" Excuse me!" Sarraya shouted.

"Did you hear something, beloved?" Jesmind asked with a slight smile.

"I think so, but I don't know if it was worth noticing," Tarrin replied blandly.

"Alright, that's it! I'm leaving!" Sarraya shouted, flitting into the air and then vanishing from view as she flew away, cursing vociferously and making all kinds of remarks about Were-cats.

"How long do you figure?" Jesmind asked quickly.

"I'd give her five minutes," Tarrin chuckled. "Maybe ten. Sarraya's a bit more touchy than the average Faerie."

"What was that about, mama?" Jasana asked.

"Something you'll learn when you're older, cub," she replied. "The quickest way to keep a Faerie from causing trouble is to offend it. That way it's so busy being mad it forgets to pull pranks and steal things from passers-by."

"You made her mad on purpose?" Jasana asked in surprise.

"Of course, cub. Faeries are flightly little annoyances. Were-cats sometimes don't get along with Faeries, so we've learned how to keep them from making us mad. That's how we do it."

"We keep from getting mad by getting them mad first?" she asked uncertainly.

"That's pretty much well right, cub," Jesmind chuckled. "You'll understand it better when you're a little older, I promise."

"Oh. Alright."

Obviously, they made Sarraya a little more angry than they thought, because she didn't come back. He fretted over that for only a few moments, however. Sarraya was rather flightly, and by tomorrow, she'd probably have forgotten about it. Tarrin remembered the way to Tomas and Janine's house, and it was exactly as he remembered it. The fence, the house, the garden, everything, it was just as it was when he was there last. There was a new addition, however, and that was a pair of armed guards standing at either side of the door. To his surprise, they were Ungardt, two rather large Ungardt in their fur vests and leather breeches and horned helmets, each holding a spear and a shield. Both had their hair in the pattern Ungardt braids, one with red hair and the other with blond hair. Both, he had to admit, were rather handsome men, though they were curiously clean-shaven. That was unusual in Ungardt their age. Most young Ungardt warriors favored the beard. Tarrin approached them with Jesmind holding Jasana, a bit wary of two armed men within striking distance of her daughter, and the two Ungardt seemed to sense the unease of his mate, picking their spears up from where their butts were resting on the ground.

"Hold and stand down," Tarrin said in Ungardt, holding out his paws. "I come with no malice this day."

"You know the words and the phrases, and you have the sound of a countryman, but you look like no Ungardt I've ever seen," the redheaded man said dubiously.

"It's a long story, but my mother is of the blood," he said smoothly. "Why did Tomas hire you to guard his house? No one would want to hurt him!"

"We were sent by Anrak," the blond said.

"Anrak Whiteaxe?" Tarrin said in surprise.

"The very one," the redhead said, in equal surprise. "You know the name?"

Tarrin laughed. "He's my grandfather!" he announced.

"You are Tarrin? Daughter of Elke Whiteaxe?" the blond asked quickly. Then he too laughed. "Anrak said you'd been changed, but I thought it was a wine dream!"

"You are a clansman!" the redhead announced with a sudden bow. "I am Garstad, and this weak woman here is Thale. King Anrak has told many a story of you, Prince Tarrin."

Tarrin hadn't heard that one before, but he remembered that technically, he was a prince. Anrak, his grandfather, was a clan king, and his mother was a princess. An irregularity in translation made Sulasians think of Ungardt clan leaders as chiefs rather than kings. That was why a Sulasian would call an Ungardt leader a clan chief.

"I'll show you who the woman is here, Garstad," Thale said in a good-natured manner, striking the redheaded man with the shaft of his spear.

"Why did grandfather send you here to guard Tomas?" Tarrin asked curiously.

"You'll have to ask the king, my prince," Garstad said apologetically. "He didn't explain why. He just told us to do it."

"Of course. I'll ask him when I see him," Tarrin said. "May I pass?"

"Of course, my prince," Thale said with a bow. "We'd never bar your way. Please, go right ahead."

"Thank you," he said politely, stepping between them and looking back at Jesmind. "It's alright, Jesmind. They're from my mother's clan. They're friends."

" Yez-meen?" Thale said in heavily accented Sulasian, thoroughly destroying the pronunciation of his mate's name. "Ya is Ya-saw-na?" he asked, pointing at their daughter.

"What's he saying?" Jesmind asked quickly.

"Ya, ya is Ya-sahn-nah," Garstad said, then they both bowed to Jesmind and Jasana, which put a confused look all over his mate's face. At least Garstad got a little closer to pronouncing Jasana's name properly.

"Tarrin?" Jesmind asked in confusion.

"They're just showing respect for the mate and daughter of the grandson of their king, Jesmind," he told her with a sly smile. "My grandfather is their clan chief. I guess he told them about you two."

"Oh. Oh, alright," she said, relaxing visibly. "I had no idea what they were about. They don't speak Sulasian, do they?"

"I don't think so. Most Ungardt have alot of trouble with it," he said absently.

"With all those yergs and yuns, I'm not surprised," Jesmind snorted, coming up to them calmly.

Thale boldly reached out and took Jasana's little paw in his large hand and shook it lightly, smiling down at her from her position in Jesmind's arms. " Ya-saw-nah," he greeted her. " Suji Ya-saw-nah."

"Don't break his fingers, cub," Jesmind warned immediately. "It's not nice to hurt the humans when they're being friendly."

"I won't hurt him, mama, I promise," Jasana said, smiling shyly up at the Ungardt as he patted her paw. "He's nice, isn't he?"

"The children of the Family are everyone's children," Tarrin explained as he knocked on the door. "Think of Thale here as an uncle, cub. All my Ungardt relatives are your relatives too."

"Family? What does that mean?" Jesmind asked.

"Ungardt custom," he replied with his back to her. "The family of the clan king is the family of the entire clan. That's why we're just called the Family. Jasana is the niece of every clansman and clanswoman. You're the daughter of all of them, just like I'm their son. Mother is their sister, and my grandfather is their father. It's symbolic, of course, but when it comes to a small child, the clan tends to take it seriously."

"I never knew that about Ungardt," Jesmind admitted.

"Few outside the Ungardt do," he shrugged as the door opened. It was the maid, the same maid he remembered from his time with them. He wasn't sure what her real name was, but everyone called her Nanna. She was a portly, middle-aged woman in a maid's dress, with a gray bun held with a pair of pins behind her head. She looked at Tarrin's chest, but then looked up at his face and blanched. "Master Tarrin!" she gasped. "You're here! What happened to you!"

"Hello, Nanna," he said gently, warm memories of the woman flaring in his mind as her scent touched him. "You're looking well."

"And you're looking tall!" she said in a wondrous voice. "Did you drink some of Deris' miracle fertilizer?"

Tarrin laughed. "Nothing like that, but I'll tell you the story later. Are Tomas and Janine and Janette home?"

"Of course they are, what, with all the soldiers around and all," she said immediately. "Please, come in, come in! Oh, and who is your lady friend?"

"This is my mate, Jesmind, and my daughter Jasana," he introduced as Nanna moved back, to give them room to come in. Tarrin ducked under the door and led his family into the foyer. "Jesmind, Jasana, this is Nanna, the housekeeper. She's a very special friend," he smiled, remembering how she had turned down the opportunity for reward, had known that the Tower was looking for him, but had decided not to turn him in.