"He had it coming," he said flatly. "He nearly killed a young girl."

"And when were you elected judge and executioner?" she demanded. "They are not your fights, young one. You should have turned him into the watch."

"Some things can't be forgiven," he said in a ruthless tone, looking directly into Dolanna's eyes to challenge her position.

"Word of it reached us," she told him. "That an exotic Wikuni killed a man in the middle of an inn's common room. The method of killing immediately told me who it was. Right now, the Watch is hunting for you, so I do not suggest you go out in your natural form."

"That's not a problem," he told her. "Nobody's seen me change, so nobody knows where I am."

"I do," Haley said from Dolanna's door. Tarrin hadn't heard him open it. That said a great deal for the Were-wolf's stealth. "Dolanna, you lost all the ground you gained last night. I'm not going to let him run through the streets and kill people whenever he feels like it."

"Perhaps it would be best to hear his reasons before you pass judgement, Haley," Dolanna told him. "Well, young one? Exactly what did provoke this?"

Without emotion, staring directly at Haley the entire time after he entered the room and closed the door, Tarrin recanted the story of how he found the young girl, then what he did to the man who put her there. "I don't know where you grew up, but where I was raised we believe in an eye for an eye," Tarrin told the Were-wolf in a neutral tone. "I did to him what he did to her."

"And why didn't you turn him into the watch?" he asked.

"Because they wouldn't have done what needed to be done," he replied calmly.

"Why bother?" Haley asked. "What was the girl to you?"

"She was in need," he said, glaring at the Were-wolf.

Sighing, Haley sat down. "Boy, you just have no idea what you're getting yourself into," he said. " Fae-da'Nar forbids us to act outside the laws where we are unless they jeopardize our own lives or livelihood. I may not like what the man did, but I can't go around and dish out my own version of justice to whoever I feel deserves it."

"I'm not part of your order," Tarrin told him.

"You better be, boy," he replied bluntly. "If you're not, then they'll kill you."

"They can certainly try," Tarrin seethed.

"I think we can dispense with the threats," Dolanna interrupted. "Tarrin does not kill indiscriminately, Haley. He usually has a good reason."

"Boy, I'm not calling you down," he said. "I'd probably have done the same thing myself. I'm not heartless. But I understand that the well being of the Forest Kin depends on us being able to function within the human society. When among humans, it's important that we don't upset them, and we act more human. If we mess that up, many of the things that we need will be out of our reach, because the humans won't trust us anymore."

"So, what would you have done?" Tarrin asked, giving Haley a slightly cross look.

"I don't really know. But the point is, I would have weighed the consequences before just charging off. That's something that you can't seem to be able to do, and that makes you dangerous." He gave Tarrin a direct look. "You're feral, boy. You think you know what that means, but you're not even halfway close. If you keep doing what you're doing, dishing out justice, killing anyone you deem in need of it, you're going to get harder and harder. Killing will be easier and easier, and you'll find it to be the quickest and easiest way to solving your problems. Dolanna told me you feared becoming a monster. If you keep up the way you're going now, you're going to be that monster. It won't be the savage mindlessness you fear, it will be a cold and calculating sadism that will make people fear you ten times more than if you were insane. Were-cats are all half feral, that's one of the reasons the rest of the Were-kin don't like them. But Were-cats like you and Mist define everything the rest of us don't like about your kind."

Those words struck Tarrin, and they were right. At first, he found it hard to kill. Now it was as easy as deciding between having pork or beef. But there was little remorse, little regret mixed up in it. It was more of a declaration of what he was rather than a condemnation of what he had become. He had to admit to himself that he was hard, that he was feral. But the moral consequences slid off of him like water. There was no impact there.

"I can see that I'm right. I can also see that you don't care," he noted. "That's more or less what I expected. You don't see anything wrong with what you've done because it makes perfect sense to you. That's a function of the instincts inside you, instincts that have convinced your human mind that its way of doing things are best. You have to do something about that.

"Part of being able to function in a human society is being able to make hard choices," Haley said, staring into Tarrin's eyes. "We all have instincts, and they're very strong. You have to learn when to tell them no. You've lost that ability. If you hope to be accepted by Fae-da'Nar, you'd better learn how to do that again."

"I don't want acceptance," Tarrin told him flatly. He understood what was waiting for him if he became soft. Enslavement, imprisonment, to be used by people he would trust for their own ends. Deception, abuse, and sorrow. He could do without that. "I don't want to change."

"Then you have little hope," Haley sighed. "You seem to have conquered the madness, but if you can't conquer your instincts, they'll kill you."

"Then let them try," Tarrin said, snapping his paw across his chest in a combative display. "They can get in line behind everyone else."

"Tarrin," Dolanna said quickly. "Haley's eyes are on the manacles. Why do you not explain to him how they got there, and what they mean to you."

With no emotion, Tarrin stared right at him and related how Jula had betrayed him, and how he had been taken prisoner. "These remind me of what happens when I trust people," he said heatedly, holding up his arms to let Haley see the heavy steel cuffs. "These warn me of what happens when I let people get close to me, and I wear them so I'll never forget. I'll never be put in a cage again. Never!"

"Tarrin's position is more than what you believe, Haley," Dolanna told him putting a gentle hand on Tarrin's arm. "I cannot deny that he is what you believe him to be. But how he got there is not because of his own choice. To a Were-cat, there is nothing more terrifying than to be stripped of freedom. Would you not expect him to erect a defense against it?"

Haley only gave her a blank look.

"Tarrin is not as controlled by his instincts as you believe. Yes, he killed a man. But it was a man that had attacked a defenseless woman. Tarrin's instincts have merged with his human morality to create within him a very stark view of right and wrong, of proper and improper. Tarrin said it himself when he told you that he gave to the man what he gave to the woman. No more, no less."

"I'm not disputing that, Dolanna," he said. "I said that I probably would have done the same thing. But I wouldn't have killed him in the middle of a common room with some fifty witnesses."

"You are splitting hairs, Haley," Dolanna said with a slight smile. "I know Tarrin. He has triggers, and so long as none of those triggers are touched, he is perfectly fine. To injure a defenseless woman like that is one of his more sensitive triggers. Tarrin is extremely protective, even over those whom he does not trust, if he deems them incapable of defending themselves. Especially children. And the girl he described could not have been much older than a child."

"You're talking to a blind man, Dolanna," Haley said. "I'm not saying I don't agree or disagree. Personally, I like the boy. But speaking from the standpoint of Fae-da'Nar, his behavior is totally unacceptable."