"For what you want out of him, at least a month," Triana said sharply. "You're not going to aggravate his wound, Rahnee."

"I wouldn't do that," she protested. "I know how to be gentle."

"You bit a huge chunk out of Jared's ear."

"He shouldn't have put it in my face," she retorted.

"What are you talking about?" Tarrin asked suspiciously.

"What do you think we're talking about?" Rahnee asked bluntly, giving him a very direct look.

Tarrin blushed slightly.

"Face it, cub. You're the only male around, and I'm starting to feel a little frisky. You're old enough for what I want to do with you. And you'll like it," she said with a throaty purr.

"Out," Triana ordered. "Go find Singer." Triana closed the door behind her, then leaned against it and gave Tarrin a calm stare. "Get used to that, cub," she said. "There's only one male for every seven females. That means that we share."

"I know that, Triana," he said with a bit of courage in his voice. "Jesmind explained that to me."

"She didn't prepare you for the reality," Triana said. "You're going to be very popular, cub. You're cute, you're tall, and you're strong. Unlike human women, we always have the urge to find strong sires to give us strong children. If there were more males, we'd probably force them to prove their worth, but I'm afraid that we don't have that luxury. We have to take what we can get."

"I'm tall," he mused, giving her a slight smile. "I barely come up to your chin."

"I'm about nine hundred years older than you," she answered with a grin. "We tend to grow as we age, cub. Not much, but as you can see, when you get to be my age, it starts to show. You're a full head taller than my son, Laren, and he's three hundred years older than you. Then again, that boy of mine is short. He's not much taller than Mist. Anyway, you're just a bit taller than the average Were-cat male, mainly because the oldest male is only three hundred years old. The average female is about four hundred, so the females tend to be a bit taller than the males."

"Why are the males so much younger?"

"Bad luck," she shrugged. "There weren't all that many elder males to begin with, so the occasional accident or fight has taken a greater toll on our males than our females. We may be ageless and regenerate, but we do still occasionally die."

"I didn't know that."

"Now you do," she said. "I have to go take care of this. You just rest a while. I'll see you later."

After she left, Tarrin leaned back in the bed, a paw resting lightly on the wound in his chest. He guessed it made sense, and to be honest, Rahnee's invitation didn't frighten him. He knew how things were in Were-cat society. He didn't hide from that part of himself, either. But it would have to wait a while, because there was no way he'd even allow himself to do something like that with a woman in his condition, a woman that was probably strong enough to rip off an arm.

There were other things to think about, though. He really worried about Keritanima, Miranda, Azakar, and the Vendari. The Goddess said they were being treated well, but more and more as time went by, he found that he just needed to know for himself. Not that he doubted her words, but that was then, and this was now. Things may have changed. Keritanima was his sister, and he wanted to talk to her. He wanted to know if Miranda and the others were alright. He wanted to know what was happening with them, and what Keritanima was going to do. He remembered her telling him about the amulets. He had to tell Allia about it, but not until after he was sure that it was going to work.

He remembered the Goddess' directions. Reaching up and putting his paw on the amulet, he closed his eyes and concentrated on Keritanima, willing her to hear him. "Kerri," he called. There was an odd feeling to it, like he was trying to speak over the distance, yet he didn't have to raise his voice. It was a feeling of reaching out through the amulet, and it did require a little bit of effort. No wonder the Goddess told him not to try until he was stronger.

There was no response. For a moment, he thought it didn't work, but then he realized that if she heard him, she'd have no idea what to do to respond. "Kerri, if you can hear me, put your hand on your amulet and use it to reply," he said again, keeping his eyes closed and concentrating on his sister. "You have to concentrate on me and reach out to me through the amulet."

"Tarrin?" came the hesitant, startled response. Keritanima's voice sounded hollow, ethereal, and it emanated from the amulet itself. The strange sound of her voice was probably an effect of hearing it through the amulet. "Is that you?"

"Of course it's me, deshaida," he said with an explosive sigh. "The Goddess explained how to use the amulet to speak with you. Are you having any trouble?"

"No, no! It's so good to hear your voice, brother! I was absolutely worried sick! I dreamed that you were alright, but it's so good just to hear your voice and know that you're alive! Are you alright?"

"I'm a bit banged up, but I'll recover," he told her. "The crossbow quarrel put me in a sickbed, but Triana says I should be up and about in just a few days."

"Triana? What's she doing there?"

Tarrin chuckled. "Well, Triana's taking care of me," he told her. "She's teaching me what I need to know to get Fae-da'Nar off my back. Because of that, she's not trying to kill me anymore."

"It's just weird. What is it about your kin that makes them so fickle? I mean, they try to kill you one day, then they're your best friend the next. Why don't they make up their minds?"

Tarrin laughed, which sent a bit of pain through him. "I think it's more a woman thing than a Were-cat thing," he teased.

"Let's not ruin this," she teased back. "How are Allia and the others?"

"They're all fine," he answered. "Are Miranda, Zak, Binter, and Sisska alright?"

"A little peeved, but alright," she replied. "They took Azakar, Binter and Sisska's weapons. Binter reacted very well to that. He only brained two Marines that tried to take his hammer. I had to order him to give it up."

"I don't blame him. In his eyes, he can't protect you without his warhammer. Are they treating you alright?"

"It's a gilded cage, brother," she grunted. "I'm still princess of Wikuna, so they have to treat me with the respect due to my station. But I'm also a prisoner, so they have to take those precautions too. I'm doing my best to make everyone on the ship regret abducting me."

Tarrin chuckled, but that made him cough, which brought a knife of pain into him. "The Brat is back?"

"Oh, is she," she said in a dangerous voice.

"Where are you going now?"

"Well, right now, we're about two days west of Dayise. We should arrive at Wikuna by the middle of next month. The captain has so much sail on, he's nearly split his masts. They're getting me back to Wikuna as fast as they can manage."

"Why didn't you just get off at Dayise?"

"Tarrin, brother, they've threatened to have all of you killed if I start rebelling," she told him. "Wikuna has agents everywhere. They know where you are, so that's a threat I can't ignore. But about right now, I don't want to come back yet. We're going to Wikuna, and I'm going to make my father pay for interfering with me," she finished in a fearsome voice full of fury. "After I make sure that my father doesn't do something like this again, I'll be on my way back. Now that I see we can talk to each other, it won't be hard for us to find you."

"Heh, well, the threat on us isn't here anymore, sister," he informed her. "Triana was very angry with the Wikuni over what they did to me. There isn't a Wikuni left in the two cities. The ones that were smart enough to run away did so days ago."

There was a pause, then Keritanima started laughing. "Well, that explains the warning for all Wikuni to stay away from Shoran's Fork and Var Denom. I hope Triana gutted a few of them for me."