"We will at that. Good luck, Arren."

"May Karas grant you fair skies and good roads for your journey," he replied.

"Tomorrow at sunrise, come back over here and pick up what I'm going to leave for you," he told him.

"What is it?"

"You'll see," Tarrin smiled. "Just make sure you bring some strong men you can trust. That's all I'm going to say."

"Well, alright," Arren said. "But don't go out of your way on my account."

"I won't," Tarrin told him. He noticed Jesmind's expectant glare. "It looks like my taskmistress over there is getting impatient that I'm not laying down," he grinned, jerking a thumb at his mate. "I'd better go before she drags me off by the ear."

"Good luck to you," Arren said, shaking his paw one more time, then turning to pick up the cask of apple wine.

"Good journey, Tarrin. I'll see you in Suld," Sathon nodded.

"You too," Tarrin replied, then turned to where Thean and Kimmie were putting on their cloaks. "Remember, you two, be back here before dawn," Tarrin called. "I'll leave you behind if you're late!"

"We'll be here, Tarrin," Thean assured him as he took the cask of wine from Arren to let him put on his cloak. "We have tents behind yours. So we'll be in shouting distance."

They all padded out into the rain, leaving Tarrin and Jesmind standing at the table while Jasana drank the rest of the apple wine they'd given her. "This stuff makes my ears feel funny," she told them.

"It'll pass in a moment, cub," Jesmind said calmly.

"It's a good kind of funny, though," she added quickly.

"I know. Well, my mate, let's put you to bed. Finish that up and come to bed, Jasana."

"Umm," she sounded, taking another drink.

"I forgot about the leftovers," Jesmind growled as an afterthought. "We can't leave that laying around. It'll attract scavengers."

"I'll take care of them," Tarrin said, absently banishing the contents of the table, leaving it clear of everything except Jasana's mug of wine.

"Now I know you ahve to be tired," Jesmind told him, taking his paw and dragging him towards their tent. "You know, it's too bad Jasana isn't staying with Kimmie tonight," she purred in his ear as he started following her as she backed towards the tent, stepping out into the rain.

"Like that's going to stop you," Tarrin teased. "You'll just wait for her to go to sleep, like last time."

"It's the challenge of not waking her up that makes it exciting," Jesmind grinned.

"Aren't I supposed to be needing rest?"

"I won't wear you out too much. After all, if you're strong enough to do magic, you're strong enough to bed me, aren't you?"

"My, you're just a little hypocrit today," he teased as she pulled him into the tent and immediately reached for his shirt tail.

She laughed. "I think that dessert is making me all hot and bothered," she told him.

"You certainly ate enough of it," he told her as Jasana came into the tent. "I thought Jasana was going to bite you there for a moment."

"I'm the one that was supposed to take it off her plate," Jasana complained as she started to undress.

"You're just too slow, cub," Jesmind teased her. "Now off with your clothes and into bed."

"Yes, mama," she said obediently. Or about as obediently as Jasana ever got.

"You too, my mate," Jesmind ordered, pulling her shirt off. "I'm ready for bed, and you need your rest. And you know how I hate it when I don't have you to cuddle with when I'm sleepy."

That was true enough, he'd come to discover. Jesmind loved cuddling, even when she wasn't feeling frisky. She also woke up any time he left the bed, for any reason, no matter how carefully he tried to get out of bed without waking her. Almost as if him not being there disturbed her enough to wake her up. As soon as his scent began to get distant from her, it woke her up.

He laid down in the soft bedroll as Jesmind tucked in Jasana, then said his goodnights to his daughter as Jesmind cuddled up to him in their bedroll. They would leave tomorrow, and it would be something that the others would probably never forget. He looked forward to the idea of flying again; it was such a wonderful thing. But there would be no dawdling this time. They had to get to Suld, and that meant a straight line to the city. Two days or so, he figured. He'd be sleeping in the Tower in two nights. He'd be back with his sisters, back with his natural parents and sister, back with the rest of his family in two days. That was something that made him feel very content. He wasn't expectant or anxious at all, now that the end of his long journey away from Allia and Keritanima was nearly over. He'd see them in two days, along with everyone else he considered family. They were all there, waiting for him, and he couldn't wait to see them. His old family would meet his new family, and together, they would all share the bonds that cemented them together. He just hoped that Jesmind and Jasana would fit in with the rest of his rather unusual family. But things would work out. He had a good feeling about it.

Jesmind started nibbling at his neck, deciding to start playing with him before Jasana was completely asleep. She certainly was affectionate tonight. He reminded himself not to feed her so much uta the next time. Or at least only feed her lots of it when he wanted her to be very bouncy.

To: Title EoF

The rain came to an end sometime during the night, leaving the dark pre-dawn to which Tarrin emerged misty, a bit unseasonably cold, and overcast. Water still clung to the grass, made the outside of their tent wet to the touch. The cloudy skies made it very dark, just enough light penetrating the clouds to allow him to see in shades of slightly murky gray as he looked out over the empty field. The lights of the fires of the soldiers were behind them, a good longspan distant, too far to grant light to their small encampment. He looked to the other tent erected there, a tent that Kimmie and Thean were sharing, and he could hear and see from the faint spot of light inside that they were up and getting ready. They had lit a candle or some other small light in there, and it cast shadows against the side of the tent.

They were leaving today. He already knew what he was going to do, and how he wanted to go about doing it, so that wasn't something concerning him. He was just worried how the others were going to take it. He wasn't sure about that, outside of Jasana's youthful excitement about the prospect of flying through the air. That, and his mate's already voiced reluctance to it.

Jesmind. It was curious. He thought about that as he waited for her to finish dressing Jasana, waited for Thean and Kimmie to get ready. It was strange that the daughter of Triana, who was one of the strongest Druids alive, was so… against magic. It wasn't the idea of flying that bothered her, it was the idea of doing it on the back of a matgical creature. She hated him using his Druidic powers, considering it to be cheating. She had hated the Tower, and seemed to have a pretty universal disdain for magic and all things magical. She had a pretty formidable barrier to overcome, now that he thought of it. Her mother was a magician, her daughter was a magician, and her current mate was a magician. She was surrounded by magic, and yet she seemed to have an aversion to it. He wondered why. He could understand her distrust of Sorcerers, because of what they did to her. But why not be accustomed to, even like, Druidic magic?

That, he realized, was a question to ask Triana. She was Jesmind's mother, after all, and she knew Jesmind alot better than he did. She would know the answer to that question.

Jasana announced her presence by grabbing the end of his tail and holding fast to it, as she tended to do. He wasn't quite sure why she did that. She did it to both him and Jesmind, almost like telling them where she was, or that she was there. Having that little paw on his tail was an eerie sensation, because he didn't really like people grabbing his tail. But he'd come to learn to like it after being around her. It told him that his daughter was with him, and that always made him happy. "Morning, cub," he told her without turning around. "Did you sleep well?"