They arrived about two hours later, opening the door to his room without knocking as he paced nervously. Elke Kael rushed in with a cry and buried her son in a fierce hug, barely giving him time to turn around. Tarrin struggled to breathe as his father and sister crowded in on him. Elke then pushed him out at arm's length and gave him a dark scowl. "Don't ever do that again!" she shouted at him, then hugged him again.

Tarrin felt relief beyond measure. That one line told him that she wasn't holding a grudge. "I was afraid you'd be mad at me," he said, returning her embrace.

"I am mad, but not for that reason," she huffed. "I'm mad at you for staying away so long."

"I needed time," he told her as he took his father's hand, then hugged Jenna warmly.

"You don't look that bad," his father noted with a smile. "Just a bit worried."

"You wait two hours and see how good you feel," he replied.

"And how do you feel?" Eron asked.

"I'll never be the same," he said with sober eyes. "Never. But I guess it was something that had to happen."

Tarrin sat on the bed with Jenna in his lap. Elke sat beside him, and Eron sat in the chair by the desk. "Where were you all that time?" Jenna asked. "We looked and looked for you. The Sorcerers even used magic to try to find you, but they couldn't."

"I, don't have much memory of it," he said haltingly. "I lost so much time. In my other shape, time doesn't mean the same thing as it does when I'm like this."

"But where did you go?" she pressed.

"I was picked up by a little girl," he told her. "She adopted me as a pet."

Jenna giggled. "That must have been funny. I don't think you'd make a very good pet."

"On the contrary," Eron said with keen eyes. "I think I understand what he was saying. He probably had her very nicely fooled."

Tarrin nodded. "I couldn't even remember how to change shape," he told him. "I'd all but given up, and when I did that, I let the Cat take control of me. You see, the Cat doesn't have much use for human memories, so it simply buried them. And the Cat doesn't register the passage of time. There's no past, no future, for a cat. There's only now. And without memory of the past, or knowledge of the future, the now would be everything. And in that now, there was only the Cat. If she hadn't found me when she did, I'd probably still be wandering around as a cat, with no memory of who or what I was." He bowed his head for a moment. "By now, I'd be a cat."

"Two days would make that much difference?" Elke asked.

"It wasn't the time," he told his mother. "It was her. It was like being a child all over again, mother. She cared for me. She honestly did her best to spoil me," he chuckled. "Since I was more or less being coddled, and she wouldn't let me get depressed, I had time to think about everything. Well, what was left of me had time to think. She was so good to me that it made the Cat totally content, and the combination let me find some measure of peace inside myself. I had no worries, no cares. It was like a vacation from myself."

"I think I can understand that," Eron said. "And after finding some peace, you started getting your human awareness back."

Tarrin nodded. "It didn't happen very fast, but it did happen," he said. "I still don't entirely trust myself, but the time was good for me. I understand my instincts much better now that I've lived with them controlling me for two months. I think that I'll never be able to totally control them," he sighed, "because Jesmind seems to have the same problem, and she was born with them. But there's hope."

Elke smiled and patted his shoulder. "I'm just glad to see you well, Tarrin," she said to him with a warm look in her eyes.

"I'm glad I wasn't disowned," he chuckled, patting her hand warmly.

"Never that, son," Eron told him. "Never that."

"Have you had any trouble, from Jesmind?" he asked.

"No, we haven't seen her," he replied.

"Does she know where you live?"

"I doubt it," Elke told him. "The only one who knows where we live are the Sorcerers, and I doubt they told her."

"She's sneaky, mother," he said. "She can follow you easily."

"She'd have no reason to with you out in the city," Eron pointed out. "Remember, you were the reason she was here. Without you, her need to be here disappeared. Where is she now?"

"I have no idea, but she's probably pretty close," he said. "She knows I'm here. She's the one that found me, sort of."

"Sort of?"

"I was trying to get back into the Tower without being seen," he replied. "She caught me just outside the fence."

"Is she still after you?"

Tarrin nodded. "I doubt I ever will get rid of her," he said. "But that's a problem for another day." He settled Jenna a bit on his lap. Despite the fact that she was nearly fourteen, she fit onto his lap like a young child. "Tell me what's been going on."

And so Tarrin was caught up with the goings on of the Kael family. Jenna had been learning Sorcery from the Tower, as a Sorcerer came out each day to their house to give her instruction. She found it to be incredibly fascinating, and he had the feeling that Jenna had found her calling in life. His father had started making arrows and bows again, doing his work out of his new house in the city and having suitable materials brought in from the forests. He made quite a bit of money. He was already looking to set up his brewing equipment again, and having supplies brought in from Aldreth so he could start brewing ale. His mother had found something close to happiness at Suld, with a new home that was much larger, new friends, and a blossoming business baking pies and pastries and selling them to an inn down the street from her house. Tarrin's grandfather, Anrak Whiteaxe, had visited twice while he was gone. Elke had chanced to see her father's ship in harbor, and managed to track him down. Then he had visited again only last ten-day. He was very happy about his little girl living in a port city, especially one that he visited so often. They also told him about their visits to the Tower, trying to get information, and about their taking in of Allia. Allia wasn't just Tarrin's friend anymore, she was an adoptive daughter to the family. All of them adored the dark-skinned Selani, and she seemed to genuinely be fond of her deshida's kin. Jenna, who shared Tarrin's knack at learning new languages, had been learning Selani from Allia. And surprisingly, Elke told him that Allia had been picking up some Ungaardt from her.

Tarrin laughed as Eron described Anrak's reaction when he met Allia. Anrak had been a bit intimidated by the Selani. "I'm not surprised," he said. "Allia has that effect on people."

"Whatever happened to that young man you were rooming with?" Elke asked.

"Dar? He's still in the Novitiate," he replied. "He has only a couple of classes left, then he moves to the Initiate." Tarrin had been glancing at Jenna, and saw her flush slightly. By analyzing her scent, he noticed that the mention of his voice had unsettled her somewhat. Then he chuckled. Her first object of affection. "I'll be glad to have him close again. We're good friends, and I don't think I've met a braver man. After all that happened around me, he stubbornly stayed on as my roommate. Even when he was given the chance to move."

"I'd say that's commendable," Eron said with a slight smile. "We need to meet him."

"We will," Elke said. "Now that Tarrin's back, we can visit."

"Actually, I think they'll make those few and far between," Tarrin said. "I don't think they let the Novices and Initiates spend too much time with their families."

"Probably not," Eron said. "That distracts the student."

"Official visits, anyway," Tarrin grinned. "I can just about come and go as I please, whether they want me to or not. Tell me where the house is."