"I can't imagine what could corner you, Tarrin," Miranda laughed. "But if those are orders, then they're orders."

"Can Jenna handle it?" Keritanima asked.

"She's almost as strong as I am, sister," Tarrin replied. "She can also circle with the other katzh-dashi. That's something that I can't do. She'll be able to do it. Not that I like it, but like I said, orders are orders."

"With me and Allia, we could build quite a large circle," Keritanima speculated. "Twenty-one humans and the two of us. If Jenna's leading it, she could pack a serious punch with the power she could generate."

"That's probably true," Tarrin agreed. "But you'd better find out if that actually works, Kerri."

"We already have," Allia chimed in. "We experimented with it when we arrived. As long as either I or Keritanima are in the circle, we can build a circle greater than seven." She looked at the Wikuni. "Kerri was right. So long as seven are led by a non-human, we can exceed the normal limits."

"That was a dangerous thing to do," he accused.

"Dangerous or not, it had to be done," Kerri said dismissively. "Since there are only two of us, it wasn't like we could use some patsy to find out."

"Well, that was a nice thought," Tarrin said with a slight frown.

"I guess it's the queen in me," she said with a toothy grin. "You're awfully quiet, Jesmind," she noted.

"I don't have much to say about all this, mouse," she replied smoothly. "This is all things that don't really concern me."

"That's Queen Mouse to you," Keritanima teased.

"That title means about as much to me as the dirt between my pads, mouse," Jesmind told her flatly.

"True, but it makes me feel better," she countered. "Alright, put that away, Tarrin," she said, tapping the book. "Then sit down. It's time for you tell us the whole story. All of it, everything you wouldn't tell me when you were projecting yourself."

"Alright," Tarrin chuckled. "Have your Vendari close and guard the door, and I'll do just that. It may take a while, though. It's a long story."

"Szath, defend the door, if you would," Keritanima called to the Vendari, who was still standing beside the open doorway.

"As you command, your Majesty," he said in a rumbling bass voice, closing the door with a surprisingly light touch, and then moving to stand directly before it, using his back to keep anyone from opening it.

"It's too bad the others aren't here," Tarrin sighed. "I'd rather only go over this once."

"No, you'll have to do it twice. I'm sure there are things you'll want to leave out when you tell it to Phandebrass and Camara Tal. We can fill in Dolanna and Dar."

"True," he admitted. "Well, let's sit down so I can get this overwith."

They sat down, and then Tarrin began. He started just after he left Allia, since Allia would have told Keritanima about everything up to then, and he left nothing out. He went over things as best as he could remember them, from the flight from Dala Yar Arak and the Cat-induced depression he suffered, through the dusty plains of Saranam and the human-shaped ploy Sarraya thought up to get them past the ki'zadun. About the brief excitement at the trading post, and his rescue by Anayi. He went into great detail about the desert, about how it felt and smelled, about how it always made one uneasy, as any place of great danger could. He told them about the dreams, and how they had plagued him during that time. Jesmind held his paw while he reopened that old wound, and he found her touch and her presence comforting. He told them about his first encounter with Var, and the short fight they had had. He told them about the massive kajat that had attacked him, describing the huge beast with all the respect it was due. He told them all about Druidic magic, and how Sarraya had started training him in the ways of that magical order. But when he got to the part where he battled Spyder, Keritanima and Allia both finally interrupted him with questions.

" The Spyder?" Keritanima gasped when Tarrin spoke her name.

"That cannot be!" Allia gasped with Keritanima.

"It was, believe me," he chuckled. "I didn't realize why she was there at first, and it shocked me when she attacked me. She thoroughly kicked my tail all over the desert," he grunted. "I've never been outclassed like that before. It was like a child trying to kill a Giant with a stick."

"Why would she attack you?" Keritanima asked curiously.

"Because she was told to," Tarrin said evenly. "She was there to make me lose control.

" Why?" Allia asked pointedly.

"Because it turns out that that's what had to happen for me to progress any further in my power. It was her that incited me into gaining the powers of a Weavespinner."

"What do you mean?" Miranda asked.

"It's how Sorcerers become Weavespinners," he answered. "You have to completely lose control, and right before you're Consumed, you have to find the Heart. If you can, you lose all your powers for a time, then after you readjust, you gain new ones. If you fail, you die."

"That's quite a penalty," Miranda said with a humorless chuckle.

"So that's why you wouldn't tell me!" Keritanima realized. "You were afraid I'd try it, and then lose my powers right when they're needed for the defense of Suld!"

"Precisely," Tarrin told her. "Besides, it's very dangerous, Kerri. It's not something you should try until you gain total mastery over your powers. When you literally run out of things to learn, then you should try it. But not until then."

"I'm no second-rate Sorcerer, Tarrin," she said with a slight flare.

"I'm not saying you are," he said mildly. "But remember the price of failure, Kerri. That's why it's something you should not try until you feel absolutely certain you can succeed. Because your life literally depends on it."

"I wouldn't call you a master of Sorcery," Keritanima accused.

"By no means," Tarrin agreed. "But I'm different than you, sister. I'm what Spyder called a sui'kun. I was born a Weavespinner, and was always meant to be one. For the others, they're what Spyder called da'shar. You can become a Weavespinner, but it's alot more dangerous for you, and Spyder said that da'shar still can't use High Sorcery without circling."

"Huh," Keritanima sounded, tapping her chin in thought. "What I wouldn't give to pin her down and interrogate her. She's probably forgotten more than we'll ever know."

"We are drifting off the story here, sister," Allia reminded her. "Continue, deshida."

"Alright." He continued, describing the aftermath of the battle, and his curious newfound immunity to heat. He went on to describe meeting Denai, and how she had managed to worm her way into their group, and then told them about how he strove to regain his magical powers even as he strove to conquer the Cat and accept Denai without fearing her. He continued on, telling them about how Var joined them, and how the two of them guided him through the Desert of Swirling Sand's dangers. He told them about how they got sweet on each other, and then he described in great and attentive detail his adventure climbing into the city above the clouds, and what happened up there, including his regaining his powers of Sorcery.

"So that's how you met the Aeradalla," Keritanima chuckled.

"I told you they lived in the desert, sister," Allia told her mildly.

He then went on, telling them about how Ariana flew him well away from Var and Denai, about how he knew Jegojah was coming for another battle. He related the story of that fight in the abandoned dwarven city in some detail, including, with a few sniffles, how they had animated Faalken's dead body and used it to create a second Doomwalker, and how that had caused him to find High Sorcery once again. He told them about how he freed the souls of Faalken and Jegojah, and how Faalken's soul managed to escape into the Realm Beyond and find peace. That caused all four of them that knew the cherubic Knight to shed a few silent tears as they remembered their deceased companion, and how his loss had affected them all so greatly.