Honor and Blood

by James Galloway

  "I know, I know," she grunted. "Jesmind's always been very stingy with her mates. It's a flaw."

  "At least for you. Now go announce yourself to her before she comes out to see who it is. You don't want to get on Jesmind's bad side at the moment. Trust me."

  "Alright," she said, filing past him. Tarrin watched her go, surprised that she gave in so quickly. But then again, this wasn't neutral ground. This was Jesmind's den, and certain customary formalities and such were in effect. Since it was Jesmind's den, the other Were-cats had to accede to her in all things and respect her authority so long as they stood on her ground. Rahnee knew that, knew that Jesmind had laid claim to both the land and to him. And so long as he stood on Jesmind's ground, she probably knew better than to say or do anything stupid.

  "Who is that, Tarrin?" Ariana asked as she carried a couple of large, smoothed stones from the stream.

  "Rahnee, one of the other Were-cats," he replied. "You'll meet her when she comes back out. She won't stay in the house long. At least if she's smart, anyway."

  Tarrin bent back to digging the fire pit as Ariana started laying out the stones as Tarrin directed. He had most of the grass off by the time Rahnee came back out, her face pinched and her eyes flashing. "She was rude," Rahnee said under her breath as she reached them. From the corner of his eye, he saw that Jesmind was watching them from the window, watching very intently. He knew that it would be best to get rid of Rahnee somehow, because Jesmind looked like she was going to come through the wall if Rahnee so much as touched him. "Who is this?" she asked, looking at Ariana.

  "Rahnee, this is Ariana, an Aeradalla that's agreed to help us. Ariana, Rahnee."

  "A pleasure," Ariana nodded.

  "I thought all the Aeradalla died out," Rahnee said in surprise.

  "We keep ourselves hidden," Ariana explained, setting down another stone. "The Zakkites keep trying to capture us to power their flying ships, so we stay where they can't find us."

  "That's a good reason to stay hidden," Rahnee chuckled with a nod. "Where is Thean?" Rahnee said with a fret. "He should be here by now."

  "You saw him?"

  "I crossed his scent track about half an hour ago," she replied. "He's here."

  "Maybe he went to the village first," Tarrin said calmly. "He knows some of the people there."

  "I'm of half a mind to go find him."

  "That may be a good idea," Tarrin said. "Jesmind probably won't be very friendly unless Thean's here."

  "You got that right," Rahnee snorted. "She was very unpleasant when I went to go say hello."

  "Go on then. We'll have something for you to eat when you get back."

  Rahnee nodded to him. "Besides, I'll get out of doing any work," she said with a grin, then she turned and sauntered off towards the treeline.

  "Why do I get the feeling that I don't want to know the whole gist of that conversation?" Ariana asked with a rueful chuckle.

  "Jesmind is my mate," Tarrin explained, noting that Jesmind left the window after Rahnee was well on her way. "Rahnee is a lone female in my mate's home territory, and Rahnee is notorious among my kind for her, willingness. Jesmind doesn't like Rahnee being here, because Rahnee will try to woo me away from Jesmind sooner or later. The friction between them stems entirely from Jesmind's instinct to defend her rights and Rahnee's desire to steal me."

  "You make yourself sound like a trinket."

  "I am," he replied honestly. "I'm a possession, Ari, and right now I belong to Jesmind. Jesmind will fight Rahnee if she thinks Rahnee is trying to get too friendly with me. She'll defend her territory, and I'm included in that."

  "You Were-cats are more complicated than I thought," Ariana said, putting a finger to her cheek thoughtfully.

  "It's very simple, Ari. It's instinct. Since you don't have our instincts, it may not be easy for you to understand."

  "I'll agree with you there. But why would Jesmind be more friendly if this Thean is here?"

  "Because Thean is a male," he said patiently. "With another male present, Jesmind won't be as suspicious and hostile, because Rahnee will have someone else to focus herself on."

  "Oh. Jesmind wouldn't think this Thean is hers too? He'd be in her territory, after all."

  "No," he said mildly. "She doesn't automatically own any male in her territory."

  "Ah, I get it now."

  "Good. Now go get more rocks."

  "Yes sir!" she barked, saluting him sharply, then trotted back towards the stream.

  Tarrin had the firepit dug and Ariana had it lined with stones by the time that Jesmind came out with a large tray full of raw meat. "It looks good," Jesmind complemented. "Did your parents keep a roasting spit?"

  "I wouldn't be able to find it," Tarrin told her. "I'm going to cheat, whether you like it or not, Jesmind."

  "I don't mind this time," she agreed. "But only the spit. We gather firewood the hard way."

  Tarrin gave her a sidelong glance. "You're in a better mood."

  "Jasana's come out of her room," she said with a slight smile. "She realizes you're not going to kill her now."

  "Jasana?" Ariana asked curiously.

  "Our daughter," Jesmind answered. "She did something that made both of us very angry with her today. She's been hiding in her room for a while."

  "Tarrin, you have a daughter?" Ariana asked with a laugh. "You never told me!"

  "It was news to me as well, Ari," he said mildly. "Me and Jesmind already discussed that."

  "He nearly took my jaw off," Jesmind complained, rubbing her sharp-chinned jaw in memory of it.

  "You hit her?"

  "We're not human, woman," Jesmind told her. "Were-cats fight sometimes. It's natural for us."

  "Even when you're married?"

  "We're not married," she corrected sharply. "Even if we were, we'd still fight."

  "Remind me never to get into a relationship with a Were-cat."

  Jesmind shrugged as Tarrin Conjured up a nice spit rack for roasting multiple pieces of meat at once.

  Working quickly and efficiently, they gathered firewood, started the fire, got the meat spitted on the three spits and started cooking. Jesmind's mood seemed to lighten as they worked, her posture going from hostile and stiff to relaxed and more calm. Jasana probably had something to do with that, as the little girl padded out of the house and edged over to the campfire, standing there with her paws behind her back and a wary expression on her face. Tarrin had just returned from the woods with another load of firewood, and fixed his daughter with a calm, unwavering stare. The little girl looked suitably ashamed and chagrined, so he knelt down and opened his arms to her in an offer of truce. Her entire appearance transformed at that gesture, running into her father's arms and letting him pick her up. Ariana, who had dragged an old toy wagon out of the big barn and overturned it to create a seat, looked at the little girl in surprise.

  "Ari, this is my daughter, Jasana. Jasana, that's Ariana. She's here to help us."

  "Is that the wicked lady who did magic on you, papa?"

  "No, it isn't," he replied evenly. "That's a different winged lady."

  "Oh. Alright. Hello, winged lady."

  Ariana laughed. "Ariana," she corrected. "And I've been dying to meet you, little Jasana. I wanted to see if Tarrin's child looked anything like him."

  "What's it like to have wings?"

  "I could ask you what it's like to have a tail," Ariana winked in reply. "It's not something either of us can describe easily, now, is it?"

  "Well, I guess not," Jasana admitted. "But I can't fly with my tail."

  "You have me there," Ariana smiled.

  Jasana squirmed out of her father's arms, then padded over to the Aeradalla and boldly reached out and grabbed her by the wing.

  "Jasana, mind your manners!" Jesmind barked.

  "I don't mind, mistress Jesmind, so long as she doesn't claw me," Ariana said patiently, looking down at the little girl and allowing her to touch and explore her feathered wings.

&nbs
p; "Just Jesmind," she corrected bluntly. "I don't need any silly titles tacked onto my name."

  "Jesmind," Ariana repeated with a nod. "It's the nature of children to be curious, and I'll guarantee she's never seen anything like me before."

  "Be gentle, Jasana," Tarrin warned. "Her wings are very delicate."

  "Why?" she asked.

  "Because my bones are hollow, fledgeling," Ariana explained patiently.

  "Why?"

  "So I'm very light," she replied. "It makes it easier for me to fly."

  "That matters?"

  "It matters very much. The heavier I am, the harder it is for me to fly. If I weigh too much, my wings wouldn't be able to pull my own weight off the ground."

  "Are all things that fly like that?"

  "I don't really know," Ariana replied honestly. "I know that most birds have hollow bones, but drakes don't."

  "What is a drake?"

  "A little flying lizard."

  "I've never seen one."

  "I'd be surprised if you had," Ariana smiled.

  Tarrin tuned them out as Jasana continued to pester Ariana endlessly with question after question, turning his attention to turning the spits and the meat roasting from them. Ariana seemed to be very patient with Jasana, willing to answer any question she posed, and Jasana certainly seemed to take a liking to the winged woman. Even to the point of sitting in Ariana's lap. Jasana was certainly a very affectionate child. Tarrin retrieved one of the dwindling casks of apple wine from the storeroom under the stillery, deciding that this would be a good time for it, but when he came out with it, scents on the wind made him pause in the act of setting it down.

  The scents of both Rahnee and Thean reached Tarrin's nose at about the same time as Jesmind rose up from where she was putting more wood on the fire, looking towards the road leading to Aldreth. Tarrin looked as well, and to his surprise, there were five Were-cats walking along that track. Rahnee was leading Thean, and behind them was another male Tarrin hadn't met before. Behind them was Singer and, to his surprise, Kimmie. He would have thought that Kimmie would either stay with Mist or not be willing to fight. Kimmie was an extremely gentle and sedate Were-cat, almost like a house cat, the mildest of them all. She represented the other extreme in the Were-cat spectrum.

  Tarrin and Jesmind stood near each other as the five reached the firepit. Then looked just as Tarrin remembered, the handsome face with the scar, the striped gray fur, the tall, stocky body, the sober expression and the light eyes. He was shorter than Tarrin remembered--at the time, Thean seemed towering, but that probably had to do with the respect Tarrin afforded the elder. He was larger than life in Tarrin's mind, just like Dolanna. The other male was shorter and much thinner and more slender than Thean, with tabby-colored fur and brown hair, and wearing a baggy green shirt and strange baggy black pants held up with a sash. His face was sharp, fox-like, alot like Rahnee's, but he had a kind of ferocity about his eyes that made it clear that he was much more dangerous than his slight body suggested. This male looked extremely young, and couldn't be much more than thirty. Singer looked just as he remembered, though she was wearing a torn linen shirt with its right sleeve half torn off and a pair of leather breeches that had dried blood on them. Kimmie too looked just as he remembered, even down to a simple brown peasant dress of similar style as the one she'd worn when he met her.

  "Good gried, lad, what happened to you?" Thean said immediately. "Triana didn't say anything about you growing as big as a tree! And you've fetted!"

  Tarrin sighed in irritation. "I'll explain what happened to me later," he promised. "You're looking well, Thean."

  "You too, lad, outside of the obvious," Thean grinned as they shook paws. "Lad, this is Jeri. Jeri, this is Tarrin, Triana's bond-child. Though calling him a child seems a bit outlandish," Thean added with a wink at Tarrin.

  The other male Were-cat looked up at Tarrin with a stiff posture, and his scent radiated his strength. Thean was right; Were-cat males really did put up their hackles when they met. But no matter how much Jeri postured, he couldn't match Tarrin's overwhelming aura of power and confidence, the same aura that surrounded his bond-mother Triana, and made her so intimidating. An aura Tarrin radiated without even trying. "Thean's told me some about you, Tarrin," the smaller Were-cat male said guardedly.

  "All the bad things, if I know Thean," Tarrin said with a neutral expression.

  That made Jeri laugh suddenly. "Of course. It enhances a male's reputation," he said with a surprisingly disarming smile.

  "Jesmind, you're looking as lovely as ever," Thean said with a smile, taking Jesmind's paws. "It's been what, fifty years now?"

  "About that, Thean," Jesmind replied, smiling. "You're looking as ratty as ever."

  "You really have to tell us what happened to you, Tarrin," Singer said, taking his paw as Kimmie took the other one.

  "I kind of miss the smaller you," Kimmie smiled.

  "How are you two doing?" he asked.

  "Same as always," Singer laughed. "Mother keeps me hunting."

  "Where is Shirazi, anyway?"

  "I have no idea. She wandered off before winter. She'll wander back in my direction when she feels like it."

  "Mist told me to say hello, Tarrin. Well, actually, she threatened to gut me if I didn't tell you that," Kimmie laughed.

  "That's the Mist I remember," Tarrin chuckled. "How is she, and the baby?"

  "They're both doing just fine. If not for Eron, she'd be here herself."

  "I know, and I'm just fine with her staying to be with her baby," he told Kimmie with a smile.

  "Jeri, you're growing again," Jesmind greeted the younger Were-cat with a laugh. "You're almost a half a head taller than that last time I saw you."

  "That was when I was eight, Jesmind," Jeri told her. "I'm nearly twenty now."

  Tarrin was right; the male was indeed very young.

  "I thought you'd done all your initial growing by then," Jesmind told him with a grin. "You're going to be a very tall elder, cub. Maybe as tall as my mother, or Tarrin."

  "I hope so," Jeri sighed.

  Jasana had gotten up from Ariana's lap, and was tugging at Thean's trousers urgently. The male elder looked down, then laughed and picked her up, holding her over his head. "And this must be Jasana!" he announced brightly. "It's good to meet you, little cub. Your grandmother can't say enough good things about you!"

  Jasana giggled and allowed Thean to spin her around, then he boldly passed her to Jeri by literally tossing her through the air. Tarrin was about to intervene, but when he saw that Jesmind was taking no such similar steps, he decided to let it go. Jeri bounced Jasana up in the air a few times, making her laugh, then handed her off to Singer. He watched as all the adults took turns picking up and holding Jasana, handling her and letting her get close to them so she could learn their scents and see that they weren't a danger to her. Tarrin wasn't sure what custom or practice it was, mainly since his bond-mother had been very brief about her conversations about Were-cat society. She hadn't told him anything about things like this. Jesmind allowed the adults to handle her child, and when Kimmie held her in one arm and tickled her with the other paw, Jesmind nodded and turned back towards the fire to turn the meat.

  "All of you, I'd like you to meet Ariana," Tarrin announced, motioning towards the seated Aeradalla. "She's agreed to help us."

  "An Aeradalla," Thean said with bright eyes. "You and I are going to have a very long talk, madam. I'm dying to hear about where your people have been hiding for the last thousand years."

  "I'd be happy to talk with you, Master Thean," Ariana smiled.

  "Thean. Were-cats aren't ones for frilly titles and platitudes, madam. It's not us."

  "I've come to notice that, Thean," Ariana laughed.

  "There's rabbit and deer roasting," Jesmind offered. "You're welcome to it."

  "I thought you'd never ask," Singer said quickly, hustling over to the firepit.

  Rahnee had been curiously quiet during the initi
al greetings, and that made Tarrin a bit curious. She didn't look or smell upset--in fact, she looked like she was having a good time now, flirting with Jeri as they ate the offered meal, sitting on the grass around the cheerily crackling fire. He shrugged it off as Kimmie asked him for the fifth time what had happened to make him grow, and he chuckled and put down the bone he'd been gnawing. "Alright, alright. Have you ever heard of a Succubus?"

  "I have," Thean replied. "Nasty creatures."

  "The winged lady," Jasana piped in. "The winged lady did magic on papa, and it made him grow."

  "Well, that's the short of it," Tarrin agreed with a rueful chuckle, scratching the back of his head. "The Succubus drained me, and this was something of a side effect."

  "Drained? What does that mean?" Singer asked.

  "Succubi are Demons, Singer, and they can drain the life energy out of mortals," Thean told her. "I'm guessing that since Tarrin here is still alive, Were-cats aren't completely vulnerable to that form of magical attack."

  "Not completely," Tarrin agreed. "Vulnerable enough to be affected by it, but not so much that it can kill us. She drained me, and I guess a side effect was that it caused my body to age. When that happened, I grew up to the height I would have been at that age."

  "That sounds pretty wild," Singer laughed. "When did you meet a Succubus?"

  "She was in Dala Yar Arak," he replied. "You'll meet her."

  "I will?"

  Tarrin nodded. "She's on her way to Suld. Me and her kind of mended our fences. I don't really consider her a friend, but she's not exactly an enemy either. She's bringing Arakite Legions to help defend Suld."

  "How can a Demon control Arakite Legions?" Jeri asked.

  "When she's the Empress," Tarrin replied calmly. "After I killed the Emperor, she revealed herself and took full control of the Empire."

  "You what?" Kimmie gasped, then she laughed. "Denthar's tomes, Tarrin, what have you been doing since we left you in Shoran's Fork?"

  "I think a full story is in order here," Thean said with a smile. "You just managed to get me very curious."