"You're going to dig?" Ariana said in surprise. "They told me that you're a magician! Why don't you magic it?"
"Because Jesmind takes a dim view when I do that," he replied cooly. "And right now, making Jesmind mad is not a very good idea."
"You're scared of her?"
"Any sane sentient being would be very wise to fear Jesmind," he replied bluntly.
"Well, if you're afraid of her, then I guess it would be best to do as you say," she said with a little smirk.
"Ari, you know how some women like to yell, some like to cry, and some like to throw things when they get mad?" he asked directly, to which Ariana nodded. "Well, Jesmind likes to kill things. And since you and me are the only living things around at the moment, who do you think she's going to come after?"
Ariana's face screwed up for a moment, then she laughed. "I see your point," she said with a quirky grin. "She's just like you."
"More or less," he agreed. "You don't stomp around Jesmind unless you want to lose your foot."
"I'll remember that. Let me go find that spade," she said, shuffling off towards the shearing shed.
Tarrin had some of the larger stones from the bed of the small stream piled up for the firepit by the time Ariana came back, holding a recently cleaned spade. "It's a mess in there," she accused. "I couldn't find it."
"She keeps it right by the door, Ari," he said, looking at it.
"Tarrin, I think I've seen one of those things about four times in my life," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "Forgive me if I couldn't point it out among all that other junk in there."
"I guess that could be a problem," Tarrin agreed with a chuckle, starting to spade up the grass. "I would ask you to go help Jesmind, but that wouldn't be a good idea."
"No, it wouldn't. What can I do to help?"
"Well, you can go get some more stones," he said. "There's some of them in the stream over there."
"No problem."
Tarrin bent down to drive the spade into the ground again, but a scent on the wind caused him to stop short and raise his head. He tested the air with his nose, sorting through the myriad smells that came from living in the forest, isolating that one scent that was new and different. It was a scent he knew, a Were-cat scent. It was coming from upwind, from the south, and he managed to remember who owned that scent just as the figure broke the treeline.
It was Rahnee.
Tarrin's memories of Rahnee were mixed. She had been rather aggressive in her desire to bed him, and given Jesmind's mood at the moment, maybe this wasn't a good time for Rahnee to show up. Jesmind would consider any such talk to be a direct challenge to her claim on him. Tarrin had never gotten past Rahnee's singular bent to get to know her, so he had very little idea of what to expect seeing her alone like that. She spotted him and waved, then trotted over in that ground-eating lope that made Were-cats so mobile. "Tarrin!" she called as she bounded up to him. She looked as he remembered, a tall, rather slender Were-cat female with Jesmind's red hair but Tarrin's black fur. Her hair wasn't as long as Jesmind's, but her face was sharper and more fox-like. "By the furies, cub, when did you get so tall?" she asked immediately.
He was getting very tired of that. "It's a long story you'll hear when everyone else is here, so I only have to go over it once," he replied. "You're looking well."
"Well enough," she replied. "I can smell Jesmind all over you, Tarrin. I take it she's taken you for mate again?"
Tarrin nodded.
"Ah well. More's the pity," she sighed. "At least Thean and Jeri will be here."
"I'm only going to say this once, Rahnee. Do not get frisky right now. Jesmind is in a bad mood, and she'd probably try to rip your head off if you so much as looked at me the wrong way."
"I know, I know," she grunted. "Jesmind's always been very stingy with her mates. It's a flaw."
"At least for you. Now go announce yourself to her before she comes out to see who it is. You don't want to get on Jesmind's bad side at the moment. Trust me."
"Alright," she said, filing past him. Tarrin watched her go, surprised that she gave in so quickly. But then again, this wasn't neutral ground. This was Jesmind's den, and certain customary formalities and such were in effect. Since it was Jesmind's den, the other Were-cats had to accede to her in all things and respect her authority so long as they stood on her ground. Rahnee knew that, knew that Jesmind had laid claim to both the land and to him. And so long as he stood on Jesmind's ground, she probably knew better than to say or do anything stupid.
"Who is that, Tarrin?" Ariana asked as she carried a couple of large, smoothed stones from the stream.
"Rahnee, one of the other Were-cats," he replied. "You'll meet her when she comes back out. She won't stay in the house long. At least if she's smart, anyway."
Tarrin bent back to digging the fire pit as Ariana started laying out the stones as Tarrin directed. He had most of the grass off by the time Rahnee came back out, her face pinched and her eyes flashing. "She was rude," Rahnee said under her breath as she reached them. From the corner of his eye, he saw that Jesmind was watching them from the window, watching very intently. He knew that it would be best to get rid of Rahnee somehow, because Jesmind looked like she was going to come through the wall if Rahnee so much as touched him. "Who is this?" she asked, looking at Ariana.
"Rahnee, this is Ariana, an Aeradalla that's agreed to help us. Ariana, Rahnee."
"A pleasure," Ariana nodded.
"I thought all the Aeradalla died out," Rahnee said in surprise.
"We keep ourselves hidden," Ariana explained, setting down another stone. "The Zakkites keep trying to capture us to power their flying ships, so we stay where they can't find us."
"That's a good reason to stay hidden," Rahnee chuckled with a nod. "Where is Thean?" Rahnee said with a fret. "He should be here by now."
"You saw him?"
"I crossed his scent track about half an hour ago," she replied. "He's here."
"Maybe he went to the village first," Tarrin said calmly. "He knows some of the people there."
"I'm of half a mind to go find him."
"That may be a good idea," Tarrin said. "Jesmind probably won't be very friendly unless Thean's here."
"You got that right," Rahnee snorted. "She was very unpleasant when I went to go say hello."
"Go on then. We'll have something for you to eat when you get back."
Rahnee nodded to him. "Besides, I'll get out of doing any work," she said with a grin, then she turned and sauntered off towards the treeline.
"Why do I get the feeling that I don't want to know the whole gist of that conversation?" Ariana asked with a rueful chuckle.
"Jesmind is my mate," Tarrin explained, noting that Jesmind left the window after Rahnee was well on her way. "Rahnee is a lone female in my mate's home territory, and Rahnee is notorious among my kind for her, willingness. Jesmind doesn't like Rahnee being here, because Rahnee will try to woo me away from Jesmind sooner or later. The friction between them stems entirely from Jesmind's instinct to defend her rights and Rahnee's desire to steal me."
"You make yourself sound like a trinket."
"I am," he replied honestly. "I'm a possession, Ari, and right now I belong to Jesmind. Jesmind will fight Rahnee if she thinks Rahnee is trying to get too friendly with me. She'll defend her territory, and I'm included in that."