They saw him and Auli and immediately changed course to come over. Sapphire flapped her wings a few times on his shoulder and reset herself, as if to vault off his shoulder and intercede, but they weren't running and they didn't look belligerent. Tarrin was a bit tense, and Auli looked decidedly nervous as the two intimidating figures approached them at a leisurely pace.

"I didn't think you'd be out here," Mist told him. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you," he said politely, unable to keep his eyes off the Were-cat boy long. "Is that-"

"Yes, that's your son, Tarrin," she said with a smile. "Eron!" she barked.

The boy gave off chasing Jasana immediately, but the girl passed him by when she saw her father. Sapphire evacuated his shoulder to the safety of the back of the bench as the two Were-cat children approached, as if knowing that she was about to get spilled when he bent over to pick them up. They both raced over to him, and Jasana jumped up into his lap and hugged him exuberantly. "Father, you're here!" she exclaimed happily, just as Eron reached Mist. He stopped short and hid behind her leg, looking up at Tarrin in surprise, and then gaping at Auli.

"Go ahead, Eron," she said, pushing him out from behind her with her large hands. "Go say hello."

The boy sidled up to him warily, then put his little hands on Tarrin's leg and looked up at him. "Are you my papa?" he asked in a slightly indistinct voice, as if not entirely sure of the pronunciation of the words he was using.

"Of course this is papa, lunkhead," Jasana said snippishly.

"Be nice!" Jula snapped in reprimand.

"Papa!" Eron said, then he climbed up Tarrin's leg using his claws. It was not a pleasant experience. Tarrin reached down and picked him up and held him as Jasana sat in his lap, looking into the child's intensely green eyes. So this was his son. He looked so much like him! He wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel, holding onto his son that way, but he did know that the first bonds of love were forming for him. Though he didn't know him at all, though he'd never seen him before, it really didn't matter. All that really mattered was that this was his son, named after his grandfather. Eron was his child, and he was beautiful.

"Hello Eron," Tarrin said calmly, holding onto him.

"Mama said you were sick. Is this what happens when we get sick?"

"It's a very rare illness," Tarrin said with a smile. "I don't think you'll ever get it."

"Nuts. I think you look neat like that."

Tarrin looked at Mist, who only laughed. He was surprised that he could form such complete sentences, and he was supposedly only a little over a year old. He guessed the Were-cats really did grow up fast, both in body and mind.

"What's it like to not have fur?"

"Just touch your tummy and you'll know," Tarrin winked. That wink turned into a wince when Eron's claws dug into his hip. "Not so hard, Eron," he chided gently. "I'm not as strong as your mother."

"Careful, cub," Mist warned. "Remember what I told you. Your father's sick, so you can't treat him the way you do me. You have to be gentle."

"Alright, Mama," he answered with a nod. "Who's this? Is the the mean lady Aunt Jesmind wants to kill?"

"I'm not a mean lady!" Auli said indignantly.

"She's a friend of mine, and your Aunt Jesmind has the wrong idea about her," Tarrin said mildly.

"Mama said you're trying to steal Papa," Jasana accused.

"What would I do with him, child?" Auli said with an outrageous grin. "I don't want to marry him, so what would I do with him except keep him as a pet? He's too big, I think he'd tear up the furniture, and I'm not entirely sure he's housebroken. He's really not worth stealing, if you ask me. Too much trouble, he doesn't know any tricks, and he eats too much. If I want to steal something, I'll steal a dog or a cat."

Jasana looked at her, and then a helpless giggle escaped her. Jesmind may hate Auli, but Tarrin saw that Jasana's opinions of her weren't quite so set in stone.

Tarrin put them both down after that, when Eron started to fidget too much, and he watched them play in silence for a long moment. He could see almost immediately that Eron was very much different from Jasana. Jasana was a sedate child, happy to sit and read books or play with her toys, where Eron absolutely could not stop moving. He had to run everywhere he went, and he had alot of trouble sitting still for very long. He understood just how hard it was for him when he came back over and climbed into Tarrin's lap as Jasana chased one of the many butterflies in the gardens, chattering on and on and on at such a high rate of speed that Tarrin could barely understand him. He talked about his cabin and the trip to Suld and seeing Triana and being with Jasana again and how big his bed was here in the Tower and how big and scary the Knights looked and how everyone was so nice to him despite what his mother said about humans and how good the food was. Tarrin could barely put in a word edgewise, and eventually just gave up and let him ramble on until he ran out of patience with sitting down, then set him down and let him go chase Jasana again.

"He's talkative," Auli noted.

"He can't sit still a minute," Mist sighed. "It's a phase or something. He's been driving me crazy for almost a month now with it."

"I'm surprised he can talk so well," Tarrin told her.

"He's about where he should be," she answered.

Tarrin looked at Jula, and realized that she was being unusually quiet. She hadn't even said a word yet. He looked to her and then to Mist, and realized that Jula was almost terrified of the short, stocky Were-cat. She was doing a good job hiding it, but Jula tensed up every time Mist so much as moved. "How are you, Jula?" he asked casually.

"I'm fine," she said in a slightly strained voice. "I'm just watching Jasana for a while, that's all."

"Have you two known each other long?"

"Just a couple of days," Mist said, glancing at the blond Were-cat. "I haven't made up my mind about her yet."

Tarrin was pretty sure that there were any number of subtle levels present in that one statement. It certainly put Jula in a submissive mood, he could tell. She wasn't about to challenge Mist over anything. Then again, they said that Mist was the one that caught Jesmind. She had to be a pretty formidable Were-cat to be able to do that. She wasn't as big as any other Were-cat he'd seen, but Tarrin knew personally that size wasn't everything.

"I have to get back to my classes, Tarrin," Auli announced. "I'll see you tonight?"

"After dinner," he affirmed.

"Don't forget Dar," she reminded.

"I won't."

She smiled at him, patted him on the shoulder, then got up and gave the two Were-cats a sidelong glance. Then she saunted back towards the main Tower.

"What are you two going to do?" Mist asked.

"Three," Tarrin corrected. "Me and Dar and Auli are going to go out walking for a while. That's usually a precursor to her getting us in trouble," he chuckled ruefully. "Of course, we think it's great fun while we're doing it, at least until we get caught. Auli's a very wild-natured girl."

"So I've heard," Mist said flintily.

"Don't let Jesmind poison you, Mist," Tarrin said. "If you knew Auli at all, you'd understand why she did what she did. It's not out of her nature. But now she understands how much trouble she got me into, and that's one thing she really regrets. We're not going to fool around again, but we're also not going to stop being friends."

"I don't think you tried very hard to get away," she noted.

"I did try, but after she cornered me, I gave up," he admitted. "And by then I didn't want to try anymore. I'm not dead, Mist. Just look at her. Auli is beautiful."

Mist actually laughed. "She is that," she agreed. "Not much else, but she is beautiful."