Chapter 17

It was a tense night for Tarrin, but in its own way, it had a gentle beauty that he would not soon forget.

With all the insanity going on, with the pressure he'd felt over what happened with Allia and the Council, Tarrin had not had the chance to explore his feelings for Kimmie with her as he should. He did that that night, after finding out from Camara Tal and Azakar that they had nothing worthwhile to report, after Phandebrass, Dar, Miranda, and Kimmie had gone through the books and found nothing of worth for them. He sat her down on the bed, held her paws, and told her what he'd felt in his heart when she tried to comfort him after he returned from his traumatic fight with Allia.

To say that she was ecstatic was a woeful understatement. In their entire time together, through everything that had happened, with all of her confessions of love and loyalty and support for him, all she had ever wanted from him was his attention. She knew he loved Jesmind, she knew that Jesmind had a claim over him with which she couldn't compete. That he had told her that he loved her was far beyond anything she had ever dreamed. She knew already, of course—it was hard to hide anything from Kimmie—but to hear him say it to her, to hear it for herself, it was what she had hoped beyond hope to hear, a dream not dreamed except in her happiest meanderings. She laughed and cried and kissed him, then looked into his eyes and assured him that when they got back to Suld, she'd still be happy to step aside for Jesmind. After all, Tarrin promised her he would come back to her, and a promise among Were-cats was as serious a thing as one could give.

She was such a wonderfully understanding person. Tarrin felt so lucky to have her with him, so lucky Triana had the wisdom to see what he could not.

And after all, she couldn't hold onto him forever, just as Jesmind couldn't. She and Jesmind and Mist would have to wait by turns, so there was no jealousy in her heart. She had taken him for mate knowing that she would have to give him up. But she knew that in time, the wheel would come full circle, and he would once again be standing on her doorstep. That knowledge, that sweet knowledge, was all that she needed.

Tarrin laid in bed after a very passionate night with Kimmie and pondered the change in his life. Kimmie had made him forget all about Allia, if only for a little while. She had indeed taken away the pain, a pain he still felt when he thought about it. But it wasn't the pain of losing Allia now, it was the pain of uncertainty over what had motivated her to do as she did, the pain of knowing that she may be under the power of the Sha'Kar, the pain of knowing that maybe, somewhere inside her mind, there was the Allia that was his sister screaming and raging and struggling to break free, just as he had screamed and raged and struggled against the collar that had been put around his neck. Screaming in rage yet unable to overcome the powerful magic that controlled her, aware of everything she did yet unable to do anything more than watch in helpless futility. Tarrin knew that feeling well, still shuddered every time he remembered it. Was Allia suffering as he had? Did she know what she said to him, and how it had crushed his spirit? Or was she blissfully unaware of what she was doing under the control of another? He fervently hoped so. It would be so much easier on her if she had no idea what she was doing, and wouldn't remember it when she was free.

If she was under their control. Keritanima was taking her damn sweet time finding out. But then again, after the fight with Tarrin, Allia had to be very tightly wound, very defensive. It was going to take Keritanima time to talk her down, relax her, get her into a position where Allia wouldn't feel it when Keritanima checked her mind. Allia was a deceptive woman in many ways, and her power was the most deceptive aspect of them all. She was actually a very strong and well-trained Sorceress, and she would feel it if Keritanima went poking around in her mind unless she'd been specifically set up to be probed without her knowing. Only Tarrin and Keritanima could get her that relaxed, get her to lower her defenses that far. And since Tarrin was now her enemy, that left only Keritanima.

But that was a worry for tomorrow. That night belonged to Kimmie, only to Kimmie, and he wasn't going to ruin it by dwelling on things that he could do nothing about at the moment anyway. He held her close and mused contentedly how Jesmind was going to take this news. That she had to share him was bad enough for her. But to find out he loved Kimmie? She would probably have a fit. He'd have to break that to her very gently, and only after proving to her in lavish fashion that not only did he still love her, but he still loved her with a passion and enthusiasm that eclipsed what he felt for Kimmie. That wasn't entirely true, of course. Tarrin found that there was no love by degrees. There was no loving one person a little, and loving another a lot. Love was love. Tarrin loved Jesmind, but he also loved Kimmie. He found that though his heart was divided, each one of them received all of his heart in their turn. He loved them because what Jesmind was, Kimmie was not. And what Kimmie was, Jesmind was not. They were diametrically opposing females, each representing an extreme of the spectrum of Were-cat behavior. Jesmind was blunt, coarse, direct, and exceptionally volatile. She was a pain in his butt, constantly fighting with him, challenging him, forcing him to battle her for control. She had a nasty temper, and she could hold a grudge forever. But she was also an exquisitely tender woman whose outward personality masked an incredible ability to love. When she was happy, when she was content, when she was feeling kittenish, Jesmind could be almost irresistibly appealing. It was those moments of softness that Tarrin lived for, those moments where their love for one another outshined Jesmind's need to be contrary and showed the radiant woman lurking beneath the rough bark of her pretty exterior.

Kimmie could not be any different. She was kind, she was gentle, she was compassionate. She had no temper at all, and had a methodical intelligence about her that made her seem very wise. She had an incredible patience that seemed almost unnatural to Tarrin, an ability to wait and endure that far outstripped any other Were-cat's limits. Were-cats were not known for patience. And she had such a sincere, understanding nature, a kind generosity that seemed so out of place in a Were-cat. Kimmie would give of herself freely and expect nothing in return, finding contentment in the pleasure it gave her to help others. She was just as direct as Jesmind, but she was much more tactful in the application of her opinion, guiding with gentle suggestion rather than direct, possibly explosive statements. In many ways, Kimmie was the human wife part of Tarrin had always wanted, the kind, demure lady that would nurture him and help guide him through the pitfalls of life with her exceptional intelligence and her keen understanding of him and their world.

Two women, so different, and yet so similar. Both Were-cats, though Jesmind represented the wildest of the wild nature of the Were-cat, where Kimmie represented the human aspect of their dual being. Jesmind was hot sensuality and passion, the intensity of the moment… the Cat, where Kimmie was gentle, boundless love, the comfort of long, nurturing relationships… the Human. That didn't mean that Jesmind couldn't show boundless love, or that Kimmie wasn't as passionate as any female he'd ever known. No matter how wild a Were-cat got, the human was always there. And in Kimmie's case, the Cat lurked within her, waiting for its release. Kimmie told him that she had a very vile temper, but it just took a lot to set her off. If that was true, he hoped he never saw it. As calm as she was the rest of the time, when she did finally go off, it would be an explosion of truly monumental proportions.

Two women, and yet both had found their way into his heart. Jesmind had done it with her fiery nature, catching his attention, as his own personality had somehow gotten to her heart long before she had found his. Kimmie had found love for him when she saw the compassion in him, the gentle giving nature that his ordeal had buried inside him, the gentle boy lost within the Were-cat's body. His act of healing Mist had bound him into Kimmie's heart, and she had waited patiently, quietly, calmly, as was her nature. She waited for her chance, and when it arrived, she got everything she had ever wanted when her own acts of kindness and love towards him had bound her in his heart as well. His love for Jesmind was born out of conflict, where his love for Kimmie was born from gentle compassion. Love and war, light and dark, smooth and rough, good and evil, they were two women who were opposite sides of a coin… but both sides were still the same coin. So it was with Jesmind and Kimmie in his heart, each on one side of it, yet both sides still being only part of a unified whole. He found that he could love them both without tearing himself apart trying to choose between them. He was lucky… he didn't have to choose between them. He could have them both.

Sometimes he thanked every god that was listening that he had been turned. All the pain he had suffered for it meant nothing when he thought of that one wonderful fact. That he loved two women, and he didn't have to choose one over the other. That he could have both.

Not at the same time, of course. Jesmind would have a fit, and Kimmie wouldn't be very happy about it either. In their own ways, they were very similar in that regard. Both of them wanted his undivided attention. They wanted all of him, and weren't about to share him. Not even with each other. And given their personalities, he wouldn't be able to make both of them happy if he had to split time between them. Jesmind was way too high-maintenance, and Kimmie would be extremely unhappy with his lack of attention.

In that regard, Kimmie had to be worse than Jesmind. It wasn't exactly a flaw, but Kimmie could be extremely demanding of his attention, even more than Jesmind. She was almost like a human in that regard. But then again, she had warned him of that when he first took her for mate.

Snuggling with Kimmie could only last so long, though, for the sun had to come up eventually, and it would mark the beginning of what Tarrin expected would be an eventful day. There was a lot on the queue, and there wasn't much time to get it all done. But until the day did begin, it was still the night, and that night belonged to Kimmie. And he was going to enjoy every minute of it.

He leaned over his smaller mate and kissed her gently on the lips. Her eyes opened immediately, and those beautiful blue eyes stared up at him with undisguised happiness. "Still feeling frisky, love?" she asked with an impish grin. "Woop, nevermind. I just caught your scent," she added with a hungry look, her own scent showing how his interest affected her. "Come down here," she said with a throaty purr. He leaned down and kissed her, and quickly forgot what he'd been worrying about.


What they needed was cunning, sneakiness, and complete audacity. They needed someone that could think up ways to make the Council run around like beheaded chickens, scrambling to block one carefully devised plan after another that would come flying at them with such speed that they barely had time to catch their breath. They needed someone with no morals, someone that would take devilish delight in confounding the opposition, someone that they couldn't out-think in those fast-paced games of nerve.

They needed Keritanima.

And get her, the Council did. All of her. After a furious night of planning with Miranda, the devious pair visited Tarrin before dawn that morning still wearing their bedgowns and, first off, alleviated Tarrin's long anxious waiting with the most important news of all.

"There is something there," she told him with a broad, utterly relieved smile. "There's some kind of trace in Allia's mind of a spell. I think it's a Mind weave, but it was too degraded for me to make anything out."

That made Tarrin's heart absolutely leap for joy. A great deal of the crushing pain he'd felt over his fight with Allia disappeared immediately, and Kimmie put her paw on his shoulder as he blew out his breath, then laughed in relieved delight. "That's the best news I've ever heard, Kerri," he told her with a happy look. "Mind weaves linger even after they dissipate, so she's probably still under the influence of it. Why didn't you come tell me sooner? I've been going crazy!"

"You know how long it took me to get at her?" she retorted. "I had to wait for her to go to sleep! And she was too wound up to sleep, so I had to talk her down to where she could! And then I had to get rid of Allyn!"

"He was there the whole time?"

"He wouldn't leave her side," Keritanima snorted. "I will say this. I may hate him for what his people did to Allia, but I really think his feelings for her are genuine, brother. No way what I saw was faked. Allyn loves her."

"That's going to cause a problem," Tarrin growled. "When I told Allia about the torture, Allyn acted like it was as right as rain."

"He's young, Tarrin. We can train him," she said with a toothy grin. "If Allia loves him, he goes with us. It's that simple. We'll make him see the light, even if I have to hang him naked off the mast and flog him."

"I knew there was a gentle quality about you that I loved, Kerri," Tarrin said with a light smile.

"I know. I'm just the sweetest little girl you'll ever meet, aren't I?" she asked with bright eyes.

After they reveled in the fact that they knew that their sister wasn't acting of her own right mind, Keritanima and Tarrin gathered with Miranda and Kimmie, and they got down to business. Sitting on Tarrin's bed, Tarrin and Kimmie not bothering to dress—it was only Kerri and Miranda—and with Binter and Sisska standing in silent protection over them, Keritanima outlined her plan to Tarrin. It was a devilishly clever plan that would send Azakar and Camara Tal, Dar and Phandebrass, Miranda and Kimmie, Dolanna and Keritanima, and Sapphire and Tarrin out on five independent missions, each with a totally separate goal. She would set it up that morning with a talk with Allia, where she would give only slight hints at what each team would be searching for. That would be enough for the Council to puzzle out what each team's objective was, and give them a chance to intervene.

They were very widely scattered objectives. Camara Tal and Azakar would try to talk servants at the Grand's palace to bring them a personal journal or private book of the Grand, even resorting to blackmail, bribing, sexual favors, or even physical intimidation. Whatever it took to get a servant to do what they wanted. Tarrin and Sapphire were going to take a worthless trinket that Phandebrass would enchant with a useless Wizard spell to throw off the Council and pretend that it could lead them to the Firestaff, then wander around the woods and hills surrounding the town like he knew where he was going. Dar and Phandebrass were going to take the books back to the library and go crazy looking for one specific book, and be wild and adamant about finding it. It was a book that they knew would be in the Grand's library, mainly because it was in Arlan's, and act like the secrets of the universe were in that book. Keritanima and Dolanna were going to talk to some of the youngest Sha'Kar in their social circles, friends of Iselde and Auli, and try to find out if there were any rumors of old relics being hidden on the island, as well as any other interesting tidbits. Kimmie and Miranda were going to do what they did last night, compile the information they'd received so far and see if they couldn't find a pattern or some bit of unnoticed information. Zarina would spend her day with Kimmie and Miranda, since they would be staying in the house all day, and they could look after the girl. She could even help, since she could read Sha'Kar.

Keritanima intended to set the plans in motion first, give the Council a little while to panic, then whisper her secrets to Allia and let it get back to the Council just in time to counter the plots before they reached their culmination. The plans centered on the Firestaff, not their primary goal, which was to dig up the dirt on the Council and blackmail them into cooperation. That protected their interests while forcing the Council on the defensive, where they could only react and couldn't actively interfere with what they were really doing.

Five separate plans with five separate objectives. It would spread out the Council and make them respond by misdirecting the servants or outright protecting them from the two humans, hiding the book—and every other copy of the same book on the island, heading off Tarrin, making the chatty Sha'Kar girls tight-lipped (which would be by far the hardest of all their required tasks), and attempt to infiltrate Kimmie and Miranda and disrupt their work. Some of the jobs may look easy, like hiding the book from Dar and Phandebrass, but those two could make it a very heavy chore by making a nuisance of themselves and interrupting the Council continuously to request the book. It also happened to put them right where they could hear what was going on. Keritanima and Dolanna expected that they'd eventually hear something of use to them before the Council managed to shut the girls up. Camara Tal and Azakar could quite effectively disrupt the smooth operations of the Grand's estate, where all the business of the Sha'Kar was done, by forcing them to pull back their servants and keep them away from the pair, thereby aggravating what could already be a very chaotic situation. But by far the most important of the tasks to worry the Council would be Tarrin. The sui'kun was very powerful, and if they thought that he may be on the trail of the Firestaff, he would take up a vast amount of their attention. They'd leave him alone if they thought he was going the wrong way, but if he did start moving towards it, Keritanima was positive that they'd have no choice but attempt to intervene. It would be obvious that they would, but they'd be forced to take steps to defend the Firestaff, as they all suspected they were doing already. That intervention may give them a clue where to look for real, depending on where Tarrin was when it came. Keritanima didn't think they were quite so stupid as to draw attention to its location that way, but her plan depended on them being forced to show their hand before the bets were on the table. They knew that Tarrin was powerful, and if he got close enough to the Firestaff by wandering around, he would sense its presence. Above all things, the absolute last thing the Council wanted was for Tarrin to wander freely around the island. That one plan alone, Keritanima surmised, was going to cause the Council to go absolutely crazy, and may even make them do something rash to prevent him from leaving the town and going out where he could do irreparable harm.

Tarrin was impressed. Not only did all of Keritanima's ideas succeed in causing mischief for the Council, but they also had tertiary qualities that advanced their own cause. Keritanima was indeed extremely cunning. Even in a plan of delaying tactics, Keritanima still sought to get them to their objective.

Kimmie yawned languidly, stretching her arms over her head, even sticking her tail straight out behind her. "I guess we should get dressed," she told Tarrin. "We have a lot to do today, and if we can get the Council out of bed early, maybe they'll be too sleepy or hung over to be very effective against us." She grinned. "Maybe one of us may actually succeed. You never know."

"Maybe," Miranda grinned.

"The idea is to harry them, not beat them, Kimmie," Keritanima reminded her. "But if one of us does happen to stumble over the location of the Firestaff today, I won't complain," she added with a toothy grin.

"That would be nice. We wouldn't have to keep playing with the Council. We could sweep them aside and do what we came here to do," Tarrin grunted, scratching at the fur on his knee. "Sapphire!" he called to the drake, which was sleeping on her little bed on the table across the room.

She rose her head blearily. "Yes, Tarrin?"

"You feel up to some exercise today? You and me are going exploring."

"Outside?"

"Outside."

"Yes!" she said emphatically, jumping up and unfurling her wings. "Get dressed, let's go! I need a good fly to exercise my wings."

"We have to stop by Phandebrass' room first," he warned. "We need him to do something for us."

"Let's go, let's go!" she said pushily, flying over the bed and grabbing his tail with her forepaws, pulling on it. "I've been dying to go flying!"

"Let me put some clothes on," he told her. "I'll look a little strange walking around the town naked, won't I?"

"Why do you insist on wearing those ridiculous things?" she asked. "They seem useless, and you never seem to wear them for very long once you get inside."

"It's a foolish humanoid custom," Tarrin shrugged, crawling out of bed. "I don't see much use for it myself, but we always have to respect the customs of our hosts."

"True," she agreed calmly. "You should grow scales. They're much more useful than those clothes. Scales will help protect you from harm."

"If I could grow scales, it'd be something," Kimmie laughed. "I think I'll wear that dress Iselde gave me today," she mused. "I like the way it feels on my skin, and it doesn't pull at my fur the way wool does. Besides, I want to look good for when the cronies the Council sends comes and tries to interfere with us," she added with a wicked grin.

"You should wear silk, Kimmie," Keritanima told her.

"I can't afford silk, Kerri," she replied with a smile.

"Bother that. You're my friend. I have tons of silk dresses. You can have them if you want. We'll let you raid my closet when we get back to Wikuna."

"Sounds good to me," she grinned.

Tarrin dressed quickly, as Sapphire continued to impatiently urge him on. "I'll stop by Phandebrass' room and wake him up, and let him give me a trinket," Tarrin told them as he leaned down and gave Kimmie a long kiss goodbye.

"Be careful out there, love," Kimmie told him. "The Council may decide to play dirty."

"Out where nobody can see us, I think that's the last thing the Council wants to do with me," he replied. "They got a taste of my temper yesterday. I don't think they want to see me when I'm really mad."

"Love, eh?" Keritanima said slyly. "That's the first term of endearment I've heard out of either of you. What's going on in here when I'm not around?"

Kimmie and Tarrin just gave Keritanima a long, knowing look.

Keritanima burst out into laughter, falling back on the bed and kicking her heels into the mattress. "Jesmind is going to have a cow!" she managed to wheeze between bouts of helpless laughter. "Oh, I've got to be there to see that! Please, let me know before you tell her!" she wheezed.

"For your information, how me and Tarrin feel about each other has nothing to do with Jesmind," Kimmie said primly. "We Were-cats aren't like you Wikuni. Tarrin can love me and love Jesmind at the same time, and neither of us will mind."

"At least you won't," Keritanima panted with a wide grin, then laughed again.

"Jesmind won't care, Kerri," Tarrin told her calmly. "As long as I'm all hers when I'm with her, what I do and how I feel when I'm not with her is none of her business. Besides, she likes Kimmie, and she'll probably be happy that Kimmie finally got what she wanted."

"Did you get what you wanted, Kimmie?" Miranda asked.

"Everything I ever dreamed and more," she said with an absolutely radiant smile, putting her paw over the paw Tarrin had on her shoulder.

"Well, congratulations, then," Miranda said with her cheeky grin.

"We need to marry you off, Miranda," Tarrin told her with a smile. "You need a husband."

"A husband? Me?" she said, then she laughed. "Why should I limit myself the same old boring man when I can have any man I want?"

"By the sails, she has a point there," Keritanima mused, then she chuckled. "Not that I'd want any man but Rallix. But if I did, that's the way I'd think of it too."

"Some men are said to be born bachelors. Well, I was born to be available," Miranda grinned.

"Flirt," Tarrin chuckled.

"Naturally," Miranda said with a toss of her hair.

Tarrin chuckled again. She was quite a character, Miranda was.

"Well, I'm off. Wish me luck."

"Have fun, Tarrin," Kimmie smiled after kissing his paw fondly.

"I hope they play dirty for you!" Keritanima called as he padded across the room.


All in all, it was a fun day.

Tarrin got a useless bit of crystal that Phandebrass used as a spell component and hung it on a string, and Phandebrass cast a spell on it that would make it glow different colors depending on how high Tarrin held it off the ground. Phandebrass created the spell—Phandebrass' Amazing Altimeter—and though it seemed useless, it actually came in very handy that day.

Tarrin and Sapphire started on the south edge of the town, not far from where they arrived, near the meadow where he met Iselde and Allyn. Tarrin silently worked out the system that he would use to follow the crystal, assigning a different direction to each of the eight colors it would glow so as to look like he knew what he was doing, and then set off.

Sapphire flew around him, leaving for periods to dart across meadows or over the trees to tell him how far he was from the city, and he methodically worked his way up the east side of the island. He pretended to have a lot of trouble with his gadget, audibly cursing Phandebrass for making it so loopy, and then banged it on a tree and pretended like it was working correctly now by traveling due north for nearly five longspans, just to the side of the foothills surrounding the volcano.

He did enjoy himself. He was out in the woods alone, with nothing but him, Sapphire, and the breath of the trees on him. He relaxed tremendously, his relief that Allia was not really against him allowing him to put that out of his mind for the moment and just have fun exploring the forest like a little kid, like he did when he was younger.

It was well past noon before he saw any signs that he had company in the forest, but it turned out to be two Sha'Kar youths looking for a bit of excitement out in the woods. It reminded him of Walten and Cilia, and or a moment he considered doing what Kimmie said the Centaurs may have done, sneak up on them while they were in the throes of passion and frighten them into running naked back into the city.

He was about to leave them to their amusements when the male gasped something that made the Were-cat stop dead in his tracks.

"Auli, we're going to get in trouble!" the male said in a scandalized voice.

Auli? That was Auli? He hadn't really gotten close enough them to take a look, and they were downwind of him.

"Oh come on, don't be such a mama's boy," he heard Auli's voice reply.

"I know you don't care, but my family will punish me if they catch us out here!"

"The danger is half the fun," she purred to him, and Tarrin, who was stealthily stalking up on them, heard the rattle of a chain. "Now stop being such a willy-nilly."

Tarrin slinked up into a position where he could see, and found them in a small hollow, an open space with no underbrush. They had brought a blanket—quite forward-thinking of them—and Julian had Auli as good as undressed, with her bodice pushed down to her waist and the skirts pulled up over her hips. Julian had his robe open in the front, but since enough of his back was to Tarrin, he wasn't sure what was under the robe.

"Come on," Auli told him impatiently. "The sooner we get started, the sooner we can leave, since you're so afraid. Personally, I think the danger makes it more exciting," she finished with a throaty laugh.

"This is the forbidden part of the forest, Auli!" he told her in a fearful hiss. "Bad things happen out here!"

Tarrin considered that. Bad things, eh? Was it forbidden because of some hidden danger, or just because they didn't want anyone out here? He poked around with his senses and found nothing out of the ordinary. Then again, the background magic was so strong that he couldn't even sense the amulet he wore around his neck. He realized that if he wanted to sense anything at all, he'd have to get closer to the Weave. So he Bridged so he could get a better sense of things, and assessed the area around him, looking for a magical signature that might be the Firestaff.

Instantly he realized that he was not alone. There was a Sorcerer very close to him, joined to the Weave, and Tarrin hadn't noticed him! The background magic that fouled his ability to sense magic was hiding the lurker from him!

Tarrin furiously debated what to do to this spy. He ran through several options, from leaving him be to killing him, but then decided that to really worry the Council, he had to let them know he found out how they were watching him. He'd have to make them come personally to stop him. He choked off the strand in which the Sorcerer hid on one side, preventing him from going that way, and then began wringing it back to where the Sorcerer was, compressing it and forcing him to move. When the wringing reached him, there was a start of surprise, and Tarrin sensed a spell to look into the real world fixate on him. He could clearly feel the Sorcerer's shock.

If I catch anyone else spying on me, I'll cut the strand you're hiding in on both sides and let your mind die when the strand unravels, he said nastily into the Weave, directing it at the lurker. I do not like to be spied upon. Take that back to the Council, and warn them that from now on, they spy on me at their own peril. Now go!

The presence seemed to falter, and then he felt it retreat quickly after Tarrin took hold at the strand at its other end, threatening to trap the lurker within it.

That dealt with, Tarrin turned his attention back to the lovers. The male still had his back to him, but Auli had talked him out of his fear, giggling as he leaned over her.

There wasn't much point in watching them mate, so he quietly withdrew himself.

Tarrin kept a cautious eye on the Weave, Bridging every so often to check for spies and also for a strong source of magic, but he abandoned the trinket and started moving around on his own. He scoured that part of the forest for most of the late morning and early afternoon, but found nothing but an old golden amulet, probably once belonging to a Sha'Kar, stuck under a log about a longspan from shore. The amulet was tarnished a little and fairly dirty, but it seemed to be in good condition. He could sense that it had weaves in it, a few of them that seemed to be utility weaves, like talking to other amulets. That didn't seem to be too unusual; it was only common sense to put a few useful weaves in one's amulet. His own had quite a few handy little spells that helped him a great deal. He pocketed it without really thinking about it and continued searching.

About an hour after that, Tarrin realized that he had messed up. If they couldn't spy on him, they wouldn't know where he was, and therefore they couldn't send someone to stop him from going where they didn't want him to go. It seemed a good idea at the time, but he hadn't thought it all the way through. As usual. He hoped that Keritanima wouldn't get too angry with him, but he wasn't ready to abandon the plan quite yet. If they couldn't spy on him, then this was a good time to try to find the Firestaff, to go right around the Sha'Kar and get at what he was really there for.

Tarrin worked his way up into the foothills at the base of the steep-sloped, smoking volcano. He came to a small clearing and looked up at it, seeing how steeply it sloped and how hard it was going to be to climb, if it came down to that. He really didn't think they'd hide it on the slopes of the volcano, mainly because it was hidden five thousand years ago. Volcanoes had a habit of growing over time. It wouldn't be on the slopes of the volcano, because those slopes weren't there five thousand years ago. The Sha'Kar said the volcano erupted seven hundred years ago, and it was smoking now. That meant it was active. He was pretty sure that when the Ancients arrived and hid the Firestaff, that volcano was about the size of the hill upon which he stood.

Sapphire landed on his shoulder as he turned from the volcano, debating where to search next. "Did you see anything interesting, little one?"

"A few birds," she replied. "Not much else. Are we done yet?"

"Are you tired?"

"Hungry," she replied.

"Go catch one of those little rodents."

"I did. They don't taste very good."

"You like rabbits," he said. "I know there's some on the island. I scented them."

"Not here," she said. "The only things I've seen in these hills are those wooly animals the Sha'Kar herd."

"Sheep," he told her, thinking about it. He knelt down and nearly displaced her as he sniffed at the ground, then stood up again and took in a deep breath, analyzing the various scents on the wind. She was right, there were no rabbits up here. None of those strange rodents or those little cats either. He could smell the sheep, they weren't too far away, and there was a faint brimstone smell from the volcano.

"Ah, that must be why," he mused aloud. "The volcano. Can't you smell it?"

"Of course I can."

"I guess the animals don't like that smell," he said. "Their sheep must not have good senses. That, or they're used to it. Guess we know why they herd the sheep up here now," he chuckled. "No competition from the wildlife."

"Tarrin!" Keritanima's voice emanated from his amulet. It was very excited.

"What is it, Kerri?" he asked, putting a paw to his own.

"You need to come back to the estate," she told him in a breathless voice.

"Alright. I'll be there in about an hour or so."

"Alright, but don't take too long!" she demanded.

Tarrin could tell from her tone that she wanted him back now, but he didn't want to come out of the forest on the north side of the town. He intended to skirt around the town through the forest and come back out just by the estate.

Tarrin worked his way back towards the estate, following his own scent for a while, since he'd been going straight. His path took him back towards where he'd seen Auli. It was out of his way to go back in that direction, so he veered west and started along a game trail.

He stopped when he heard a distant sound. He turned his ears that way and closed his eyes, concentrating on it, and realized that it was the sound of someone crying. Sapphire danced between limbs, flying through the trees, and landed on his shoulder. "That female we saw earlier is over there," she said, pointing with her forepaw. "She's crying for some reason."

"I can hear her. Do me a favor and head back to the estate. Tell Keritanima I'm on the way, and get yourself something to eat."

"I never thought you'd say that. I'll tell her. See you soon," she said with relief, then vaulted off his shoulder and flapped out of sight quickly.

Tarrin crept up on her quickly and quietly, getting into a position where he could see what was going on. Auli was there all right, sitting on a fallen log with the blanket she'd brought tossed crumpled on the ground, and she was crying like a spanked child. She had her head in her hands, elbows on her knees, bent over and sobbing like a girl who just lost her mother.

Tarrin stepped out into the very small clearing and looked at her. She didn't look like she'd been in a fight. Her dress was clean and whole, not ripped. She had her slippers on, and they didn't look very soiled. Only carrying the dirt and loam of the forest floor. So what had upset her?

"Auli," Tarrin called. Her head whipped up, and she stared at him in shock, her hands snapping up to her chest.

He realized why she'd been crying immediately. Auli wasn't wearing her amulet.

"What happened?" he asked gently. "Why are you crying, little one?"

"I-I was in the woods with Julian," she sniffled, obviously not very effected by the scare he gave her yesterday. "We were walking back to town, and I realized my amulet was gone. The chain must have broke, it breaks all the time. I hid it from him and told him to go on without me, that I wanted to go relieve myself, and came back to look for it. But I can't find it!" she wailed. "I'll be a pariah! Nobody will talk to me ever again!" Then she started crying again.

"It's just an amulet, Auli," he told her. "Here, I found this one in the woods earlier today. It's not yours, I can tell you that, but it's just as good." He took the amulet out of his pocket and held it up. "See? You'll need to clean it up a little, but now you can go into town without anyone ever knowing you lost yours."

He held it up a little more. It spun to a slow stop, and Tarrin glanced at the back of the amulet absently. He hadn't looked at the back before.

He very nearly dropped it.

Etched into the back of the amulet in elegant Sha'Kar script were the words To Aliani, May the Goddess bless our union and give us happiness. Love, Theran Ai'Shar.

The amulet bore the name of Iselde's family.

He snapped his gaze up to Auli. "What was Iselde's mother's name?" he asked her intensely.

"Aliani," she replied uncertainly. "Whyever would you ask that, honored one?"

Tarrin looked down at the amulet, and then up at Auli. "This amulet has her name on it."

"Truly? Can I see it?" she asked, getting up and wiping her eyes. Tarrin held it up to her and let her look, and she turned it over and read the inscription. "It has her name on it alright, honored one. This is the amulet that Iselde's father gave to her when they got married. Auli's mother failed and died in the ceremony of Ascension some fifteen years or so ago. How did her amulet end up out here?"

"That's a good question, isn't it?" Tarrin said in a very grim, worried tone. How did it end up out here?

There was one way to look for answers.

"Come on," he told her quickly, turning and marching back into the forest.

"Where are we going, honored one? Aren't you going to let me borrow the amulet so I can go home?"

"In a while," he said. "We're going back to where I found it, Auli, and we're going to look around."

"Oh. Alright."

Tarrin quickly tracked his own scent back to the log, and he looked at the place with his eyes this time, instead of only paying enough attention to avoid bumping into trees while he tried to sense the Firestaff. It wasn't a clearing, but there was a very faint trail, or what was once a trail, that went right by the fallen log. It was a very old log, rotted in the center, having been felled a very long time. At least the fifteen years since the amulet found its way out here. Tarrin was facing the ocean, facing east. He knelt down and put his claws into the log's underside, then heaved it up and tossed it over its end as if it were little more than a toothpick.

"They said you were strong, honored one," Auli said with an impressed look. "I didn't think they were serious."

"I'm full of surprises, Auli," he said in a quiet tone, putting his paws down on the wet, bug-filled dirt that had been under the log. There was nothing else there, just a little divot where Tarrin had pulled the chain out from under the log. It had settled over the amulet, or the tree had fallen on it. After fifteen years, nature had done much to hide anything else that may have been there. Just the amulet survived.

"This area is forbidden, right?" Tarrin asked her.

"Yes, honored one. Nobody's allowed in here."

"Why?"

She seemed a bit startled. "I really don't know," she answered. "There's always been rumors that there's an old monster that lives out here. Some nights we can hear strange sounds from the east edge of town, so the Council made this part of the forest off limits, so we don't disturb whatever it is, and nobody gets hurt. I've never seen it, and I've looked for it, honored one. I don't really think there's a monster out here, I think it's a vent from the volcano that makes moaning sounds when it gives off gases."

"I see you break the rules as often as I did when I was a young boy," Tarrin told her. "You and me are a lot alike, Auli. Free spirits."

She gave him a beaming smile. "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me, honored one," she said with a little curtsy.

Why was that amulet out here? It didn't just get here by magic, that much was certain. Aliani had to put it here, since the chain wasn't broken, and Sha'Kar never took off their amulets. She had to take it off, or maybe she was hanging upside-down out of a tree or something weird like that and it fell off. Had she lost it? Was it that simple? Had Aliani been wandering around out here, lost her amulet, gotten scared, and then ran out without it? And hadn't had the nerve to break the law again and come back to search for it?

"How long has this place been forbidden, Auli?" he asked.

"Since before I was born, honored one," she answered.

"You made it sound like it was recent," he said sourly.

"Sorry. I don't know when, but it's been a rule for a long time."

"You're a Sha'Kar, Auli. Tell me, why would Aliani take off her amulet?"

"She wouldn't, honored one," she replied emphatically. "We don't take them off. It's the worst scandal if you're seen without your amulet."

"She had to have," he growled, looking at the amulet. "The chain isn't broken. And I don't think she was hanging upside down out of a tree."

"Maybe something happened to make her take it off, and she forgot where she left it," Auli offered.

"But you just said that she'd never take it off," Tarrin said. "What can you think of that would make you take off your amulet, Auli?"

She pondered a moment. "Nothing," she replied. "I do take mine off when I bathe, because I don't want it getting tarnished, but I'm always alone when I do it, and it's the first thing I put back on." She blushed. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't repeat that, honored one," she said with slight chagrin. "Even that would be enough for the rumors to bury me in the eyes of the others."

"I never heard it," he said absently, fretting. It didn't make any sense! Why was the amulet of a dead Sha'Kar laying out in the forest? Why—

Tarrin blinked, then stood straight up so quickly his feet came off the ground. A cold fist seemed to have punched him in the stomach.

"Oh, Goddess," he breathed. "No, it can't be that."

"What, honored one?"

"They couldn't have gone that far," he said in disbelief, handing the amulet to Auli and then summoning the power of High Sorcery to him. He allowed it to fill him to a reasonable degree, and then sent out a sweeping, loosely woven weave of Earth and Divine, a weave that sank into the ground and fanned out in every direction, a weave that had been woven to search for something very specific.

To his horror, he received almost immediate responses. They were ahead of them, the closest about two hundred spans ahead, just past a particularly thick snarl of thorny plants.

"Oh, no," he said under his breath, his flesh actually creeping. "Goddess, they did. They did it. I can't believe it."

"What, honored one?" Auli demanded. What did they do?"

But he didn't answer. He broke into a sprint quickly, moving towards the closest of those responses, coming up to the thorns. He swept them out of his path with a weave of Air, smashing them to the ground, and then stepped over them, into a strangely clear area with large, old trees, and plenty of space between the trunks. Those thorns grew in a wide circle around the area, and Tarrin realized that all the responses were coming from inside the circle. He took ten steps, just past a big, old oak, and felt that he was standing right in front of the closest of them.

Auli managed to catch up to him, and saw him staring at the ground. "What is the matter, honored one?" she asked in breathless anticipation. She could tell that he was upset by whatever it was, but her nature wouldn't let her leave it alone. She was curious now, and she just had to know.

Tarrin pointed both palms at the ground, and a weave of Earth caused the forest floor before him to literally explode outward. Dirt flew in every direction, washing over them as Auli screamed in surprise and flinched away from the cascade, then she laughed ruefully and shook dirt out of her platinum blond hair. "Warn a girl next time, honored one!" she told him with another laugh, starting to look down. "It's going to take me… all… day…"

Auli trailed off as she looked into a six span deep pit before them, with roots hanging out of the edges of it. And at the bottom of the pit, crumpled in on itself and disheveled, was a skeleton.

And around them, inside the barrier of thorns, there were three hundred and forty other responses to his searching spell.

Tarrin found the missing Sha'Kar.

"I didn't know they had a old cemetery out here," Auli said in a nervous tone. "Those are Sha'Kar bones."

"Look at them, Auli," he said in a tightly controlled voice. "They're not that old. I'd say about ten years."

"Ten years? Nobody's died here for thirty," she scoffed. "Only—" she gave a great, horrified gasp. "No!" she said in protest. "It can't be one of the ones that died in the ceremony! They died at the Ward!"

"Oh, yes," he said in a cold, emotionless tone. "This is the most recent grave. I'd say that this is Theran Ai'Shar. Over there is the next recent." He pointed about fifteen spans to the left. "That would be Aliani Ai'Shar. There are hundreds of other, Auli. I'll bet every single Sha'Kar that supposedly died in that ceremony is buried here."

"But-But-But how did they get here?" Auli demanded uncertainly. "Did someone retrieve their bodies and bury them?" Tarrin dropped down into the grave and knelt over the bones, putting his paws on them. "What are you doing?" she said in shock. "Honored one, don't disturb the rest of the fallen! It's not right!"

"I'm not going to move anything," he told her, closing his eyes and Bridging into the Weave. "Now be quiet, Auli. Let me concentrate."

"What are you doing, honored one?"

"Finding the memory of what happened here, but I need quiet to do it," he growled at her.

It had to be in the Weave somewhere. Theran Ai'Shar, this is your chance to tell your story, Tarrin thought to himself as he Bridged, raised his mind into the Weave without leaving his body. If there's anything of you left in the Weave, come to me now. I need your memory. I need your echo. Come to me! He emptied his mind, tilted his head back and let the magic flow with him, through him, opening himself to the faint echoes of the Weave, searching for that one specific fragment of history to touch him.

And it was there. A brief flash, an image, of a blond Sha'Kar standing blankly before a pit he himself had just excavated with Sorcery, standing there for quite a while. He simply stood there, and then there was another behind him. A flash, a glint of light, and then it was over. Theran Ai'Shar toppled lifelessly into the grave he had dug for himself, and then the grave began to fill.

She said that when they came out, Iselde's mother looked pale and out of sorts, Tarrin remembered Dar telling him the day before, when he was relating the story of what happened to Iselde's parents. She didn't talk to anyone or do anything. She said that the woman just stood there a moment with blank eyes, then walked out the door. They never saw her again.

A blank look, walking out the door and into the city. And Tarrin would bet that they walked right out here, got past the thorns, dug themselves a grave, and then patiently waited for their executioner to arrive and do them in. Then the executioner fills the grave, and the Sha'Kar is forgotten. Yet another failure in the ceremony of Ascension. Thank you, Theran Ai'Shar, Tarrin thought to himself in grim satisfaction. You showed me exactly what I needed to see. Rest now, and let me handle avenging you and your wife.

"I don't understand, honored one!" Auli said as Tarrin lifted himself out of the grave and then carefully refilled it.

"It's very simple, Auli," Tarrin told her in a distant, emotionless tone. "The Council didn't send Iselde's parents to the Ward to try to breach it. They had them come out here, under control of a Mind weave, and then someone came along and murdered them."

"M-M-M-Murdered?" she said in stunned disbelief. The very thought that a Sha'Kar might do violence was inconceivable to her. But to take a life? It was impossible! "Goddess, honored one, why would they do that? It makes no sense!"

"That, my dear Auli, is the question," he said in a focused tone.

Tarrin had expected to find something damning, but in his wildest dreams, he never dreamed he'd find something like this. No wonder the Council reacted so strongly when Tarrin mentioned it. Because they'd killed the missing Sha'Kar.

He now knew what happened to the missing Sha'Kar. Now he needed to know why. This wasn't about digging dirt on the Council anymore. They were murdering their own people, and they had to be stopped. But before he could put a paw in, he needed to understand what motivated the Council to start killing their own subjects. The other Sha'Kar would be safe enough now that Tarrin knew what was going on. If they showed up at someone's house and enchanted them to take this final walk out to this graveyard, he would intervene. He wouldn't let this happen again. But between now and killing the Council, he wanted to find out why this had happened. What could have driven Sha'Kar to do violence, something that was absolutely against the very fiber of their being.

And not just violence. To commit the ultimate sin. Murder.

"Auli," he said in a very calm, very rational voice. "Don't leave my sight from now on, do you understand?" he asked. "What you know now, girl, it could get you killed."

"You can't be serious!" she gasped.

"I've never been more serious in my life," he told her earnestly. "You and I, Auli, we're going to sit down and talk. You're going to tell me everything you know about the Council, the Sha'Kar, this ceremony, and anything else that may help me. You're a free spirit, a wanderer, a mischief maker. I was once one myself, and I know how you can accumulate secrets when you go where you're not supposed to go, and do things you're not supposed to do."

She flushed slightly, then took on a nervously pleased look. "I've overheard a few things, honored one," she told him.

"When we get back, you're going to tell me everything, Auli. And I mean everything." He looked at her. "And I don't think I need to tell you that we keep what we found here a secret."

"I wouldn't dare tell anyone. They wouldn't believe me if I did," she said with a rueful, half-hearted chuckle.

"Someone would," he told her pointedly. "Whoever did this. And then he'd be looking to have you join the rest of them."

"That's not a very pleasant thought."

"It rarely is," he told her, finding a grim kind of satisfaction in it. He was horrified at what he found, but in finding it, he would be taking the first step to putting a stop to it. He still couldn't believe it. Maybe he should have, though. Missing people, a tight-lipped governing body? It would stink of murder if it had been humans or Wikuni. But not Sha'Kar, who almost worshipped pacifism as a religion. Tarrin had suspected that the Sha'Kar had somehow escaped, or went after the Firestaff and failed, not be murdered by their own Council and then have it all explained away as failing a dangerous ceremony.

He just needed a little more information. Knowing that the Council killed the missing Sha'Kar didn't explain why it had happened, what could have driven them to that. There was more here, a lot more, and they needed the whole picture before they moved in any way.


It was a very short yet very tense walk back to the Ai'Shar estate. Auli seemed temporarily traumatized by the ghastly secret she had learned, so much so that she completely forgot to put on the amulet that Tarrin gave to her. She carried it in her hand as they broke the treeline right behind the estate. Tarrin didn't bother going around, he put a paw around Auli's waist and jumped the fence, landing in neatly tended rows of vegetables. People may talk about Auli, and right now Tarrin didn't want anyone so much as noticing a hair out of place on her pretty head. A quick question from a servant had the man leading them to a servant's entrance in the back of the main house, opening into a storeroom that was just off the kitchen.

Once inside, Tarrin breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly scanned for another lurking watcher in the Weave, something he'd been doing every few moments after they carefully restored the cemetery and Tarrin repaired the thorn wall he'd flattened, covering the evidence of their visit. He even scoured away their scents and wiped away their footprints, leaving nothing behind. Tarrin's mind worked furiously on their trip back, as he tried to fathom what could have driven the Council to start murdering the others. What kind of insanity, what madness possessed them? He still had no answers by the time he and Auli tread cautiously into the kitchen. Tarrin didn't want to run into Arlan right now. He was one of the Council's pupils, and he had the feeling that anything Tarrin said around him would get back to them before it finished coming out of his mouth.

"We made it back," she said in a trembling voice.

"We're safe now, cub," he said, assuming a protective role with the girl. Right now, she was important as any of his children for what she knew. "Once we get back to my room, everything will be just fine."

A very fast, harried walk along the grand passages brought him back to his room, and he threw the door open and ushered her inside with a quick look for servants, then came in behind her. Auli almost cried in relief when she ran into the room, and Tarrin couldn't help but feel the tension flow out of him. The Warded room was isolated from prying eyes and ears, and they'd be safe there. It also wasn't empty. Keritanima waited for him on one of the divans, as Kimmie and Binter sat on the floor just beside it with a chessboard set between them. His sister jumped up as soon as Tarrin moved into the room behind Auli. "It's about time!" she said hotly, putting her fists on her hips and glaring at him. "You said you'd be right back!"

"We found something," he said, nodding towards Auli. "Something bad."

"It was horrible!" Auli said in a shuddering tone. "It's a nightmare! I can't believe this is happening!"

"Kimmie, could you take Auli over to the bed and help calm her down?" Tarrin asked. "She just had a very nasty shock."

"Certainly, love," she said with a gentle smile. She got up and came over, then put an arm around the Sha'Kar girl and led her towards the raised bed, talking to her in low, reassuring tones. Kimmie's gentle nature should get the girl to regain her composure, but it may take a little while.

"Well, it looks like both of us have some news," Keritanima said. "Who wants to go first?"

"You'd better. After I say what I have to say, you'll forget about what you have to say."

"I'm almost aflutter with anticipation," she said in a humorless voice. "I went to visit Allia again around noon. She was asleep with Allyn in her bed, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try checking her again, when she really has her defenses all the way down."

"What did you find?"

"I found an active Mind weave inside her," she said. "It was very, very hard to find, because it's buried so deeply in her subconscious that it was like digging up gold. I'd have never found it if she was awake."

"That sounds like it's just confirmation of what we already knew."

"Tarrin, Allyn was there. When I was done with her, on an impulse, I checked him."

Tarrin's eyebrow rose. "You mean—"

"He has one too, but it's a lot stronger and a lot more complicated," she answered. "Actually, it's more than one, and they're active weaves. They seem to be inserted into his subconscious and the more primitive sections of his brain. Emotions, impulses, desires, the things that connect us to animals. Basic urges."

Tarrin stared at her emotionlessly for a long moment, and then it all just seemed to fall into place. The Sha'Kar seemed hedonistic, driven by nothing more than the desire to pleasure themselves. Decadence. Auli was a perfect example of that decadence, a woman that would sleep with anyone that would willingly—and perhaps unwillingly—climb into bed with her. That radical change from their racial culture wasn't the result of a thousand years of exile, it was the result of outside interference. And only a Sha'Kar could weave Mind weaves on other Sha'Kar.

The Council.

Their fingers reached far beyond murder, he realized. They were using Mind weaves on their own people, turning them into self-indulged pleasure seekers. But why? What made that necessary? What gains did they reap from it? They had to have some kind of reason for doing it.

"Tarrin, someone's been tampering with the Sha'Kar," she told him. "And it has to be another Sha'Kar. This is way too complicated for it to be any other race."

"I know," he said in a quiet tone, looking down at her. "It's the Council."

"That's what I thought too, but it could be anyone with talent for Mind weaves." She fretted. "But that's not what has me so confused. The Mind weaves in Allyn were effects, not the actual weaves themselves. There wasn't enough inside Allyn for it to have been a full spell. Almost like the other half of a Mind weave that had somehow been split in two. They were just fingers stretching out from the main spell, to let the spell affect him. Since they're active, that means that the Mind weave has to be active as well. I swept the entire room for signs of the spell, but I couldn't find anything."

"You tried tracing those fingers?"

She nodded. "They just appear out of nowhere inside of both of them, and I can't trace them back. It's like the spell is hiding from me."

Tarrin looked to Auli. Poor girl. He wondered if she understood what was happening, if the Sha'Kar too were trapped inside themselves, screaming and raging against the control that was making them do what they were doing. Somehow… he doubted it. If this spell was provoking their basic impulses, they were simply being overwhelmed by the overpowering desire to seek pleasure. Tarrin didn't think anyone would find that to be too wrong. But how did it explain the Sha'Kar male torturing Zarina?

"Well, that's mine. What's yours?"

He looked down at her, his face grim. "I found the Sha'Kar."

"The missing ones? You found out what happened to them?"

"I found them," he said in a neutral tone. "They're all dead."

"We suspected they were dead, brother. It's a small island."

"They were buried in a part of the forest that's off limits. They were all murdered."

Keritanima looked about to say something, then she stopped with her jaw hanging down. "Murdered?" she gasped.

Tarrin related the tale to her of him finding the amulet under the log, running into Auli, and then the circumstances that had led him to the thorn-walled graveyard. "I found an echo in the Weave of what happened to Iselde's father," he told her. "He was controlled by Mind weaves to go there, and then he dug his own grave and waited patiently for whoever came along and killed him. They're all there. I counted them. Three hundred and forty-one."

Keritanima looked a little flabbergasted. She took a step back and put a hand to her chest, then her eyes turned calculating. The political animal in Keritanima had taken over, and now it was processing this new information. "I guess it shouldn't have been that much of a surprise," she admitted. "If it were anyone but the Sha'Kar, anyway."

"That's how I felt about it," he said.

"Still, that seems pretty extreme. If they had to go so far as to kill their own, it makes me wonder what those Sha'Kar found out, what they discovered that would force the Council to kill them."

"I can't think of anything."

"Maybe I can," she said, glancing at Auli.

"You think they were killed because they found out about the control?"

"It's a possibility, but I doubt it. If they're that good at Mind weaves, why wouldn't they just erase that memory? There doesn't seem to be any reason to kill them, does it? Not when they can control what they do, what they think, and what they remember."

"You're right," he said. "So it's still a question we need to answer."

"It's a question that doesn't seem to have any rational answer," she told him. "They were killed for some reason, but I can't think of any reason so serious that would force them to do it. Not when they can control the people so completely."

"I think maybe the answers we're looking for are right over there," he said, looking at Auli.

"Why would she know?"

"Because she's friends with Iselde. She may have heard something when her parents were alive that we may be able to use."

"Couldn't hurt," Keritanima said after a moment.

Kimmie had her calmed down, but her hands were still trembling. Tarrin and Keritanima sat down on the bed with her, Tarrin pulling his legs in crossed and wrapping his tail around them, patting the bed before him meaningfully. Auli scooted up and seated herself before him as Kimmie and Keritanima joined them. Tarrin reached over and put his paw on her leg, a reassuring touch. "Alright, you've seen what I saw, Auli," he said. "Can you think of any reason why the Council would kill Iselde's parents? Anything? Any rumor, any story that may make sense of this?"

"That's a bit too broad, brother," Keritanima said. "Auli, tell me about Iselde's parents."

"Well," she said hesitantly, in a trembling voice. "Iselde told me that her parents had always been very secretive, and they were, well, a little vocal in their displeasure with some of the decisions the Council and the Grand made."

"That's all you can remember?"

"I didn't know them very well," she said. "I was very young when Iselde's mother died, and after I got to be friends with Iselde, I never really saw her father that much. He spent almost all his time in his study, and stopped going to parties and socializing with the others. When I did see him, he always looked awful. His hair was a mess, his robes were dirty, he was bone thin, and he always stared at me like I was some kind of boggart. He was creepy." She looked at Tarrin briefly. "Everyone said that when his wife had been chosen for the ceremony and she failed, he never recovered. Iselde told me her mother and father loved each other as much as life itself. When Iselde's mother died, he was never the same."

"What were they like when they were both alive?" Keritanima asked.

"My mother told me that they were both very wild when they were younger, but when they married, they settled down a great deal and started really applying themselves to learning the Art. They took lessons from my mother and everything. That's when they started getting secretive, and they started disagreeing with some of the things the Council did. The Grand offered Aliani a seat on the Council at one point, so she could be a part of the Council and offer her opinions, but she refused. Everyone thought that the Council respected Aliani's mind. That's why they were so patient with her displeasure. She would have been a good member of the Council, my mother thought. She was certainly smart enough, and strong in the Art."

Tarrin mulled that over. Could they have killed Aliani because she was too vocal? No. They could control her easily enough, probably allowed her to be vocal about some things to make it appear that her opinions hadn't changed. But it was pretty obvious that Theran was devastated by the death of his wife, and had spiraled down into misery as the years dragged by after her death.

Now it was Tarrin's turn, and he'd been waiting too long to ask this question. He couldn't wait any longer. "Auli," he said calmly. "I know you get around. I know people tell you things. So I'm going to ask you right here, right now. Is the Firestaff on this island?"

She looked at him a very long time, almost seemed unwilling to say anything. Then she bowed her head. "Yes," she told him. "I know where it is."

"Have you ever told anyone?"

"Only Iselde," she answered. And that answered that mystery.

"Where is it?"

"It's in the volcano," she told him, looking into his eyes. "But you can't go after it, honored one! Nobody can get in!"

"Why can't anyone get in?" Keritanima asked.

"Because the way in is protected by an old spell," she said. "You can't break it, and I've seen them try." She bit her lip, and gave them all a very worried look. "I know I'm not supposed to talk about it. I know it's wrong, but—but you're an honored one. I can't disobey you. I just can't!"

"Who? Who was trying to get in?" Kimmie asked.

"I, I can't tell you," she said in a slightly strangled tone. "I'm not allowed to say."

"Auli, who tried to get in?" Tarrin asked bluntly.

It hung there for a moment, and she could see the conflict in her eyes. "T-The Grand," she finally stuttered. "And the Council."

"Why were they trying to get in, Auli?" he demanded in an intense tone. "Tell me what happened."

"T-they were on the volcano," she said. "I was wandering around the foothills and saw them go by, so I followed them. They went up a steep path, one of the paths the artist used when he carved the figures on the side, and it led to a little cave just under the figures, a cave that the artist must have uncovered when he excavated the rock to form the relief for the sculpture. It had a magical spell blocking the way in. I hid behind a rock at the edge of the landing and I watched them Circle and try to break the spell. But they couldn't do it. They tried a long time, and then they finally gave up and went back down the path. I waited a long time for them to get back to the city, and then I went home." She looked at her legs. "I heard them talking. The Grand was really mad. I've never seen him like that before. He kept saying over and over that the Firestaff was just beyond his fingers. A couple of the Council members said that it wasn't any use, that if they couldn't do it after centuries of studying it, that nobody could break the spell. I heard the Grand say that they had no choice but to try to find the keys."

Everything seemed to be starting to fit now. If the Grand was after the Firestaff, and he was willing to go to nearly any length to obtain it, it very well may lead him to controlling his people and killing them. maybe they found out about the Firestaff, and instead of just editing their memory, he decided to finish them off. Dead men tell no tales.

The allure of godhood could drive a man to extremes.

If this was as simple as the Firestaff, then a lot of the things that seemed be irrational suddenly weren't. Kingdoms were fighting wars over the artifact, groups were throwing all their chips into the pot in an all-or-nothing gamble to claim it, where failure would mean extermination. Why wouldn't the Grand and the Council be doing the same things?

But there was another feeling in him. Cold, deliberate resolve. He now knew where the Firestaff was. He knew where it was. There was no more waiting, no more searching, no more suffering. At that moment, he could walk up that volcano to that cave, and try to get it. If he could, then he could finally, finally, do what the Goddess had charged him two years ago to do.

Recover the Firestaff.

But there was a problem. If that spell blocked the Grand and the Council, then he probably would fare no better. Auli had mentioned keys, though.

"Auli," he said in a quiet tone. "What are the keys that the Grand mentioned?"

"I don't know," she said. "But there was an old set of symbols on the side of the cave, just inside the entrance. A star, a staff, a flower, and pair of hands clasped together. Those have to be the keys, but I don't think they have them. From the way they sounded, they didn't have the keys. They were too disappointed for them to have them."

"But they probably know what they are," Kimmie mused, scratching her chin.

"I think they do," Auli agreed.

"Well, that's it, brother," Keritanima told him soberly. "That's what we needed to find out. The Council doesn't really matter now."

"Yes they do," Tarrin said. "If we try to get to the Firestaff, they'll try to stop us. And they know what these keys are, and we don't. So we still need to go pay them a little visit."

Kimmie, however, didn't seem satisfied. "Auli, you said you knew it was wrong to tell us," she said. "Why did you say that?"

"I'm not allowed to talk about it," she said woodenly.

"You told Tarrin."

"He's an honored one. I can't disobey him. I know I shouldn't have said something, but I can't disobey." She put a hand to her head, her eyes a little scattered. "I feel a little strange."

Keritanima moved before Tarrin could say anything. She put her hands to either side of Auli's head, and Tarrin felt her send probing tendrils of Mind into the girl. She looked at Tarrin quickly, her expression both sober and a little excited. "There are traces of a Mind weave in her, but they're lingering effects. They're not active. They're trying to stop her from talking, but they're not strong enough. Her conditioning to obey those over her is overriding the compulsion. It's why she wouldn't answer anyone but you, brother."

Tarrin looked at Auli. Why wouldn't they be active? She was Sha'Kar, just like the others, bound under the Council's control.

And she wasn't wearing an amulet.

It clicked. That was why it was such taboo to be seen without an amulet. The amulets were the instruments of control the Council used on their subjects! When Auli lost her amulet, the Mind weaves that affected her were removed, and now she was just suffering from the lingering effects, which were themselves fading.

Tarrin snatched Aliani's amulet out of her hand, which she was still holding, and assessed it carefully. He'd sensed weaves in it before, but hadn't bothered to inspect it.

Clever. Damn clever! They were in there, the other half of the Mind weaves Keritanima mentioned, clear as a bell and still active after fifteen years of laying in the forest. There was much more, however. There was a powerful spell covering those Mind weaves that prevented any other weaves from interfering with the spells it protected, a defensive spell that prevented anyone from accidentally tampering with the Mind weaves below. There was also a very clever little weave over that that concealed the spells in the amulet, only showing the latent weaves that allowed the amulet to be used for distant communication, or whatever weaves the Sha'Kar had placed in it himself. The defenses were so cunning, so subtle, that it would take a very strong da'shar to discover them, someone with the power to see past that clever little weave that hid what was underneath it, and only if they were holding the amulet and had their full attention on it.

And the truth of what had happened to Aliani rested in the amulet. Beneath it all, under the Mind weaves, behind the defensive spell, concealed itself by yet another weave that hid it from probing Sorcerers, Tarrin found a little weave, a small little thing, that effectively blocked all the mental control the amulet attempted to instill in the wearer by tricking the Mind weaves into thinking they were working properly while they actually did nothing at all. They looked active and functional, and they did indeed work, but Tarrin saw that Aliani's counter made them forget to communicate with the host, with the other half of the weave that the amulet would place in the mind of the wearer, sending their commands and instructions nowhere. And since Aliani didn't do anything to the weaves, only added a little bit to misdirect their effects, she managed to circumvent the very powerful spell that wouldn't allow the weaves it protected to be altered. Aliani had discovered the true nature of the amulet, and had cleverly defeated its power without making it apparent that she had done so. It was why the amulet's Mind weaves didn't affect Auli while she was holding it.

Damn clever! Aliani had defused her amulet so cunningly, so carefully, that only someone with Tarrin's keen sense of magic would have detected it. Not even the strongest da'shar would have detected that tiny little weave in all the other weaving, so cunningly was it concealed. Aliani had broken the Council's control!

And that was why they killed her!

"Now it all makes sense," Tarrin said, tossing the amulet to Keritanima. "There's the other half of your Mind weave, Kerri. It's in the amulet."

"I don't sense anything," she said, holding onto it.

"It's hidden by a very powerful spell," he told her. "And there's another spell under it that Aliani put in it, a spell the defeats the amulet's Mind weave without making it apparent that it was. That was why they had her killed. Because she'd managed to break free of their control, and they didn't want to take the chance that she'd do it again."

"And if Aliani did it, then other Sha'Kar had to have done it too," Kimmie reasoned. "That's why they're dead."

Auli stared at them in horror. "There are Mind weaves in the amulets?" she asked in disbelief. "They're controlling us?"

"I'm sorry, Auli, but yes, they are," Tarrin told her. "The Mind weaves affect your more primitive emotions. They make you want to seek pleasure, even over other activities. It's a very subtle and very effective technique. People who think only of singing, dancing, eating, drinking, gossiping, and having sex are very easy to lead around."

"But why would they want to do that to us?" she asked with a trembling lip, her eyes sheening over with tears. "They are our own people!"

"We'll have to ask them," Tarrin said, flexing his claws in an ominous manner.

"We can't just go marching up the Council and start making accusations," Keritanima warned. "Remember, they control the Sha'Kar. I'm sure there are lots of weaves about loyalty and obeying their commands. They'll order the Sha'Kar to attack us, and we won't stand a chance. They may be controlled, but they're still very powerful Sorcerers."

Tarrin frowned. She was right.

"If we want to take out the Council, we have to cut their legs out from under them," Keritanima told him. "Can you cancel that spell they use to control the Sha'Kar?"

"I can, but it'll take High Sorcery," he told her. "And I have to do it one at a time."

"Is there an easier way to do it, at least temporarily?"

"Several," he answered. "But I can't get all of them at once, Kerri. There's just too many. They'd have to literally be standing shoulder to shoulder. I can't think of any way we could trick them into gathering into one place like that. Not without the Council getting suspicious."

"Hold on," she said suddenly. "You said that Aliani defeated the Mind weaves in her amulet without altering them. Can you do that?"

Tarrin looked at her, and it was like a light flickering behind his eyes. "That's genius!" he told her. "It's an easy spell, and it won't take High Sorcery! I'll still have to do it one at a time, but I could weave that one without anyone knowing it."

"Good. I think we need to get everyone in here. Including Allia, as well as Auli, Iselde, and Allyn," she added. "I think it's time for a war council, and we can't have one without Allia. We'll just break the control they have on her. And you three are going to know things we need to know," she said to Auli.

"What about finding out everything we can?" Kimmie asked.

"We already know everything we need to know, Kimmie," she replied. "And it took a hell of a lot shorter than I thought it would. Now we know what happened to the missing Sha'Kar, and why things around here have been happening the way they have. If I were a gambling woman, I'd say Aliani dropped her amulet in the forest for you to find, brother. If you hadn't have found it, and if Auli hadn't lost her own, we'd still be stumbling around. A moment of luck has changed everything."

"Maybe the Goddess did it," Auli said in a small voice, obviously still shocked over what she'd learned.

"If so, I'm going to kiss her the next time I visit the Heart," Keritanima said gruffly. "Now then, go track down that drake of yours, Tarrin, and I'll send out the call. It's time we all had a little early supper, and I'm just dying for some company. Don't you agree?"

"I thought you'd never ask," he said.


It wasn't an early supper that had been planned, but a late one. Tarrin and Keritanima realized that before they could make plans, they were going to have to break the control that the Council had over Allia, Allyn, and Iselde. Breaking the Mind weaves would be a simple matter, but he'd have to get them close to him. He wanted to do it all at once, and they'd have to be in proximity to him for his Sorcery to affect them. For Allyn and Iselde, this wasn't a big deal, but Allia was another matter entirely. For him to break the Council's control, he'd have to nullify magic in the area, destroying the Mind weaves quickly, before the disruption of them could do permanent harm to their subjects.

That was going to be the sticking point. Allia would sense his magic, and her suspicious nature would cause her to strike at him almost immediately. Tarrin was going to be very careful, because nobody else could use magic to subdue Allia, and no one else had the physical ability to stop her if she sought to kill him.

About an hour after he and Keritanima had decided to call council, Tarrin was ready for the ordeal. It was going to be painful to attack Allia with magic, but a part of him was anxious to do it, almost eager. It meant that he would get his sister back, back where she belonged. Tarrin could look into her eyes, hold her in his arms, and forgive her for what she said, and everything would be alright again. After all, it hadn't been her talking.

Tarrin chose his ground carefully. He was sitting on the bed, and Kimmie and Sapphire were with him. Everyone else was out of the room. Tarrin would make his attempt as soon as the three of them came into the room, and Keritanima and Dolanna had been stationed in the house to make sure that they got to the door at the same time. Kimmie and Sapphire both would be there to delay Allia if she managed to evade Tarrin's attempt to destroy the Mind weave controlling her, giving him enough time to get her before she could reach him and force him to abandon Sorcery in favor of trying to keep his head on his shoulders. Tarrin heartily respected, even feared, Allia's incredible prowess with her shortswords, and no matter what she was wearing, she'd have them with her. Allia knew his weaknesses, and she was one of the few living things that Tarrin respected enough to take those kinds of precautions. She could kill him if she got close enough, if his mind was still involved with his magical attempts. He didn't want to hurt her, but on the other hand, he didn't want to get his head chopped off either.

Tarrin waited restlessly in the room, watching the door across the room, counting the paces it would take Allia to get to him if it came to that. Kimmie and Sapphire should stop her about the middle of the room. Tarrin already warned Kimmie not to engage Allia in a fight, to slow her down by throwing things at her or, if she could, try magic. Sapphire too was warned, but Sapphire told him that she could drop Allia from twenty paces if she had command of her lightning power. They should be able to stop her, if it came down to that. If things went as he planned, she'd never take a step towards him.

The door moved, and Tarrin stood up quickly before the bed and set his will against the Weave, readying himself. High Sorcery would give him away too quickly, and he really didn't need it for what he was doing. Allia was a deceptively strong Sorceress, but she could not match Tarrin's skill at weaving quickly. Tarrin could have the spell woven and released before she knew what was going on, and if he did, he'd have her without her taking a single step. It opened, and Tarrin saw, much to his nervous delight, Allia, Allyn, and Iselde standing on the other side of it. Dolanna and Keritanima were behind them, shooing them in, and Tarrin could clearly see Allia's hostile expression, and her suspicious eyes.

"I have nothing more to say to you, brother," she hissed from the doorway, refusing to step inside.

What Allia didn't count on was Keritanima bodily shoving her into the room. "Well we have plenty to say to you!" the fox Wikuni said in a hot tone. "Now then, sister, you're going to stand here and hear what we have to say. You owe us that much!"

Dolanna quietly shooed Iselde and Allyn into the room, and then stepped back and closed the door. It was her and Keritanima's task to make sure they didn't get out after Tarrin started.

Allia, who was wearing the dress that Allyn gave her, turned and glared at Tarrin viciously. Tarrin didn't pay her much attention, as he carefully gauged the distance between the two Sha'Kar and the Selani. They were close enough together. Keritanima quickly stepped back, and that motion caught the attention of all three of them for a critical split second.

Perfectly done!

Tarrin already had the spell in mind, so he pulled the flows from the strands and wove them together with a blazing speed that would have stunned Iselde and Allyn, if they could have sensed what he was doing. Allia's eyes widened as she sensed his action, but by the time she had turned and reached for the dagger at her belt, Tarrin snapped the spell down and released it.

This was the critical part. If Allia dashed forward, out of the spell's area of effect, before it could affect her, Kimmie and Sapphire would have to intervene and give Tarrin enough time to try again.

But she didn't move quite fast enough. The spell's borders solidified, and a dome around the three of them shimmered into being as the spell absolutely nullified all magical activity within it. It wouldn't strip their amulets of their spells, but those spells wouldn't function so long as they were within it.

Allia took two quick steps forward, but then she faltered. She dropped her dagger and put a hand to her head, wincing in pain. Iselde and Allyn's reaction was far more dramatic, as both of them wailed in pain and grabbed their heads with both hands, doubling over. Killing the Mind weaves like that was a very dramatic thing, and the mind did not like dramatic, radical change. Tarrin knew it would hurt, but he saw little other choice.

Allia raised her head and looked at Tarrin in confusion. "Brother, what am I doing?" she asked woozily. "I wanted to kill you!"

"Allia, do what I say, and do it fast," Keritanima said as she rushed forward. "Go to Allyn and take off his amulet. Quickly!"

"I—As you say, deshaida," she said in slight confusion. Allia reached Allyn and had a little trouble getting the amulet off of him, having to pull his hands away from his head as he panted and huffed from the blinding pain. Keritanima wasn't quite so gentle with Iselde, grabbing the delicate chain of her amulet and literally ripping it off of her, jerking her backwards so badly she toppled over. The chain snapped from the stress and came free from the Sha'Kar female, and Keritanima held it high and away from herself, almost like it was a live snake.

Tarrin ended the spell and started rushing forward with Kimmie, as Keritanima helped Iselde get back to her feet. Allia was a little woozy on her feet, putting her hands on her knees to stable herself. Allyn wheezed a little as he slowly stood erect again. Dolanna came back into the room and took over for Keritanima, walking Iselde slowly and carefully over to the divans so she could sit down and try to recover. Tarrin moved swiftly and confidently, stalking up to Allia and immediately putting his paw over her ivory amulet, assessing it. Keritanima said that the Mind weave in Allia had been whole, probably a spell, but Tarrin wanted to make sure of that. He assessed her amulet, and found that it had not been tampered with in any way.

She looked up at him with those beautiful blue eyes, eyes that were a little fuzzy and uncertain. "Deshida, what's going on?" she asked in Selani. "I, I had the strangest nightmare. I dreamed I rejected you."

Tarrin looked down at her, then laughed. "It was a nightmare, sister, for both of us," he said, pulling her into a crushing embrace, holding her tight, letting her scent wash over him. "But it's over now."

"The Council put a spell on you, sister," Keritanima told her bluntly. "A Mind weave. They made you fight with Tarrin, probably to upset him."

"Made me? How could they?" she asked, looking at Keritanima with a bit of a wheeze from where Tarrin was squeezing her. "I am Selani. They are Sha'Kar!"

"Remember, you're cousins, sister," Tarrin told her. "It seems your minds are similar enough for the Sha'Kar to use Mind weaves on you."

"Is this true?" Allia asked Tarrin with horrified eyes. "Did I really say those things to you, my brother?"

"I realized that you didn't mean them, Allia," he told her gently, putting his paws on her shoulders. "I realized it not long after I left your room, at least after I got over a fit of self-pity and depression. My sister would never have said those things of her own free will. I don't blame you, and I don't want you to punish yourself over it. I'd rather we punish the ones that did make you say it," he said in an ugly tone. "Together."

"Together. It is as it should be between us," she said with a glorious smile. "I'm happy you didn't take my words to heart, my brother. I would have felt miserable if I caused you pain."

"There was some pain, but it was the pain of not having my sister with me," he told her.

"Oh, Tarrin. I'm so sorry!" she said with a sudden bout of tears, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. Tarrin held her for a long moment, eyes closed, chin buried in her shoulder, just reveling in her scent, her touch, her closeness. Allia was herself again. She was home.

She was his sister once more.

Keritanima joined them, and they shared a long, silent, intimate moment of togetherness, a moment of family, a moment that was theirs and theirs alone, despite those watching on. Tarrin, Allia, and Keritanima. The three Non-human Sorcerers that had joined forces in the Tower to find out what was going on, but had found bonds between them more powerful than love or duty. Unbreakable ties that had sustained them through countless ordeals and suffering.

"Now then," Allia said with a weepy voice, pulling away to look at her brother and sister. "Tell me who did this to me. He is a man with no honor, and he must be punished!" she finished in a furious snarl.

"We don't know the exact person, but we'll bet that it was the Council, Allia," Keritanima told her. "There are quite a few very nasty little pieces of news you haven't heard yet. The Council is a pack of heartless, ruthless monsters, no better than the ki'zadun."

"Then tell me," she said intensely. "Tell me now."

"Not quite yet," Keritanima told her. "The others need to hear this too, and it's not the kind of thing I want to repeat more than once. We freed Iselde and Allyn because they'll know things we need to know, and Auli is with us too."

"Freed them?" Allia asked in concern.

"You weren't the only one under the control of the Council, sister," Tarrin told her. "They're controlling all the Sha'Kar. Allyn and Iselde too. That's part of what we're going to talk about as soon as the others get here."

"Why are they still so hurt?" Allia said in concern, her eyes fearful as she looked at Allyn, who was now being supported by Kimmie, who was leading him over to the divans where Dolanna sat with Iselde. Dolanna was patting the Sha'Kar female on the back and saying reassuring things to her as she regained her composure.

"Because the spells in their minds were a lot more complicated than the one in yours," Keritanima answered. "They had more for Tarrin to pull out, so it caused them more pain than it did you." She patted Allia on the back. "Don't worry, sister, answers are coming. Everyone else is waiting in Camara Tal's room, and that's right down the hall. Let me go get them, and we can get you up to speed in just a blink."

"Thank you, sister," Allia said with a sincere look. "For believing in me."

"I knew you were being controlled, Allia," Keritanima grinned. "If you want to know the truth, me and Tarrin were going to use you to feed misinformation to the Council. We knew whatever we told you would somehow end up on their desks. But we got wildly lucky, so we decided to dispense with that plan."

Allia looked at her wildly, then laughed. "You would use even me? Your own sister?" she asked in insincere indignation.

"Honey, when things get that serious, I'll use my own husband," Keritanima grinned in reply "Now let me go get the others, so we can get going."

"Sapphire, go with Kerri," Tarrin called. "Remember, nobody goes alone," he reminded her.

"Oh, right. Sapphire, come on!" she called as she opened the door. The drake landed on her shoulder, and they exited quickly.

While they waited, Tarrin had Allia sit down on the divans to recover herself. She sat beside Allyn, and held his hand and looked upon him in sincere concern. Allia's feelings for the boy had not changed, and in a way he suspected that they had never been part of the controlling spell over her, and he was glad of that. She deserved love and happiness. And if chose Allyn, then Tarrin would accept that choice as freely and as happily as he had accepted Keritanima's choice of Rallix. Now that he knew that Allyn had been controlled, Tarrin found no animosity in his heart towards the boy. He was certain that some of his bad angles were ingrained by training and conditioning rather than control, but he could be changed, made to understand the true culture of his people and learn to accept it. Or, Tarrin suspected, Allia would train him in the Selani way and take him home with her. Allyn probably wouldn't be able to stand up to Allia for long, but he'd better learn. Allia would get annoyed with him if she could control him that easily. Allia wanted a strong mate, someone to compete with her, challenge her body and mind, make them both better in their competition. That was the Selani way. The boy was going to have to learn quite a bit in a very short time if he wanted to keep Allia's interest.

Tarrin leaned down and put his paw on Allyn's shoulder, and the boy looked up at him in bleary confusion. "Honored one? Why do I have such a headache?"

"It'll pass in a few moments, Allyn," Tarrin told him gently. "I had to sweep a few skeletons out of your closet. I'm sorry it hurt, but there was no other way."

"What are you talking about, honored one?" Iselde asked.

"I won't explain it yet. You may not believe me," Tarrin answered her. "Let's wait for Auli. She'll be able to confirm everything I tell you. That way we don't have to waste a lot of time with stubborn bickering."

"Why would we not believe you, honored one?" Allyn said with simplicity. "What reason would you have to lie to us?"

"In a moment of time, dear heart, you will find one," Allia told him with powerful eyes. "What he will tell you is the truth. I know it. If you do not believe him, then believe me."

Allyn looked at her, his eyes clearing and his expression slowly showing his recovery from his pounding headache. "I would never doubt you, my heart," he told her calmly.

Tarrin looked at Allia, she at him, and the unspoken declaration passed between them. She smiled fondly at him and patted the paw on Allyn's shoulder. Tarrin accepted her mate. That pleased her greatly.

"You look ridiculous in that dress, sister," he told her with a smile.

"I feel a little ridiculous," she admitted in Selani. "I think my desire to wear it was put in me. I think they took my love for Allyn and twisted it into my only passion."

"That would make sense," he told her. "Since you're Selani, I don't think they could control you with the same weaves they used to control the Sha'Kar. You maybe related, but you do have a different mind. So they had to use something simpler on you, something that could be easy and simple yet dominate your thinking. Working on an emotion like love can definitely do that." He grimaced. "I think if I wouldn't have taken sides against Allyn, you wouldn't have reacted the way you did when we had the fight. If I would have been a little more diplomatic, I don't think it would have come out the way it did."

"You were being you, brother. Don't kick yourself for it," she told him gently. "Just as you told me not to blame myself for what I said, I'm telling you right now not to blame yourself for how it started. It's over, it's in the past, and it meant nothing. So it's not even worth our time to remember it."

As always, she knew exactly what to say. Tarrin leaned down and put his forehead against hers. She giggled a little and rubbed her forehead against him. "I love you, sister," he said sincerely.

"And I you, my brother. Now that we've made up, sit down and let me introduce you to my lover the right way."

Chapter 18