He blinked. He could make that out? How, for the Goddess' sake? He didn't know the first thing about Sha'Kar outside the spoken tongue.
Think, kitten, the voice of the Goddess came to his mind. Think for a moment, and the answer will come to you.
You did it? he asked within his mind.
No, actually, I didn't, she admitted with a laugh. What happened to you the last time you touched the Weave?
The voices from the past, he thought. Am I getting that again?
In a way, she replied. The memories of the Weave are beginning to reveal themselves to you, and among them is the memory of the written form of Sha'Kar. It is an aspect of your power. The Weave is much more than a simple source of magical power, as you have discovered. It holds inside it the memory of many things, though most of them are connected with Sorcery in one way or another. What's happening is that a part of you you don't even know is there is seeking out those memories, and making them a part of you. You've been doing that for a while now, Tarrin, though you never knew it.
"What do you mean?" he asked aloud in the manner of the Cat.
How did you learn to do the things you do with High Sorcery? she asked. You use magic unseen in the world for a thousand years, and you use it flawlessly, without anyone teaching you. How do you do that?
That brought him up short. "I, I just knew," he replied uncertainly.
Silly kitten, the Goddess laughed within his mind. You knew because you could feel the memory of it in the Weave. Before, only memories of spells and magic were finding you, because your need for them was so great that it caused you to extend past the boundaries of your own power. Now the more mundane memories of the Weave are beginning to come to you. Among them are the memories possessed by the Sha'Kar. Including their written language.
The ramifications of that were not lost to him. The entirety of the knowledge of the katzh-dashi were not written in books. They existed within the Weave itself! The Weave served as the greatest library in the world!
It meant that anyone who could read the memories of the Weave could see anything that anyone ever did that was related to Sorcery! All the vast knowledge of the Ancients had been within his grasp the entire time!
"Does that mean that I could find-"
No. The location of the Firestaff has been erased from the memory of the Weave, because Sorcerers aren't the only ones who can read the memories. Long ago, the Wizards and Priests could cast spells that gave them a limited ability to extract knowledge from the Weave. They called them spells of Augury. Because they could find the Firestaff through the Weave, the Elder Gods all joined together and eradicated all traces of the Firestaff from the Weave, from the books of mortal kind, and from the memories of very nearly all. Only a few maintained that knowledge, so they could put forth the clues necessary to lead you to the Firestaff now.
That made sense to him, but something else bothered him. "Is that why I'm remembering things I never knew? Because I need to know Sha'Kar to read the Book of Ages?"
No. I told you before, the location of the Firestaff is not in the book. But you need the book to find your way. Since you're starting to gain access to information that may confuse you, let me explain. The Book of Ages contains the majority of the known history of mortal kind in its pages. It contains lore of lost knowledge, even things that the Weave does not retain. Among those things is a comprehensive guide to learning the written Sha'Kar language.
That is why you need the book, Tarrin, she said bluntly. The manner in which you're starting to decipher Sha'Kar isn't very comprehensive. It's very fuzzy and prone to mistakes, and as you've noticed, learning things in that manner isn't very reliable. The book holds everything you need to learn written Sha'Kar the right way. My children did write everything down, kitten. Not everything is held in the Weave, for the very reason I just gave you. Trying to conjure memories from the Weave isn't as precise as sitting down and reading a book.
Tarrin made the leap intuitively. "Those books we took from the Cathedral!" he gasped.
Yes, whatever happened to those books? she asked winsomely. As I recall, you left them sitting in the middle of my courtyard. Forgot all about them, didn't you?
His heart about came out of his mouth. They left them out in the open! They were probably mildewed and disintigrated-
Calm down, kitten, they're fine, the Goddess chuckled. I'm watching over them even as we speak. They're still as fresh and legible as the day you brought them into the courtyard.
"Thank the Goddess," Tarrin sighed automatically.
You're welcome, she replied with a laugh. Oh, just a word of warning, kitten. Now you know what's important, so now you know what to protect.
"I know. Not a word. Not even a hint."
That's a good kitten, she affirmed with a light chuckle.
"Mother, can I, can I read the book?" he asked hesitantly.
It's your book, Tarrin, she replied. You know the danger involved with bringing it from the elsewhere. If you are willing to risk that danger, then you can read the book any time you want.
"Should I read it?"
That's your decision, Tarrin. I'm not going to try to woo you either way. It's entirely up to you.
"Well, if you were in my place, what would you do?"
Nice try, she said in a teasing tone. I'm not that shallow, kitten.
Had he been in humanoid form, he would have blushed. "I just want to know if it's the right thing to do."
That's something for you to decide.
And then he felt her withdraw from him. It was obviously something she didn't intend to argue about. Her sudden withdraw felt a little rude, but then again, she was never really that far away. He could feel her in the Weave, feel her presence surrounding him. She was only a heartbeat away from him.
"I take it you just had a good conversation?" Sarraya asked.
"Something like that. I just learned what I'm really doing out here."
"Oh? What?"
"Being a messenger," he grunted, looking around. "We'll talk about it when we're alone."
"We're alone now."
" Alone," he emphasized.
"Oh. Right. Let's carry on, then."
He tried to put that little revelation out of his mind. He had a job to do. He had to take a look at that object up there. He was convinced that it wasn't the Firestaff now, because of the little conversation he had with the Goddess, but the curiosity of the object remained. And it was strong enough for him to continue. He knew that it wasn't what he was seeking, but now his desire to see that object extended from personal curiosity more than a suspicion that he could cut this entire thing short by cheating.
Or maybe he was wrong, and it really was the Firestaff. Either way, the only way to find out was to find the object and take a look at it.
Leaving the fountain behind, he moved on, towards the tier. He still had quite a ways to go, and he wanted to be there and back to where he would start hunting for Ariana by morning.
The idea of stalking and the hunt overwhelmed his desire to think about what the Goddess said in moments, and he was back to skulking about in the shadows, darting from open area to open area in humanoid form, only to shift to cat form to get across those vulnerable areas. He navigated the tier quickly, and a vault up got him to the next tier, which was a border tier. He could see a much higher wall rising up at the end of the tier, meaning he'd have to climb the next one. This tier was exactly like the last, with walled manors separated by paved streets, large enough to make straight streets that would take him right to the wall. It looked to be the same as the others, a quick trot to the wall.
But halfway into an intersection of streets disabused him of that notion. He was padding out in cat form, when something big suddenly impacted him from above. His first instinct was flight, but whatever it was had claws in him, and a maw was biting at the back of his neck. There was no pain involved, but it happened so fast that he reacted like the animal he resembled. He rolled over on his back and shook off the attacker, then scrambled to his feet and arched his back, hissing threateningly at his opponent. The speed and surprise of the attack had made him feel more foolish that afraid. To be taken by surprise like that! He hoped Triana would never find out about this.