"Thank the Goddess!" she said in a heavy sigh, then she gave a sobbing kind of laugh. "I'm glad to see you!"
"I notice that there wasn't anyone waiting this time," he noted with a sardonic little smile as she pulled away to look at him.
"Everyone wanted to, but Triana-" she bit her lip. "She wasn't sure how you'd react."
"That was wise of her," he murmured.
"Oh, brother, I'm so sorry," she suddenly blurted. "I-"
"Calmly," he told her, setting her back on her feet. "It's not really a problem, sister. I know what happened. I don't like it, but I'm not entirely displeased with the result."
She looked up at him. "You mean-"
He nodded. "It's what I would have chosen." Then his eyes hardened. "But that doesn't excuse whoever decided to make my mind up for me. When I find out who did it, I'm going to show them just how upset I am."
"Sapphire's already working on it," she said quickly. "She's turning my Tower on its ear," she said with a frown.
"Mother told me about that. She wants me to pull on Sapphire's leash a little."
"Tarrin! You can't do that to a dragon!" she gasped.
"I can," he said grimly, flexing his paw in an unwholesome manner. "I'm probably the only one in the Tower who can."
She gave him a speculative look. "Maybe you can. I'll find out where she is, so we can head her off."
"Where are the others?"
"Hiding from Sapphire," Jenna replied as she led him down the hall. "She got hold of Mist very early on. It was very ugly. Mist isn't the kind to back down from anything, and they came to blows."
Tarrin frowned. "Is Mist alright?"
"She will be," Jenna said. "Triana is with her. Mist tore her up pretty thoroughly. For a little while I didn't know if Mist was going to survive, but she's alot tougher than she looks."
That concerned Tarrin. He was a little peeved at most of the Were-cats, but not Mist. She and Jula were the only ones that had backed off and given him room to breathe, room to be himself. Mist's devotion to him, while not quite love, was still very powerful, and it allowed her to put faith in him that even Jesmind couldn't quite match. It was very much unlike Mist-for that matter, it was very much unlike a Were-cat-for her to exhibit such a trusting display. But Tarrin was probably the only Were-cat she trusted, and it made her trust him with a kind of blind faith and absolute certainty that overcompensated for her lack of trust in others. Mist trusted him out of blind devotion, but Jula had given him the space he needed because she was probably the only one-except for Kimmie-that could possibly understand what he was going through. Kimmie was usually a very insightful Were-cat, but her love for him and probably blinded her. He really didn't know… she'd been very scarce over the last month. She'd been spending almost all her time helping Phandebrass, but Tarrin had the feeling that it was more than just her work. He had the sneaking suspicion that she'd been avoiding him. He wasn't sure why, and it never really occured to him while he was human, but maybe seeing him like he was, and his attitude towards the females, may have put her off a little bit. Kimmie loved him, but she had tremendous competition from Jesmind, and he had the feeling that she was trying to withdraw from him because of her. It wouldn't be beyond Jesmind to push Kimmie out of the picture, make her feel uncomfortable, and Kimmie's weak status in Were-cat society meant that she would have no choice but to submit. Jesmind had shown a very shocking and extremely ruthless kind of selfish possessiveness towards him that startled him even now, especially now that he could see the situation through the eyes of his Were nature. Jesmind didn't care about how anyone else felt, not even him. In her eyes, he absolutely and irrevocably belonged to her, and she wasn't going to relinquish her claim, no matter what. He had the feeling that if he'd chosen to be human, she would have broken virtually every law in Fae-da'Nar and bitten him against his wishes, even though she would know beyond any doubt that it would make him hate her for the rest of time. She just couldn't see that, couldn't see anything beyond her nearly obsessive need to keep him, and keep him for her and her alone.
That was going to stop. Jesmind was going to learn a very, very hard lesson this day.
"I need to put a muzzle on Sapphire before she gets out of control," Tarrin said grimly.
"She's already out of control," Jenna warned him. "But nobody dares cross her, not even me. I know I'm no match for her, and right now she'll kill anyone she thinks is standing in her way."
"Come on," he said, starting down the hallway, holding Jenna's hand and half-dragging her behind him. It was no trouble for him to find Sapphire, for her impression on the Weave was very unique. He could sense her from a league away. Right now she was on the upper levels, not far from where Jesmind's apartment was, on the floors where the higher-ranking Sorcerers resided. "Mother told me how it was done. It could be anyone," he said grimly.
"How was it done?" Jenna asked.
"You don't know?" he asked in surprise, looking back at her.
"I've been busy trying to keep that maniacal dragon from knocking down my Tower!" she said indignantly.
"That's what she's doing?" he asked. "Hunting down the other females?"
"Yes," Jenna replied. "After what happened to Mist, the others starting hiding. Triana has them gathered up, and she's protecting from the dragon's seeking magic with her Druidic power. That's why Sapphire's trying to track them down. How did they do it?"
"They used my blood, from stores Mother said they have in the Tower," he told her. "That means it could be anyone, Jenna. Anyone that knows about that blood could have done it, not just the females."
" What?" she gasped. "They kept it?"
"Didn't you know about it?"
"Well, yes, but I didn't think they'd keep something that dangerous laying around! Myriam said they'd saved it, but I never paid it much mind to it."
"Well, someone did," he said, starting up one of the main spiral staircases.
"Who would want to do this to you, Tarrin? If it wasn't one of the females, that is."
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," he growled.
It didn't take him long to track down Sapphire. She was storming down a passageway towards the landing on which he had just stepped, in her human form. She was furious, that was apparent from the look on her face, a kind of stark, determined, cold fury, but it was the lightning dancing around her body in numerous arcs, snapping along her form and occasionally striking out to touch the walls of the passageway, leaving burn marks on the polished wood panelling, that made it abundantly clear just how furious she really was. Her blue eyes widened when she saw him, and the lightning slowed to a stop as she stopped in her tracks and looked at him. Then she rushed forwards without much dignity and when she reached him, she slowed to a stately stop and grabbed his paws in her hands. "My little one!" she said with sincere relief. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Sapphire," he said calmly. "I heard what you did to Mist. You have to stop this."
"No," she seethed. "One of them turned you against your wishes, when you made it abundantly clear how much you cherished the opportunity to choose for yourself. I will find her, and I will punish her," she declared, her eyes blazing with outrage.
"It may not have been one of the females," he told her immediatley, then he told her what the Goddess told him. "Anyone that knows about that blood could have done it, my friend. It's still most likely it was one of the females, but we can't put this on their heads until we've narrowed the field a bit."
Sapphire looked a little dubious, but her hard look didn't waver. "No one else has the motivation to do it," she declared.
"I was turned against my will by humans once," he reminded her. "Someone may have decided to take matters into his own hands again. Running around hunting down the females isn't going to solve anything, Sapphire. And I think it's only fair that I get to punish him-or her-when they're found. It was done to me, after all. I appreciate the concern, my friend, and it pleases me that you think so much of me. But for now, pleas
e, you have to calm down. I could use your mind much more than your temper right now. Someone as old and wise as you should be able to find the guilty one very quickly." He knew that was abject flattery, but when one was trying to talk a dragon out of a furor, one did it with exceptional care.
Sapphire's eyes were still blazing. He could see that he wasn't getting through to her. He reached out and put his paws on her shoulders, holding her firmly yet gently in his grip. "Calm down," he said with steely resolve. "I'm not going to let you hurt any of the other females, Sapphire. If I have to, I'll stop you. I really don't want to do that, but if I have to, I will."
She looked at him, then the fury in her eyes wavered. Then she actually laughed. "You must be serious to make such an outrageous statement," she said without any hint of teasing or insult. She was merely stating fact. Tarrin doubted that he could stop her. Not even he was a match for a dragon. At least not one as old and powerful as Sapphire.
"You know me, old friend. I can find a way," he said dryly. "Accomplishing the impossible is what I do for a living."
"It would bring the Tower down on us," she said with a slight smile.
"So? As long as it stops you, what difference does that make?"
She laughed again, a fond laugh, and patted his forearms with her hands. "I see you are once again yourself, my little one. Only the Tarrin I remember would say such a thing."
"Maybe," he conceded. "Are you going to keep frothing at the mouth?"
She seemed a bit offended by his choice of terms, but that flickered through her expression quickly. "I am calm now, at least calm enough," she said in a bristling manner. "I will never forgive who did this to you, but I won't continue hunting the females. Not if it's not given that one of them did it."
"We don't know yet. Give me a little time to go deal with the females, and meet me in my room in about an hour. You and me and Jenna are going to go find out who did this."
"You can find them?"
"I know what to look for," he told her calmly.
"I'll go with you."
"No, you won't," he said sternly. "I'm not taking the fox into the chicken coop, my friend. Not until you calm down."
"I'll do as you ask, this time. But don't get comfortable with it," she warned. "I'm not in the habit of acceding to the demands of bipeds."
"I'm not used to browbeating a dragon. We can both admit we're not comfortable with the situation, and hopefully it'll never happen again."
She looked at him, then laughed helplessly.
"Keep her out of trouble, Jenna," Tarrin told his sister. "And don't let her follow me."
" Me?" Jenna said incredulously.
"You're my sister, so that makes you related to clan," he told her evenly. "Sapphire may get pecky with you, but she won't hurt you, if only because killing you would annoy me."
"I'm so glad," she said weakly, putting a hand to her stomach.
Sapphire gave Tarrin an amused smile, then fixed Jenna with a steady predatory kind of gaze that made the young Keeper flinch.
He was confident that Jenna could keep Sapphire out of any major trouble for an hour. Sapphire would probably play with her a little, see how brave the girl was, but he could tell that she would do as he asked this time. When they met again in an hour, he could explain everything to her in detaill, and they could combine their rather formidable resources to track down his assailant. Until then, he wanted to get to the females while his temper was somewhat muted by what the Goddess told him. If he left it, it was going to fester, and he'd be in a much more furious mindset when he finally dealt with them.
Finding Triana and the females was significantly more challenging than finding Sapphire. Triana was actively protecting the females from location with her magic, and Druidic magic was exceptionally powerful, especially when wielded by one with as much power and experience as Triana. He couldn't rely on the easy ways, sensing their location through the Weave, tracking scents, even using the trick of sweep-location with pulses of Mind. He had to get a little creative to puzzle out where Triana was hiding the other females. He knew how Triana thought, and that meant that the magical defense she had erected would be both powerful and very thorough. Triana would think of just about any way they could be located and protect themselves from it. She knew who was looking for her, and more to the point, what , so it meant that she would take no chances. Not even the rather clever idea of looking for the protective shield itself would work, because Triana would be very careful to hide it.
It took him nearly ten minutes to finally puzzle out a means to track them down, and he was forced to fall back on the one thing that Triana could not stop, and that was their purely non-magical, mundane presences. Among the myriad spells that Tarrin had learned in his turning was a rather clever little weave that allowed one to use their senses though stone. It was meant primarily for a Sorcerer to see and hear through stone, but the weave would work for any sense, and Tarrin had other senses just as keen as his eyes and ears. Triana would actively block any kind of sound from giving them away, so trying to listen for them would be pointless. She would also prevent prying eyes and seeking noses; she was more than aware of the formidable senses of the dragon, so those too were dead ends. But the one thing she probably did not stop, probably had not conceived of as a danger, was the feel of Were-cats on stone. So long as they weren't standing on a carpet, he knew that the spell could find them. Were-cat feet were very unusual, and he knew he'd have no trouble discerning the feel of them on the stone floors of the Tower.
Putting a paw on the bare stone of the passageway, he released the quickly woven spell into the stone and let it do its work. He sent his awareness into the stone, and became aware of the pattering of countless feet all over him, like little ants crawling over his skin. It took him some time to puzzle through those strange sensations, but it took him but a moment to sort through the feet touching the stone once he had a sense of which sensation belonged to what kind of material. He first discounted all the leather and cloth, knowing that the ones that moved were shoes. Then he discarded the ones that were skin, since Were-cats had no bare skin on the bottoms of their feet. Only fur and thick pads, as well as the clawtips from the claws on the feet that never fully retracted. After putting those aside, it left a very few sensations behind, and it took him little time to discern the three sets of scaly feet belonging to the Vendari and a reptillian Wikuni on the grounds-one of Keritanima's Marines, probably-and the three sets of unique feet he could feel that could only belong to a Were-cat. There had to be a carpet where they were, but not one that covered the entire floor.
Tarrin was surprised and a little amused when he found them. Triana was very clever. She had hidden them in the first place Sapphire had looked, and the last place she would check twice.
The apartment right down the hall from Jesmind's apartment.
After all, after the dragon checked the first time, what reason would there be for her to return? The likelihood that they would think to go there, so close to a hotspot like Jesmind's apartment, was remote. But Triana was a devilishly crafty old Were-cat, as clever as a fox, and she understood that the place would be very safe after Sapphire checked it over.
He wasn't very far from there, so it took him only a few minutes to stalk down to the door. That close to Triana, he could feel her power even behind her shield, a curiously sharp sense of her that he hadn't noticed before. Now that he could feel it, now that he understood what he was feeling, he realized he could have easily found her without having to use Sorcery. And that, he realized, was what Sapphire was trying to do to find them. Just wander around and try to get close enough to Triana to sense her formidable presence.
His emotions turned rather flat once he reached that door. He knew what had to be done. He wasn't going to necessarily enjoy it, but he knew what he had to do.
Putting a paw on the door, he pushed until the latch broke, and then shoved it out of the way.
Inside were all the Were-cats. Mist was laying on a
couch, unconscious but looking otherwise unwounded, and Kimmie was sitting on a chair by the couch, worry stamped on her face as she held Mist's paw in her own. Eron sat on the end of the couch, by Mist's feet, quiet and very subdued. Triana was standing in the center of the room, her eyes closed and a look of intense concentration on her face, as Jesmind paced back and forth between Kimmie's chair and the door on the far wall beyond. Jula and Jasana were sitting on a second couch by the fireplace, and Tarrin realized that the apartment was of similar design as Jesmind's, with only different furniture. They all looked at him in almost perfect unison, except Triana, and they all started in shock when he boldly stepped into the room.
"You can stop that now, mother," he said grimly. "Sapphire's been muzzled."
"Tarrin!" three seperate cries issued at once, from Jula, Kimmie, and Jesmind. Jasana called out "Papa!" but Triana only opened her eyes and gave him a strange, worried look. Only she seemed to sense his aggravation. Jesmind rushed past her mother, rushed towards him, and seeing her filled him with a sudden seething anger that he simply couldn't control.
Ears suddenly laying back and his eyes exploding into the unholy greenish radiance that marked his anger, he reared his paw back, and then he lashed out with it as she blindly rushed up to him. His paw slammed into her face, striking her a massive backhanded blow. The power in it sent her flying, crashing to the floor by Triana and rolling to a stop, completely stunned. Had Tarrin struck a human with that much power, it would have been instantly fatal. It very well may have ripped a human in half.
Jesmind laid very still, and Jula and Kimmie looked at him in startled horror. Triana gave him a narrow-eyed, steely look, but did not move.
"If I find out that one of you did this to me," he hissed in a savage manner, with a look of unmitigated hatred on his face, "you'll wish I'd killed you here and now." He locked his baleful gaze on each of the three staring females in turn, making all of them, even Triana, flinch from the power of his stare and look away.
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