"I'm sorry it took so long," she apologized.

"It's not how long it takes, it's whether you succeed," he told her. He looked up at Triana. "Who was it?"

"Some woman named Amelyn," Triana replied. "Right now, your Wikuni sister, the Keeper, and that Demon are down in the dungeons interrogating her with that icy-eyed redhead, Ahiriya."

Amelyn! Of course! She was the Mind Seat, and she was a member of the Council! They'd told him that it would have to be someone in power, or possible someone with formidable grasp of mind weaves. It only made sense that it was both. Tarrin had never liked Amelyn, she was arrogant and annoying, and in a way he was glad that it turned out to be someone he didn't like. Tarrin realized that Amelyn was going to be in for a very rough time of it. The entire Tower feared Ahiriya, and nobody wanted to be on the receiving end of one of her interrogations. And if she wasn't bad enough, Shiika was a Demoness, and was capable of all sorts of awful things. She was getting what she deserved, though.

Eron set Jasana down, and she padded over and grabbed Jula by the tail. Jula looked behind her in surprise, and found Tarrin's daughter looking up at her. "Are you my sister?" she asked curiously.

"Something like that, little one," Jula replied gently.

"I never had a sister before."

"Neither have I."

Jenna took Jasana's other paw and smiled at her. "I've never had a niece before," she told the little girl. "I think Aunt Jenna makes me sound like an old lady."

"Watch your mouth!" Elke snapped at her daughter.

"Don't mind your grandmother. She's feeling old today," Jenna winked.

"Jenna, I'm going to show you how young I still am in just a moment," she said threateningly to her daughter.

Jasana giggled, and held her arms out to Jenna. Jenna picked her up, bouncing her on her hip. "Mind your claws now," Jenna reminded her as the little girl's claws dug into her shoulders a little.

"She feels like you do, papa," Jasana told him. "She feels like lots of magic, just like you."

"She's alot like me, cub," Tarrin told her. "When I teach her about magic, you're going to be there with her."

"I think we should find somewhere less noisy," Thean suggested. "They can send out messages to all of Tarrin's friends, so they can come to him instead of him trying to track all of them down."

"That's a good idea," Triana agreed. "Come on, there's an apartment on the fifth floor big enough for alot of people. I think it's one of those apartments they let the important people use. Tarrin can just stay there while he's here."

"The Keeper may not like you handing out rooms, Triana," Jula reminded her.

"So?"

"It's going to be hard to get messengers. The Novices and Initiates are being held in their rooms until the Knights declare the Tower clear."

"There are servants enough in the Tower to find people to run messages," Triana said dismissively. "Come along, everyone. I know the way."

Tarrin turned with the others to follow Triana, but a disembodied voice floated through the hall, ignored by all there. I need to speak to you, it called. Tarrin had heard that voice before, and it caused his ears to pick up and turn in the direction from which it came. To his surprise, Jenna and Jasana also turned in that direction, Jasana's ears scanning the back corner of the hall.

He knew who it was, and he still had not figured out how she did that. He was surprised that she was at the Tower; given who she was and what she was, she could rock the foundations of the Tower by her mere presence. After all, she was an Ancient, and she could easily answer every question about the past of their order that the modern katzh-dashi had.

"What was that, Tarrin?" Jenna asked curiously. "It was like a voice inside the Weave."

"Something like that," he said, turning to the others. "I know you're going to object, but save it. I just got summoned by someone you do not ignore. I have to go see what the summoner wants. I'll come find you as soon as I'm done, alright?"

"Summoned by who?" Jesmind asked.

"I can't tell you that, my mate. Not even you," he said seriously. "Don't worry, the someone is something of an ally. I'm not in any danger."

Jesmind looked speculative, but then finally nodded. "Go with your mother, cub," Tarrin told Jasana as he turned back towards the door leading out. He had no doubt that she would guide him to her, because he knew that there was no way he was going to find her by himself. She had done it once before, guided him to her in the desert, where she provoked him into leaving behind the powers of a Sorcerer and gaining the powers of a Weavespinner.

Bring your sister, the voice instructed. She needs to be here.

Tarrin stopped immediately. "Jenna," he called, waving his paw at her. "You're coming."

Elke and Eron seemed about ready to object, but a paw on each shoulder from Triana quelled it. "A-Alright, Tarrin," Jenna said uncertainly, stepping up to him, and then following him back down the hall and outside.

"Who is doing that?" Jenna asked immediately after they cleared the hall. Tarrin got a sense of the location of her when he came out the door, and he realized she was in the gardens. He realized instantly that that meant that she was in the courtyard.

Actually, it made sense for her to be there.

"I'm sure you're going to tell me I'm lying if I told you, Jenna," Tarrin chuckled as he started off towards the garden.

"Try me."

"Alright. Remember all the old stories about the Guardian?"

Jenna nodded, then she gasped. "You mean they're true?" she asked.

"I'm not sure, but Spyder is very real," he told her calmly. "She's who you heard. I've met her once before, in the desert."

"What does she want?"

"I don't know, but I'm not about to disobey," he said emphatically. "Her orders are as good as the Goddess' own orders."

"I can't argue with that," Jenna agreed. "I wonder why she wants to see us."

"We'll find out," he told her.

They reached the garden relatively quickly, and then he entered the maze. "She's in here?" Jenna asked curiously.

"Everything about everything is in here, Jenna," he told her. "We're about to go see the Goddess in person. After a fashion, anyway."

"Huh?"

As they moved through the maze, Tarrin told Jenna about the courtyard, and told her about how they used it as a sanctuary when he was a student at the Tower. He went on to explain about the fountain and the statue, and told her how the statue was the Goddess' icon, her physical represenation in the mortal world. "Everything that's going on is about that, sister," Tarrin explained. "The armies coming to attack Suld aren't coming to burn down the city. They're coming to try to destroy the Goddess' icon. If they succeed, it'll destroy the katzh-dashi, kill any Sorcerer with even moderate power, and give our enemies a clear path to the Firestaff."

"Wow," Jenna whispered after a moment of silence. "I didn't know that."

"Only a few people do," he told her. "And it has to stay that way. Do you understand?"

"I can keep a secret, Tarrin," she said confidently, then her brow furrowed. "If Amelyn was helping them, why in the world did she do it? Doesn't she realize that what they're going to do is going to kill her too?"

"You'll have to ask Amelyn that," Tarrin grunted.

It had been years since he'd been in the maze, but the pathway was still burned into his memory. He unerringly led Jenna to the overgrown pathway that hid the entrance to the courtyard, and then they stepped into the presence of the Goddess.

The place looked exactly as they'd left it, with a few exceptions. The tent to one side that had served as a sanctuary, library, and second home to Tarrin, Allia, and Keritanima sat encased within a strange dome of what looked like glass. But everything else was the same. The rose bushes and benches surrounding the large fountain that bubbled its merry song of rushing water, a sound that induced peace in everyone who heard it, the stone path and circle that surrounded the fountain with its neat, orderly white blocks of stone. The statue of the Goddess stood at the center of the fountain, on its pedestal, its expression one of gentle benediction. And standing before the fountain, facing them, was what looked like to be a cloak of shadows, hovering in the air almost of its own volition, the wearer within completely concealed.