"Why is it taking so long?" she demanded.

"Jesmind, a god couldn't undo what was done to Tarrin," Kimmie said pointedly. "Does that give you an idea of how difficult this is going to be?"

"Are you serious?"

"Would I lie about something like that?" Kimmie countered.

"I guess not," she snorted. "It's just-you know."

"You can't stand seeing him like that," Kimmie said. "I know, Triana said the same thing. I can't wait to get him back to normal either, but I have to admit," she said, giving him a smile and a wink. "I think he's kind of cute as a human."

"Of course he's cute, but I can't touch him like that," Jesmind said shortly.

Tarrin blushed.

Jesmind looked at him and laughed. "I haven't seen you do that since we first met," she told him. "Since we met in the forest, after that Wyvern sank the riverboat you were on."

"Dolanna told me about that, but she didn't know what happened after we got separated," Tarrin said. "She said that I never really told anyone much more than I'd met you in the woods."

"Oh, she knew what happened," Jesmind said with a sly grin. "She just didn't want to tell you."

"What happened?" he asked.

"Well, I taught you how to shapeshift," she said, ticking off her fingers as she spoke. "Then we had our first fight. Then I seduced you the first time, then you pulled that stunt that separated us on either side of an impassable gorge. That's the short version of what happened after the Wyvern sank the ship."

"I, don't remember any of it," Tarrin said after a moment of trying to recall.

"Don't worry at it, my mate," Jesmind told him calmly. "It'll come back to you. You just have to be patient."

"I think I'm more patient than you, Jesmind," Tarrin told her.

"Probably, because I'm not particularly known to be a patient woman," she agreed. "But we just have to have faith. Besides, I think that Wizard knows that if he doesn't find a way to restore your memory, he'll have about ten angry Were-cats hunting him down. I don't think he wants to take that risk."

Kimmie laughed. "I don't think that's occurred to him quite yet," she said. "If it does, he may decide that running away is the better idea."

The apartment door opened, and Dar stepped inside. "Mistress Jesmind, I'm going to take Tarrin to go get something to eat," he announced. "Do you want to come with us?"

"No, that's alright, Dar," she told him. "I'm not really hungry right now."

"Kimmie?"

"I'm fine, Dar," she said with a smile. "Thanks for asking. You and Tarrin go ahead."

Tarrin wasn't particularly hungry either, but Dar looked like he had some other reason to come to get him, so he stood up. "I'll be back later," he promised, then he hurried over to Dar and let the Arkisian lead him out the door.

"Did I get here in time?" he asked in a hushed voice as they walked down the hall.

"Time for what?" he asked.

"To save you from them," he said with a grin.

Tarrin laughed. "Actually, we were having a good time," he answered. "But I can go see them again later. What did you want to do?"

"Eat," he said simply. "Then afterward, maybe we can go do something. Did Jenna show you around?"

He nodded. "Most of the common places. Kitchens, dining rooms, library, gardens, and some places on the grounds."

"Well, we could always take a shot at the baths," he grinned.

"What, you want to see me naked?" Tarrin teased.

"I already have. I'm more curious to see how you handle seeing girls naked," he countered with a wicked smile.

"You're evil, Dar."

"I had a good teacher," he said, slapping Tarrin lightly on the arm. "Seriously, though, you do need a bath. You smell like moldy fur."

"Then Jasana needs a bath," he noted, sniffing at his arm. "She was sitting in my lap most of the afternoon."

"How did that go?"

"Pretty well," he answered. "I like her. She's pretty smart, and she's completely lovable. I think she's got me pretty firmly in hand," he said ruefully. "It's a hard feeling to describe, Dar. She's my daughter. I mean, that alone is enough for me to love her. I look at her, and I don't see the fact that she's a Were-cat. I just see my daughter, and I find that I love her."

"I should hope so," Dar told him with a smile. "I thought she was going to try to bite you or something."

"Everyone thinks she will," Tarrin mused.

"Jasana's got a reputation, Tarrin. Did you know that she first used High Sorcery in an attempt to keep you from leaving her behind in Aldreth? She heard you say that if she used magic, you couldn't leave her. So that's exactly what she did."

"Nobody told me that," he said in surprise.

"Jasana's a very dangerous little girl, Tarrin," Dar told him seriously. "She loves you, but don't drop your guard around her. If she decides she wants to turn you, she will. Be very careful."

"She can't," he told her. "Remember what Triana made her promise? There's no way she's going to get around that. Triana took away every possible way she could do it."

"You talk like she'll keep that promise."

"She will," Tarrin said seriously. "Trust me, Dar. She'll break her own arm before she goes back on that promise, more because she knows how much trouble she'll get into more than the fact that she honors her word. Even Jasana has to know that the trouble wouldn't be worth it, no matter how bad may want me to be a Were-cat again."

"I hope so, but I still say you keep an eye on her, Tarrin," Dar said soberly. "She's the most dangerous thing in this Tower, of that there is no argument at all."

"I'll be careful," he assured him. "Now I'm getting hungry. Let's go raid the kitchen."

With a kitchen like the one in the Tower, raiding it was a rather easy task. The cooks were very quick to offer up any food they wanted, as the katzh-dashi kept no regular schedules and came down to the kitchens whenever they were hungry. Tarrin enjoyed some roasted goose, a few slabs of roasted pork, and some spiced potatos and a thick meat and vegetable stew. Dar took a huge bowl of stew as well, but took some of the strange grain dish that they called rice, something not very common in the West. He filled a bowl with it halfway, then poured his stew over the rice. Tarrin tried it after he saw Dar do it, and he had to admit that the rice did make the stew taste better. They washed it down with some hot spiced wine, something of a specialty of one of the cooks in the kitchens, and after that rather large goblet of wine, Tarrin was feeling a little more adventurous, a little more daring.

"Alright," he said, rolling up his sleeves like a housewife about to tackle the dishes, "let's get this bath out of the way."

Dar looked at him, then nearly fell out of his chair laughing.

The wine did help. Dar led him down into the cellars, and showed him the baths with a grand sweep of his hand. It was a massive pool, about a hundred spans long at least and fifty spans wide, with one end of the pool steaming. The air was hot and muggy, from the hot water, and it smelled slightly like sulfur. Dar told him that the baths were fed by a hot spring, which was why the water was hot and it smelled like that. It was just after sunset, but the late hour didn't make the baths any less popular. About thirty people were currently using them, as Novices in white shirts or dresses scurried around with towels in their arms, staring at the two Sha'Kar who were drying their hair without wrapping towels around themselves. Tarrin already had an understanding of the Sha'Kar, and knew that that was in their character. Sha'Kar weren't too modest.

Tarrin would have felt alot more self-conscious if he hadn't drank the wine. But he did feel a little trepidation as Dar got towels for both of them and led him to one of the many stone benches that surrounded the pool, many of which had robes or clothes folded neatly atop them, slippers or leather shoes tucked under them. Dar grinned at him as he undid the belt of his robe, but Tarrin didn't give him any satisfaction. The wine had bolstered his nerve, and he boldly removed his clothes, even paused to fold them up neatly and set them on the bench, then he stood there without putting the towel around himself and waited for Dar to finish undressing.