That seemed to shake Tomas, and he looked uncertainly at his wife, who only returned a blank look. "If you put it that way, Tarrin, it's very hard to say no," he finally admitted.

"Let's go, Father," Janetted prompted. "It's not going to hurt anything, and we'll be alot safer in there than out here."

Tomas looked torn for a moment, then sighed and nodded. "You're right, of course, my daughter," he agreed. "We will be safer in the Tower, and it will put Tarrin's mind at ease."

"I don't like the idea of leaving the house alone," Janine complained. "Who knows may try to loot it while we're out."

"I'll make sure that people are here to keep that from happening," Tarrin told her. "You're friends of the royal family of the Ungardt clan here, so the clan will form a human wall around the house to keep out thieves, if that's what it takes. Just tell me or my mother what you want, and we'll make it happen."

"Well, that does take a load off my mind," Tomas said with a relieved smile.

The relief went both ways. Tarrin was greatly relieved that his precious human friends would be safe when the fighting started, and that was what was most important to him.

"It's getting late, beloved," Jesmind reminded him. "There's some thunder out there. We should be getting back, or we'll be running home in the rain."

"I guess so," he sighed. "I do have some things to do there."

"Well, at least you can come back and visit," Tomas told him. "Would you like to come back, Jasana?"

"Umm," she nodded, looking at Janette. "I'll bring my doll next time, so you can meet her."

"If there's anything left of it," Jesmind muttered under her breath.

And so they said their goodbyes, promising to visit a little more often, and they were sent off with a bottle of Tellurian wine. It was dark by the time they left, and it was also raining. Tarrin used Sorcery to protect them from the rain, an invisible shield through which the water could not penetrate, and they rushed back towards the Tower between flashes of lightning and claps of thunder.

"So, what did you think?" Tarrin asked of his mate as they sped home.

"I like them," she replied. "Especially Janine. She reminds me of mother."

"She does have that same way about her, doesn't she?" he agreed.

"Did you like Janette, cub?" Tarrin asked.

"Umm. She was really nice."

"Good. Maybe we'll go see them again in a couple of days."

"I'd like that."

"I wonder what happened to Sarraya," Jesmind said.

"Probably back at the Tower, where it's dry," Tarrin growled as he stepped in a deep puddle.

The visit to his little mother and her family did much for his spirits, but it also didn't stop him from getting back to work. That night, Spyder didn't call him out, so he spent the time with Jasana. He gave up trying to teach her how to touch the Weave the way normal Sorcerers did, because she had proved utterly incapable of it. She had touched High Sorcery, and just like it had done to him, it always rushed to her. It made trying to teach her standard Sorcery a complete waste of time. Since he couldn't do that, he started teaching her how to access High Sorcery. He was painstakingly detailed about it, going over it again and again, and never failing to emphasize how hard it was to control, and how dangerous it could be. He made her repeat back what he told her, almost word for word, until she had the entire process memorized. At that point, there was nothing more he could teach her by word. She had to start learning by deed now, and that terrified him. He remembered what it was like for him, how many times he had nearly killed himself with his power. But Jasana was stronger than him, and the two times he'd seen her use her power or heard her talk about using her power, she had demonstrated an ability to control it that he had lacked. Where he was at the mercy of the power unless he was enraged, Jasana seemed to have some modicum of control. He was afraid to take that next step, but he knew that it had to be done. Jasana had to touch the Weave, had to touch High Sorcery, and he had to let her do it.

After the rain stopped, he decided that the best place to do it was the courtyard. With the Goddess right there to give him a hand in case things got out of control. He was confident he could manage Jasana's power in case it got away from her, but with her being so strong, he still didn't want to take any unnecessary risks. He took her out there quietly, without attracting attention, and then sat her down on the bench and explained why they were there, and what she needed to do.

"Remember, cub, as soon as you feel it, you have to push it away," he said again. "But not completely. You need to push just as hard as it pushes at you, until it can't move towards you anymore. If you can do that, you can hold it long enough to use magic. But you can't hold it long," he warned. "High Sorcery gets harder and harder to control the longer you hold onto it, so the trick is to touch the magic, do what you have to do, and then let go before it gets more than you can handle. Do you understand?"

"Yes, papa," she said with a nod of her head. "Can I try now?"

He wished it had been so fun for him. He pushed that thought aside and cleared his mind, then put a few feelers out on the Weave, ready to draw High Sorcery in an instant if it was needed. The Weave shivered a bit when he laid his awareness upon it, and Jasana seemed to sense that subtle alteration in the magic. "Did you just do something, papa?"

"Yes, but don't worry about it," he told her. "Alright, cub. Give it a try, and remember, if you succeed, don't try to do anything with it. Just let it go. Alright?"

"Alright," she said, her expression becoming serene and her eyes closing. He could feel her power rise up within her, build upon itself, and then it pushed out from her in a sudden wave. As soon as that wave struck the Weave, the strands responded instantly, sending their flows out and into her. Jasana's paws suddenly limned over with the ghostly radiance of Magelight, and Tarrin felt the power try to flood into her.

He was about to intervene, but he felt the strangest thing. Jasana pushed back against that torrent, and where he had always failed to stop it, she succeeded. He was so stunned that he forgot to tell her what to do next. She could control High Sorcery! Maybe not control it enough to weave powerful spells, but she could touch High Sorcery and hold it without it getting away from her!

"Am I doing it right, papa? Is this right? Papa?" she asked in sudden concern.

Tarrin blinked, staring down at his little daughter. "I-yes, Jasana, that's perfect! I'm very proud of you! Now let it go, like I showed you. Remember not to try to cut it off too fast, or you're going to suffer a backlash. Those hurt, if you didn't know."

"Alright," she said, closing her eyes again. He felt her constrict the pathways into her, felt her choke off the power flooding her, but she was closing them too fast. Tarin first thought to intervene, for she was about to generate a backlash, but he decided against it at the last moment. It would be better for her to find out what happened when you messed up. The pain would be a good learning experience. The flows rushing into her shuddered, and then they suddenly evaporated. Jasana made a squeaking sound as a sudden rush of air blew away from her, enough to make her shirt billow, and her fur suddenly stood on end as the power built up inside her suddenly drained away, forming its own link back to the Weave to do so. She had been too rough with it, and broke the connections before she had fully closed them. She had suffered a mild backlash.

"Ouch!" she gasped, jumping off the bench and rubbing her bottom, as if she'd been spanked. "Ow ow ow ow ow ow! That hurt!"

"You did it too fast, cub," he told her. "Now that you've had a taste of what can happen when you do it wrong, maybe you'll pay more attention to what you're doing."