"Her lost children?" Tarrin asked.

Thean nodded. "Rahnee's just as vulnerable to instinct as Mist was. Since she has no living children, having one and keeping it alive until it's an adult has taken over her life. Were-cat females have a human fertility cycle, but it's extremely hard for them to conceive for some reason, and it gets harder and harder as they age. An elder female like Rahnee can mate almost continually, and not conceive for many years."

Tarrin considered it. He had felt so sorry for Mist because of what had happened to her, and he started feeling a little sorry for Rahnee. Rahnee didn't close herself off to the world like Mist did, instead she continually tried to get pregnant again. It was a different response to what was fundamentally the same problem, which was different because Rahnee could get pregnant, she only hadn't managed to do it and keep a child alive to adulthood. But, just like Mist, there was a cure for Rahnee's lonely obsession, an obsession he understood a little better now. Rahnee wasn't an oversexed tart, she was desperately trying to get pregnant. That did make her an oversexed tart, but it was her instincts commanding her to fulfill the most basic of their instructions, to reproduce. "That's no real problem," he mused.

"What are you talking about?"

"I can make that happen," he replied calmly. "I know how Triana did it to Mist. I can do it to Rahnee. I could get her to conceive tonight."

"That's considerate of you, lad, but there's a problem."

"What?"

"Jesmind would kill you."

Tarrin laughed. "I don't have to do it, Thean. I can prime Rahnee, and after that any male can finish the job." He looked at the elder male. "So, you feeling frisky tonight, Thean?"

The gray-furred Were-cat glanced at him, then laughed. "I don't think this is the time or place to fix Rahnee, lad. It'd be best to wait until after we finish at Suld. The fighting may cause her to lose the baby."

"You have a point there," Tarrin agreed. "Should we tell her?"

"No, if we did, she'd be unbearable," Thean grinned. "She'd follow you around like a puppy."

"We can't have that," Tarrin said seriously. "I wonder why Triana didn't do it to her a long time ago."

"Triana doesn't meddle," Thean told him. "Rahnee's capable of conceiving, so Triana won't do anything. What you want to do is out of compassion, because you can't stand the idea of seeing Rahnee being unhappy. Triana's a bit harder than you."

"I don't think she's hard."

"She is hard, lad," Thean said soberly. "She's very old, and the years have taken their toll on her. Most people to her are transitory things, only here for a short time before fading away in the roll of the years. So she doesn't like to form attachments to very many people, and most of them are Were-cats. Triana's seen too many friends grow old and die."

Tarrin could appreciate how that would feel, to see beloved friends wither and die as age claimed them. It made his heart flutter to think that he may have to face the same thing some day, to see friends like Azakar or Var or Denai or Phandebrass or Ariana succumb to the passing of the years.

"At least she has us, Thean," Tarrin said as they started filling waterskins.

"I know. You have no idea how honored it makes me feel to know that she loves me."

"I think she'd be happier if you loved her back instead of feeling honored."

"Oh, I do, Tarrin. Triana is the hub of my life. If it wasn't for the fact that we wear on each other after we've been together for a while, I'd be with her all the time."

"Kimmie told me about that," Tarrin said. "I guess even Were-cats like Triana and you are just as vulnerable to instinct as the rest of us."

Thean chuckled. "It makes us seem less awesome, doesn't it?" he said with a rueful smile. "To know that we're just as weak as everyone else."

"Reality is a pain sometimes."

Thean laughed. "It is at that."

They wandered back to their group, idly chatting about nothing in particular, and then delivered the waterskins to the others. Rahnee looked speculatively at the pair of them, and when Thean left to go see Sathon about something, Tarrin turned to prod the fire and get the coals right for some quick roasting. It surprised him when Rahnee's scent came up right behind him, and she grabbed him by his tail and pulled herself down to where he was kneeling. "What do you say, Tarrin?" she purred in his ear. "Jesmind's not here. Want to drift back behind the trees and have some fun?"

"You want to get us both killed?" Tarrin asked archly. "She'd kill you for trying, and she'd kill me for accepting."

"I know you're interested in me, and I'm not afraid of Jesmind," Rahnee assured him.

"Then you're a fool," he snapped bluntly.

"Hmph. Well, if that's how you're going to be, I'm just going to have to come and get you later. But I will come back," she promised, standing up.

"Go play with Thean," he said dismissively as he threw another couple of large chunks of wood on the fire.

"Hmph," she snorted again, stalking away.

Tarrin didn't pay it any more mind. Rahnee was just being bold because Jesmind wasn't there to defend her claim on him.

What Tarrin was not prepared to face was what happened when Jesmind, Shayle, and Nikki returned, carrying two large bucks between them. Rahnee set herself directly in the path of the three sisters, and slapped the buck off Jesmind's shoulder when she got within reach.

Tarrin stood up, about ready to go over there and spank Rahnee, but he had no place in what was going to happen. Rahnee felt that she was strong enough to fight Jesmind over him, and as the male in question, it wasn't his place to stop them. Rahnee wasn't going to take any of his objections seriously, so no matter what he said, she was going to do what she was about to do no matter what. And since she wouldn't listen to him, she was just going to have to learn that he had no intentions of leaving Jesmind the hard way.

He had no worry about it. Jesmind was much nastier than Rahnee, especially when she was mad. Jesmind would relieve him of any unpleasant confrontations with Rahnee when he rebuffed her once again.

"I'm tired of hearing how scary you are," Rahnee said in a loud tone. "I think you can't live up to your reputation."

"Get out of my way, Rahnee," Jesmind warned in a dangerous tone.

"I want Tarrin, and since he's so afraid of you, I guess I'm just going to have to send you packing. Unless you're not woman enough to fight for him."

That was the wrong thing to say. Jesmind's eyes exploded from within with the green aura that marked an angry Were-cat, and her claws came out almost as quickly as she attacked Rahnee.

It was a fight between Were-cats, and that meant that it carried with it a mindless brutality that made such a spectacle difficult for the squeamish to observe. Rahnee and Jesmind ripped at one another with their claws, even biting one another as they ended up on the ground, rolling in grass that quickly became stained with blood. In the first furious moments of their fight, Tarrin began to wonder if Rahnee was really going to lose. She was the same size as Jesmind, and he'd never seen her actually fight before, so he wasn't sure how good she was. She really took it to his mate in those first moments, pinning her to the ground and tearing into her pretty thoroughly with claws paws and feet. But then, Jesmind seemed to have had enough. She drove the palm of her paw into Rahnee's chin, hard enough to snap her head back and lift her off of her, then descended on the disadvantaged black-furred female with merciless savagery. They traded blows face to face, staying on their feet as their brutal claw match slowed into a calculated fight between two combatants. Both of them began showing elements of a street brawler, blocking blows, kicking, trying to grapple or grab hair, and when he saw them like that, he saw that Jesmind was much superior to Rahnee. In very short moments, Rahnee became overwhelmed by her faster, more experienced adversary, until Jesmind rushed the black-furred Were-cat and then bulled her to the ground. Rahnee became the one pinned to the ground, struggling to defend herself from Jesmind's tearing claws but not doing a very good job of it. She started crying out in pain as Jesmind began to inflict wounds that her regeneration couldn't immediately heal, had worn down Rahnee's regenerative ability to where it could no longer keep up with the damage being done to her. When it became apparent that Rahnee was going to lose, Jesmind took it one step further, jumping to her feet, grabbing Rahnee by the paw, and then dragging her temporarily weakened opponent across the ground. Tarrin did move to intervene when he realized what she was doing, but he was too late. Jesmind grabbed Rahnee with both paws on her arm, then heaved her up and over her shoulder, directly into the large fire.