"They may need some help."

"They have it," Ianelle noted. "There's another Were-cat with Triana now, a very short one with short black hair. She looks more than capable of handling Jesmind. She's quite intimidating."

"That would be Mist," Jenna chuckled humorlessly. "You're right about that. Jesmind couldn't possibly get past Mist."

Tarrin remembered the stories he'd heard of her. Mist was the mother of his son, and she was one mean, ornery Were-cat. Triana had left the Tower to bring her here, he was sure of it. Had she brought his son as well? Why had Triana done that? It worried him, unsettled him, that Triana would bring yet another Were-cat to the Tower, and one that had such a big stake in things as she did. He had no doubt that Mist was going to be just like Jesmind and Kimmie, and would do anything she could in order to make him change back.

"Anyway, as you requested, here she is," Ianelle said, pushing Auli forward. "Explain yourself, daughter. Have you any idea how much trouble you've caused?"

"I didn't cause any of this," she said indignantly. "What me and Tarrin do is none of her business. I made sure that Tarrin wasn't attached to anyone first."

"But you completely ignored it when he warned you this may happen."

"I can handle that fleabag."

"That fleabag will tear you apart if she gets her claws in you," Ianelle snapped. "And your magic won't be enough to stop her. She's a Were-cat, foolish girl. She has her own magic, and had she caught you, you would have found out that your Sorcery would not have saved you."

Auli glared a little at her mother, but said nothing.

Ianelle pushed Auli into the chair beside his, and even after all this, he found himself thinking about the night they'd shared. The trap she had woven was still working on him. "What possessed you to push things this far, girl?" Ienalle demanded. "I've been told what happened. That you've been following him around, trying to seduce him for several days now. Explain yourself!"

"He said no to me," she said in a challenging manner, as if that explained everything.

Ianelle looked about ready to explode. "That's it?" she said incredulously. "All this was over your ego? How shallow and self-centered can you be, daughter?" she raged. "Have I taught you nothing about our proud traditions and your heritage?"

"Those are your traditions and your heritage!" Auli shouted, standing up and facing her mother. "I didn't want to come here! I wanted to stay in Sha'Kari and live the life I had! But no, you and the other Elders had to drag us back to this doghouse of a Tower and impose the most ridiculous restrictions on us! I was happy there, and I mean to be happy here! And if being happy means seducing a man I find very handsome and attractive, then that's exactly what I'm going to do!" Auli snorted almost like Triana, then sat back down.

Ianelle didn't seem to be quite as easy with the confession. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and she actually balled her fist. Sha'Kar were pacifists, but sometimes Tarrin thought that Ianelle was pacifistic only because of her adherance to tradition. At that moment, she looked about ready to slap her daughter across the face, and the slight twitch in the corner of Auli's lip told him that Auli wouldn't be surprised to have it happen either. "I think I need to have a little talk with Auli," Jenna said in a commanding tone, heading off any such outburst.

"I will deal with you later," she promised in a harsh tone. "Will you need anything further of me, honored one?"

"No, Ianelle. Give me a little time with Auli."

"As you wish," she said with a curtsy, then she swept regally from the room.

Auli sat silently, and Tarrin felt a little uncomfortable as Jenna leaned forward on her elbows on her desk, fingers interlaced, looking at the two of them like some kind of instructor catching students passing notes. "So," she finally said. "This was nothing more than seeing if you could." Auli was silent, simply sitting there and giving the Keeper a slightly challenging look. "And you did. I guess for that, you can feel proud. But I don't think you ever once stopped to think what success may mean, did you?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's very simple, Auli. What do you think is going to happen now?"

Auli was silent a moment, then she put her hands in her lap demurely. "Nothing much," she answered. "Jesmind is going to calm down, and then things will get back to normal."

"For you, I guess they might," she agreed. "Oh, you're going to have a big fight with your mother, but I get the feeling that that happens all the time." Auli smiled a little at that. "But you never thought about what's going to happen to Tarrin, did you?"

Her amused look faded.

"I didn't think so. You just put him in all sorts of trouble."

"She's not his girlfriend," she said defensively.

"No, but she thinks she is," she pointed out. "And that's all that really matters for her, isn't it? Just like getting Tarrin was all that mattered to you."

Auli was silent, and she didn't look quite as confident as she did before.

"All this over the fact that you couldn't accept the fact that Tarrin said no," she sighed. "Now then, I want you to listen to this. Now Tarrin is going to have all the Were-cats angry with him, and that's going to make it very hard for him to see his daughter. He spends alot of time with her, and he loves her very much, and now he's not going to be able to do that as much as he'd like. Your need to satisfy your ego is going to force him to stay away from her for a while. It's going to make him very upset, and it's going to make his daughter even more upset. After all, she doesn't really understand what's going on. Now we have to tell her that her father can't come up and be with her because her mother is mad at him."

Auli glanced at Tarrin and flushed guiltily. Jenna's remarks must have finally struck bone.

"Tarrin tried to stay away from you, as I'm sure you know," she continued. "Did you ever once stop to think why?"

Auli glanced at him again, then looked at her hands and shook her head.

"He's very attracted to you, you know. I'm sure he's not completely unhappy you got him." Tarrin blushed slightly. "It wasn't because he didn't like you or he didn't want you. It's because he was trying to protect you. He knew what Jesmind would do, and he didn't want to put you in harm's way. We all knew that, of course, and almost everyone that knows him offered to discourage you from chasing him. But he told us not to. Do you know why?"

She shook her head, her long blond hair slipping over her face.

"Because he really likes you, Auli," she said in a level tone. "He didn't want anyone doing anything to make you angry, because he still wanted to be your friend. I don't think you have any idea how much he likes you, and how much easier you were making it for him to deal with his amnesia before you started trying to seduce him. He thinks of you as a friend, and he didn't want to lose you over something as silly as your trying to seduce him. You put him in a terrible position, because Tarrin is very loyal to those he considers a friend. He couldn't sleep with you because of Jesmind, but he didn't want to lose your friendship either. Even now I guarantee you he's worried about you, because Jesmind will come after you, Auli. Never forget that, and I suggest you keep one eye over your shoulder until Jesmind leaves the Tower. He's trapped again, because he's Jesmind's friend, and he's your friend, and now two of his friends are going to be fighting with each other. Do you like Tarrin, Auli?"

She was silent.

"Well? Do you?"

"Yes," she said sullenly, in a very small voice.

"Do you consider him a friend?"

"Yes," she answered, much more quickly.

"Then tell me, how could you do this to a friend? How could you disrupt his life and cause so much trouble for him if he's your friend? Aren't friends supposed to look out for each other? Aren't they supposed to help each other? Is he really your friend, or is he just someone you happen to like, who you'll use when it suits you?"