Tarrin was absolutely stunned. The depths of his little girl's conniving knew no bounds. That she would actually use her power with the sole intention of making him stay overwhelmed him with both her cunning and her absolute disregard for anyone other than herself. That she was a very young girl certainly softened that dark view of her, but it didn't change the outright shock that she would go to such extremes to force him to stay.
She looked up at him with teary eyes. "I don't want you to go, papa!" she pleaded. "Stay here, so we can be a family! Please?"
What stared back at her was not the loving expression of her father, but the dark, sinister face of a glowing-eyed Were-cat, a sure visible sign that anger had taken control. Even Jasana knew better than to say or do anything more. Tarrin's burning green eyes showed her how angry he was. She retreated from him step by step, then turned and fled towards Jenna's old room.
Tarrin watched her go, trying to get himself under control. Unbelievable! She used her power just to make him stay! He couldn't believe it! Snarling, Tarrin turned and smashed his fist into the table, destroying it in an explosive shower of wood shards, but it didn't make him feel much better.
Jesmind, however, began to laugh ruefully. She put a paw on Tarrin's shoulder, then turned him to face her. "Now you realize what I've had to put up with," she said with a slight smile.
Tarrin snorted, looking away from her as he forced himself to calm down.
"But she was right. Let's not shout at each other over this. You tell me why you need to take her, and I'll tell you why it's a bad idea."
Tarrin glared at her for a moment, but then took a calming breath. "I told you before, I can't leave her alone because she can use her power again," he told her. "Since I have no choice but to go, that also means I have no choice but to take her along. You have no idea how much I hate that idea, Jesmind," he growled. "I'm going to war, and she's just a little girl. I'm terrified that she may get hurt."
"I can't hate you for that," she told him. "But this is where she belongs. It's not right to take her away from here. It's the only place she's ever known."
"I can't help that now, Jesmind. She made this decision. Now she has to suffer the consequences of her actions. Maybe it'll teach her not to do something like this again."
Jesmind snorted. "Not likely. I can't let you take her, Tarrin. I just can't."
"I'm not taking her from you, Jesmind. I want you to come too."
"Me?" she asked in surprise, then she laughed. "If I go back to Suld, I'll kill half the people in the Tower, Tarrin. I've never forgiven them for what they did to me, and to you."
"I won't stop you, my mate," Tarrin said grimly. "I'll just tell you which ones not to kill."
Jesmind actually laughed. "As much as that appeals to me, I don't want to go, Tarrin. This is my home now, and I don't want to leave."
"I don't want to leave either, Jesmind," he said with sudden candor, looking at her with sincerity. "But I have to go. I don't have any choice. Everything depends on me getting to Suld, and getting there quickly."
"If it's so important to go to Suld, why are you going to stop to attack Torrian?"
"Because they need me to do it," he told her bluntly. "Do you know what's going on, Jesmind? I mean really know what's going on?"
"Only that the Dals are attacking Sulasia."
"That's only a part of it, and it's really nothing more than a means to tie down the Sulasian army," he said, absently Creating another table and banishing the remains of the old one. They sat down at the table, and as soon as they did so, he reached out and put his paws over one of hers. "What's really going on is that the people who've been trying to kill me since before I met you have assembled an army of every kind of nightmare they could find, and they're marching it to destroy Suld."
"I heard you say that before, to Garyth."
"Then why didn't you listen the first time?" he asked in slight exasperation. "I explained everything then!"
"I wasn't paying attention," she admitted.
Tarrin blew out his breath. "Jesmind, if they destroy Suld, they'll destroy the bonds that keep the Goddess on this world. She'll be banished, and that will disrupt the Weave. The end result is that any Sorcerer with even average power is going to die in the disruption. I'll die if I don't stop them from taking Suld, and now that Jasana has used her power and bonded herself to the Weave, she is also in danger."
That made Jesmind's eyes widen.
"That's right. I'm not doing this just for my own sake, Jesmind. That army is a direct threat to my daughter's life, as well as the lives of about half of the people who mean the most to me, and I'm not about to sit around here and hope that my sisters and friends can stop them for me. I have to go."
Jesmind groaned, putting her head in her paws. "You just had to say that, didn't you?" she demanded.
"It's the truth, Jesmind. Now we can fight about this, a fight that you will lose, or you can accept it with a grain of salt and do what you can to help."
"Is she really in that much danger?"
"Jasana, right now, that army is more of a danger to her than anything else in this world. Even her own power isn't as dangerous as that army."
Jesmind looked torn, for a moment, then sighed and lowered her head. "I believe you, my mate," she admitted. "I can't stand the idea of it, but I'm not going to take any risks with Jasana's life. If you think it's best, then--then we'll go with you."
That couldn't have been easy for her. Tarrin knew Jesmind, knew that she was as proud and stubborn as he was. She couldn't stand showing throat to anyone for any reason, even when it was a good reason. She had submitted to him, and no matter how good it was, it wasn't something she could take easily. Tarrin took her paw and held it gently, causing her to look up into his eyes.
"Thank you, Jesmind," he said sincerely. "I know that wasn't easy."
"You're not getting it for free," she said with sudden power in her voice. "I'll agree to this, but only on two conditions."
"What?"
"First, I want a necklace that does what yours does," she said. "And second, I want you to promise to come home when you're done with whatever it is you're doing."
"I was going to do that anyway."
"No, you said you were going to do it. I want to hear you promise that you will."
Tarrin stared down at the firm resolve in her eyes, then he nodded. "Jesmind, I promise that when I've done what I need to do, I'll come home."
Her eyes softened visibly, and she gave him a slight, coy little smile. "I know we'll get on each other's nerves, but I want the chance to have you for mate in the way that's always been denied to us, Tarrin. A mating that's not interrupted by needs to run off to the far corners of the world."
"Just be patient then, Jesmind," he told her.
"Were-cats aren't known for patience, my mate," Jesmind said archly. "Now is all that matters to us."
"There will be plenty of time for now later," he told her. "Right now, I need you to be here and keep Jasana safe."
"She's my daughter. She'll be safe."
"Good. I'm sorry to have to do this to you, Jesmind. It seems that every time we're together, we completely screw up each other's lives."
Jesmind actually laughed. "I guess it was your turn this time."
"Guess so," he smiled in agreement.
"It must be a sign that we weren't meant to be together."
"Only if you believe in that kind of garbage," he said. "I believe in something else."
"What?" she asked curiously.
"That the wisdom and guidance I get from my Goddess will see me through," he said. "She wouldn't have brought me back here, brought me back to you, if there wasn't a good reason for it. So we are meant to be together. At least for now."
Jesmind smiled lightly. "I think I'll give this Goddess of yours a kiss," Jesmind said with sudden cheeky grin.
"She's probably be overjoyed.
"Goddess, you say? How practical."
"What do you m
ean?"
"That you follow a woman. That's the ordained order of things, you know."
"Don't press your luck," he teased, seeing it for the jibe that it was.
"Feel better now?"
"Much. You?"
"Not exactly happy, but I'll manage," she admitted. "That daughter of ours certainly defused us in a hurry, didn't she?"
Tarrin chuckled. "She seems to have a knack for it, I've noticed. I find it very hard to be angry when she's touching me."
"Me too," Jesmind agreed. "You certainly managed to overcome that, though."
"I had a very good reason," he sighed. "I can't believe that she'd do something like that."
"I would. Jasana is very willful, Tarrin, and she'll stoop to almost any level to get her own way. She's almost impossible to manage."
"You should have warned me."
"I did. You just weren't paying attention."
"I guess that's my fault," he grumbled.
"The fight is over. Shall we kiss and make up now?"Jesmind asked with a wink.
Smiling in spite of himself, Tarrin leaned across the table and did just that.
Chapter 25
The first of the people they'd been waiting for to arrive was, of all people, Ariana.
She swooped in about an hour after Tarrin and Jesmind made peace, when Tarrin happened to be outside patching a hole in the stillery building; he knew that his father would kill him if he didn't seal that up before it made the whole stillery fall down. It had been a while since he'd seen Ariana, and he had to admit that the time had been good to her. Her blue hair was tied in a tail behind her, and she wore a tight-fitting vest and breeches that wouldn't flap in the wind as she flew. She had a crossbow hanging from her belt, a curiously small crossbow with what looked to be a metal bowstring and bow arms, and a quiver with bolts hung at her belt from the other side. Her face was still just as brown as he remembered, browned from the sun and wind, and she wore a tinted crystal visor of the same design as what the Selani wore. "Tarrin!" she called with a raised hand. "I told you we'd see each other again!"
"So you did, Ariana," he called, setting down the hammer and coming over to her.
"What are you doing?"
"Patching," he replied.
"Strange occupation for someone who called for an Aeradalla scout," she laughed. "Why in the four winds are you doing that?"
"Because it needs doing," he answered calmly, looking down at her. "Was your flight safe?"
"Boring," she complained, reaching back and smoothing some of the feathers on her wing. "When the message reached us for one of us to come here, I had to do some negotiating to keep Darius from coming instead of me."
"Darius?"
"He was closest," Ariana admitted. "But then I told them I knew you and you were rather tempermental, so it would be best if I was the one to come."
"That actually was a pretty reasonable argument," Tarrin chuckled in agreement.
"They thought so too," she grinned. "So, now what?"
"Now? Now, we wait," he replied. "We're waiting for a few others, and we're leaving in the morning."
"Anything you need scouting before then?"
"Aren't you tired?"
"Naw," she said, adjusting her vest. "I caught a tailwind almost all the way over here. That's easy flying."
"Why don't you come in and have something to eat?" he offered. "You can meet my mate, Jesmind."
"You're married?" she asked curiously. "I never thought you were the marrying type."
"I'm not married," he said. "My relationship with Jesmind is what you'd call purely physical."
"So she's your mistress," Ariana reasoned.
"Whatever makes the most sense to you," he shrugged. "You wouldn't understand, even if I explained it to you."
"Alright," she said, letting it drop. "I'm glad you were outside. I wasn't sure I had the right place. It doesn't look what I was told it would look like."
"It's changed since anyone in Suld has seen it," he explained, leading her to the house.
Jesmind was busy carving up the deer when Tarrin led Ariana into the house. The rabbits were already skinned and cleaned, cut up and waiting to be either stored or eaten. The deer was about halfway ready, for Jesmind was cutting it up into small portions. She glanced towards the door, took one look at Ariana, and immediately turned around and assumed a slightly hostile posture.
"Jesmind, this is Ariana," Tarrin introduced as he stepped in behind her. "She's the Aeradalla scout I had mother send to help us."
"Oh. For a minute there, I thought you were an invader," Jesmind said in a gruff voice. "Come in and make yourself at home. Tarrin, we're going to need a larger pot or something. Thean and the others are going to be hungry when they get here."
"You want that stove now or later?" he asked.
Jesmind seemed to consider it. "No, that would be cheating," she said, mainly to herself. "But I think maybe we should build a firepit outside. We'll roast it there. I don't want all those people running around our house anyway."
"It's good to meet you, Jesmind," Ariana said. "Tarrin said you was your, ah, mate."
"He is," she affirmed with a nod. "Don't bother asking. You're not Were, so you won't understand."
"He said the same thing."
"Sometimes, even Tarrin says something smart," Jesmind shrugged. "Go find a place to dig the pit, my mate. I'll start bringing the meat out in a bit."
"Alright. Come on, Ari, you can help," he said, filing her right back out. Jesmind was in a pecky mood, so it was best to remove any kind of negative influences on her at the moment.
"She was a bit pert," Ariana said with a slight frown after Tarrin closed the door and led her off the porch.
"She's not in a good mood," Tarrin told her patiently. "She lost a fight with me earlier, and it's starting to gnaw at her. It's natural. Give her a while, and she'll be more friendly."
"Things must be interesting for you two," Ariana laughed.
"Usually," he agreed. "If we're not fighting, we're making up. Then we're fighting about something else."
Ariana laughed. "That almost sounds like me and Andy."
Tarrin looked around, and decided that it would be best to dig the pit beside the garden they'd planted earlier, for that ground was always marked for plowing anyway. They wouldn't be tearing up any grass that wasn't meant to grow there for long in the first place. "Do me a favor and fetch the spade from that building over there," he said, pointing to the old shearing shed, which was now a smaller barn.
"You're going to dig?" Ariana said in surprise. "They told me that you're a magician! Why don't you magic it?"
"Because Jesmind takes a dim view when I do that," he replied cooly. "And right now, making Jesmind mad is not a very good idea."
"You're scared of her?"
"Any sane sentient being would be very wise to fear Jesmind," he replied bluntly.
"Well, if you're afraid of her, then I guess it would be best to do as you say," she said with a little smirk.
"Ari, you know how some women like to yell, some like to cry, and some like to throw things when they get mad?" he asked directly, to which Ariana nodded. "Well, Jesmind likes to kill things. And since you and me are the only living things around at the moment, who do you think she's going to come after?"
Ariana's face screwed up for a moment, then she laughed. "I see your point," she said with a quirky grin. "She's just like you."
"More or less," he agreed. "You don't stomp around Jesmind unless you want to lose your foot."
"I'll remember that. Let me go find that spade," she said, shuffling off towards the shearing shed.
Tarrin had some of the larger stones from the bed of the small stream piled up for the firepit by the time Ariana came back, holding a recently cleaned spade. "It's a mess in there," she accused. "I couldn't find it."
"She keeps it right by the door, Ari," he said, looking at it.
"Tarrin, I think I've seen one of those things about four times
in my life," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "Forgive me if I couldn't point it out among all that other junk in there."
"I guess that could be a problem," Tarrin agreed with a chuckle, starting to spade up the grass. "I would ask you to go help Jesmind, but that wouldn't be a good idea."
"No, it wouldn't. What can I do to help?"
"Well, you can go get some more stones," he said. "There's some of them in the stream over there."
"No problem."
Tarrin bent down to drive the spade into the ground again, but a scent on the wind caused him to stop short and raise his head. He tested the air with his nose, sorting through the myriad smells that came from living in the forest, isolating that one scent that was new and different. It was a scent he knew, a Were-cat scent. It was coming from upwind, from the south, and he managed to remember who owned that scent just as the figure broke the treeline.
It was Rahnee.
Tarrin's memories of Rahnee were mixed. She had been rather aggressive in her desire to bed him, and given Jesmind's mood at the moment, maybe this wasn't a good time for Rahnee to show up. Jesmind would consider any such talk to be a direct challenge to her claim on him. Tarrin had never gotten past Rahnee's singular bent to get to know her, so he had very little idea of what to expect seeing her alone like that. She spotted him and waved, then trotted over in that ground-eating lope that made Were-cats so mobile. "Tarrin!" she called as she bounded up to him. She looked as he remembered, a tall, rather slender Were-cat female with Jesmind's red hair but Tarrin's black fur. Her hair wasn't as long as Jesmind's, but her face was sharper and more fox-like. "By the furies, cub, when did you get so tall?" she asked immediately.
He was getting very tired of that. "It's a long story you'll hear when everyone else is here, so I only have to go over it once," he replied. "You're looking well."
"Well enough," she replied. "I can smell Jesmind all over you, Tarrin. I take it she's taken you for mate again?"
Tarrin nodded.
"Ah well. More's the pity," she sighed. "At least Thean and Jeri will be here."
"I'm only going to say this once, Rahnee. Do not get frisky right now. Jesmind is in a bad mood, and she'd probably try to rip your head off if you so much as looked at me the wrong way."
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