"That would greatly please me, Master Haley," she said sincerely.

"You never told me you had a pet, Dolanna," he said, looking at Tarrin. "I didn't see it when you arrived."

"Mistress Allison was carrying him in her bag," she said calmly. "The cat likes it in there, and it makes it easy to transport."

"He's a big cat," he said with a smile, approaching Tarrin, as if to pet him. But the closer he got, the more striking the dissimilarity of his scent became. It was blazingly obvious to him that Haley wasn't human, wasn't what he appeared to be. Didn't Dolanna know that? Was he an enemy, a lurker, someone who preyed on the unwary? Tarrin laid his ears back when Haley got near, and then hissed at him when he reached out to pat him on the head. A clawed paw took a swipe at that hand, which was out of range, but it got his attention. Haley backed off, slowly, giving Dolanna a rueful grin.

"I am so sorry, Haley," she apologized as Tarrin growled at the man threateningly. "I have never seen him do that before."

"Maybe your cat can smell me," he chuckled ruefully. "I know I don't smell like a human."

That got his attention. That he referred to them as human meant that he wasn't one himself.

"Tarrin's sense of smell is quite acute," Dolanna agreed. "Now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense."

"Tarrin?" Haley said with sudden interest, giving Dolanna a sharp look. "You mean this is the Tarrin?"

"How do you mean?"

"Dolanna, how did you get this far?" he asked suddenly. "Do you have any idea how many of us are looking for him? I don't believe that you got all the way to Dayise!"

"We have been aboard a ship for two months, Haley," she replied.

"Yes, of course," he said to himself. "The search has been on land. But you must have come ashore, or else Triana wouldn't have sent messages about him. Did he really destroy half of Den Gauche?"

Triana? How did he know Triana? He-

– -of course! He was part of Fae-da'Nar! But what was he?

"You have me at a disadvantage, Haley," Dolanna said seriously. "I did not think that you kept in touch with the others."

"Dolanna, what have you done to me?" he groaned. "I've already given you hospitality, but now I'm harboring a Rogue. If the Circle finds out about this-"

"They will not, Haley," she said. "We will only be here for a few days, at the most. Then we will be gone." She looked at Tarrin. "You can change, dear one. He already knows who and what you are."

Tarrin jumped down off the couch, then shifted into his humanoid form. Haley stared at him for a moment, eyes searching, then he sighed ruefully. Then he chuckled. "I don't believe this," he grunted.

"Who is this, Dolanna? You know he's not human, don't you?"

"Tarrin, remember when I told you that I had a Were-wolf friend, who taught me most of what I know about Were-kin?" He nodded in acknowledgement. "Well, this is the Were-wolf. Haley, meet Tarrin. Tarrin, this is Haley."

"Triana wasn't lying," Haley said appreciatively, looking up Tarrin's considerable height. Tarrin looked down on the slender man, finding it hard to believe that he was Were. He didn't look Were, though he did smell it. But then again, Jesmind had told him once that Were-cats were unique in that their human shape was no longer their natural form. It stood to reason that all other Were-kin could take a human shape. And when he was in human shape, he looked just he had, completely human. Haley, in human form, would look perfectly human. "You're a bit raw on the edges, boy. You need to leash that temper."

"What are you going to do?" Tarrin asked bluntly.

"Tarrin, Haley has welcomed us and given us hospitality," Dolanna said. "That means that until we leave his home, he will protect and see to our needs. Because he gave you hospitality, he will not do anything to you, or against you."

"It's a Were-wolf custom," Haley told him calmly. "Until you leave my range, you are pack-mates. That makes you family. But now that custom is making me choose between custom and law."

"Law?"

"You're a Rogue, boy. I should be trying to rip your head off right now, but I've given you hospitality. Every Were-kin, Dryad, Druid, Faerie, Pixie, Sylph, Nymph, Gnome, and Centaur in the West is hunting for you. I'm shocked you made it this far without running into someone."

"How did Triana get here before we did? Is she still here?" he asked.

"She didn't come here, boy. Triana is a Druid, and Druids can send messages to other Druids. I'm nowhere near Triana's ability, but I know enough Druidic magic to be able to receive messages. Every Druidic adept in the West is hunting for you."

"I'm not surprised," he said with a grunt and a sigh. "Everyone else certainly seems to be after me. Why not the Druids too?"

"I am surprised at you, boy. Do you have any idea how many people you killed in Den Gauche? You wiped out nearly half the city!"

"So?" he asked in a grim, blunt voice.

Haley paled and stared at him in a bit of shock, then he cleared his voice. He gave Dolanna a desperate look, but her own expression was just as calm, even cold, as his. "Dolanna, you are my friend, but I just cannot allow him to go out and-"

"You do not understand the situation, Haley," she said calmly. "What happened in Den Gauche was entirely the fault of your Were-cat, Triana. She pushed him into a corner, and he fought back in the only way he had available to him."

"He's feral, Dolanna! Almost as feral as Mist! Maybe even more so! He's not insane, but insanity would be better than this!"

"Surprising that you can make that conclusion so quickly," she chided him. "I will be the first to admit that he has developed feral tendencies, but given the tremendous amount of stress that has been placed on him, it is no surprise. He is not truly feral, Haley. Not yet."

Tarrin looked down at the Were-wolf calmly, his green eyes boring into him, and the impulse to strike first, strike now, crossed his mind more than once. This Haley wasn't coming across as someone that was going to be very helpful, and he had the power to bring the Druids down on him like a hammer. He was hovering very close to being an enemy in Tarrin's eyes, and that was a very unhealthy position for someone standing within his paw's reach. Haley looked up at him with his dark eyes, and he showed no fear. No fear-smell flashed through his scent. He was not afraid of Tarrin. That may be a bad mistake.

"Don't look at me like prey, boy," Haley warned him in a dangerous tone. "I know how to fight Were-cats." He turned his back on Tarrin deliberately, a clear indication that he had no fear, then walked to the door and opened it. Then he turned and gave Dolanna a penetrating stare. "I've given you hospitality, and that means that I won't raise my hand against you. But I want you and him out of my inn tomorrow, Dolanna. I won't harbor a Rogue for any more than I absolutely have to. And after you leave, I suggest you make sure I don't find you. If I do, then I'll have my duty to perform, and I fear it won't go over very well with you."

"As you wish, Haley," Dolanna said calmly, and then he closed the door.

Tarrin gave Dolanna a calm look, but she dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "Do not worry about him, Tarrin. Haley is a very old friend. I will talk to him this evening, and hopefully we can reach accommodations."

"You came here on purpose," he realized.

"Yes," she admitted. "Haley is a Druid. I knew that, and I knew that he would know where you stand among his society. That was information I needed to know. But he also gives us a way to present a defense for you to them. If I allow him to observe you, and let him understand why things have happened as they have, then hopefully he can convince the others that you are not as much a threat as they believe."

"I guess," he said as Faalken and Azakar came out of their room.