Ariana had just opened her eyes, her face wincing as if expecting a blow, but her expression turned to surprise when she looked up at him in amazement. "You!" she gasped in Sulasian. "What are you doing here?"
"You said you owed me a debt," he told her with a neutral expression. "I'm here to collect on it."
"You-how-when-why are you so tall?" she finally managed to ask.
Tarrin looked down at her, and he laughed in spite of himself. "You look awful," he told her conversationally as the rest of the patrons watched in shock, and as the barkeeper and the one who Ariana had floored groaned from time to time. "What happened to you?"
"It's a long story," she told him with a laugh. "I'm surprised to see you! How did you get up here?"
Tarrin showed her his claws. "They're not just for show," he told her with a smile. "I had to come here to check something out. Now that I'm done, I need an easy way down."
"I can't believe you got up here!" she said. "They've always said that nobody could ever get up here that couldn't fly!"
"I have certain advantages," he said mildly. "Why are you so thin?"
"I've had a run of bad luck since returning home," she sighed, leaning against the table behind her and looking up at him, shivering her wings. "Very bad," she grunted, dropping the bloody tray. Tarrin noticed that it was bent. Ariana may look thin, but she was still much stronger than she looked.
A movement behind him alerted him to one of the Aeradalla sliding towards the door. "Didn't I tell you to stop?" Tarrin said without looking over his shoulder. "If you move again, you'll be hanging off the wall by your broken neck. Do you understand me?"
The mover ceased his activity immediately, so Tarrin turned his attention back to Ariana. "I'm sorry to ask this, but I really don't want to climb back down."
"You saved my life," she said simply. "I owe you alot more than a simple ride." She looked up at him. "If you're still alive, then I guess you made peace with Fae-da'Nar. Are you here on their behalf?"
"No," he told her. "I've joined with them, that's true enough, but I came for another reason. Don't worry, I didn't come to break anything or steal anything. I just had to see something. I've seen it, so now I can go."
"I'm not worried. Well, at least not now. I'm sure they'll ask me alot of questions after I come back over this, but that's alright. It's the least I can do for you, after what you did for me."
"Sorry," he said, a little sheepishly. "When that one over there hit you, I kinda lost my composure."
"You probably saved his life," she said, a bit flintily, but he knew that it was bravado.
The two Aeradalla that had been edging towards the door suddenly burst into motion, seeming to sense that no matter how fast Tarrin was, he couldn't stop them from getting out the door before he reached them. He let them go without much thought, since there really wasn't much he could have done about them. "What about them?" Ariana asked.
"Let them go," he shrugged. "I just didn't want them to run out there screaming."
"They'll go straight to the sentries."
"Let them. Feel like flying a little?"
"Uh, furry one, I can't carry you," she said hesitantly. "At least not if I'm trying to climb. I could glide with your weight, but I'll need to climb, or at least hold my altitude, to get clear of the city."
"Tarrin," he said calmly. "My name is Tarrin."
"You never told me."
"I have now, and I'll be very easy to carry. Sarraya!"
The Faerie appeared, hovering sedately in the air near him. "I can create what you want, so don't bother to ask," she grinned.
"A Faerie!" Ariana gasped. "I never thought to see one in my lifetime!"
"I never thought to see a Winged Folk either," Sarraya grinned at her. She raised her hands, and he felt her touch her Druidic power. A basket with a strap appeared on the table behind her, a basket large enough for him to fit inside. "There you are. One carrying basket."
"This will help me carry you?" she asked in confusion.
"What am I, Ariana?" he asked pointedly.
"A Were-oh!" she said, her eyes lighting up. "I'm so silly! Of course! Uh, what about them?" she asked, looking at the other Aeradalla.
"What about them?" he asked dismissively. "I doubt they'll bother us. At least not now."
She laughed. "I guess not. Ready to go? Where do you want to be let go?"
"Some distance from the Selani, to the northwest," Tarrin replied, as Ariana picked up the basket Sarraya had conjured and put it around her slight waist. She buckled the basket on, and then Tarrin shifted into his cat form and looked up at her patiently. She reached down and picked him up, then set him into the large basket. Tarrin wriggled a bit to get comfortable, his head popping out of the top of it, as Sarraya crawled down into the basket herself.
"Now, Tarrin, you're in for a treat," Sarraya said in an excited tone as Ariana left the inn, as the patrons and the recovering innkeeper stared at her in amazement. She spread her wings out, beat them once or twice, and then pulled herself into the air.
Tarrin watched in awe as the ground pulled away from them, the buildings getting smaller and smaller. The wind pulled at his fur, and the city's circular layout became apparent to him as they rose above it. The tiers formed black circles that emanated out from the green central tier, giving the place a rhythmic look from the air. Other Aeradalla flew around them, but not close enough to be a danger.
Tarrin had flown before in the arms of Anayi, and he found that flying with Ariana was just as exhilerating. The feel of being so high, of looking down at the world from that lofty perch, it was one of the most incredible feelings in the world. He looked down in wonder as they reached the edge of the city, as the ground yielded to the misty cloud, which itself yielded to an amazing view of the desert from two longspans above it. In an instant, his gaze travelled further than he could run in two rides. The brown and tan desert looked like the surface of a quilt from so high up, the features of the land lost to his detail-lacking eyesight, looking like a vast tan-brown sea. The Selani carpeted the shaded area under the cloud, invisible to his cat's eyes, but knowing that they were there. He could see some of the larger rock spires as little dark blots in the endless tan, and he thought that he could make out some of the flocks of sukk. It was breathtaking, regardless of how little his eyes could make out, and the sensation of being so high above the land grabbed hold of his soul and refused to let go. He found he had no fear of having so much empty air under him, for Ariana's wings were still strong, and for once, he found he had faith in a stranger. He was safe with her.
He looked down at the world with wonder filling his eyes, wind flowing through his fur, as Ariana began to spiral down from that tremendous height, descending in a slow and easy manner, spiralling down in widening circles that were carrying him to the northwest of the edge of the cloud. The black stone of the city above the clouds fell behind the white mists that concealed it, fell away from his eyesight, and he found that he did not regret coming. He had finally managed to regain a measure of his power, and he had earned the trust of the goddess of the Selani. Those were very important things to him, things that had substance and meaning. The original mission to ascend the spire and find the object had succeeded, but it had failed in that it wasn't what he was looking for.
But, all in all, it had been a very profitable side trip. Very profitable indeed. He had regained his powers, had found acceptance with Fara'Nae, and what was probably most selfish, he was feeling the wonderment of defying gravity, of flying through the air. It wasn't by his own power, but the feeling was much the same as if it had been, a feeling of boundless freedom that incited the deepest parts of both his human and Cat halves, inspired a sensation that he had the entire world laid out before him for his enjoyment. It was something that he would not trade in, for all the gold in the world.