"My father's court was ten times more dangerous than any pack of rabble-rousing pirates," Keritanima said archly.

"True, but at least there, being attacked openly in a city street wasn't a possibility."

"So you say,"she grunted in reply. "Why do you think I had Sisska escorting Miranda around?"

Tarrin looked at Sisska, who only nodded. "Well, you shouldn't worry too much anyway," he said. "If anyone touches Miranda, Sisska will have to get in line to get a piece of him." He flexed his claws in a very unwholesome manner. "I get the first shot."

"Think twice," Sisska challenged. "Miranda is my child, Tarrin. Avenging her is my responsibility."

"I think we dwell on impossibilities," Allia said. "Dolanna will not allow Miranda to wander, and she certainly will not put them in a position where they must fight."

"True," Keritanima had to admit. "I don't see why we're standing around talking about who we're going to fight."

"You're surrounded by bloodthirsty warriors, Kerri," Azakar said with a wink. "We're just talking shop, that's all."

"Oh, get off of yourself, Zak," she said with a snort.

The space across from the ship filled with a large black ship, sleek and deadly looking, its sides bristling with those little wooden doors that concealed cannons. The ship was some distance from the dock itself, but men on the dock already had ropes in hand, reeling the ship in to a resting place along the quay. The ship's deck and rigging was populated with a very wide assortment of beast-faced Wikuni. They moved with a quiet, precise grace that demonstrated the vaunted Wikuni attachment to ships and the seas, working in a seemingly unheard harmony that made the ship slide perfectly up to the side of the dock. Standing on the steering deck was a tall female, a panther Wikuni, her black fur covering a very lithe form. Her face was very striking, even from the distance Tarrin saw her, a human-set face with a cat's triangular nose, a hybrid mouth, and cat ears poking out of a mass of hair the same inky black as her fur. Much like Tarrin, she had a long tail, heavier than his, that swished behind her absently as she moved away from the steering wheel. Wide, expressive amber eyes broke up the dark features of her furred face, twin yellow orbs that seemed to draw attention to them. She was dressed in a blue coat and white shirt, and a pair of white pants tucked into a pair of shined black leather boots.

"I think that has to be Sheba," Tarrin said, remembering the description Keritanima gave of the infamous pirate.

" Sheba the Pirate? Here?" Keritanima said suddenly, jumping up from her chair and rushing over to the porthole. Tarrin gave ground to her and let her look out, and he heard her gasp. "That is Sheba," she said. "What is she doing here?"

"Who knows?" Tarrin said. "I don't think we want to find out, though."

"Amen," Keritanima agreed. "I think that Kern will want to get out of here as quickly as possible."

"Why is that?" Azakar asked.

"Zak, the Star of Jerod is rather well known among pirates as the one ship they can never catch," Keritanima said calmly. "Even Sheba has never caught Kern on the open sea. She's sure to recognize the ship, and she may feel like a rematch." She looked back towards the Mahuut. "Kern took a big risk putting in here, Zak. Sheba won't be the only pirate that may try to follow us out. We may be leading a procession."

"From what I heard, we didn't have much of a choice," he replied.

"That's why we were on half rations," she replied. "When whatever happened at Den Gauche happened, it kept us from getting the supplies we needed to get to Dayise. It was Roulet, or live off fish and rainwater for the next nine days."

The Wikuni female seemed to look right at the porthole, causing Keritanima to duck back quickly. "This is not good," she said, hiding behind the wall as Tarrin continued to look out, to look at her. She reminded him alot of Jesmind, in her stance and her demeanor. Powerful, confident, and dangerous.

"They can do whatever they want," Tarrin said quietly. "I have bigger things to worry about than a ship full of rogue Wikuni."

"What's to stop them from just attacking us in port?" Azakar asked.

"There's no sport in that," Tarrin said, moving away from the porthole.

"And no bragging rights," Keritanima said. "Besides, Zak, there are laws here in Roulet. Those kinds of things have to happen outside the harbor."

"Then maybe we could take the harbor with us," he mused. "This is getting boring. Binter, want to play a game of stones?"

"I'm going up on deck," Tarrin said. "I can't stand being cooped up anymore."

"But Dolanna said that they'd recog-" Keritanima started, but when Tarrin shapeshifted into his cat form, she cut herself off. "Oh. Alright, just be careful. Don't let anyone step on you."

Tarrin gave her a flat look, then she opened the door for him. "Well, be that way," she said with a wink.

The ship's crew knew about Tarrin's ability, and they had already had a taste of it. When they saw the black cat come up from below, they immediately worked around him, giving him his space. But he didn't get in anyone's way, he simply climbed up onto the steerage deck and sat on a rope coil near the captain and his first mate, a willowy young man with red hair named Jameson. The captain and the first mate were going over a list of supplies written on a slate board that the mate was holding. "It's looking good, cap'n," the young redhead said in a light voice. "We should be done loading by sunset. We can be out with the morning's tides."

"Any trouble with the men?"

"Not really, sir," he replied. "They know where they are. There hasn't been many to leave the ship that didn't come back quickly."

"Well, if it isn't the illustrious Captain Abraham Kern!" a feminine voice called from across the way. Tarrin looked behind him, between two posts in the railing, towards the black clipper ship moored across the quay from the Star of Jerod. Tarrin saw the female Wikuni, Sheba, standing at the rail of her own steerage deck, a foot on a crate against the rail and her elbow resting upon it. "It's a small ocean, I see! Fix that hole I put in your amidships yet? If I remember right, it's on the other side."

"It wasn't much more than an inconvenience," Kern replied in a calm voice that made the sneering grin melt off the panther-Wikuni's face. "You should know better than to annoy me, girl. How is your shoulder?"

That made her scowl, and almost unconsciously rub her shoulder. "I think I should pay you back for that, Kern," she called.

"You already tried."

That made her expression ugly. "You know what they say. If at first you don't succeed, try try again."

"Any time, my dear, any time," he called. Tarrin noticed that quite a few dock workers and what looked like sailors had gathered between the ships, to witness the challenge of words between the two very different ship captains. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have more important things to do."

"I'm crushed that you don't consider me important."

"You never were," he told her in a dismissive voice, a voice that impressed Tarrin with both its understated offensive quality as well as its dry humor. And with that, he turned his back on the female.

Sheba snarled, showing a mouth full of very sharp teeth, and she drew a strange metallic object from her belt. Tarrin recognized it after a moment, from Keritanima's stories and tales. A starwheel pistol, a little device that used smoke powder to propel a small lead ball with enough force to drive it through a breastplate. The instant she pointed it at Kern's exposed back, Tarrin's protective instincts roared up into his mind. Kern wasn't exactly a friend, but his willingness to help had made him a man worth great respect in Tarrin's mind. Tarrin didn't turn his back on his friends, or those who had earned respect.