"We have that big barn right over there, Jeri," Thean told him with a smile. "It's a good thing we patched it up, isn't it?" Jeri laughed. "I'll Conjure any bedding any of you may want, so don't worry about sleeping on the ground tonight."

"We have one spare room," Jesmind announced. "Who wants it?"

"I've seen your house, Jesmind, and I don't think I could fit in there very well," Ariana declined. "The barn over there has a nice large loft, so I'll sleep there tonight."

"I think I'll invite one of these handsome men here to spend a night with me," Rahnee said with a leer. "I don't think you want all that noise in your house, so I'll pass."

"Well, if you're asking, I'll take you up on that, Rahnee," Jeri said with a bright smile.

"I guess Thean should have it," Kimmie said. "He's the elder."

"That's alright, Kimmie. I know how you dislike sleeping rough, so why don't you take the room?"

"If you and Singer don't mind," she said demurely.

"Not at all, Kimmie. What do you say, Thean? Care for some company tonight?" Singer invited.

"I'd be delighted, Singer," he said graciously.

"I call that building over there," Rahnee said quickly, pointing at the stillery.

"This isn't a competition, and that building is rather cramped," Thean told her.

"That's alright. It'll keep Jeri from getting away from me," Rahnee grinned.

"I guess we can sleep in that barn over there, so we don't disturb Ariana," Thean said, looking at the old shearing shed.

"You're not going to disturb me, Thean," she objected.

"Yes we will," Singer said with a wink. "If we don't, then I must not be trying hard enough."

"I-oh, nevermind," Ariana said with a blush. "I just need to get some blankets, and maybe a pillow, and I'll be on my way to sleep."

They put out the fire, said their goodnights, then they separated. Thean Conjured up some blankets for each person as Tarrin carried a sleeping Jasana and led Jesmind and Kimmie into the house. "You can use my old room, Kimmie," Tarrin told her. "It's up the stairs you'll find down that hallway. It may be a little dusty, but it's a comfortable bed."

"Thanks, both of you," she said with a grateful look. "I still don't feel comfortable sleeping outside, and I really don't want to spend a night listening to Rahnee howl," she said, making a small face.

"No problem, Kimmie," Jesmind told her. "You're about the only female I'd let into the house anyway. You're like family to me."

"That's nice to know," Kimmie told her with a bright smile. "Would you like some tea or something before bed?"

"I'm the hostess here, girl," Jesmind said with a smile and a shooing motion. "Now off to bed with you."

"Yes, Auntie," Kimmie said with an outrageous little smile. Kimmie was a delightful surprise, sometimes.

"You," Jesmind said, balling her fist in Kimmie's direction. "We'll see you in the morning."

"See you tomorrow," Kimmie mirrored, padding down the hall.

Tarrin and Jesmind carried Jasana into her room, which was Jenna's old room. They laid her down in her bed, dressed her in her nightshirt as she blissfully slept through the entire process, then they tucked her into bed. Tarrin paused to stare down at his little girl, his daughter, the new focus of his life, and he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the powerful love he felt for her. She was such a beautiful child. Beautiful, smart, cunning, sneaky, devious-

But when she was sleeping like that, he could see no wrong in her, no matter how bad she was when she was awake.

Such was the programmed parental response to a sleeping child that usually kept children from being murdered in their sleep.

They slipped out of her room quietly and closed the door, as the ceiling above creaked a bit as Kimmie moved about Tarrin's old room. Then he heard the unmistakable sound of bedsheets being smacked to clear them of dust, and he knew that Kimmie had to be getting ready to go to sleep. Tarrin yawned. It had been a very busy day, and he fully intended to follow suit.

He and Jesmind retired to their room, undressed, then crawled into bed. Jesmind cuddled up against him, nuzzling his shoulder with her chin as Tarrin relaxed, letting the day's worries flow out of him. "If Fae-da'Nar helps, will that make it easy for us to win?" she asked quietly.

"It'll make taking Torrian all but guaranteed," Tarrin answered her. "I don't know how much it's going to help at Suld, but there's no doubt that they'll help a great deal. I need to contact Kerri tomorrow and tell her about this, so she can include it in her plans."

"That can wait, my mate," she said absently, squeezing him just a bit. "You know, I'm very proud of you."

"How?"

"You didn't even growl at Rahnee once today."

"She was behaving," Jesmind said with a grin, looking up at him. "Besides, we're in my home range. When we leave tomorrow, we'll see how well she behaves."

"Just don't kill her," Tarrin cautioned.

"It won't be the first time I've smacked Rahnee on the nose for getting fresh with my mates," she told him bluntly.

"Really? And who was this male you fought over before?"

"Someone you'll never meet, my mate. He died about fifty years ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"He was a very nice male," Jesmind sighed.

"What happened?"

"He was killed in a fire," she replied. "We still don't know what happened outside of that."

Tarrin was silent, pondering that. But that ended when Jesmind threw her arm over his chest and settled in against him. "I don't want to go," she admitted quietly.

"Me either," he sighed. "But it won't be forever."

"It'll feel like it."

"We'll know when it's over, Jesmind."

"I'd rather not find out."

"I can't help that. Blame Jasana."

Jesmind chuckled, leaning her forehead against his cheek. "Let's go to sleep," she said hazily.

"I never thought you'd ask," he told her, pulling her a little closer and letting her closeness overwhelm his senses and lull him off into sleep.

No matter how peaceful he felt, the enormity of the coming day was too much to keep Tarrin asleep all night.

He awoke about midnight, and found that he couldn't go back to sleep. He laid in bed and tried, half to get rest and half to keep from disturbing Jesmind, but it became too much, and he had to get up and move around. Putting on his breeches, he wandered out into the common room and poked the fire back to life, staring into its heart and considering the day to come.

He wondered how the villagers took the Centaurs and the Were-kin. The people of Aldreth were rather steady, but that may be too much for even them. He was sure that there was some nervousness, but he also felt that as soon as Garyth and Sathon made the rounds and calmed everyone down, they would have relaxed. Aldrethers had always been careful to be nice to their Frontier neighbors, and he didn't doubt that Garyth would have urged them to be so now, when it was so obvious who it was that was camped outside the village. The fact that they couldn't enter the village would probably make them even more relaxed. Aldreth's position as the human-Woodkin trading post would make the Woodkin calm, and it gave the humans prior experience for dealing with their exotic guests.

They would be going to war tomorrow. That was a sobering thought. He'd been avoiding thinking about it, understanding the grim reality of that simple statement. Men were going to march out of here, and there was a very good chance that some of them weren't going to come back. Men with lives and families, men with friends and position in the village. They were leaving their homes and families to defend them from another Dal occupation, and they were willing to sacrifice their lives to make sure that their wives and children would be safe. It was too much to ask from them, since they'd already suffered the Dal occupation, suffered watching Dal soldiers kill almost the entire Longbranch family and the herbalist. But then again, that was the very reason they were going. Because of what happened to the Longbranch family and the herbalist. They didn't want that to happen to their families.