"Well, it looks like they're clearing us out," Kimmie chuckled, looking at Jula. "Let's go see if we can find a place bigger than this one," she offered with a conspiratorial wink.

"Sounds good to me," Jula said with a growing smile.

"Night, cubs," Triana announced, then she led Thean towards the open door. " Try to stay out of trouble, won't you?" she asked from the doorway as they left the chamber.

"Never!" Jesmind shouted in reply as Jula and Kimmie regained their feet.

"I can't wait to get back into a dress," Kimmie complained, wiping at the trousers she wore.

"Tarrin wouldn't let me wear a dress," Jula said, giving him an accusing look.

"At first, it's not a good idea," Kimmie sided with him. "But you're more acclimated now, so it's entirely your choice, isn't it?"

"I think Triana wouldn't like it," Jula giggled.

"Well, when you're accepted by Fae-da'Nar, you won't have to worry about what anyone thinks of what you're wearing," Kimmie told her. "We turned ladies have to stick together, Jula. Tarrin may be turned, but he's a man. He just doesn't understand certain things."

"That's the Goddess' own truth," Jula agreed with a big smile at her bond-father. "I think I'm going to like you, Kimmie."

"Good, because I already like you," she replied. "We'll see you tomorrow," she told the others.

"Don't you go and corrupt my daughter, Kimmie," Tarrin threatened, though his tone made it clear he was bantering with her.

"I won't make her any worse that you already did," she promised with a wink.

"You mean you could make her worse?" Tarrin asked in feigned shock.

"Of course I could," Kimmie teased. "I could make her just like you."

"Scram, woman," Tarrin said, shooing her with his paw.

"Scramming," Kimmie chuckled. "See you tomorrow, Jesmind. Night, cub," she waved at Jasana. "Let's go find that apartment, then hit the kitchens," Kimmie told Jula as they headed out the door. "Tarrin is always such a pig. I don't have enough paws to gather up enough food to satisfy myself when he's at the table."

"I heard that!" Tarrin shouted.

"I'm so glad you did!" Kimmie shouted back, and then Jula closed the door.

Jesmind laughed after the door closed. "She's getting too familiar with you, my mate. I may have to do something about that."

"Leave her alone, Jesmind," Tarrin told her. "She knows where the line is."

"Well, we managed to get rid of the others," Jesmind purred at him.

"I know, but Allia should be showing up any time now," he said. "She should have received the message by now, and it won't take her long to find me."

"Maybe she's asleep."

"Not this early, and not so soon after the fighting," he countered.

"Well, we can enjoy the time while it lasts. Hand me that plate of mutton," she asked, reaching over him.

Tarrin let his mate eat, getting up and drifting over to the large window. There was a balcony beyond it, and he saw that the window was large enough for someone to open and step through. He opened it, letting in the cool late spring air, then ducked under and went out onto the balcony. It was surprisingly large, built against the side of the elegantly curved outer wall of the Tower, with a graceful stone rail with carved pillars joining it to the balcony floor. Tarrin recalled that a long time ago, he had climbed onto one of these same kinds of balconies as he infiltrated the Tower on a mission of intrigue. It had been lower than this one, but it looked much the same as this one did. He put his paws on the rail and looked out over the western stretches of the city of Suld, out towards the sea, a city illuminated by the risen White Moon of Domammon and the Skybands, easily light enough for his light-sensetive eyes to see. There were at least twenty ships in the large harbor of the city, and over half of them were Wikuni clippers, with their lamps lit to mark their positions. The city below him was also lit with torches and lanturns, as the citizens of Suld went about their nightly business with little knowledge of what was coming to threaten them.

Full circle. He had come full circle, he realized. He was back in Suld, back in the one place he swore to himself he'd never visit again, but he had little choice. All the craziness with the fighting in northwest Sulasia had caused him to not dwell much on the core reasons he was coming back here, to reach Suld before the armies, and what was more important, to return the Book of Ages to the Tower. He had done that, and it was still carried with him in the elsewhere, safe from prying eyes and magical spells of location. Tomorrow, he knew, he and Keritanima and Allia and Dar would retire to the courtyard, and they would begin the process of trying to find the location of the Firestaff. With the traitor found and the preparations for the city's defense more or less already made, he felt that Keritananima would have the time to undertake the important job of deciphering the written Sha'Kar language.

He had come a very long way. He looked up into the sky, pondering where he was and how he had gotten there, and the bumpiness of the road along the way. It had only been two years ago that he and Tiella and Walten had left Aldreth with Dolanna and Faalken. Two years. In his wildest dreams, he never thought he'd be where he was now when he left all that time ago. Now he was a Were-cat, Faalken was dead, and he was closing in on the artifact that his Goddess had tasked him to find. He found no real sense of exuberance in it, no sense of accomplishment or excitement that his task was coming to a close soon. All he could feel was impatience. He wanted to be done with it, to get it out of the way so he could get his life back. Regardless of how long he had been at it, how far he had come, he was still an unwilling player in the game. He wanted nothing to do with the Firestaff or its power, he wanted no part of the adventure surrounding its finding would bring. He had had enough adventure in his life already. He just wanted it to be over, and then he could go on to the life he wanted. And now that he had Jesmind, he realized that it was a life that he was eager to take up. Kimmie said that the two of them would have about ten years together before their Were natures caused them to split up. He could live with ten years. And after Jesmind, there would be Kimmie or Mist, and after one, the other, and then back to Jesmind again. Given who they were and how he liked them, he found that to be a very pleasant scenario. All he had to do to gain that prize was finish the task, to complete the mission. All he had to do was find the Firestaff, and then keep it away from everyone else until its time of activation passed, and it became harmless for another five thousand years.

The Goddess had said that there would be rewards. Given the kind of treasure that Jesmind was, that Jasana was, given how he'd started feeling about Kimmie, and how he felt about Mist, he realized that the reward she waggled in front of his nose more than made up for the ordeal of doing her work. Returning to Aldreth, building his nice little house out in that meadow in the Frontier, and living in it with his mate and his daughter, that was the richest prize in the world. Nothing, not even the power of being a god, could compare to that in his mind.

But the end was getting closer and closer. The Book of Ages had been the largest hurdle thus far. Now there would be finding its location, and then going to get it. Once he had it, the game would change from offense to defense, and Tarrin figured that it would be best if he took the artifact and disappeared with it, without even letting Allia or Keritanima know where he was going, to take it and hide where no one could find him until the Goddess told him it was safe to come back out. That seemed to be the smartest thing to do. After that special day passed, it would be worthless for five thousand years. Hopefully, by the time that rolled around again, he'd either be dead or too old to be bothered with it again.