"Only small, weak ones," Jesmind snorted.
"We all weren't born with your advantages, Jesmind," Miranda told her. "What I lack in size and muscles, I make up for with this," she said, pointing to herself. Tarrin wasn't sure if she was talking about her body, her mind, or both. Miranda certainly had enough of both of them to make her formidable. "So, you want to give me a hand, Dar? It won't take long."
"I guess, if you can talk to me about something for a while."
"About what?"
"We'll talk about it later," he said with a look around the room, standing up.
"Well, alright then. Coming, Kerri?"
"In a minute. I want to eat this first," she said, motioning at the piece of pie before her. "I can never say no to apple pie." She looked at Tarrin. "And I want to hear this story the Goddess told you, Tarrin. This story of the past."
Tarrin forgot about that, and at Keritanima's request of him, Miranda and Dar suddenly sat back down. "Well, I guess I can, but it won't be as good as the way she told it to me," he replied. "She even used Illusions to show me images from the past, but I can't remember them well enough to duplicate them."
"I'll settle for the words, brother," Keritanima said.
"Yes. I am curious to learn how the Selani and the Wikuni are related," Allia added. "There is no memory of it in the histories of our people."
Tarrin composed himself, smacking at Jasana's paw as her claws dug into the tip of his tail, then began. He didn't go as good of a job as the Goddess did, but he did manage to remember all the relevant information that the Goddess had given to him. They all seemed caught up in the story, even Jesmind, who had her elbows on the table and watching him as he told them all about the First Races, the insurgence of the Urzani, and the circumstances that brought them down. About how the Sha'Kar came to be born, the Blood War, and the circumstances that caused them to split into the three sub-races, one of which was extinct. "That's why you two look so different, Kerri," he explained after he was done. "When the Sha'Kar that sailed away arrived at what's now Wikuna, the gods that adopted you changed you so you wouldn't look anything like you did when you arrived. I guess to make it a clean break, or maybe a fresh start. I guess you'd have to ask your gods about that. Allia's people didn't really change very much. They still look like the Sha'Kar-even the Urzani. If you want to know what the Sha'Kar looked like, look at the Selani. They even kept parts of the original Sha'Kar language as their own. Which is really the Urzani language."
"How do you know that, brother?" Allia asked.
"I've seen an Urzani, sister," he told her. "Remember when I told you about Spyder? She's Urzani. She was alive before the Sha'Kar came to be. The Selani are the same size as Spyder, on the average, but I guess that's because of the desert. I saw images of the Sha'Kar when the Goddess told me the story, and they're shorter than the average Selani. The Urzani were warriors, so they were big. They shrank when they became the Sha'Kar, who were pacifists, then grew again when they became the Selani and went into the desert, with its harsh environment."
"It fits with alot of what we have in our own history," Keritanima agreed with a nod.
"It is a logical conclusion," Dolanna agreed, her expression curiously distant.
"Now that's a story," Dar said with a foolish grin. "I think I'm going to write that down."
"Odds are, we'll read it somewhere in those books we have," Keritanima said. "Or at least parts of it." She looked at Allia. "Well, should I call you cousin or sister?" she grinned.
"We are sisters much more than cousins," Allia replied with a light expression.
"So, everything we call Sha'Kar was probably originally Urzani," Dolanna realized. "That means that the Sha'Kar language is actually at least eight thousand years old, virtually unchanged in all that time. That is a very amazing thing. Time cannot help but change things."
"Maybe the world needed something that wouldn't change over time," Dar said impulsively. "A foundation, or something."
"That is a very enlightened viewpoint, young one," Dolanna said appreciatively. "Sometimes your ability to think abstractly impresses me."
"Either way, I need to go," Miranda said. "I need to get started, since all my time tomorrow is going to be taken up with reading. Come on, Dar."
"Alright," he agreed, standing up with the mink Wikuni.
"Good story, Tarrin. I'll see you tomorrow," she bid farewell as she took Dar's arm and dragged him from the room.
"We'd better get there with her, or she'll dismantle the whole place," Keritanima warned Dolanna.
"I would like to be finished soon, regardless," Dolanna said. "I am still weary from the ordeal of the dome. I am surprised it affected me so."
"It did all of us. About all I want now is a long sleep, but I'd like to get those books organized for tomorrow. We don't have much more time."
"Then let us be off," Dolanna said, standing. "See you in the morning, dear one," she bid farewll to Tarrin.
"And if you're going to bring Jasana, knock her out first," Keritanima grinned.
"She'll calm down. I think the courtyard got to her," he replied, glancing at his daughter, who was happily wolfing down a piece of pie.
"Alright, you little troublemaker, I'm going to be ready for you tomorrow," Keritanima told Jasana with a toothy grin. "Just you wait and see."
"I didn't cause trouble," Jasana objected through a mouth smeared with apple pie. "I was good, just like papa told me to be."
"Ya ya ya," Keritanima sounded. "We'll see how good you're going to be tomorrow after I bring in my surprise."
"Surprise? What is it?" Jasana asked with sudden, intense curiosity.
"If I told you what it was, it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?" Keritanima asked with a grin.
"Meanie."
"That's me, alright. Queen Meanie," Keritanima said grandly. In a flash, Keritanima's entire expression and bearing transformed, becoming stiff and imposing. She drew herself up and assumed an almost frightening expression of disdain and aloofness. Then she motioned imperiously at Dolanna. "Attend me, servant! Queen Meanie wishes to withdraw!"
Keritanima's sudden regal bearing and overbearing manner, her amazing ability to fit herself into different personalities and act them out with convincing believability, were not lost on Tarrin. He chuckled as Jasana giggled, and Jesmind fixed the Wikuni with a slightly challenging look. Dolanna only smiled and decided to play the game, bowing repeatedly in Keritanima's direction as she swept before her and opened the door. Keritanima rose up in a haughty, stiff-backed posture and then swept out of the room like the queen of the world, as if her foot came to rest on a stone that existed only to bear her weight. She stepped past Dolanna and then snapped her fingers loudly three times at the smaller woman, who smiled after her, waved to those left, and then closed the door.
"She's funny, papa," Jasana said with a loud laugh after the door closed.
"My sister is a woman of many talents, little one," Allia told her with a smile. "One of the greatest is the ability to make others smile. It is an ability many overlook in her."
"What Allia means is that Kerri is a ham, cub," Tarrin grinned. "I guess that's a good thing, given that she's a queen and all." He looked around. "I wonder where Jula and the others are. I haven't seen much of them."
"Kimmie has adopted Jula, and they've been slinking around like a couple of little human girls, gossiping and carrying on," Jesmind told him. "Mother still hasn't gotten tired of playing with Thean yet."
"It's good for her," Tarrin shrugged. "Jula needed a friend. I'm sure nobody here has been very kind to her." He said that with a direct look at Allia, who did manage to avert her eyes guiltily.