"Nonsense," Sathon snorted. "I'll take care of that, lad. I'll teach you some of the things Sarraya didn't bother to show you. You understand the workings of Druidic magic, so teaching you the spells won't take long."

"I'll be guided by you in that, Sathon," Tarrin shrugged. "If you think I'm capable of using them, then I'll learn them from you."

"You're easily as strong as I am, lad. Anything I can do, you can do," he said confidently. "This is what happens when you have a Faerie as an instructor, you know."

Alix sniffed loudly.

"Truth is truth, Alix," Sathon grinned. "Your kind can't hold a thought long enough to get it across to other races."

"Well, I don't go around talking about how big and fat and ungainly humans are," Alix said flippantly.

"Well, it was Sarraya or no one, Sathon. Besides, I'm not that disappointed in how she did. Sarraya was actually a good teacher."

Alix beamed at Tarrin.

"She taught you the basics, but she ignored your advanced education," he said insistantly.

"Blame Triana for that," Tarrin told him. "She told Sarraya not to go beyond the basics. She did anyway, but I think that threat kept her from teaching me much more than she did. Sarraya would have alot to answer for if I got to Suld and could do a great deal of Druidic magic that I wasn't supposed to know."

"Oh, I see now," Sathon said with a laugh. "Well, Triana never told me not to teach you," he said with a sly smile.

"It's your neck, Sathon."

"Triana's an old friend of mine, lad. She'll trust that I won't get you killed."

"Pardon me, good Druid, but we really need to go," Garyth interrupted politely.

"Yes, yes, of course," he said with a nod. "Tomorrow then, lad. Sleep well."

Tarrin waved them goodbye as the wagon rumbled around the bend and out of sight. Tarrin sighed, crossing his arms and watching them go, his expectations rising by the moment. With the Centaurs and the Were-kin, Torrian was as good as taken. If they could move fast, they could reach Suld before the ki'zadun did, and play a major part in the defense of the city as well. It made him feel very good to know that Fae-da'Nar was going to come off the fence, finally, were going to take a stand and commit themselves to the defense of Suld. With the katzh-dashi, the Knights, the Selani, the Arakite Legions, Shiika and the Cambisi, Keritanima's Wikuni, Vendari, and gunpowder, the Ungardt, the Sulasian forces that would be available, the Rangers, and now a large force of Woodkin, Tarrin had a very good feeling about the battle to come. It may not number as highly as the force opposing them, but the numbers they did have were widely varied and universally powerful. Just knowing that the Vendari, the Selani, the Ungardt, the Knights, and now Woodkin would take the field on the same side gave him a very relieved feeling. It would be a force that not even the Demons numbering in the armies of the ki'zadun would care to face.

All they had to do now was get there in time.

The realization that Tarrin was a Druid on chosen ground sank in after Sathon left, and he dealt with his Were-cat friends, sisters, and mate afterward.

They kept asking him what they were supposed to do next. Even Rahnee, which surprised him to no end. It was almost as if Sathon's appearance had reminded them of custom, and now they were deferring to him. He found it to be very irritating. So irritating that he told all of them to start acting like they weren't still tied to their mother's tail and do for themselves. The only one that didn't defer to him was Jesmind, but he knew that that would happen just as soon as someone reached up and pulled down one of the moons. Regardless of the fact that he was a Druid on chosen ground, she wouldn't accede to him unless it suited her. Being his mate exempted her from that custom, or at least so he thought she believed.

But things did calm down. Rahnee and Singer hunted up an evening meal of deer for them, and it was roasted over the firepit as the Were-cats and Ariana sat in the blooming night and traded stories. Tarrin listened calmly with Jasana taking turns sitting in his lap and Jesmind's as Thean talked about his travels in Tor and the Free Duchies, and he heard about Rahnee's latest scrape with a small pack of Were-wolves. He listened while Singer described the Ogre she had found in the Heartwood; Ogres and Giants were the only Goblinoids that the Were-kin wouldn't kill on sight. Ogres were larger than Trolls, but were actually quite gentle and amiable beings. Giants were very intelligent, showing a range of emotions and attitudes similar to humans. Singer described helping the lost Ogre, who was little more than a child, find his way back to the mountains which were his home range. He listened as Jeri spoke about his first trip into the city of Tor, and he heard the youthful exuberance and wonder that he himself had once felt when he had seen Torrian and Suld for the first time. Ariana described the flight over from the desert, and the Aeradalla's impressions of Suld and the humans, and their flights over the land and the sea to watch for signs of invasion. Kimmie talked about Mist and Eron, using words full of love and compassion, showing Kimmie's feelings for her bond-mother and Mist's child, who she considered all but a brother to her. Tarrin found that more interesting than anything else, for Kimmie's descriptions of Mist were much different than the haunted, paranoid Were-cat female he remembered. The Mist Kimmie described was a vibrant, content woman with a great deal of energy and a mountain's worth of patience for dealing with her very rambunctious cub. From the sound of it, Eron was going to be just like Jasana.

"I wonder whatever happened to Nikki and Shayle," Thean said, gnawing on a bone absently.

"Maybe they went to Aldreth instead of coming here," Jeri offered.

"It's possible," Thean agreed. "All of you but Rahnee went to Aldreth first."

"So did you," Rahnee pointed out with a smirk.

"Because I knew they'd go there," he said calmly. "I've been here before, Rahnee. My den isn't far from here."

"Mine is too," she pointed out. "I've been here before too. I used to lay in that tree right over there and watch Tarrin and his family," she said, pointing towards the Heartwood. What Tarrin called the Frontier.

"Mist brought me here once," Kimmie said. "To show me what I used to be."

"My mother brought me here too," Jeri added. "I watched a man with a limp plow that field right there. His wife was this very tall woman with a blond braid, and she had a baby and a little boy."

"Tarrin was that little boy," Rahnee told the young male with a grin. "The baby was Tarrin's sister."

"Jenna," he informed her absently.

"I didn't know that was you, Tarrin. How did you end up Were?"

"I thought all of you knew how that happened," Tarrin said in surprise.

"He's young, Tarrin," Thean said with a smile at Jeri. "The young ones sometimes miss the news. They're too busy running around."

"I happened," Jesmind told Jeri. "Someone used a magical object to control me, and they set me loose on Tarrin. We found out later that it was the katzh-dashi that did it, and only to make Tarrin Were."

"They did that to you?" Jeri said in shock. "I would have killed them!"

"I almost did," Tarrin told the young male. "But it turned out that they were just following their own orders. I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive them for what they did to me, but at least a part of me understands why it was done."

"Something like that wouldn't be easy to forgive," Thean said sagely. "Well, it's getting late," he announced. "We all have an early morning, and I can guarantee that Sathon's going to get us almost all the way to Torrian by tomorrow night. So you all had better get some rest."

"Where are we going to sleep?" Jeri asked.