.

"Alright, I understand now. So how have you been?"

"Same as always, Jesmind," he told her. "I'm not sure how long we're going to be here in Wikuna. We have to be somewhere else very soon, so I doubt we'll be here longer than a couple of days. What's been happening over there?"

"Not much more than usual," she replied. "Jenna and Jula still spend almost all day together, and I'm trying to keep your daughter out of trouble. That's starting to get harder and harder, because she's started using her magic whenever the mood hits her."

"You need to stop her from doing that, love," he said seriously.

"I know, but your sister isn't helping," she grunted. "She's teaching Jasana magic, then sending her home and telling her not to do magic unless she's there with her. That's like telling the sun not to shine. Jasana tries to use magic any time she doesn't think I'm paying attention. It's good that it always makes that light, because she hasn't learned how to hide it the way you and Jenna and Jula do. I see that light, and I know what's going on."

"I'll have a talk with Jenna. She should know better than that," he said.

"I'd appreciate it." There was a sigh. "I miss you, beloved. When will you be coming back?"

"I have no idea yet, Jesmind," he replied. "I miss you too."

"You have Kimmie," she said dangerously.

"Kimmie and me are mates, Jesmind. You're my love. I enjoy the time with Kimmie, I won't deny it, but I still miss you."

"Well, it's good to know where a girl stands," Jesmind said with an almost kittenish quality to her voice. "Uh oh, mother's calling me. I'd better go see what she wants. I'll talk to you later, alright, Tarrin?"

"Tonight?"

"Tonight is fine with me. Just do me a favor and talk to Jenna for me, alright?"

"I will," he promised. He felt her break the contact from her side, probably by taking her paw off the amulet. He did need to talk to Jenna, but he felt that the best way to do that would be through the Weave. It would also be a good chance to teach Keritanima about joining the Weave, since he wasn't sure how long they were going to be stationary.

Then again, he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to drag Keritanima away from her queenly duties to give her a lesson. She'd all but vanished again, whisked away to some other place doing whatever it was that queens did. He couldn't blame her for doing what she needed to do for the country she ruled, but in a way, it made him feel just a little different towards her. The fact that she was a queen had never really impacted him until right then, when he wanted to see Keritanima, but realized that it wasn't as easy as walking into her bedroom anymore. He'd have to wait for her schedule to clear, whenever that would be. He wasn't even sure how to get in touch with her through the normal, proper means.

But Tarrin never really did things the normal way. Putting a paw to his amulet, he called her name, and then waited patiently. He figured she'd have to chase people away to reply to him. His patience was justified a few minutes later. "What is it, Tarrin? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I need to go talk to Jenna, and I figured we could use it as a lesson, if you have the time. Are you available?"

There was a rueful laugh from the other side. "Brother dear, I'm not going to be available until sometime next year," she told him. "Of course, I don't have that much time, so in reality, I'm not going to be available until tomorrow morning. I'll make it a point to put some time aside for us tomorrow morning, alright?"

"That's fine with me, sister."

"I'm glad you're going to give me some sail here, Tarrin. I know my studies are important, but this is too."

"I know that, Kerri. You have a lot of work to catch up on."

"You have no idea," she drawled. "Tomorrow after breakfast. Deal?"

"Deal."

"See you then. And don't forget Dolanna."

"I won't," he said, then let go of the amulet. That was easy enough. He still had to go see Jenna, but at least now he could do it quickly.

There wasn't a strand that ran though his room, so Tarrin had to pause long enough to make one, joining it to two very distant strands and threading it right across his bed. He sat down atop the bed, so the strand passed directly through his chest, and then closed his eyes and started the process to separate his consciousness from his body and send it into the Weave. It only took him a moment, for it was something at which he was experienced, and in a short time he was free of himself and hurtling through the black background and dazzling light that made up the Weave as seen from within.

As always, he ended up in the Heart. A Weavespinner didn't have to go right to the Heart when they joined the Weave, but Tarrin always felt drawn there, like water flowing downhill. It had to be because of the presence of the Goddess. He looked up into those eyes that loomed over the Heart, the eyes of the Goddess staring down into her domain unblinkingly, and felt a surge of love and faith flow through him at the sight of them. They seemed to shift, to move, and then they smiled down on him in a loving benediction that made him tingle. He basked in that gaze for longer than was entirely necessary, then bent to the task at hand.

Finding Jenna was a very simple affair. Her star blazed in the Heart, easy to pick out among the others. He used it to track her physical body back to its location relative to the Weave—it was very close to the Heart—and prepared to journey to her.

There is an easier way, my kitten, the Goddess intoned, showing him an exceptionally complicated spell by placing the images of the flows directly in his mind. Simply touch her star and weave that spell, then speak to her. She will hear it.

Tarrin didn't answer, for he realized that the Goddess had told him that from afar, and didn't intend to reply. He reached out and put a single finger to Jenna's star, and felt its vitality and warmth. The star was a reflection of the soul it represented, and touching Jenna's star told him much about the inner strength of his sister. He could sense the resolute nature of the star, the stalwart adamance about it that was slightly surprising. Jenna was a Kael, and that meant that she was stubborn and mule-headed, but her star showed that she was dogged and determined, clamping onto a goal and not letting go until she achieved it. It showed her warmth and compassion, traits that Tarrin often lacked, and it showed her gentle nature. Jenna was a nurturer in spirit, giving to those around her and making them better than before she came to know them. That quality would make her an outstanding teacher.

"Jenna," he called, his voice resonating through the Heart, to race out into the infinite blackness where the strands crossed the black sky.

There was a shiver through the star, and Tarrin could hear her reply clearly as Jenna bridged into the Weave. "Tarrin?" her voice called from her star, obviously shocked. "Where in the blazes are you? I can hear you inside my head!"

"I'm using your star to talk to you," he told her. "I'm in the Heart."

"You have got to show me that trick," she said immediately. "Wait there a minute, I'm coming."

Tarrin drifted back into the empty area at the center of the Heart, directly beneath the eyes of the Goddess, and he waited. He only had to wait a scant moment, as Jenna's mind-conjured form simply appeared not far from him. The image of self projected in the Heart was not how the body appeared, but how the Sorcerer conceived of his or herself. The image of Jenna he faced was not his sister as he knew her, it was his sister as an adult, with long, dark hair and generous curves garbed in a gown that looked made of spider silk. Jenna was still a young lady, barely more than a girl, but she obviously thought of herself as an adult. Then again, with Jenna, that was probably not far off the mark. The knowledge that Spyder had imparted to her had matured her beyond her years, so it was probably appropriate that her self-image was that of a full adult rather than a child.

Jenna looked at him, then smiled. "You're consistent, I'll give you that," she told him. "Jula appears in her human form when she projects. You're the shorter you, but it's still you."

"I've been Were a lot longer than she has," he told her.

"That may be why," she agreed. "Alright, show me how you did it."

He did so, showing her the spell that the Goddess had taught to him not moments before. "Anything you have to teach me?" he asked curiously.

"Not yet," she replied. "I'll be done with the book in about another month or so. I'll let you Summon a copy when I'm finished, so you can read it. Have you seen Spyder?"

"No, have you?"

"Not since the last time she taught us," Jenna fretted.

"How is Jula doing?"

"She's learning fast," she replied. "I'm starting to really reach to teach her new spells. I was kind of hoping you'd have learned more through the echoes in the Weave."

"Not lately. They usually don't come to me until I need them, and there's not been anything going on that really needs me to use magic."

"Then go put yourself in danger," she winked. "I need to learn new spells!"

"Experiment," he told her. "It's not like you can Consume yourself or anything."

"I could still generate a Wildstrike," she objected.

"True, but it'll only hurt for a few moments. Sometimes you have to suffer to advance."

"I'd rather let you do the suffering and me doing the advancing," she laughed.

"I love you too," he said dryly.

Jenna was about to say something, but she suddenly whirled around and looked behind her. At about the same time, Tarrin sensed… something. He wasn't sure what it was, where it was, where it came from, or where it went. All he did know was that something had been there just a split-second before.

"What was that?" they asked one another in unison. Jenna laughed and Tarrin gave a slight face of irritation. "Have you ever sensed anything like that before, Jenna?" he asked.

"A couple of times," she replied. "I was hoping you could tell me about it."

"I've never felt it before," he answered her. "Maybe we should ask the Goddess."

"I did. She won't answer me," she replied. "This is either something she won't tell us about, or something we're supposed to find out on our own."

"Any idea what it is?"

"No idea at all," she grunted. "That was only the third time, and it's never here long enough for me to get any kind of a sense of it at all. Well, if you're here, then you're not moving. Are you there yet?"

"We're there," he told her.

"What's it like? Wikuna, I mean."

Tarrin described what he remembered of the city, then told her about the Palace and some of its technological luxuries. "I don't like this place, Jenna," he said. "The place is cold. Almost as if all the evil that's been done in here has seeped into the walls. If it were haunted by a thousand ghosts, I wouldn't be surprised."

"Ghosts aren't evil, Tarrin, they're just confused," Jenna corrected him absently. "I wonder how they make the water flow through the pipes. They have to have some kind of massive wellpump."

"When did you learn about ghosts?" he asked.

"It was part of what Spyder taught me," she replied. "There are such things as ghosts, but most of them aren't evil like the stories say. Most of them don't even realize they're dead."

"You really need to sit down with me and tell me about it all," he told her.

"You'll be able to read it all when I finish the book," she assured him. "Oh, I should tell you now."

"What?"

"The Keeper is ill," she said. "I don't know what it is, but whatever it is, Sorcery can't heal it."

"Sorcery can't cure disease, Jenna."

"I know, but it came on too quickly for it to be natural," she said.

"Get a Priest. They can cure diseases."

"We've already tried that."

"Then get a stronger Priest," he amended. "A High Priest can bring someone back from the deathbed."

"And where do we find one?" Jenna asked, a bit tartly. "Just about all the high-ranking Priests that were in Suld were part of the conspiracy in the Cathedral, so we can't use them. Most of them are dead, and the rest were stripped of their magic by Karas. The ones that still have magic are getting it from another god."

"Val," Tarrin realized. The Goddess and Spyder said that magic grew stronger with each new Weavespinner. Before, Val couldn't grant magic spells to his Priests, they had to serve another deity while surreptitiously serving Val. If the resurgence of lost magical powers and the strengthening of magic as a whole applied to Val as well, despite the fact that he was a god, then maybe now he could grant magical spells to his followers.

Tarrin hedged. "I, I think I might be able to do it," he said finally. There was no love lost between him and the Council, and the very memory of the Keeper was still enough to make him snarl in hatred. But the Keeper was the Keeper, and the Tower needed stability at the moment. If that meant swallowing his almost overpowering urge to ram the Keeper's teeth down her throat, then he'd do it to protect his family. "I'm no High Priest, but I may be able to fast-talk the Goddess into granting the spell for me, if there's nobody else available."

I hope you realize that I can hear every word you say, the Goddess said whimsically. Tarrin flushed slightly. In fact, he had forgotten about that. It was easy to forget about that. It's a good idea, kitten but Priest magic is not Sorcery. You have to be there and make physical contact for the spell to work properly. You're in Wikuna, and the Keeper is in Suld.

"Then Jenna can do it," he said impulsively. "She's just as strong as I am."

She's also human, the Goddess answered simply. Where you can bend the rules because of what you are, it would break them if I granted high-order Priest magic to Jenna.

"Then Jula," he reasoned. "Since it's a one-time deal, I'm sure you can bend the rules for her the way you do for me."

Jula doesn't have the magical training necessary to cast the spell, kitten. It's a good idea, though, she assured him. If Jula trained with some Priests, she may be able to do it. But it would take too long.

"Then what should we do?" Jenna asked.

Nothing. In this, I want the two of you to do nothing. Do you understand me?

"Yes, Mother," they said in unison.

"Mother, what was that presence we sensed a few minutes ago?" Tarrin asked bluntly.

Something you'll have to discover for yourself, my kitten, she answered, and then her sense of nearness retreated away from them.

"Well, you were right about that," Tarrin grunted to Jenna.

Jenna looked over her shoulder. "Um, Tarrin, I think Jasana is tugging my hair," she said uncertainly. "She's doing something that's getting my attention, that's for sure."

"It scares her when we join the Weave," he told her. "I wouldn't do it around her. It upsets her."

"I'll—ow!—remember that," she said, wincing. "She is pulling my hair!"

"Then you'd better go back," he said. "I wanted to tell you to stop training Jasana and then just sending her home," he told her. "She keeps trying to use magic at home when she knows she's not supposed to do magic without one of us there. You have to teach her, but start being heavy-handed. If Jesmind tells you she used magic the night before, deny her her lesson for that day. That'll make her get back in line very fast. Jasana's fascinated with magic, and when she finds out that the price of disobedience is losing the chance to learn magic, she should behave."

"That's pretty underhanded, Tarrin," Jenna chuckled.

"When you're dealing with Jasana, you have to be as conniving as she is," he told her plainly.

"No lie there," Jenna laughed, then she winced again. "Is that all you needed to say? If not, then give me the rest before your daughter rips all the hair out of my head."

"No, that's it," he said. "I'm bringing Kerri to the Heart tomorrow morning. Want to make it a double lesson?"

"Sure," she replied. "Me and Jula will be here. I'd better go, I think I just lost my bangs," she growled.

"Remember, be tough," he told her.

"Tough. Got it," she nodded. "See you tomorrow." Then her image dissolved.

Tarrin returned to his own body as well, having accomplished Jesmind's request in a timely fashion. And found himself almost immediately bored. He had nothing to do. Yawning, he shifted into his cat form and curled up on the bed. Whenever a cat had nothing else to do, it slept.


"Absolutely not!" Tarrin roared, throwing the ridiculously gaudy costume aside.

Keritanima stared at him evenly. She had come to his room not long before sunset, and it was the first time he'd seen her since the throne room. He'd eaten lunch with the others, but Keritanima had not been there, as she did whatever it was that she had to do with her government. But she had found the time to drop by his room before the grand feast and party she'd ordered and give him the most frilly-looking blue doublet and hose—hose, of all things!— for him to wear. Tarrin did not like such ridiculous looking clothing, and there was no way he was going to wear it. "You are not going to come to the ball and feast wearing that, brother," she warned in a dangerous tone. "You look like a peasant."

"I am a peasant!" he told her flatly. "Don't forget that, Kerri! I'm a simple village farmboy, no matter what I look like right now. I'm not going to wear that stupid doublet and hose. And that's final."

"Yes you are," she said in a deadly tone, reaching down and picking up the doublet. "You aren't about to go in there in front of all the noble houses looking like a clodhopper, Tarrin. I know you don't care what people think about you, but your appearance is going to reflect on me." She thrust the doublet back at him imperiously.

Without blinking, staring right into her eyes, Tarrin sank his claws into the doublet and ripped it in half. He tossed the two remnants of the doublet to each side and glared at the smaller Wikuni, daring her to say a word.

Just as coolly, Keritanima wove a weave of Air and picked up the pieces, then used the weave of mending that Tarrin had taught her to repair the garment.

"Don't make me burn it out of your hands, Kerri," Tarrin warned. "I'm not going to wear it, and you should know better than to push me."

"I don't care what you think, Tarrin," she warned. "If you don't wear something nice, you're not going to attend. That's final!"

"Then so be it," he said bluntly, turning his back on her and shifting into his cat form. He heard Keritanima growl furiously as he jumped up onto the bed and curled up atop it. He closed his eyes and ignored Keritanima as she shouted at him, but was honestly surprised when the Wikuni grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and hauled him off the bed. Tarrin wasn't a kitten, so her grip on him was decidedly painful as his skin stretched and the Wikuni's short, sharp little claws dug into him. He opened his eyes and glared at her, but her amber eyes didn't waver as she glared right back at him. He couldn't shapeshift while she had hold of a good part of the back of his neck, but he could make his displeasure known with magic. "Why do you always have to be so childish!" she shouted at him as he deepened his connection to the Weave, preparing to weave a pretty unpleasant spell to make her let him go. "I swear, brother, I want to wring your neck!"

Keritanima's voice got too hostile, and her hold on him was a bit too aggressive. Keritanima yelped in considerable pain as a bright blue flash illuminated the room, and she dropped him from a nerveless hand as Sapphire's magical lightning scoured motor control out of her body. Keritanima flopped over backwards as Tarrin shapeshifted back to his natural form, then let Sapphire land on his shoulder. She chirped softly at him and rubbed her head against his neck, making sure he wasn't hurt. Almost mothering him. Tarrin hadn't seen such a display of protectiveness out of the drake before, at least not on his behalf.

"I… hate… that… drake," Keritanima slurred, trying without much success to move. She did move, but she had very little control over her actions, moving in erratic, jerky movements. Sapphire had been carrying a full charge, and she had let Keritanima have it with all of it.

"Be lucky it was her. I would have done something much worse," Tarrin said flatly. "I don't care if you're my sister or not, Kerri. That hurt, and I'm sure you know how I react when people hurt me. Don't ever grab me like that again."

"I, I didn't know it hurt you," she slurred, getting a little more control back. "I'm sorry."

"I accept the apology, but don't come in here and boss me around, sister. I'm not one of your servants, and I'm not one of your subjects."

"I'm used to bossing people around," she said in a clearer voice, managing to sit up.

"Get over it," Tarrin said flatly. "You may be a queen, but that doesn't put you over me. If you want to order me around, then roll up your sleeves and make me obey you. It's the only way it's going to happen."

Keritanima looked at him, then laughed. "Dolanna warned me, but I didn't want to listen," she admitted. "I was so used to bossing you around back in the Tower, I guess it became second nature."

"It was only practical to do what you wanted then, since I knew you understood what was going on a lot better than I did, and you were better suited for dealing with it. Things aren't like that anymore, deshaida."

"So I see. Well, I won't force you to wear the doublet, but you absolutely will not come to the ball wearing those rags. You look like a homeless vagabond!"

"Would a new linen shirt and a pair of new leather trousers offend your sense of style?"

"Yes, but I think it's as far as I'm going to move you, so I'll live with it."

"You're right."

"And you need to take a bath!" she ordered. "You still smell like a ship!"

"The salt smell permeated the clothes," he realized, sniffing at his shirt. "I'd gotten used to it. Actually, I kinda like it."

"So do I, but you need to smell as neatly as you appear. So, take a bath, wash your hair, get some new clothes, and I'll have a servant come get you in about an hour. Alright?"

"That's fine with me," he agreed.

"Alright then. Imagine, Keritanima-Chan Eram, Queen of Wikuna, having to fight with someone in her own Palace!" she sighed. "If the nobles found out, I'd never live it down!"

"If they tease you over it, just point them out to me, and I'll kill them," he offered.

Keritanima laughed. "Sometimes I wish it was that easy," she told him, heading towards the inner parlor. She'd left her Royal Guard outside the entrance to the apartments. "I'll see you in a while. I have to get ready myself."

Tarrin let her go, still a little annoyed with her, then chided Sapphire softly as she hissed towards the open doorway. He set her down and Conjured new, clean, undamaged clothing, trousers that weren't shredded around the ankles from the claws on his feet, a shirt that didn't have holes in it from the claws on his paws, and then joined the adventure of figuring out how the bathtub worked. It still mystified him that they had managed to put running water in an upper-floor room of a large building situated on a hill. How did they keep the water pressure going to make the water flow out of the spigot? There had to be something pushing the water, but how could they do it without using horses, or men, or a water wheel of gigantic proportions? He took off his clothes and put a paw in the flow of the water, still amazed that there was hot water flowing out of it. How did they heat the water without magic? Or did they use magic? There were a few Priest spells that would cause a heating effect, one in particular jumped to mind, a spell that heated metal. There was another spell, much more advanced, that caused a lesser spell's effect to be rendered permanent. Was that how they did it? Did they use magic that heated the water, then make it permanent? If so, they must be able to control the temperature. The water flowing over his paw was hot, but it wasn't boiling. Not that it would have bothered him if it was boiling. He just couldn't imagine how they were doing it. But then again, Tarrin had never learned much about mechanics and physics and science. Most of his learning had been warfare and hunting and swordplay.

He watched the tub fill up with water, then he stopped the water's flow. Then he let some of it out for good measure, recalling that his body would displace the water and raise the water level. He didn't want to have to clean up a small pool of water off the bathroom floor. It steamed lazily in the contained air of the bathroom, raising the temperature of the room, and Tarrin found it to his liking. He tentatively put a foot in the bath, feeling the strange sensation of hot water soaking into the fur on his toes. Tarrin didn't like getting his fur wet, but this was a special occasion. He did need a bath. He stepped into it then slowly sank down into the water, watching the fetlocks on his ankles floating and drifting in the comfortably hot water, feeling its heat work into him and relax muscles that he didn't realize were tensed. The bathtub was monstrously oversized, almost large enough for a small human to swim in it, but for Tarrin it was almost perfect. They'd probably made it so large to amaze the royal guest housed in the room, to overwhelm him with the grandeur of the place.

Tarrin blinked. Maybe the bathtub wasn't oversized. He took the fact that everything was usually too small for him for granted, but he realized right then that the furniture was a little larger than normal, the chairs were a little sturdier than normal, despite being garishly over-decorated, the bed was absolutely huge, even the pedestal upon which the sink rested was very high for a Wikuni-sized person. The Wikuni were allied to the Vendari that lived on the continent… did they furnish these rooms with an eye on making an oversized Vendari feel comfortable? If they did that, they would have made all the furniture much larger. Or maybe they'd reinforced things for a Vendari but still made it usable by smaller beings. That was a possibility. After all, they'd only have to make the bed and the bathtub truly large to accommodate a Vendari, since they, like him, were probably used to the undersized furniture they encountered when dealing with the smaller folk.

Either way, the bathtub was large enough for him, and that was all that mattered. He laid all the way back until only his head and neck were out of the water, enjoying the sensation of being surrounded by hot water. Sapphire flapped over and landed on the lip of the tub, sniffing at the water curiously. She looked at him with those blue-blue eyes, and the question was obvious within them. What was he doing? "It's a bath, Sapphire," he told her. "I'm cleaning up."

She tilted her head quizzically at him.

"Nevermind," he said absently, reaching behind him and unbinding his braid. He combed it out and then washed his hair, rinsing out quite a bit of sea salt and travel dust. He felt the heavy weight of it, all that hair soaking up the water and tugging at his head, and he paused to remember how Mist looked with short hair. Then he remembered what Triana said, as well as Kimmie, that a Were-cat could actively control how long they wanted their hair to be. He'd never really given it much thought up until that point, when he felt the great weight of his hair and he wondered how it would feel to not have it pulling the back of his head down all the time.

What would it hurt? If he failed, it would just grow back. Tarrin rose up and sat on the lip of the tub, then twisted his hair together to gather it up and squeeze the majority of the water out of it. Then he Conjured two mirrors and hung them in midair with Sorcery so he could see what he was doing. Once he had the mirrors set where he could see clearly, he used a slight weave of cutting Air to slice the gathered hair in twain, just below the base of the hairline on the back of his head. He could feel his scalp immediately start to itch, the signal that the hair was about to begin to grow at that astronomical rate that would return it to its former length within moments. He closed his eyes and willed his hair not to grow, forming an image of himself with a hairstyle something like his father's, with just the small tail of hair at the back of the head, just reaching the shoulders, and the short hair on the sides and in front. He felt his scalp continue to itch, but he felt no hair growing yet. He realized that it was still itching because his self-image had always been with the long hair, with the braid, and seeing himself with short hair seemed almost unnatural. It wasn't how he currently appeared or how he wanted to appear, the Were-flavored body wanted to mold itself into the self-image maintained by the mind. As a shapeshifter, that self-image was critical for returning to the natural form, so it was branded into his deep subconscious.

Tarrin opened his eyes, and was surprised to see his hair short. It had grown just a little, to match the image of self he had pictured in his mind, and in that moment he could see his father in him. His hair looked like his father's hair, almost perfectly, right down to the shaggy, uneven bangs and the shoulder-length tail of hair on the back of his head. Father kept it because his neck easily sunburned. His head felt weird, too light, and he looked very funny. Father's hairstyle didn't suit him. He willed his hair to grow out just a little more, to where the bangs were even and just over his eyes, and longer on the sides to conceal the smooth skin where human ears would have been. Those patches of bare skin upset some humans, for some reason, so he was in a habit of keeping them hidden. It felt quite right to have the bangs there, since he kept short bangs, but it still felt funny in the back. He looked at himself in the mirrors, and wasn't entirely displeased with the slightly longer hair. His black-furred ears looked a little strange popping up over the freed hair, since the braid kept his hair more or less flat, and his hair began to try to poof up as it began to dry out. Like all Were-cats, Tarrin's hair was incredibly thick, so thick that it had a tendency to stand up on the top of his head.

"What do you think, Sapphire?" he asked absently, turning his head this way and that to look at his hair. "Is it me?"

The drake looked at him and gave a noncommittal chirp.

It was certainly less of a burden like that. Lighter, and it would be easier to wash. And, if he didn't like it, he could just make it grow back out any time he wanted. He did make it grow out a little more, not liking how it felt when it moved around free with every turn of his head. He gathered it up at the back of his head and Conjured a thong to tie it. It wasn't a braid, it was a tail, and it made him go right back to looking much as he did before he cut off the braid. He looked at it in the mirror and decided he liked it. Maybe not as much as having the braid, but he'd try it and see.

That left a five-span long mass of hair left over. Tarrin picked it up where he tied it to cut it off, looking at it. All that hair had been connected to the back of his head not a few moments ago. He remembered Phandebrass' warning for him not to leave such things laying around, that they could be used against him in magical spells, so he incinerated the mass of hair with a quick weave, reducing it to fine, powdery ash. He picked up the ash with a weave of Air and deposited it in the sink, then washed it down the drain.

Feeling clean and relaxed, Tarrin climbed out of the tub and dried off, then dressed in the new clothing he would wear to the feast. They felt very nice against his skin and fur, and they smelled much better than the old clothes, though they lacked that sea smell that Tarrin did rather like. Sapphire jumped up onto his shoulder and flipped the new tail of hair with her snout a couple of times as he was lacing the front of the new shirt. Then she bit it.

"Sapphire!" Tarrin chided as she clamped onto the tail of hair and pulled at it. "Do you mind?"

Obviously, she didn't mind at all. She kept biting at it, sawing her teeth back and forth, and then he felt his hair come free of its bindings. Sapphire pulled away, and he looked down and saw that she had the leather thong he'd used between a single clawed forepaw and her maw, pulling at it with a clawed finger as her teeth tried to sever it again. He forgot that he gave Sapphire leather rawhide to chew on, and she had smelled the leather thong and thought it to be a new chew toy.

Grumbling, Tarrin Conjured a silk cord and used that to tie his hair. Sapphire sniffed at it curiously, but this one, she decided, wasn't worth biting. "If you chew up my new pants, we're going to fight, little girl," he warned as he left the bathroom.

Tarrin passed the time between getting ready and the knock on the door in tedium. When it finally did come, Tarrin was both relieved and a little anxious. Tarrin didn't like strangers, and he was about to go into a huge crowd of them. Some of them weren't going to be friendly, either. He decided the best thing to do would be go to the ball, eat, hang around long enough to satisfy Kerri, then quietly leave.

The servant sent to fetch him was a wolf Wikuni female that looked surprisingly like Audrey, the Were-wolf female that he'd come to meet on the march to Suld. Almost exactly the same. She had the same narrow snout and gray-white coloring, wearing a white gown with the Royal Crest emblazoned on the front in red, and her black hair done in a multitude of little curls than hung over her amber eyes. Audrey was a little taller than this female, which made this female taller than the average Wikuni female, and Audrey was a Were-wolf, who were a very sleek and powerful breed. This female was slender, but she had the same softness that human females exhibited. This one probably did not do any real work. "Um, Master Tarrin?" she asked hesitantly. He could smell her fear, and that caused his predatory nature to rise up, staring down at the smaller female.

"Let's go," he said bluntly, stepping out into the hallway and forcing her to back up, eyes widening.

"Um, are you bringing the drake?"

"Is it here? Am I carrying it out into the hall?" he asked.

"Um, yes, but, um, you may want to leave it in your rooms, sir," she said meekly.

"If she bites anyone, they obviously deserved it," Tarrin told the little servant with a stare that made her flinch away from him.

"I, um, yes, Master Tarrin," she acquiesced, then started down the hallway.

Tarrin fell into step behind her, having to go slow. "What's got you so nervous?" he asked her directly.

"Um, well, um, we were warned to be polite to you, that you were, um, well, sort of not very nice," she answered honestly. Tarrin admired that honesty, even if her words did seem rather cowardly. "They said to always tell you the truth," she added quickly, obviously fearing that she insulted him. She was visibly trembling, and the fear-smell emanated from her as if she'd doused a bucket of it over herself. She was terrified of him! Tarrin wondered why they would send her, when Kerri knew that if the servant she sent showed fear, it would irritate him?

"Kerri knows me to well," Tarrin chuckled to himself. "What's your name?"

"Amber, my Lord," she replied.

Fitting name, he reasoned, given her eyes. "Calm down, girl. I won't hurt you unless I have a reason to. Do you plan to give me a reason?"

"No!" she squeaked.

"Then you have nothing to worry about," he told her calmly. "Why did Kerri send you?"

"Her Majesty didn't, Master Tarrin. I was sent by the Master of Servants."

In other words, the servant that was supposed to come and get him was too afraid after Kerri warned him about Tarrin's peculiarities, so he sent her, someone he could bully into doing it for him. At least she had the courage to do her duty, even if she was afraid of him. Tarrin could respect that. "From now on, if anyone ever has to come and get me or bring anything to me, you're going to do it, Amber," he told her. "At least you have the courage to face me. That's more than can be said for some of the spineless cowards Kerri has working for her."

"Um, yes, Master Tarrin," she said in a slightly quavering voice. Amber, it seemed, wasn't quite so enthusiastic about her new appointment.

Amber led him down hallways, up and down stairs, and down more hallways, each more gaudily decorated than the last, until he again stood in the throne room. It had festive buntings hanging on the walls between the numerous decorations designed to impress the onlooker with the splendor of the Wikuni kingdom, and the grand open space was filled with so many Wikuni that the floor was very crowded. Almost all of them were very richly dressed in expensive gowns or extravagant doublets, and jewels dripped from them all like water. Each of them did his or her very best to impress everyone else, and exhibit his grandeur, wealth, and importance. They talked in groups, large and small, and a veritable army of servants scurried between them holding trays carrying food or drink. The dais on the far end of the throne room was empty at the moment, and since there were no tables within the hall, the meal would be taken in another chamber. It had to be a pretty huge one, to hold tables for what looked to be nearly three hundred guests.

Amber led him through the throng, and each group stopped talking when Tarrin passed them, only to fire up into heated whispers after he went by. His ears could pick up some of the whispering, which was all wild rumor. Some said he was Keritanima's lover, some said he was a wild monster from the West she had tamed as another formidable bodyguard, some even said he was some kind of missing link between Wikuni and other races, since he was half animal. The most annoying rumor, however, was the scornful tone used when they called him a Sorcerer. Tarrin often forgot that Sorcery was not a very welcome profession outside of Sulasia. Most other kingdoms feared or hated Sorcerers, blaming them for the Breaking and just about any other misfortune they may have befell in the thousand years since then.

It wasn't hard to make out Keritanima's group. Three Vendari and Azakar made them stand out on the floor, near the dais. Keritanima was there, wearing her Royal robes and crown in a formal sense, and Binter and Sisska stood at each side of her, as they always did. Azakar stood by Binter, wearing his armor. Miranda stood beside Sisska, wearing an off-white, nearly cream colored gown that cleverly matched the color of her fur and made it hard to tell where neckline ended and fur-clad cleavage began. All the others were there, and they were all wearing finery. Allia wore a white robe, of all things, that did make her look good, since it was belted around her very sleek waist. Dolanna wore her best gown, a deep blue gown that accented her dark hair, and Phandebrass was wearing a silk robe that didn't have any burn marks or stains on it, as well as that same ridiculous pointed hat of which he was so fond. For Phandebrass, that was pretty remarkable. Camara Tal still wore a tripa skirt, but it was new and black, a new color for her, and she wore a breastplate with an eagle etched into its front and a new swordbelt with the magical sword that she had inherited from Faalken on it. Dar wore a new silk robe that was dark brown, and he looked very comfortable in the social situation. Dar was from a wealthy family in Arkis, so he was probably used to things like this. Kimmie was also wearing a gown, altered for her tail, and Tarrin was quite taken by how pretty she looked in it. It was lavender, a strange color that did go well with her hair but also made her striped orange tabby fur stand out on her paws. It wasn't quite clashing, but it was close. Then again, few colors were going to go well with orange and yellow, so Kimmie had chosen a color that went with her hair and put long sleeves on to hide as much of her fur as she could.

"Um, your Majesty, Master Tarrin," Amber said with a deep curtsy.

Keritanima looked at Tarrin expectantly, but he just stood there until Dar elbowed him in the side. "You're supposed to bow!" he whispered to the Were-cat under his breath.

He forgot about that part. He gave Keritanima a bow, a slight one but still graceful, and she nodded her head in acknowledgement, relief evident on her face. "Whatever did you do to your hair?" Keritanima asked him curiously.

"I decided to try it without all the weight," he answered.

"Well, what do you think so far?" Keritanima asked with a sudden grin.

"It's weird," he replied, putting a paw to the back of his head.

"I imagine it would feel that way," Keritanima agreed. "Did you have to bring that little monster with you?"

"She protects me from you, Kerri," Tarrin said bluntly.

Dar had to stifle a laugh, and even Dolanna looked about ready to smile.

Tarrin glanced at Amber, who was nervously waiting to be dismissed. "I want you to send this one any time you send for me," Tarrin said, pointing at the servant.

"You like her, eh?" Keritanima asked.

"She has more guts than the one you originally sent," he replied.

"You didn't kill him, did you?" Keritanima asked in concern, a question that made Amber flinch.

"He never showed up. He must have pawned it off on her. She did show up, and she was even honest with me."

"What's your name, girl?" Keritanima asked her.

"Amber, your Majesty," she replied with a curtsy so deep she almost fell over.

"I like servants with courage, and you're obviously loyal, if you were willing to face him on my orders," she said, grinning at Tarrin. "Don't let him scare you, girl. He's all bluster and fanfare, but deep inside he's just a big pussycat."

Amber's muzzle fur ruffled slightly, and she glanced at Tarrin.

"If Tarrin wants you, then he's got you," she said grandly. "You'll serve Tarrin as a page until we leave, and then you'll take up a place on my personal staff. I think that's suitable reward for standing up to the big bully."

"Th-Thank you, your Majesty," Amber said, curtsying again.

"Now go take the rest of the day off," Keritanima ordered. "You deserve it."

Amber curtsied about ten times as she backed away from their group, stammering and stuttering, until she was swallowed up by the crowd.

"She was honest with you how?" Dar asked curiously.

"She said I wasn't very nice," he replied.

"That's honest," Dar laughed.

"I don't understand why she's so nervous. She's a lot braver than most of these sheep."

"Those sheep have others to stand between themselves and danger," Dolanna said sagely. "Ones like Amber have nothing but themselves."

"Well, do you like your rooms, Tarrin?" Keritanima asked.

"It's too big," he answered.

"So are mine," Allia agreed. "I do not know what to do with all that space."

"Why did you put us in there?" Tarrin asked her.

"Well, I like my rooms," Dar said defensively. "I've never had so much space to myself before."

"I could grow very attached to the baths," Dolanna agreed.

"I say, you really must send me to your civil engineers," Phandebrass said brightly. "I am completely amazed by how advanced your water system is. Well, running water, hot and cold, and even a sewer system! I've never seen the like!"

"And what are those stones that I've seen out there?" Dar asked. "Those huge ones that they've been putting down on the streets? How do they move them without breaking everything?"

"Those aren't stones when they start out, Dar," Keritanima grinned. "It's the newest invention from the Ministry of Science. It's a mixture of crushed limestone, sand, gravel, and some other ingredients I'm not quite sure about. They call it concrete."

"How do they move it?"

"It starts out as a liquid," she explained patiently. "They mix all the ingredients together with water, pour it into a mold, then simply wait for it to dry. When it does, it's as strong as just about any kind of stone."

"That's almost unbelievable," Camara Tal said calmly. "Liquid stone?"

"I've seen them do it," Keritanima told her. "It looks like gray mud when they start out. They pour it out onto the street in a mold, smooth it out with flat boards, then just rope off the area and let it dry. They've been tearing up the streets here in the city, installing a better sewer system underneath them while they've got them ripped up, then covering it with new concrete streets. It's been going fairly well," she said with a toothy grin. "They started on the largest and most traveled streets and then they're working their way down. The city's master engineer wrote me a report saying they'd be done in about four years."

"Liquid stone," Tarrin mused. "That's almost better than magic."

"How do they think these things up?" Dar asked curiously.

"I have an entire university full of people who do nothing but think things up," Keritanima told him seriously. "Wikuna's edge has always been the fact that we're one step ahead of the rest of the world. We have faster ships, better weapons, and a stronger economy. Well, the rest of the world is going to catch up to us, so we spend a lot of money researching new ideas. The steam engine, concrete, cast iron, and something that's caught on over in Sennadar, printing presses and cooking stoves, they're all products of Wikuna's state-funded science department."

"You told me the Tellurians invented the stoves," Dar accused.

"They developed the idea, but it was our cast-iron technology that made them cheap to produce," Keritanima replied calmly. "They were riveting together hand-worked iron plates to make the stoves before we bought the idea from them. Now we just cast the pieces, assemble them, then sell them. If there's anyone in the world that gives us a run for our money in technology, it's the Tellurians. If they were a larger, better funded kingdom, they could probably pass us by. Tellurians are probably the most creative people I've ever seen. That's why over half of my Science Department are Tellurians," she admitted with a grin.

Tarrin recalled that clever little writing pen that had all the ink inside it, the one Miranda was so fond of using. She had said that it was a Tellurian design.

"I say, my countrymen are rather bright," Phandebrass said with a mild smile.

"You're Tellurian?" Camara Tal asked with a scoff.

"I say, isn't it obvious?" he asked, slightly offended.

"I certainly hope he's not an example of the race," the Amazon said to Keritanima, jerking her thumb at the mage.

"Master Phandebrass certainly displays the intelligence of the Tellurian people," Keritanima said with diplomatic aplomb.

"Too bad it's so warped," Camara Tal grunted, crossing her arms across her ceremonial breastplate.

A Wikuni stepped into the grand main entrance to the hall and rang a large brass bell. "Ah, there's dinner," Keritanima said brightly, obviously heading off another argument between Phandebrass and Camara Tal. "Shall we eat?"

"Capital idea," Phandebrass said, adjusting the ridiculous pointed hat he wore.

They were led to an immense chamber not far from the throne hall, nearly twice as large, and filled with table after table. There had to be a hundred of them in the hall, all of them circular with six chairs place under them and the silk-covered tables set with the finest gold-chased china from the Far East. Even the cutlery was made of gold, Tarrin could smell as he and his friends were led to the head table, on a small raised dais at the far end of the room. They all waited as the Queen was seated, then were allowed to take their own seats. Keritanima's table was twice the size of all the others, but only had nine places, giving the three extra diners at the Queen's table much more space. They were all seated except Binter and Sisska, who stood to each side of the Queen's chair defensively. Tarrin sat at Keritanima's left, and Allia to her right, as Miranda, Phandebrass, Dar, Camara Tal, Dolanna, and Azakar took the remaining seats. Both Tarrin and Azakar gave the chairs a nervous look, for they didn't look all that sturdy. They were heavily padded, made of cherrywood, and had designs embroidered on the cushions tacked to the backs. Tarrin gave Azakar a slightly amused look, as they both hovered there and waited for the other to sit down, to see if the chair broke. Tarrin weighed less than Azakar, so he decided to try it first, carefully lowering himself down until his full weight was placed on the chair. It did seem to squeak a bit, but remained whole.

"You're not that fat, Tarrin," Keritanima chided him.

"I don't trust furniture made for little people," Tarrin told her absently as Azakar gingerly seated himself in the chair. It squealed a bit in protest, but accepted his full weight without breaking.

Dinner was served immediately after the Queen was comfortable, and it was a very large, very long meal. They served it in courses, one dish at a time, and some of the foods were things that Tarrin had never seen before. The first course was a thick soup made of small sea creatures that Keritanima called shrimp, with cream and small bits of some kind of fish. Tarrin didn't like it very well, it was too heavily spiced, but Sapphire seemed to be very partial to it, so he gave the rest to her. The second course was a weird creature that looked like some kind of mutated scorpion, cherry-red and angry looking. Keritanima called it a lobster, a sea animal that was abundant in Wikuna's chilly coastal waters, and she showed them how to extract the white meat from the hard shell with small, delicate forks and a tool that looked like a steel version of the pincer that was on the lobster's body. Tarrin dispensed with the shell-cracker and simply split the thing open with his claws, using the tips like an awl to puncture the shell and cause it to split. Then it was just a simple matter of digging out the good parts. The third dish they served was grilled fish steaks, some kind of reddish-meat fish that was actually quite savory.

Tarrin looked around briefly, and saw that most of the nobles were watching him, their expressions slightly unpleasant. He glanced at them only briefly before going back to his fish steak, feeding a part of it to Sapphire, who seemed to like it as much as he did.

By then, Allia was looking a little displeased. "What's wrong?" Tarrin asked.

"These things, they're all from the sea," she said in Selani. "They all taste funny, metallic in a way. I don't like them."

"Don't worry, sister," Keritanima assured her. "It won't all be seafood."

"I hope not."

The fourth dish made Allia much happier. It was a vegetable dish, bean chutes, mushrooms, large brown things, and strips of some kind of fleshy plant cooked in a rich, tangy sauce and served over a strange grain-like food that Keritanima called rice. Tarrin had never seen any of the vegetables except the beans and mushrooms before, but he had to admit that they were quite good. The rice itself was tasteless, but he found that when it was mixed with the sauce, it was very good. The fifth dish was obviously prepared with Tarrin in mind, for it was beef steaks, not roasted, but grilled over an open flame. The difference wasn't a very big one, but it made a world of difference in the way that it tasted. The steaks were served with a potato, something with which Tarrin was more than familiar, one baked instead of boiled. Tarrin had always found potatoes to be bland, but if one heaped enough butter on them, they became almost edible. Even with his heightened sense of taste, he still found potatoes to be rather bland. But it didn't take as much butter as it did when he was human to make it tolerable. Tarrin set the bone of his steak, with plenty of meat still on it, on the table in front of Sapphire, setting it on a small saucer that had been part of the set table. The drake sank her teeth into it happily, and to his surprise, her small, sharp little teeth seemed to have no trouble grinding down the bone as well as the meat. Just like a raccoon, she used her forepaws to hold the bone down and even used them to hold the bone off the plate as she ate. He saw that her forepaws had remarkable dexterity, and since her duke claw could serve as an opposable thumb, it gave her a lot of gripping power. Sapphire used her forepaws like hands, and she seemed to be quite adept at it. That was unusual, since he'd never seen Chopstick or Turnkey do what Sapphire was doing now. Their forepaws had the same shape, but they'd either never bothered or had never learned how to grip things as she had.

The last dish was dessert, and it was, quite simply, the most delicious kind of sweet he had ever tasted. It was some kind of sweetbread or cake served with a hot sweet liquid poured over it, a liquid that was thick, sticky, and tasted both sweet and buttery at the same time. The sweetbread was good enough by itself, but the topping made it absolutely marvelous.

"What is this, Kerri?" Dar asked, shoveling a spoonful so large that it almost didn't fit into his mouth.

"It's called bread pudding," she replied. "The other nobles think it's scandalous that I like it," she added with a coy smile. "It's not something nobles eat."

"Why not?"

"Because it used to be made of stale bread," she replied. "It was an old commoner's dessert, thought up so the bread wouldn't go to waste. My cooks redid the recipe a bit, though. I have to admit, I think they did a good job."

"Jesmind would absolutely die over this," Tarrin mused. "She loves sweets."

"You'll have to make her some," Keritanima told him.

"What is this honey-like stuff they pour on top?" Dar asked.

"Caramel," she replied. "It's a confection from Sharadar."

Dolanna nodded. "It is actually not that hard to make," she added. "It is just a matter of the right amounts of butter, honey, salt, and spice."

"Sounds like a lot of what the Wikuni use didn't come from Wikuna," Tarrin noted.

"If we find something good, we borrow it," Keritanima shrugged.

"I say, an advantage when you're a society of global traders. There isn't much your people haven't seen," Phandebrass said.

"Good point there," Miranda agreed.

Sapphire snapped the last of the bone into a manageable mouthful, then crunched it into her mouth and swallowed it. She eyed Tarrin's dessert hungrily, but he put a paw between her and the plate. "Don't even think about it," he warned her.

"At least she has table manners," Keritanima said, looking at the drake, who hissed slightly and glared back in return.

"Be nice," Tarrin chided the drake. Sapphire did nothing but snort and look longingly at the dessert sitting on Miranda's plate.

"You want this?" Miranda asked her, pointing at the bread pudding.

"Don't give her that," Tarrin warned. "If she eats that, she's going to be flying around the room all night. Drakes and sweets are not a good combination."

"What's the harm in giving her a little bit?"

"Tell you what, Miranda. If you want to feed it to her, fine. But you have to take her home with you tonight and try to get her to go to sleep."

"Ah, well, when you put it like that, I guess I can see your point," she grinned. "At least now I know how to get back at you if you annoy me," she added with a wink.

"And I'll just send her to your room and let you deal with her," he warned. "Just ask Kerri how much of a handful she can be."

"Don't remind me," Keritanima growled.

"What did she do?" Dar asked.

Miranda giggled. "She shocked Kerri," the mink replied. "Never argue with Tarrin when she's with him. She tends to zap anyone that raises her voice to him."

Dar gave Keritanima a broad smile. "I guess we should thank Kerri for showing us that."

"Like you'd ever argue with Tarrin," Keritanima shot back.

A Wikuni servant scurried up to the table and whispered in Keritanima's ear. It was very soft, very quick, but Tarrin had very sharp hearing. The servant told Keritanima that Rallix had only just arrived, and that he sent his apologies for being so late. He saw her eyes light up, then her fur on her face ruffle, and then she nodded exuberantly. "Thank you very much. We're almost done here, so ask him to join us in the ballroom," she commanded.

"At once, your Majesty," the servant said with a bow, then hurried away.

"Well, I'm about finished here," Keritanima said firmly. "Shall we go to the ballroom? I have my best musicians here tonight, and we're sure to have a good time."

The ballroom was just as large as the dining room had been, decorated with ten massive chandeliers that hung from thick chains from the ceiling. Small crystal teardrops were suspended from the candleholders, and they caught and refracted the light into rainbow cascades that made each look like glittering stars were hanging in the air. This was a chamber near the outside, since it had a line of huge windows lining the far side, which offered a spectacular view of the harbor from a balcony that ran the length of the ballroom along the outside of those windows. Huge works of art and tapestries hung from the other walls, depicting scenes of dancing and lone figures, and the far corner held a dais upon which sat ten Wikuni holding various musical instruments. The floor was made of a reddish wood cut into large squares, the grains opposing one another to give the place a lanceboard appearance, but the wood was so deeply polished that it literally glowed in the light of the candles above it. The room was large, brightly lit, warmly decorated, and seemed a very nice place. It was the first room he'd visited in the Palace that had any sense of warmth, of soul within it. It was one of the few places in the Palace where Wikuni had a good time.

There were already about twenty Wikuni in the ballroom outside the musicians, and it took him all of a heartbeat to figure out which one was Rallix. Miranda had described him to Tarrin very precisely, and he saw that Miranda hadn't missed a thing. Rallix was a tall, rather thin Wikuni, a badger Wikuni, with brownish fur with dark stripes, and a black stripe over his eyes that looked like a mask. He had a narrow muzzle and a badger nose at the end of it, but his expression was one of cool control. He wore a black waistcoat with tails over a white linen shirt, his bushy badger tail splitting the tails, and a pair of black trousers with a red sash or some kind of adornment around his waist. The red stood out against the black and white, but it was more of a fashion statement than any kind of glaring fashion mistake. Tarrin saw that Rallix wore shoes—not all Wikuni did—black leather shoes polished to a shine. He was handsome, in the Wikuni fashion, but it was the intelligence in his dark eyes that caught Tarrin's attention.

More than that. Tarrin looked at Rallix, and looked at him harder. There was something about him, something unusual. Something that made Tarrin look right at him as soon as he came into the room, something that made him stand out to such a degree that it was blatant. It didn't seem to be something that anyone else noticed, because the others didn't seem to be taking notice of Rallix, although Dolanna's gaze did linger on him for a moment before moving on. Tarrin puzzled over it, for it wasn't a bad sense, it wasn't a feeling of danger, and he hadn't even caught the man's scent yet. There was just something about him that seemed… different. Tarrin glanced away from him as he considered it, and his eyes locked on Miranda's luxuriantly furred tail as she walked in front of him. Then he glanced at Kimmie—

Kimmie. Of course! Kimmie and Phandebrass both had that same sense of presence about them that Rallix did!

Rallix was a Wizard!

Did Keritanima know? Was Rallix a serious student, or was he simply a dabbler, as Kimmie had been before tutoring with Phandebrass? If he was as smart as Keritanima boasted, he certainly could be a good Wizard. When did he find time to study, since he was so busy running that trading company that Keritanima had told him about?

Tarrin put his thoughts aside as Keritanima stopped in front of him. Rallix bowed gracefully to her, sweeping an arm before him, then rose up and kissed her hand. "I was quite flattered to receive your invitation, your Majesty," he said in a soft voice, but Tarrin could sense the power within it. "It took me completely by surprise, I must admit. I also must apologize for being so late, but there was a very big emergency at the trading company I run."

"Oh? What happened?" Keritanima asked, the fur on her cheeks trying to rise up as Rallix's hand remained on hers. Tarrin could see that Keritanima was smitten. He decided that that was a good thing, and he'd see to it that Rallix was equally smitten with her. Even if he had to smite Rallix himself.

"We had a ship fire, your Majesty," he answered. "There was very little damage, but you know the kind of chaos such a thing can cause. I simply could not leave until things were settled down. I do hope you'll forgive me."

"Oh, that's alright, Master Rallix," she said demurely. "I know all about that kind of thing. You're here now, and that's all that matters, isn't it?"

That seemed to take Rallix by surprise. He gave Keritanima a very speculative, searching look, then seemed to realize that he was still holding onto her hand. He let go of her with a surprising amount of grace about the whole thing. "Yes, well, I'm happy to be here, your Majesty," he said quickly. "My duties don't give me much time for dancing."

"I'll have to have a long talk with your employer about that," Keritanima said with a very faint grin. "Where is she now?"

"Still at her country estate, I'm afraid," he said carefully, in a very low voice. Tarrin realized that Keritanima was asking about something more than what her words said. Keritanima was actually Rallix's boss, so it had to be about someone else. "From what I hear, she's been very quiet and reserved lately."

"I'm glad to hear that. I heard that she'd sailed to Sennadar, though."

"Something she decided it would be best people believed, your Majesty. She did intend to take the journey, but didn't feel well enough to undertake it not long after setting sail, so she was returned home. Her sabbatical to her country estate has done wonders for her health. She sends her best regards to you." He leaned in close. "Why did you send me that invitation, your Majesty?" he asked.

"Do I need a reason to send you an invitation, Rallix?" she asked with a surprisingly disarming smile.

"Given that we don't know one another, I'd say yes," he answered truthfully. "I had no idea your Majesty even knew I existed."

Keritanima seemed to ignore that. "It's common custom for the sitting monarch to begin the first dance. I needed a good dance partner, so of course I thought of you right away. So," she said, holding out her arm expectantly.

"Of course, your Majesty," he said after a brief delay.

Tarrin watched as Keritanima and Rallix stepped out onto the empty floor, even as some of the guests filed into the ballroom. That seemed to be a cue for the musicians, who took up their instruments and began a lively song. He watched Keritanima and Rallix dance, a stately dance despite the energy of the song, one that involved a great deal of spinning about. Rallix, Tarrin saw, was an excellent dancer, leading Keritanima in graceful spin after spin as they stepped across the floor. He also saw that they weren't talking. If Keritanima called up Rallix to both fish for him and catch up on her trading company, talking while dancing would be a good way to do it, but not with every eye fixed on them. They'd wait until the others joined them.

After the song ended, couples stepped out onto the floor and joined the Queen and her partner as another began. Kimmie elbowed him in the ribs and offered her paw to him, and seeing no reason not to do it, he took it and led her out onto the floor as Sapphire left his shoulder to fly around near the ceiling to explore the vast room. Both of them had only seen Keritanima and Rallix perform that particular dance, which was being danced again, but their Were-cat grace and agility allowed them to copy it with perfection, and shame everyone on the floor with their grace and poise.

"That has to be Rallix," Kimmie noted, looking over at them. "I didn't understand a word they were saying but I do think I heard her use that name. She didn't even introduce us."

"She's a little distracted," Tarrin replied, glancing around and speaking in low tones. "Rallix is her business partner, but—"

"The scent she's laying down right says he's a lot more than that," Kimmie finished.

"About that. Just don't repeat that."

"You just said it out loud."

"On a crowded dance floor among people who speak Sulasian as a second language, if they speak it at all," he told her.

"You need to teach me Wikuni," Kimmie chuckled.

"I need to teach you Sha'Kar," he told her.

"Phandebrass is working on that," she replied. "He's trying to adapt that spell you used to learn Wikuni and make a Wizard spell that does the same thing. If he succeeds, I can learn it in a matter of days."

"Is he making any progress?"

"Some," she sighed. "He accidentally scrambled his memory a few times. He taught me a counterspell specifically to restore lost memory, and I've had to use it on him a few times."

"He didn't hurt himself, did he?"

"Not permanently," she chuckled. "There was a period there for a few days when he couldn't remember his own name, but he's recovered."

"I think I remember that," Tarrin said. "That was right after he shrunk you two."

"Don't bring that up," she said in a pained voice.

"It could be worse. He could be experimenting on you."

"After the shrinking incident, he knows better than to experiment on me," Kimmie grunted. "I may seem like a sweet little girl, but I can just as nasty as Jesmind when I'm annoyed."

"I doubt anyone could be as nasty as Jesmind when she's annoyed," Tarrin chuckled. "Except maybe her mother."

"Well, maybe not that bad," Kimmie agreed with a laugh.

The song completed, Tarrin escorted Kimmie off the floor just as a slower song began, one that was almost stately. It was a different kind of dance they were doing now, some kind of group-oriented dance where a long line of males faced a long line of females. They bowed or curtsied, and as one, the lines moved forward. Grasping hands, each pair made slow, cautious steps, turning a circle in one direction, and then the other way.

"I just noticed something," Kimmie said.

"What?"

"Not all Wikuni have tails," she observed. "Look at that cat Wikuni over there. She has a tail. But that one over there doesn't," she finished, pointing to another Wikuni, a male.

Tarrin looked closely at the Wikuni female, wearing a black dress that matched her black fur, and he realized that he knew that Wikuni. It was that female pirate, the one whose ship they had destroyed. Sheba. Keritanima had mentioned in passing that Sheba wasn't a pirate anymore, that she was back in her noble house. Tarrin didn't really care about Sheba one way or the other, but his human morals were a little outraged that Sheba had never been punished for all the damage she had done to the kingdoms of the West. she had terrorized the shipping lanes in the Sea of Storms for six years, sinking several dozen ships and killing a great many people. And yet there she stood, smiling and dancing in the court of the Queen of Wikuna.

Dar was right. The Wikuni were completely hypocritical. Decrying piracy, but doing nothing about it as long as it didn't affect them. If a human raider had ever attacked a Wikuni tradesman, he had no doubt that the Wikuni fleet would hunt down and destroy the interloper without mercy. And yet they had allowed Sheba to run wild over the Sea of Storms for six years, because she didn't attack Wikuni ships, and her father happened to be a noble.

Tarrin looked away from her. He was getting a little worked up, and he didn't want to embarrass Keritanima.

"What's got your hackles up, Tarrin?" Kimmie asked.

"An old score," Tarrin told her shortly. "I'm going to go step outside a moment. I need some fresh air."

"Alright. I'll take Sapphire over to the punch bowl and see how many Wikuni we can mortify," she grinned, reaching up and taking Sapphire off his shoulder. "Come on, let's go get something to drink," she told the drake. Sapphire liked Kimmie, so she didn't object in the slightest to being picked up and carried away.

Stepping through one of the open windows as he had seen several Wikuni do, Tarrin stepped out onto the balcony outside the ballroom. It was a very wide balcony with slate squares making up its floor, and an elegant carved marble handrail protecting people from falling over the edge. He put his paws on that rail and looked down on the city of Wikuna, at the many lights winking from below, then looked up at the sky. It was a brilliant, cloudless night, with only one of the four moons out, the Red Moon Vala. The White Moon was new, and the Twin Moons had yet to rise. The Skybands in Wikuna were very wide, much wider than he was used to seeing, taking up about a third of the sky. Wikuna was pretty far north, Keritanima had told him, and was subject to some pretty fierce winters.

Something on the ground below caught his eye. Tarrin leaned over the rail, looking down to see two uniformed Wikuni guards marching on patrol along the outside edge of the building. They wore those red-coated uniforms with the gold buttons and the white bandoliers that held their gunpowder and musket balls, their white trousers, and they carried their muskets, with long knife-like attachments at the ends of the barrels that turned the weapons into pretty formidable hand-held weapons. They marched along smartly, but they weren't stiff or uncaring about their duty, looking this way and that and keeping an eye on things. Keritanima had good guards. Tarrin leaned over a little more, sending his tail out behind him to counter-balance himself as he watched the two Wikuni, both canines of some sort, march under where Tarrin was and then continue on.

Something struck his tail on its top and then slammed it into the ground. Tarrin felt the pain, but it wasn't enough to make him yelp or jump, even when whatever had struck it down landed on top of it. It was a boot, and the boot ground into his tail as it tried to apply full pressure, tried to break bone. Tarrin turned his head to look, and saw a rather tall, portly rodent-like Wikuni, looking vaguely like a badger but much heavier in build, with solid brown fur. He was decked out in tremendous splendor, a brocade doublet of a midnight blue color and hose that looked like they were made of silk, with gold and jewels hanging from any available area. He had a Wikuni female on each arm, a canine Wikuni on his left and a strange honey-furred mammalian Wikuni whose type was unknown to him on his right. She had a boxed snout with a black dog-like nose, small round ears, and large brown eyes. He looked right at Tarrin as he removed his boot from Tarrin's tail, his expression amused. "Excuse, please," he said in broken Sulasian. "Saw did not."

He flowed past Tarrin grandly. "I don't see what her Majesty sees in that creature," he said to his lady-friends in Wikuni. "If it had proper fur, it wouldn't be quite so repulsive as those bald humans she's surrounded herself with. And that one with white hair! She may be pretty, but she looks like a wild animal! Did you see the way she stared at me?"

Tarrin chanted inwardly that he did not want to embarrass Keritanima. He did not want to embarrass Keritanima.

"It's probably as stupid as it is ugly," the male added to the other lady.

That did it. The badger-like Wikuni squealed in shock when Tarrin's claws hooked into his finery from behind, getting a paw full of doublet and gold chains, then hauled him off his feet literally by the scruff of his neck. Tarrin turned as the two Wikuni females screamed in fear, whipping the male over the rail so fast he swayed in Tarrin's grip and letting his feet dangle over the fifteen or so span gulf between the balcony and the grass-covered lawn with its slate walkway running along the wall of the Palace.

"The next time you insult someone," Tarrin hissed at the male, in perfect Wikuni, "make sure it doesn't speak the language."

Then Tarrin let the Wikuni go. He screamed delightfully as he dropped to the ground, a cry that was cut short when he hit the walkway below. Tarrin brushed his paws together as if cleaning dirt off of them as he looked down at the male, who lay on the walkway with one leg sticking out at an unnatural angle. The two females ran to the rail and peered over it, beginning to cry and make hysterical sounds.

"Do either of you want to step on my tail?" Tarrin challenged, bringing his tail around and presenting it to them garishly.

The females gaped at him in terror, then turned and fled back into the ballroom.

Snorting, Tarrin turned back around and looked down, watching the male try to get to a sitting position. The two guards that had passed by a moment before trotted back over and saw the man laying there, then set their muskets down and helped him sit up. The male blubbered something and pointed up at the balcony, and his eyes went wide when he saw Tarrin standing there looking down at them, his expression very ominous.

Then he realized it was pointless to stand there. He'd already educated the Wikuni, and they wouldn't get the male to where they could set his leg so long as he stood there watching them. He turned, then paused when he saw quite a few Wikuni lining the windows, staring out at him.

It happened almost at the same time. Tarrin felt something hot go under his chin at an angle, up through the side of his mouth and out his cheek, so fast he didn't even have time to register the pain, even as a loud thunderclap cracked across the balcony. Tarrin staggered slightly as his tongue registered the fact that there was a hole in his cheek, and several of his teeth were missing. The flash of pain struck him just a moment later, but it was not a pain that would incapacitate him. He had felt much worse. The pain dulled almost as fast as it struck him, as his body repaired the damage done to his face and mouth with efficient speed. Whatever had wounded him was neither magical nor silver, so it did not do him a true injury. Tarrin's mouth itched as new teeth replaced the ones lost, and he spent that time turning back around and looking from where the thunderclap had come.

It was down on the walkway. The badger-like Wikuni he'd tossed was still sitting on the path, but he had a smoking musket in his hands. The two guards looked shocked and amazed that the Wikuni would dare to shoot at someone right where everyone could see him do it, and were so stunned that they didn't stop the Wikuni as he tossed the musket aside with burning eyes and reached for the other one.

That was going too far. The man had shot him. There were no rules now. Feeling a fury rise up in him, a fury he hadn't felt in months, he grabbed the marble rail with both paws. Tarrin's muscles flexed, and the sound of tearing stone heralded the sight of the Were-cat breaking away a sizable chunk of the masonry, a good two spans of polished rail and two support columns still attached to it. The badger-like Wikuni raised the musket from his seated position and took aim at Tarrin, who raised the heavy stone over his head and prepared to hurl it down at the Wikuni. The two guards gave out cries of alarm and dove aside wisely as Tarrin flung the rail at the Wikuni, even as the Wikuni fired the second musket.

The musket ball struck Tarrin in the lower abdomen, on the far right, penetrating flesh and flying upward. It passed between his lowest ribs and exited his back. It was a glancing blow, something even a human could have survived. The piece of stone was much better aimed, hitting the Wikuni squarely in the chest, crushing the musket and his upraised arms in the process. A fountain of blood exploded from his mouth as he was smashed to the walkway by a quarter ton of heavy marble, and when the marble settled on top of him, he didn't move.

He was very dead.

Tarrin had to actively resist the urge to go down there and take the Wikuni's head off to make sure of him. He hadn't felt an explosion of rage like that in a very long time, and it was almost frightening. He clenched his paws into fists, fists that shook with a need to dish out more punishment, and Tarrin had to forcibly take hold of himself and try to relax. The man was dead, the reason for getting angry was gone. He'd started it by insulting him and stomping on his tail, and he sealed his own fate when he took the musket from the guard and shot him. Closing his eyes, he centered himself, thinking about the people he loved. Jesmind, Jasana, his sisters, Janette, his parents, his friends. He recalled peaceful times, happy times, and that helped calm him down quickly.

When he opened his eyes, Keritanima was hurrying out onto the balcony with Binter and Sisska attending her. "Can't you keep out of trouble for one night?" she demanded hotly. "What did you do?" She looked over the rail, then growled loudly. "Tarrin! What did you do that for?"

"He shot me," Tarrin said in a hiss.

"And what reason did you give him to shoot you?" she shouted.

"I threw him over the rail."

"Why did you do that?" she snapped.

"He tried to break my tail, and insulted me."

"You killed a man over an insult?" she said in fury.

"I killed him because he shot me. Twice," Tarrin said in a dangerously low tone. "He brought it on himself. He intentionally stomped on my tail and tried to break it. I paid him back in kind for it. He shot me with a musket, so I paid him back in kind for it."

"You there, what happened?" Keritanima shouted at the guards below in Wikuni.

"We didn't see it all, my Lady," the guard replied, not recognizing Keritanima as the Queen. "We saw this one laying on the ground, and that one up there watching. We tried to help the man, but he grabbed my musket and shot at that one up there. Then that one up there tore out the rail and threw it down on this one while this one down here got the other musket and took another shot at that one up there."

Keritanima growled in her throat. "Tarrin, what am I going to do with you?" she asked in frustration. "I asked you to behave! This is how you honor that request?"

"He started it!" Tarrin shot back.

"It doesn't matter who started it!" she shouted at him with sudden heat. "Could you, for once in your life, have the wisdom to simply let an insult pass? Did what that man think of you mean so much that you had to kill him over it?"

"If someone had put a boot on your tail and ground it down into the floor, trying to break it, would you be so forgiving?" he countered.

"How do you know he did that?" she accused.

"I'm not stupid, Kerri," he snorted. "When someone raises a foot to step on a tail that's in the air over his knees, he's going out of his way."

Keritanima glared at him a minute, then sighed. "Go back to your room, Tarrin," she ordered. "I'll straighten this out, somehow."

"Kerri—"

"Just go," she ordered, pointing towards one of the open windows.

Snorting, Tarrin went past her and into the ballroom. Every eye was on him, and they parted before him as he marched deliberately through their ranks, eyes speculative or fearful. Sapphire landed on his shoulder as he passed through the assembled Wikuni, then made his way to the door. He was a little regretful he'd caused Keritanima trouble, but he didn't feel a thing for the man who tried to kill him. He got what he deserved.

Chapter 6