Tarrin watched her go, trying to get himself under control. Unbelievable! She used her power just to make him stay! He couldn't believe it! Snarling, Tarrin turned and smashed his fist into the table, destroying it in an explosive shower of wood shards, but it didn't make him feel much better.

Jesmind, however, began to laugh ruefully. She put a paw on Tarrin's shoulder, then turned him to face her. "Now you realize what I've had to put up with," she said with a slight smile.

Tarrin snorted, looking away from her as he forced himself to calm down.

"But she was right. Let's not shout at each other over this. You tell me why you need to take her, and I'll tell you why it's a bad idea."

Tarrin glared at her for a moment, but then took a calming breath. "I told you before, I can't leave her alone because she can use her power again," he told her. "Since I have no choice but to go, that also means I have no choice but to take her along. You have no idea how much I hate that idea, Jesmind," he growled. "I'm going to war, and she's just a little girl. I'm terrified that she may get hurt."

"I can't hate you for that," she told him. "But this is where she belongs. It's not right to take her away from here. It's the only place she's ever known."

"I can't help that now, Jesmind. She made this decision. Now she has to suffer the consequences of her actions. Maybe it'll teach her not to do something like this again."

Jesmind snorted. "Not likely. I can't let you take her, Tarrin. I just can't."

"I'm not taking her from you, Jesmind. I want you to come too."

"Me?" she asked in surprise, then she laughed. "If I go back to Suld, I'll kill half the people in the Tower, Tarrin. I've never forgiven them for what they did to me, and to you."

"I won't stop you, my mate," Tarrin said grimly. "I'll just tell you which ones not to kill."

Jesmind actually laughed. "As much as that appeals to me, I don't want to go, Tarrin. This is my home now, and I don't want to leave."

"I don't want to leave either, Jesmind," he said with sudden candor, looking at her with sincerity. "But I have to go. I don't have any choice. Everything depends on me getting to Suld, and getting there quickly."

"If it's so important to go to Suld, why are you going to stop to attack Torrian?"

"Because they need me to do it," he told her bluntly. "Do you know what's going on, Jesmind? I mean really know what's going on?"

"Only that the Dals are attacking Sulasia."

"That's only a part of it, and it's really nothing more than a means to tie down the Sulasian army," he said, absently Creating another table and banishing the remains of the old one. They sat down at the table, and as soon as they did so, he reached out and put his paws over one of hers. "What's really going on is that the people who've been trying to kill me since before I met you have assembled an army of every kind of nightmare they could find, and they're marching it to destroy Suld."

"I heard you say that before, to Garyth."

"Then why didn't you listen the first time?" he asked in slight exasperation. "I explained everything then!"

"I wasn't paying attention," she admitted.

Tarrin blew out his breath. "Jesmind, if they destroy Suld, they'll destroy the bonds that keep the Goddess on this world. She'll be banished, and that will disrupt the Weave. The end result is that any Sorcerer with even average power is going to die in the disruption. I'll die if I don't stop them from taking Suld, and now that Jasana has used her power and bonded herself to the Weave, she is also in danger."

That made Jesmind's eyes widen.

"That's right. I'm not doing this just for my own sake, Jesmind. That army is a direct threat to my daughter's life, as well as the lives of about half of the people who mean the most to me, and I'm not about to sit around here and hope that my sisters and friends can stop them for me. I have to go."

Jesmind groaned, putting her head in her paws. "You just had to say that, didn't you?" she demanded.

"It's the truth, Jesmind. Now we can fight about this, a fight that you will lose, or you can accept it with a grain of salt and do what you can to help."

"Is she really in that much danger?"

"Jasana, right now, that army is more of a danger to her than anything else in this world. Even her own power isn't as dangerous as that army."

Jesmind looked torn, for a moment, then sighed and lowered her head. "I believe you, my mate," she admitted. "I can't stand the idea of it, but I'm not going to take any risks with Jasana's life. If you think it's best, then-then we'll go with you."

That couldn't have been easy for her. Tarrin knew Jesmind, knew that she was as proud and stubborn as he was. She couldn't stand showing throat to anyone for any reason, even when it was a good reason. She had submitted to him, and no matter how good it was, it wasn't something she could take easily. Tarrin took her paw and held it gently, causing her to look up into his eyes.

"Thank you, Jesmind," he said sincerely. "I know that wasn't easy."

"You're not getting it for free," she said with sudden power in her voice. "I'll agree to this, but only on two conditions."

"What?"

"First, I want a necklace that does what yours does," she said. "And second, I want you to promise to come home when you're done with whatever it is you're doing."

"I was going to do that anyway."

"No, you said you were going to do it. I want to hear you promise that you will."

Tarrin stared down at the firm resolve in her eyes, then he nodded. "Jesmind, I promise that when I've done what I need to do, I'll come home."

Her eyes softened visibly, and she gave him a slight, coy little smile. "I know we'll get on each other's nerves, but I want the chance to have you for mate in the way that's always been denied to us, Tarrin. A mating that's not interrupted by needs to run off to the far corners of the world."

"Just be patient then, Jesmind," he told her.

"Were-cats aren't known for patience, my mate," Jesmind said archly. "Now is all that matters to us."

"There will be plenty of time for now later," he told her. "Right now, I need you to be here and keep Jasana safe."

"She's my daughter. She'll be safe."

"Good. I'm sorry to have to do this to you, Jesmind. It seems that every time we're together, we completely screw up each other's lives."

Jesmind actually laughed. "I guess it was your turn this time."

"Guess so," he smiled in agreement.

"It must be a sign that we weren't meant to be together."

"Only if you believe in that kind of garbage," he said. "I believe in something else."

"What?" she asked curiously.

"That the wisdom and guidance I get from my Goddess will see me through," he said. "She wouldn't have brought me back here, brought me back to you, if there wasn't a good reason for it. So we are meant to be together. At least for now."

Jesmind smiled lightly. "I think I'll give this Goddess of yours a kiss," Jesmind said with sudden cheeky grin.

"She's probably be overjoyed.

"Goddess, you say? How practical."

"What do you mean?"

"That you follow a woman. That's the ordained order of things, you know."

"Don't press your luck," he teased, seeing it for the jibe that it was.

"Feel better now?"

"Much. You?"

"Not exactly happy, but I'll manage," she admitted. "That daughter of ours certainly defused us in a hurry, didn't she?"

Tarrin chuckled. "She seems to have a knack for it, I've noticed. I find it very hard to be angry when she's touching me."

"Me too," Jesmind agreed. "You certainly managed to overcome that, though."

"I had a very good reason," he sighed. "I can't believe that she'd do something like that."

"I would. Jasana is very willful, Tarrin, and she'll stoop to almost any level to get her own way. She's almost impossible to manage."