"I've talked to Dolanna. She seems like a very wise woman."

"You have no idea," Tarrin said fervently. "She's one of my best friends, and the only reason I didn't go crazy after Jesmind bit me."

"Dolanna is the soul of our group, Nikki," Allia told her. "Without her, we would all be lost."

"Where is Dolanna?" Tarrin asked curiously.

"She, Faalken, and Dar are with Renoit," she replied. "The circus is going to end tomorrow. Triana still has not said if you are ready to go, so I think she is there making sure he can hold over for us."

"He's ready," Triana said from the doorway. "More or less, anyway."

"Mother," Nikki greeted with a smile.

"Good morning, mother," Tarrin greeted.

"Cubs, Allia," Triana acknowledged. "Tarrin, we need to talk about something."

"What? In private?"

"No, this will do. I have someone I want you to meet."

There was a calm, hesitant quality to her voice that told him that this wasn't just someone that he should meet. This was someone important. He stood up hesitantly as a strange buzzing sound reached his ears, and the strangest scent touched his nose. It was something like cypress and cedar, mixed with the smell of flesh tinted with cinammon. A very earthy, spicy smell. The buzzing sound got louder, until it seemed to be coming from right in front of him. A strange wavering appeared in the air in front of him, and then it faded away.

It left in its wake the most exotic creature Tarrin had ever seen. It was an exceptionally tiny female being, human-like in shape and form, but she couldn't stand more than a span tall. Her skin was a bluish color, and her hair was auburn. Her face was cherubic, very pretty, with wide cheeks and pert lips, her features tiny yet proportioned to her tiny body. Her small eyes were an amber color not too much unlike the yellow of Keritanima's eyes, and she wore a simple halter over her tiny breasts and a skirt, both looking to be made out of spun spider's silk. Her form was like a doll, but she was most definitely a mature female of her species. She had the feminine body shape, with breasts and wide hips. If she were Tarrin's size, she would be rather voluptuous. The buzzing sound came from behind her, from a pair of dragonfly-like wings that were on her back, wings that beat the air to create that buzzing sound, and keep her aloft.

It was a Faerie! Tarrin stared at her in astonishment, then Triana's teachings managed to reach though his surprise. He offered both his paws to her quickly, cupping them together and offering her a place to land. She did so without a word, her wings slowing to a stop behind her, and she looked up at him quietly. Those wings caught his attention. They looked like a dragonfly's wing, and their chitinous length was a riot of conflicting pools and dabs of color. The wings were opaque, and every time they moved, they caused scillinting reflections of light to dance along their lengths. He'd seen a wing like that before, sitting in the box of private things that was now in Jenna's care.

The wing he'd marvelled at for years was a Faerie's wing!

"Done staring?" she asked in a very high-pitched, piping voice.

"I'm-I'm sorry, but I was looking at your wings," he told her. "I have one of them."

"You have one of them? It must be my size, then, and I doubt it can get you off the ground," she winked.

"No, I have just the wing," he elaborated. "I found it in the forest, and kept it."

"Really? You'll have to show it to me some day."

"Tarrin, I'd like you to meet Sarraya. Sarraya, this is Tarrin."

"Pleased to meet you," Tarrin said, staring down at the exquisitely tiny thing he was holding in his paws. He could easily crush her, she was so small. He couldn't get over how tiny, how delicate she was.

"You don't look as ferocious as they said you would," she grinned.

"Sarraya is here as a representative of Fae-da'Nar, Tarrin," Triana said soberly. "She's going to test you on what I've taught you. Answer her questions, and treat her with respect."

"I understand, mother," he said calmly. That meant that the time had come. He had to satisfy Sarraya that he understood the laws and the customs, that he wouldn't endanger the Woodkin. If he could convince her of that, he would be accepted. If he couldn't, he would be branded Rogue, and his mother, Nikki, and the rest of Fae-da'Nar would then have to kill him. His very life was now in the Faerie's tiny blue-skinned hands.

"Carry me somewhere private, Tarrin," Sarraya ordered. "I don't want to have to do this with an audience. It annoys me, and it probably won't do you much good either."

"Of course," he answered her.

Tarrin carried her carefully into one of the private dining rooms, and sat down. She jumped down from his paws to the table, standing there and staring up at him with a very serious look. "I'm sure you understand why I'm here, and what it means," she began. "I want to tell you right now not to be nervous. Alot of my judgement comes from Triana, not from you. She says you're fit to stand among us. I just want to get to know you, and see if she's finally going to be wrong for once in her life."

"It sounds like you want me to fail."

"No, I just want you to relax," she replied cooly.

"That's not the thing to say to do it."

"No, but it let me see how you'd react when faced with unfavorable information," she winked. "I'm going to say and do things that you may think odd, Tarrin. Don't worry, I'm just trying to get a feeling for your state of mind. I have nothing personal against you. And on the other hand, I have no personal favoritism for you either. I'm simply here to assess you. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Oh. Alright."

And so it began. Sarraya grilled him on all the things he'd learned from Triana, from the four laws of Fae-da'Nar to the myriad customs he was expected to know. Him holding out his paws for Sarraya had been one of those customs, allowing her to land somewhere so she could see his face. That, he realized, had been his first test. He answered her quickly and correctly at all times, so quickly that it looked to begin to irritate the tiny creature. Her questions began getting more and more complicated, more abstract, hypothetical questions about what he should do in certain situations. Some of them confused him, because Triana made no mention of creatures call Worgs, nor did she discuss what he was supposed to do if he found himself standing face to face with a Centaur arguing with a Dryad. He relied on his common sense for those questions, things that he thought should be done to avoid fighting.

"And what are these for?" she asked, pointing to his manacles.

"They make sure I don't forget," he said with narrowing eyes.

"Forget what?"

"Forget what trusting people can bring me," he answered honestly.

"Sounds like you don't like people."

"I don't," he replied bluntly. "I placed my trust in the Sorcerers, and then I found out they ordered this done to me," he said, holding out his paws. "I placed my trust in a human woman I thought was a friend, and she repaid me by capturing me and holding me prisoner with magic. I-" he closed his eyes. "I killed alot of people getting out of there." No matter how hard he felt towards that act, it never ceased to bring him a stab of pain. But when they opened again, they were full of steely resolve. "I don't trust humans anymore, Sarraya. It's just that simple, and I'm not going to change. So don't try."

"Why would I try? You are who you are, cub," she replied calmly. "I'm not here to be your friend. I'm here to make sure you can obey our laws. Do you ever want to kill the humans?"

"I don't go out of my way to do it, no," he replied. "I won't let them get very close to me, though. As long as they don't pressure me or bother me, I can tolerate them."