"You just found out that you're not as alone as you thought," Sarraya said with a warm smile.

"I guess you're right," he agreed.

"Hungry? I can whip up something refreshing for you."

"No more of that Centaur ale," Tarrin warned. "I dont' see how they move after drinking that stuff."

"They don't," she laughed.

"Let's try for something that won't put me out," he said. "And settle in. We're going to be here a while."

"How long?"

"Until Ariana gets here with her king," he answered. "How long has it been?"

"Ye were sleeping about twenty minutes. After a good meal, time, it will be, to call to her again, yes."

"So, what? Two days?"

"That sounds about right," Tarrin said. "I need to recover, and I don't want to start moving until I'm fully rested. Waiting for Ariana just gives me a valid excuse to be lazy."

"As if you were ever lazy," Sarraya laughed.

After a hearty meal of roasted boar-swiped from some inn's hearth, no doubt-Tarrin helped Sarraya set up a camp and arrange a good store of firewood to last the night. Jegojah stood up after looking at the map and sheathed his two swords, which were laying on the ground nearby. "Jegojah- I need to look about, yes," he said. "There may be Sandmen about, and if there are, needs be to chase them off, yes."

"Be careful," Tarrin said.

"The Sandmen, they cannot kill the dead, no," Jegojah shrugged, then marched off into the night.

As soon as the undead warrior was out of sight, Sarraya zipped into him so hard it stung. She hugged his neck exuberantly, digging her tiny fingers into his skin. "I was worried!" she exclaimed in a hyper voice.

"What's with all this emotion?" Tarrin asked in surprise, prying the little Faerie loose and holding her in his paw.

"I didn't want to look gushy around it," she said primly, though her eyes were bright. "It may think you're a mama's boy."

Tarrin gave her a strange look, then laughed helplessly.

After calming Sarraya down and assuring her that he was alright, he kept his appointment with Ariana. "Ariana," he called.

"I'm here, Tarrin. So is King Andos."

"Good. Will you come meet me?"

There was a long silence.

"I can't hear what Andos says, Ariana. The only one I can hear is you. What did he say?"

"Oh. Sorry, I didn't know that. He agrees. We'll start out in the morning. We should be there two days after that."

"I'll be waiting for you. I'm going to be camped on the northwestern edge of the city when you arrive."

"We'll find you, don't worry. I told you we'd see each other again."

"So you did. See you in three days."

"Until then."

Tarrin broke the connection, letting his amulet go and staring at the fire. Two days of rest. He could use that, definitely. He'd have to exert himself tomorrow to talk to Allia, and probably talk to Keritanima again, but he'd be more than fully recovered by the time Ariana and her king arrived. He was bone-tired now, tired enough to let the important events of that long, busy day drain away from him. He'd ponder the significance of them tomorrow, but for now, about all he wanted to do was sleep.

And sleep he did. Shapeshifting into cat form, he curled up by the fire and immediately went into a sound, deep sleep. With Sarraya and Jegojah-whom he now trusted, for some reason-he would be well protected and secure. So he slept the sleep of the safe, a sleep untroubled by worries or fears.

For now, all was well.

The next morning dawned windy and strangely warm. Sand blew through the city in eddies and swirls, and Tarrin was forced to don his visor. It was obvious that a sandstorm was blowing in the area, but from the look of the morning sky, it was well south of them, and they would only catch the fringes of it. The seasons were turning, and they were coming out of the storm season, into the relatively calm time that passed for spring in the desert. The sandstorms were fewer and further between, and they lacked the savagery that the winter storms packed. By early summer, all the storms would be over, and the Selani would enjoy a four month respite from the blowing sand, until the cycle started all over again.

Breakfast that morning was little more than berries and hard bread, for the wind was too strong to keep a fire going. Sarraya huddled against his shoulder and neck to protect herself from the gusty wind, with its stinging sand carried along in it. He'd been awakened to those conditions, mainly by being showered by embers from the fire, but even in cat form he was utterly immune to their heat. It was strange for the wind to blow so, but then again, the proximity of the sandstorm was the reason. They were catching the edges of it, and the worst of it was about to blow over them. That meant that they had to find shelter.

"Jegojah, he came through blows like this," the undead warrior noted as they moved to knock down a tent before the wind took it with it. "This desert, it is a challenge for the living, yes?"

"The Selani thrive here," Tarrin called over the wind. "They've been here long enough to know how things work."

"The Selani, your friend, you will call her today, yes?"

"After the storm blows over," he shouted back over a loud gust. "It takes concentration for me to do it, and it's hard to concentrate when you're getting a face full of sand." He put stones over the tent canvas, as Jegojah did the same on the other side. "Odds are, Kerri has already talked to her and told her to expect my call. Besides, it's a few hours earlier in Suld, and that means that she's probably not awake yet."

"Jegojah, he forgets about that sometimes," he grunted loudly enough to be heard over the wind.

"Around about noon, I'll try," he called. "It should be calm by then, and Allia will certainly be awake."

"Nothing else, we have to do, no," Jegojah shouted. "The camp, this would be a good time to move it! After all, taken it down already, we have, yes!"

"You have a point," Tarrin acceded. "It's not easy to see in this, but we need to find shelter anyway. Let's go find a good building and wait it out!"

"What about the tents?"

"We'll leave them here," Tarrin shouted. "Sarraya and I can just Conjure them back to us when we want to set them up!"

"Conjure? Ye know Druidic magic?"

Tarrin nodded, pulling his braid out of his face as the wind slapped it against his visor. "I'm a Were-cat, Jegojah. All Were-cats have at least some Druidic talent. And since we're technically not mortal, I get around the stricture against being able to use only one order of magic."

"No wonder Jegojah, he could not best you!" the undead warrior cackled in that hideous voice. "Too many tricks, ye know, yes!"

"Don't sell him short," Sarraya called. "He whipped you fair and square, with and without magic."

Tarrin was a bit startled that Sarraya would insult Jegojah that way, but the undead warrior just laughed. "That he did!" he admitted. "It was an honor to battle you, Tarrin of the Were-cats! It was a loss for Jegojah, but an honorable loss, it was, yes!"

"Let's save the reminscing until after we're in shelter!" Tarrin called.

Finding shelter was a very simple affair. They had but to enter the closest of the buildings that were still standing. Tarrin was too large to fit in the door, and had to shift to cat form to get inside. Jegojah just barely cleared the door, and the ceiling was literally scraping his helmet as they entered a dust-choked chamber with a stone table in the far corner, by the door. Tarrin was careful to shapeshift back so he was squatting down, shifting from a seated position as a cat, which allowed him to clear the ceiling by a comfortable amount. He couldn't stand erect inside the buildings, but he had a very flexible spine, and could stand if he stayed severely stooped over. But it was easier for him to simply sit.