"You Were-cats are more complicated than I thought," Ariana said, putting a finger to her cheek thoughtfully.
"It's very simple, Ari. It's instinct. Since you don't have our instincts, it may not be easy for you to understand."
"I'll agree with you there. But why would Jesmind be more friendly if this Thean is here?"
"Because Thean is a male," he said patiently. "With another male present, Jesmind won't be as suspicious and hostile, because Rahnee will have someone else to focus herself on."
"Oh. Jesmind wouldn't think this Thean is hers too? He'd be in her territory, after all."
"No," he said mildly. "She doesn't automatically own any male in her territory."
"Ah, I get it now."
"Good. Now go get more rocks."
"Yes sir!" she barked, saluting him sharply, then trotted back towards the stream.
Tarrin had the firepit dug and Ariana had it lined with stones by the time that Jesmind came out with a large tray full of raw meat. "It looks good," Jesmind complemented. "Did your parents keep a roasting spit?"
"I wouldn't be able to find it," Tarrin told her. "I'm going to cheat, whether you like it or not, Jesmind."
"I don't mind this time," she agreed. "But only the spit. We gather firewood the hard way."
Tarrin gave her a sidelong glance. "You're in a better mood."
"Jasana's come out of her room," she said with a slight smile. "She realizes you're not going to kill her now."
"Jasana?" Ariana asked curiously.
"Our daughter," Jesmind answered. "She did something that made both of us very angry with her today. She's been hiding in her room for a while."
"Tarrin, you have a daughter?" Ariana asked with a laugh. "You never told me!"
"It was news to me as well, Ari," he said mildly. "Me and Jesmind already discussed that."
"He nearly took my jaw off," Jesmind complained, rubbing her sharp-chinned jaw in memory of it.
"You hit her?"
"We're not human, woman," Jesmind told her. "Were-cats fight sometimes. It's natural for us."
"Even when you're married?"
"We're not married," she corrected sharply. "Even if we were, we'd still fight."
"Remind me never to get into a relationship with a Were-cat."
Jesmind shrugged as Tarrin Conjured up a nice spit rack for roasting multiple pieces of meat at once.
Working quickly and efficiently, they gathered firewood, started the fire, got the meat spitted on the three spits and started cooking. Jesmind's mood seemed to lighten as they worked, her posture going from hostile and stiff to relaxed and more calm. Jasana probably had something to do with that, as the little girl padded out of the house and edged over to the campfire, standing there with her paws behind her back and a wary expression on her face. Tarrin had just returned from the woods with another load of firewood, and fixed his daughter with a calm, unwavering stare. The little girl looked suitably ashamed and chagrined, so he knelt down and opened his arms to her in an offer of truce. Her entire appearance transformed at that gesture, running into her father's arms and letting him pick her up. Ariana, who had dragged an old toy wagon out of the big barn and overturned it to create a seat, looked at the little girl in surprise.
"Ari, this is my daughter, Jasana. Jasana, that's Ariana. She's here to help us."
"Is that the wicked lady who did magic on you, papa?"
"No, it isn't," he replied evenly. "That's a different winged lady."
"Oh. Alright. Hello, winged lady."
Ariana laughed. "Ariana," she corrected. "And I've been dying to meet you, little Jasana. I wanted to see if Tarrin's child looked anything like him."
"What's it like to have wings?"
"I could ask you what it's like to have a tail," Ariana winked in reply. "It's not something either of us can describe easily, now, is it?"
"Well, I guess not," Jasana admitted. "But I can't fly with my tail."
"You have me there," Ariana smiled.
Jasana squirmed out of her father's arms, then padded over to the Aeradalla and boldly reached out and grabbed her by the wing.
"Jasana, mind your manners!" Jesmind barked.
"I don't mind, mistress Jesmind, so long as she doesn't claw me," Ariana said patiently, looking down at the little girl and allowing her to touch and explore her feathered wings.
"Just Jesmind," she corrected bluntly. "I don't need any silly titles tacked onto my name."
"Jesmind," Ariana repeated with a nod. "It's the nature of children to be curious, and I'll guarantee she's never seen anything like me before."
"Be gentle, Jasana," Tarrin warned. "Her wings are very delicate."
"Why?" she asked.
"Because my bones are hollow, fledgeling," Ariana explained patiently.
"Why?"
"So I'm very light," she replied. "It makes it easier for me to fly."
"That matters?"
"It matters very much. The heavier I am, the harder it is for me to fly. If I weigh too much, my wings wouldn't be able to pull my own weight off the ground."
"Are all things that fly like that?"
"I don't really know," Ariana replied honestly. "I know that most birds have hollow bones, but drakes don't."
"What is a drake?"
"A little flying lizard."
"I've never seen one."
"I'd be surprised if you had," Ariana smiled.
Tarrin tuned them out as Jasana continued to pester Ariana endlessly with question after question, turning his attention to turning the spits and the meat roasting from them. Ariana seemed to be very patient with Jasana, willing to answer any question she posed, and Jasana certainly seemed to take a liking to the winged woman. Even to the point of sitting in Ariana's lap. Jasana was certainly a very affectionate child. Tarrin retrieved one of the dwindling casks of apple wine from the storeroom under the stillery, deciding that this would be a good time for it, but when he came out with it, scents on the wind made him pause in the act of setting it down.
The scents of both Rahnee and Thean reached Tarrin's nose at about the same time as Jesmind rose up from where she was putting more wood on the fire, looking towards the road leading to Aldreth. Tarrin looked as well, and to his surprise, there were five Were-cats walking along that track. Rahnee was leading Thean, and behind them was another male Tarrin hadn't met before. Behind them was Singer and, to his surprise, Kimmie. He would have thought that Kimmie would either stay with Mist or not be willing to fight. Kimmie was an extremely gentle and sedate Were-cat, almost like a house cat, the mildest of them all. She represented the other extreme in the Were-cat spectrum.
Tarrin and Jesmind stood near each other as the five reached the firepit. Then looked just as Tarrin remembered, the handsome face with the scar, the striped gray fur, the tall, stocky body, the sober expression and the light eyes. He was shorter than Tarrin remembered-at the time, Thean seemed towering, but that probably had to do with the respect Tarrin afforded the elder. He was larger than life in Tarrin's mind, just like Dolanna. The other male was shorter and much thinner and more slender than Thean, with tabby-colored fur and brown hair, and wearing a baggy green shirt and strange baggy black pants held up with a sash. His face was sharp, fox-like, alot like Rahnee's, but he had a kind of ferocity about his eyes that made it clear that he was much more dangerous than his slight body suggested. This male looked extremely young, and couldn't be much more than thirty. Singer looked just as he remembered, though she was wearing a torn linen shirt with its right sleeve half torn off and a pair of leather breeches that had dried blood on them. Kimmie too looked just as he remembered, even down to a simple brown peasant dress of similar style as the one she'd worn when he met her.