"So is eavesdropping," Tarrin replied.

"I wasn't eavesdropping," she sniffed. "I was trying to figure out how in blazes you got through there. And I certainly didn't want to get yanked through like a-my, what a lovely statue," she said, her tone going from annoyed to sincerely impressed in a heartbeat.

"Allia, I'd like you to meet Keritanima," he said to his Selani friend. "The real one."

"The Brat Princess is real enough," Keritanima winked. "Pleased to meet you," she said, holding her hand out to Allia as if she expected the Selani to kiss it.

"She is different," Allia said. Allia did nothing to accept that hand, crossing her arms under her breasts and giving the Wikuni a strong look of distrust.

Tarrin nodded. "She screwed up her act and I figured it out," he said, to which Keritanima sniffed disdainfully. "I promised to keep her little secret. I was going to tell you about it, so you didn't kill her in a pique."

"I doubt she'd have gone that far," Keritanima said calmly.

"I beg to differ," Allia said with steady eyes. "I came close to doing it five times during the morning."

"Well, then I guess I'm doing something right," the Wikuni grinned toothily. "I see they Healed you all up, Tarrin. Are you feeling alright?"

"Good enough," he said.

"What are we going to do with her now?" Allia asked Tarrin in Selani.

"You won't do anything with me, oneshai," Keritanima replied sternly in flawless Selani, using the Selani term for "near-stranger", which was a term to use with business associates and distant acquaintances.

Allia gaped at her, and Tarrin chuckled ruefully. "Where did you learn that?"

"As a Princess, I'm expected to know all the languages of the peoples that we trade with," she said in an annoyed tone. "You have no idea how many people we trade with," she said in exasperation. "I still haven't learned them all. It's a frightful bore."

"I didn't know that the Wikuni trade with the Selani," Tarrin said.

"I did not either," Allia admitted.

"We trade with the Bloodwater Clan," she replied. "They're the only ones that come close enough to the ocean for us to see. We saw them about three hundred years ago, worked out a couple of trade pacts, and everyone's happy. There's quite a market for Selani koufa fiber." Koufa was the plant fiber that the Selani used to make their incredible clothing. It was very tough, and very light. It kept the wearer warm when it was cold, and cool when it was hot. It wouldn't accept dye, so all of the Selani clothing was the same colors, the colors of different types of koufa plants. But those colors were white, brown, and a beige that was almost the exact color of sand, which was perfect camoflauge in the desert.

"Ah," Allia said. "We don't have contact with that Clan. They're too far south."

"Then there you go," she said, walking away from them and sitting down sedately on the bench. Her bushy fox tail swept back and forth a few times, then settled to a stop behind her.

"How did you find us?" Tarrin asked curiously.

"You're not the only one with a nose," she told him with a wink. "Unlike most of the Wikuni, I have the senses of the animal as well as the looks. Both of you have very distinct scents, and neither of you did anything to hide your trail."

"Now what?" Allia asked Tarrin quietly.

"Now, we talk," Keritanima replied for him, patting the stone bench beside her impatiently.

"About what?"

"About why it seems so odd that I find a Selani and a Were-cat in the Initiate at the same time as myself, when the Tower hasn't had a Non-human in the Initiate since before the Breaking."

That got Tarrin's attention. Then again, he realized that Keritanima was a High Princess, someone that, being used to political intrigue, would quickly see the oddities. He nodded to Allia, and they sat down on the bench beside Keritanima's after Tarrin moved it so they could face each other. Tarrin gave the amber-eyed Wikuni a calm look. "I've been curious about the same thing," he said. "So I've decided to find out what's going on. Since it seems to involve Allia, and now you, I think we should pool our knowledge and see if we can't work out some ideas."

"Well, you've been here longer than me, so give me some background. I can't work on something if I don't know anything about it."

Tarrin and Allia then took turns telling the Wikuni about what they knew. About the inordinate attention they'd been receiving, about the Keeper's gift to Tarrin of the amulet, and how it wouldn't come off, and about the multiple attacks by the mysterious unseen enemy. Tarrin stressed that, at first, he thought that he was the target, then realized later that Allia had been present during all of them but one. Two, now. Tarrin told her about the conversations he'd had with the Keeper, about his mistrust of her, and her reactions when he gave her Kravon's name and with certain other things. Then he went back to the attacks. Although they wanted Tarrin dead, it was obvious that Allia was also on that list. And because Keritanima was also a Non-human in the Initiate, a non-human that could do Sorcery, that put her at possible risk as well.

"Now that you say that, I have to admit that what happened to us coming here makes sense," she said.

"What?" Tarrin asked.

"We were attacked six times by Zakkite ships," she said. "The Zakkites dwell on the southern continent of Valkar. They have a mighty navy, and they try to rule the twenty seas through force. The Wikuni have been at war with them for generations. We were attacked six times by sizable groups of Zakkite ships. Each time, they specifically came after my ship. After the first time, my ship was put at the center of the formation, I was transferred to another vessel, and more ships were called from Wikuna. And that didn't help, because they came after my ship the next time, and the next. Almost as if they had a spy in our fleet."

"I don't think that's coincidence, but I don't see how some kingdom across the sea could be connected with what happened to us," Tarrin said dubiously.

"If this Kravon fellow has the magic to send Trolls and Wraiths after you, then I don't see why he couldn't contact the Zakkites and tell them where I was, then pay them to try to sink me."

"A bit far fetched, but possible," Allia agreed.

"Far fetched works in politics," Keritanima shrugged. "The more distance you can put between you and a murder, the less chance it comes back to you. Alright then, I think we can say with some certainty that there is an attempt to get us-all three of us-out of the way. We know what is going on. We know, at least partially, who is to blame. This Kravon fellow you mention. Now we need to find out the other three questions: how, when, and most importanly, why." She got up from her bench and began to pace, her hands clasped behind her back, her furry brows lowered in thought. "You say that the Keeper wasn't surprised about you finding out this name, and you said that you think that the Keeper may know what's going on. So, we may be able to found out the why of it from her. The Keeper's been around a while, so that's not going to be easy. Any information she has is likely to be very hard to find, and what we can find will probably be defended."

"I came up with the same things," Tarrin sighed.

Keritanima gave him a grin. "I think I could make something of you, Tarrin," she said. "You made the right conclusions. But the Keeper isn't the whole Tower," she said. "The Council may also have some information laying around that we can use. I don't doubt that the Keeper either told them what's going on, or had to talk very fast with them in order to keep them in line. After all, I heard that it's going to take all of them to raise this Ward that's supposed to help protect us from the attacks."