Weavespinner

by James Galloway

  "I guess it would be."

  It was harder than he thought it would be.

  They were all there to see them off. Keritanima and Allia. Dolanna and Dar. Camara and Koran Tal. Miranda and Azakar. Sarraya and Ianelle. Binter and Sisska. Auli and Allyn. Phandebrass and his drakes, whom Tarrin had not seen for quite a while. And of course, in spirit, as he always would be, Faalken was there as well.

  They had gathered in the gardens, where it was warm and pleasant despite the cold chill of the winter, and it was time to say goodbye. Tarrin and the Were-cats were leaving, and those left behind would also soon be returning to where they also belonged. Camara Tal was taking her husband and returning to Amazar. Sarraya would be returning to her colony. Dar was going to go visit his parents in Arkis, and he was taking Tiella with him. Keritanima had a kingdom to run, and Allia would be leaving with Allyn for the desert later that very morning. Phandebrass was going to take up a temporary position in the Tower library, to help them straighten out their texts of Wizard magic and give him a steady place to do his writing. Auli too was about to take a journey. She was going to the tower in Abrodar with a contingent of other Sha'Kar so the katzh-dashi there could begin learning what the Sha'Kar had to teach them, and Dolanna was one of them. Dolanna was from Sharadar, and she wanted to return home for a while. Tarrin couldn't blame her. They were all splitting up, going their separate ways now that there was no longer a need for them to stay together, but they would always be together in spirit. They were joined by the bonds of a powerful love and friendship, and as Camara Tal had said, it would last as long as they wished it to. He could visit any of them any time he wished, and that made it seem less a goodbye and more an "until tomorrow."

  But even that "until tomorrow" seemed harder than he expected it to be. He traded fierce hugs with those he was leaving behind, and he was already missing them. He wouldn't be only a touch away from his sisters, he wouldn't be there to hear Camara Tal and Phandebrass argue, or Keritanima tease Dar and vice versa, or Sarraya fight with absolutely everyone. They were going home, but those homes were not all in the same place.

  The Goddess had not arrived with Jula yet, but Tarrin knew that even if they left, it would be alright. Mother would bring Jula to him, no matter where he was, and that couldn't be an excuse to hold him here. If he found an excuse, he'd find another, then another, then another, and he'd never leave.

  Funny. He spent all that time wishing to go home, and now that the moment was upon him, he was reluctant to do so.

  It wasn't easy, but it was necessary, and they all knew that it was going to happen eventually. They would not be together for the rest of their lives, and now that everything was at peace again, it was time to return to those lives dropped before all this instanity began. But they could visit. Tarrin, Keritanima, Dolanna, and Jenna could Teleport, and between them and with the help of the Sha'Kar, they could bring the group back together within a matter of days. Such a reunion had already been planned, and it would take place on the island of Amazar. They would gather to celebrate the birth of Camara Tal's child, to keep strong the bonds of love and friendship that bound them together.

  They would not forget one another.

  It was hardest to say goodbye to Keritanima and Allia. He held each of them a very long time, telling them over and over again that they had to come visit him, and to talk to him using the amulets every day. He told Keritanima he'd personally come to Wikuna and kick her tail if she didn't project out to see him at least once a ride, and he promised each of them that as soon as he was capable of it, he would be doing the same.

  "You'd better," Keritanima told him tearfully as he and both his sisters shared a common embrace. "I hate letting you go, brother."

  "We all have our own things to do, Kerri," he told her. "And we'll never be truly apart. I'm always just a touch away."

  "That is the only reason I can let you go, my brother," Allia told him thickly.

  "And you were going to sneak away without saying goodbye to me? I'm crushed," the Goddess said. They all turned to look at her, and then she stepped aside. Behind her, wearing a new pair of leather trousers and a simple linen shirt, was Jula.

  Tarrin opened his arms to his bond-daughter, and she flew into them with tearful eyes, hugging him tightly. "I can't believe it!" she sobbed. "I'm so glad you're alright, father!"

  "I'm fine, cub," he said to her gently. "And you got here just in time. A few more minutes, and Mother would have had to bring you to Aldreth. I hope Triana leaving you behind didn't upset you too much."

  "I was until Mother spoke to me," she said. "She told me to be patient and wait, and she'd come for me. She came for me," she said in wonder.

  "I'm sorry about that, cub," Triana said with sincere regret. "When your Goddess spoke to me and told me about Tarrin, I completely forgot myself. I think I said some pretty nasty things to the Hierarchs before I left."

  "You did," she giggled. "They were very mad at you."

  "Why did you go there?" Tarrin asked them.

  "They wanted to test me," Jula said. "I'm an adult now, father. I don't have to stay with you. But if you don't mind, I'd like to. I'll help you settle in and help Jesmind with Jasana. If you don't mind."

  "We don't mind at all, cub," Jesmind told her with a gentle smile. "But you may be usurped by Kimmie and Mist. They're going to need a little help."

  Jula looked over to them, then saw the tiny bundles in their arms. She squealed in delight and rushed over to them, looking into the tiny bundles with unbridled joy. "Twins!" she said in wonder. "Kimmie, you had twins!"

  "Yes, two are more or less considered twins," Kimmie said with a sly smile. "This is Tara, and Mist is holding Rina. And we very well may ask you to stay with us a while, Jula. You know how precocious Were-cat children are. We just might need your help."

  "I'd be happy to babysit for you," Jula said.

  "I say, congratulations on your adulthood, Jula," Phandebrass said with a smile. "It was well earned, it was."

  "Thank you," she said with a slight blush.

  They gathered around Jula, welcoming her and congratulating her, but the Goddess had come up to Tarrin. She looked up at him with boundless love in her eyes, and she held out her hands to him. He took them in her paws gently, lost in the love he felt from her, totally adoring her. "Just as I promised you, kitten," she said, looking up at him with a glorious smile. "You have your reward."

  Jula laughed brightly, but the Goddess fixed her with an icy stare. "Not a word!" she snapped at the female.

  "Yes, Mother," she said meekly, but she was grinning broadly.

  "What did you do, Mother?" he asked susiciously.

  She pulled her hands from him and put her hands behind her back, striking up a pose of thoroughly insincere innocence. "Ohhhhhh, nothing," she said, giving him an outrageous smile.

  Tarrin laughed helplessly. "Alright, if you want to surprise me, I promise I'll be surprised," he told her. "Just for you."

  "Oh, good!" she said brightly, then she literally leaped forward and grabbed him by the neck. She pulled him down, and then gave him a loving kiss on the cheek, a kiss that burned with throbbing power that reminded him that she was very much a god. "Remember, you promised to be surprised," she told him. "Now go on, kitten. You need to get on your way."

  Tarrin sighed, then he nodded. "Alright, gather around me," Jenna called, and the two groups quickly separated. Tarrin looked at those he was leaving behind, saw the wonderfully poignant smiles, remembered just how each one of them looked at that moment. Allia and Keritanima, his dear sisters. Camara Tal and Miranda, two of his closest friends. Little Sarraya, another dear friend. Binter and Sisska, so solid and depeandable. Azakar, so loyal and brave. Phandebrass, so intelligent. And Dolanna, wonderful Dolanna, who had been with him since the very beginning, the woman to whom he owed so much. She smiled at him, such a glorious smile, and then she waved. "May I come visit you?" she asked.

  "Any time you want, Dolanna," he told her. "My
home is always yours."

  He felt Jenna's spell reach out and surround them, and he knew that would be the last he'd see of them all at once until Camara had her baby. But that was only seven months from now. To a Were-cat, that was just a blink of the eyes. He'd wake up tomorrow and realize it was time to go to Amazar.

  It was not a goodbye. It truly was only until tomorrow.

  And then they were gone. And a chapter of Tarrin's life had come to an end.

  Aldreth was freezing.

  They arrived just at dawn. Jenna had aimed them at the fallow farmland just outside the house, and she had been true to the mark. The sky was completely clear, and the scents in the air were of snow and frozen forest, with very little animal scent reaching them. There was half a span of snow in a ring around the zone of Jenna's Teleportation--the snow that had been where they were was now laying on the grass in the garden at the Tower, traded for Tarrin's party--and he looked around to see that things on the Kael homestead had returned more or less to normal. Their father had rebuilt the small barn and the brewhouse, and they had done some work to the old house. There was smoke wafting up from a brand new stone chimney, and the old roof had been replaced with one made of sturdy gray slate. The pens were rebuilt, and there were about a dozen fat sheep grazing on dried hay dumped into a trough near the barn. There was even a new chicken coop on the far side of the barnyard, and five plump chickens scratched in the churned snow for seeds scattered about into it earlier that morning. Either mother or father had gotten up to do the chores, and feeding the animals was first on that list.

  "Well, let's go crash breakfast," Jenna said impishly, then she pulled her cloak around her. "And get out of this cold!"

  They trudged up to the farmhouse, and an entire lifetime of memories swirled up around him. He had been born in that house, and all of this had ultimately started right here. On the Kael farm, that isolated farmstead that held the distinction of being the furthest east of any human settlement in Sulasia. Home to a pensioned Ranger and his Ungardt princess bride, and had been for the last twenty years. This was where he grew up, this was where he learned how to fight and how to hunt. This was where he began, and in a way, this was what he was. The fact that he was one of the most powerful magic-users on Sennadar meant little to him. The fact that he was a Were-cat was only a change in what he had once been, and that was a simple farmboy who happened to live in the best family there was. He had been very happy here, even when he was planning to leave. And it only seemed right that he would come full circle, and he would return here once more after it was over. He wouldn't live in this house, he had his eyes on a small meadow about four hours of human walk into the Frontier, a nice little meadow on top of a small hill that had a stream running along its southern border, at the base of that little rise. That would be his house. But this place, this region, from Aldreth to a day's walk into the Frontier, it would always be his home.

  Jenna pushed the door open brashly and stepped inside in front of Tarrin. "We're home!" she shouted, startling her father, who was sitting by the fire with his hands out to it. He had just come in from doing the chores. Eron Kael looked wildly towards the door, and as he ducked under the door to come in behind his sister, he saw his mother, Elke Kael, standing over the stove he'd given Jesmind, cooking eggs and ham steaks in new iron skillets. She took one look at him and dropped her fork, her hands going to her mouth. "Dallstad's axe!" she gasped. "Jenna! Tarrin!"

  Tarrin hugged Elke first, if only because she got to her children before their father. She hugged him, then hugged Jenna as Eron hugged Tarrin, then hugged Tarrin again. They caught them up at the door, and the females behind were stopped momentarily. Elke looked under his shoulder during her second hug and saw Jesmind and Jasana, then she laughed in delight. "You brought Jesmind!" she said with a bright smile.

  "He brought everyone," Kimmie called lightly. "Can we come in too? It's a bit chilly out here, you know!"

  Laughing, Elke Kael made room, and they moved aside so the others could enter. Jasana trotted up and jumped into her grandmother's arms, and Elke hugged her warmly before passing her off to Eron. "Jasana!" he said happily. "How's my little kitten?"

  "I'm alright, Granpapa," she said with a bright smile. "We're home!"

  Elke hugged Jula, whom she knew was Tarrin's bond-daughter, gave Kimmie a light hug, then offered her hand to Mist. She hadn't met Mist, only knew of her from what Jenna and Tarrin had told her. Triana came in behind them, and she nodded knowingly to her. "Well, who have we here?" Elke asked as she knelt down and looked at the suddenly shy Eron.

  "This is your grandson, Eron," Mist told her bluntly. "Say hello, Eron."

  "Hello, Gramma," he said bashfully.

  "And these are your newest grandchildren, Elke," Kimmie said proudly, holding up her bundle. "This is Tara, and Mist is holding Rina. They're your granddaughters."

  Elke turned down the blanket and looked at Tara's tiny little face, and her eyes simply melted when she saw the infant. "Oh," she said breathlessly. "She's beautiful, Kimmie!"

  "They're identical, so when you see one, you've seen them both," Kimmie winked.

  "Rubbish!" Elke said. "Let me see my other granddaughter, Mist!"

  Mist laughed and presented the baby to her as Eron, with Jasana in his arms, came over and looked at Tara. Tarrin picked up Eron, Triana and Jula gathered in with Jesmind and Jenna, and they all spent a moment marvellling at Kimmie's babies.

  "We're home, Grandpa!" Jasana said again happily.

  "How long are you going to visit?" Elke asked Jenna.

  "No, mother. We are home," he told her. "Everything's been settled, mother. I've come home."

  Elke put her hands to her mouth again, then gave him a fierce hug. "I don't know where I'm going to put you all, but we'll find room," she said. "Are your friends staying long?"

  "We'll be here for breakfast, mother," he told her. "There's a meadow out in the Frontier that I'm going to claim. About two hours in or so by horse. I'm going to build my house there. Mist and Kimmie have to go back to their own homes. We just wanted stop in and see you before we go."

  "And have breakfast!" Jenna said brightly.

  "And have breakfast," Tarrin chuckled.

  And they did just that. Triana had to Conjure the extra food, but Elke cooked it, with Jenna and Kimmie helping, and they sat down in the common room and had a good, hot, filling meal cooked by his mother's familiar hands. It seemed wonderful to Tarrin to sit down and have a meal with his parents, and know that once he left their home, there was nothing but the trip out to the meadow, and the process of building. Triana would be a big help there, Conjuring the materials they'd need, but they'd be living out of tents for a couple of rides. He thought about leaving Jasana in the house with her grandparents, but she needed to be with them right now. She was a hardy girl, she could handle the cold.

  "So, you're building a house," Eron said. "Why not stay here a while? We can round up a house-raising party, son. We can have it up in a few days."

  "Thanks, father, but this is something I think we should do ourselves," he said. "I'm not building anything big or fancy. We just need a nice cabin with enough room for me and Jesmind and my daughters."

  "And I won't be there too long," Jula told them. "I've been given my adulthood by Fae-da'Nar. I'm going to stay with father a while, and when I'm sure they're settled in, I'll be moving on."

  "Well, that's nice to hear, girl," Elke told her. "Does this mean that everything's said and done, son?"

  He nodded. "It's all over, mother. The day for the Firestaff came and went, and we're all still here. That's all that was needed. It won't be a problem for five thousand years. I think it's going to take me that long to recover from this," he admitted ruefully.

  "Papa died," Jasana blurted. "But the shining lady brought him back again."

  "Jasana!" Jesmind snapped.

  "You didn't say I couldn't tell them," she said flippantly.

  "You what?" Elke gasped.

&
nbsp; "Well, it's technically true," he admitted sheepishly. "It's a long story."

  "And you're not leaving this house until you tell it!" Elke said flatly, slamming down her tankard of water on the table.

  More or less obliged to do so, Tarrin sat down and did just that. He told them about Jasana's abduction, and his wild plan to get her back. The others added in what they knew, and it took them most of the morning to tell it. "It was the only way I could pull it off," he said ruefully as he finished telling them about his confrontation with Val, and his using the Firestaff. "I took a huge chance, but it paid off in the end."

  "You're as bad as your father!" Elke accused. Then she laughed. "But you're here now, and that's all that matters," she told him with a loving smile.

  "I'm glad you're not mad," he smiled.

  "I should be, but I'll forgive you this time," she told him.

  They helped Elke clean up the dishes, and spent a little while just visiting. Eron and Elke took turns holding the twins and Eron, getting to know their energetic grandson, and Eron only broke two chairs and a pair of dishes as he zoomed around the room frenetically. Jenna told them all about Arren becoming king and her hand in that, then told them about those they left behind. "Kerri went back home to Wikuna, and Allia should be in the desert by now. Dar should be in Arkis, and those that didn't stay at the Tower should be in Abrodar by now. Everyone's going home," he sighed. "I'm going to miss them."

  "My mate, if we want to get home, we should think of heading out," Jesmind warned.

  "It is getting late," he agreed, standing up. "So, what do you say, mother, father? Want to come see the future home of your son?"

  "I'd love to!" Elke said happily.

  "I think I know which meadow you're talking about, son," Eron smiled. "Let me get my winter cloak and my boots."

  They let Tarrin's parents get ready, and then they stepped outside. It was midafternoon now, still briskly cold, and still brightly sunny. Jula stepped down into the snow and looked around, then she laughed and started around the house.