He knew she was right. Tarrin laughed ruefully, laying down on his back and looking at the two females. "Well, I certainly feel like I'm wanted," he told them.

"I know of about six females chomping at the bit for when Jesmind parts ways with you, Tarrin," Kimmie grinned. "I'm just making sure the line forms behind me."

Jesmind laughed. "I almost feel jealous again," she said. "Can't you wait until after we've worn on each other enough to split up?"

"Too much competition, Jesmind," Kimmie said with a teasing smile.

"If you can't sleep, Tarrin, I think I can find a way to keep you occupied without having to worry about the sneaky one here trying to talk you out of our mating," Jesmind told him.

"Well, that sounds like a dismissal to me," Kimmie said mildly. "I'll wander back to bed now. Just try to keep it down, you two. Jasana's still asleep," she said with a wink, getting up and padding past Jesmind, towards the stairs.

Jesmind came over to stand over him. "Come on then, my mate," Jesmind said, holding a paw out for him. "If you have this much nervous energy, I think I can burn it off for you."

Tarrin laughed, taking her paw and letting her pull him up. "I'm surprised you're so calm about Kimmie," he said.

"She said she wouldn't touch you until after I let you go," she told him calmly. "That's all the assurance I need. Besides, I like Kimmie. I wouldn't mind seeing you two together after I release you. You were both human once, so at least you'd be on level ground."

"Strange to be choosing my mates for me before you've gotten tired of me, Jesmind."

"I'm not tired of you yet, Tarrin," she told him with a grin, patting him on the backside. "Worry more about me and less about who may be sharing your bed after we part."

Tarrin followed Jesmind into the bedroom, mulling over his conversation with Kimmie. It had been eye-opening, in more ways than one. Kimmie had proved to be an intelligent, keenly observant woman whose insights had opened his eyes to many subtle aspects of Were-cat behavior. He had learned about Jesmind's feelings for him from her, and he found he was very much honored to think that a Were-cat like Jesmind could form such a lasting bond with him. He had loved Jesmind once, and in a way he still did. The thought of forming a repetitive relationship with her was very appealing to him. He knew that time would eventually force them apart, but those partings would always be followed up with reunions. Just like Thean and Triana.

Tarrin had seen a great deal of Kimmie, both physically and mentally, and he very much liked what he saw. Tarrin decided that Kimmie was a friend. A very good friend. He added her to that select circle of his closest friends and companions, then turned his attention to Jesmind as the door closed.

To: Title EoF

Chapter 26

Tarrin was up well before the dawn, but he wasn't the only one. Both Jesmind and Kimmie were up at the same time as him, Jesmind because he disturbed her sleep. Kimmie asked him to come upstairs as Jesmind pulled on her shirt and got ready to go wake up Jasana. When he got there, he found her going through the trunk at the foot of his bed, where he'd kept his clothes. She had on a pair of his leather buckskin breeches, which actually fit her rather well, and was rummaging through the chest looking for a shirt. He was surprised that a woman could fit into his breeches, which had been made for a man's hips, but when he took a closer look he realized that they'd been altered somehow. Kimmie said she'd learned a few magic spells, so he figured that she'd used her magic to change the fit to suit her.

"I thought I'd ask before I went any further," she said, glancing at him.

"You're more than welcome to anything that fits. Or anything you can make fit," he added.

"You have a sharp eye," she said with a smile.

"They're my clothes," he countered. "Magic?"

"A cantrip, actually," she told him, pulling out a loose linen shirt that was so worn that it was almost see-through. She held it up critically, then nodded and started pulling it on. "I'll feel strange in this, but I can't run very well in a dress."

"You'll do more than feel strange in that," he said calmly, looking at her bosom rather deliberately. "You'll be trailing along quite a line of appreciative young men."

"I think a vest will fix that," she said with a glance down and a laugh. "You should have thrown it away before it got so thin."

"I don't have to defend my modesty there," he noted, absently Conjuring forth a buckskin vest that matched the breeches, that should fit her rather well.

She pulled it on and buttoned it, then held up her arms and made a quick turn. "Am I defending the virtue of young men now?" she asked winsomely.

"Looks like it to me," he nodded. "Come downstairs, we'll be leaving in just a bit."

Tarrin went downstairs in time to gather up Jasana in his arms. His daughter looked a little sleepy, rubbing her face before holding her arms out to him. "Are we leaving now?" she asked in a slightly disjointed voice.

"In a bit," he told her. "I think it'd be best if we had something to eat first. Want to help me go wake up the others?"

"Umm," she hummed, putting her arm around his neck.

"It'll take too long to cook," Jesmind said fretfully, looking out the kitchen window. "If we want to get to Aldreth before dawn, we'll have to leave in just a little while."

"I'm going to take care of that," he told her. "It's a special case, so it's not cheating. Unless you want to cook for nine inside fifteen minutes."

Jesmind chuckled. "I think I'll let it slide this time," she told him with a wink. "Should I bother getting out the dishes?"

"No," he told her, carrying Jasana out the front door.

Instead of just going to each building, he decided that it would be much easier to call them out. "Alright, people, let's get up!" he shouted very loudly from the porch. "Breakfast is going to be ready in just a bit. Anyone not at the table doesn't eat!"

"I could have done that," Jesmind criticized from the doorway.

"I thought of it first," he told her.

"We can't fit everyone in here."

"I'm going to do it outside," he told her. "Just come out when you're ready."

Tarrin padded off the porch, then set Jasana down. She stood by him as he raised both his arms and reached within, through the Cat, finding the core of power that was the All. He had become so proficient at Conjuring that he could do it almost without thinking anymore, and the speed at which a long table, benches, and a huge meal that would feed twice as many as it was intended to feed appeared was quite impressive.

"Was that what I'm going to learn, papa?" Jasana asked curiously. "I felt something strange, but it didn't feel like what you did before."

"I just used Druidic magic, cub," he told her. "I'm not sure if you can learn that."

"Oh." She looked at the table. "Is all that real?"

"Very real, cub," he nodded as Jesmind and Kimmie came out of the house. "Why don't you find a seat and get some breakfast?"

"Umm," she sounded, then ambled over to the table and crawled up onto a bench. Tarrin watched her, considering. If she felt him use Druidic magic, then she too had more than just a touch of Druidic ability. Maybe enough to use some magic. And since her powers of Sorcery had awakened in her at such an incredibly tender age, maybe that meant that any possible Druidic ability also would manifest early. Either way, he definitely had to talk to Sathon or Triana about that. Sorcery, he could control. He didn't know enough about Druidic power to be able to throttle that in another Druid the way Sarraya or Triana could.

The first of the others to appear was Ariana, floating down from the hayloft in the big barn. She trotted over with a gleaming look in her eyes. "Where do I sit?" she asked immediately. "I'm starving!"