People often misunderstood how smart and well trained farmers were. Farmers were jacks of all trades, having to learn how to do for themselves. Farmsteads were usually little microcosms of activity, where they built, maintained, and supplied themselves as much as possible, only resorting to buying outside goods when there was no other choice. The farm where Tarrin grew up was a good exception to that rule, for there was only four of them, and the farm was more of a hobby and a means of raising vegetables for eating and the hops and barley that father used to make his ale than a means to support themselves. But that didn't make it any less work to maintain it. Even a small farm required a great deal of effort.
After exploring the compound and counting all the humans, he settled on an open hayloft door, looking down into the grassy common ground at the center of the buildings and simply watched the humans go about their business. It didn't take long for him to identify certain children as common types of humans. There was the gentle mothering little girl, alot like Janette, who seemed to be a favorite with all the farm's cats. There was an incorrigible prankster in the midst, a little troublemaker of a boy that was more interested in having fun than doing his work. He reminded Tarrin a little of Walten, though Walten wasn't a prankster. It made him wonder fleetingly how Walten and Tiella were doing. They were still at the Tower, probably still in the Initiate. There was an industrious one, the one that would probably go the furthest if she ever left the farm, one who always had her nose in a book and was constantly seeking to learn new things. She reminded Tarrin of Tiella, who had that same drive to know things and be successful. There was a bully, and there was a whiner. There was a know-it-all teen who thought he was smarter than his elders, and there was a timid child not brave enough to be far from his parents. There was a dreamer and there was a shiftless, lazy foister. There was a chatterbox and a quiet, solemn one. There was a manipulator, and there was a gullible one that was in the manipulator's thrall. They had two adventurers, boys who endlessly wanted to explore, who often waved sticks about pretending they were swords. They even had a spoiled brat. The many basic types of children existed on this farm, which probably gave the adults alot of gray hair.
Were he in his other forms, he would have smiled. Those children reminded him of the children in Aldreth, the ones he'd grown up with, or at least seen from the fringes. He had been the adventurer, the one always out exploring and seeing new things, out hunting and searching for phantom enemies to battle. His mixed heritage had made him both a pariah and an object of intense curiosity among the other children, as they found Tarrin himself to be an interesting boy to play with, but were warned off from him by their parents. Of course, that made some of them even more determined to play with him, but he often left them all behind. He liked the other kids, but they couldn't do the things he liked to do, and couldn't keep up with him if they tried. He did have good friends, like Tiella and Jak, but most of the kids lost interest in him after some time. They didn't see him very often, for one, and when they did it was never for very long. He only came to the village with his parents or when he was on an errand. When it was his time, he much preferred to go the other way, the break the rules and enter the Frontier to explore, hunt, or search for those elusive Forest Folk that everyone told him were out in the forest.
He wondered if his parents ever really knew where he was going. After he got old enough and his father taught him all about woodcraft, they more or less let him roam around anywhere he pleased, so long as he was home before dark. He wondered if they knew that he spent most of that time where they told him not to go.
Thinking of that reminded him of this one place. It was a small clearing about an hour away from the farmhouse, a clearing nestled against a small escarpment about ten feet high, that had a stream flowing over that escarpment in a pleasant little waterfall. It formed a large pool at the base of the waterfall, full of fish, and was surrounded by thick growths of old forest that gave the place a feeling of isolation and peace. At night, the clearing was full of fireflies during the spring and summer. It was a beautiful place, a place he often visited just to enjoy the location, and it was something of a central landmark in the crisscrossing network of small paths he himself had made in the Frontier.
If he did live through this, if he did manage to return to his own life, that was where he would go. It was perfect. That was where he would live.
Tarrin laid down in that hay door and watched the goings-on below, feeling a strange sense of peace. It was almost like going home.
He looked up at the sun. It was past noon. If Keritanima had tried to contact him, she wouldn't have succeeded. He missed not talking to her, but he doubted that he missed any important news. Things in Suld had established into a pattern of waiting and preparing, and there wasn't going to be much activity until the ki'zadun started moving. That was what just about everyone was waiting for, and Tarrin hoped that he could wait for it just a little longer. He was just on the edge of reaching Suld before them with a few days to spare to get ready. He wanted as much time as he could get to learn Keritanima's plan and find where he'd best fit in. His magic could conceivably tip the balance, if he used it in the right place at the right time. He was about ten times stronger than everyone else, but as he'd learned, he couldn't use magic of that magnitude for long. He'd get two, maybe three really good spells off, and then he'd be too exhausted to contribute anything else. Those two or three spells had to count, and Keritanima would be the best one to decide when and where that card would be played.
It seemed almost a letdown from before. He'd had more strength before becoming sui'kun, it seemed. But that wasn't entirely true. The power he used before came from rage, and though that rage allowed him to exceed his own limitations, it came at the price of using that power indiscriminately. He'd gladly trade off that increased power for the knowledge that he wasn't going to slaughter innocents during the course of it.
Are you enjoying yourself, kitten? the voice of the Goddess touched him. Unlike the others, she could talk to him no matter what form he used.
"Just musing, Mother," he answered her in the manner of the Cat.
I have news for you. Keritanima's been going crazy trying to contact you. So crazy that she actually prayed to me to relay the message.
Tarrin rose to a sitting position, his eyes narrowing. "Then it must be pretty serious," he realized. Though Keritanima had taken the oaths, she wasn't very religious. Keritanima was suspicious of the gods, even the Goddess. For her to break down and pray was a telling sign of how serious her message was.
Relatively, the Goddess agreed. The mountain passes are going into a warm spell. They haven't melted yet, but they're going to be passable within five days.
"We knew it was going to happen eventually," he grunted. "I'm close enough now. As long as I don't dawdle, I can beat them to Suld."
I know. I told Keritanima as much, but she always wants confirmation. Sometimes she makes me pull out my hair.
"She's agnostic."
Not anymore. She's accepted me, but she's still very suspicious. I'll have to work on that, I suppose.
"She didn't tell me about this religious epiphany."
I'd hazard to guess that she's a little embarassed by it, the Goddess laughed. That, and since she's the queen, she doesn't want to show any of what she considers to be weakness. Letting people know that she has true faith is a weakness in her eyes.
"Judging by where she came from, I could understand why she'd think it was a liability," Tarrin told her. "You know about her childhood, right?"
Unfortunately. Given how she started, I think the girl's a marvel for ending up how she did. I'm very proud to have her for a child.