"Of course, madam," Nanna said with a short bow. "Deris just took some scones out of the oven. You know how good they are when they're warm."
Tarrin set down Janette, and Jesmind put down Jasana, and the two little girls met for the first time. Janette was taller than Jasana, but the little Were-cat looked up at the human girl with steady, slightly shy eyes. "Wanna come up to my room?" Janette asked boldly. "Mother just got me a doll house. Wanna see it?"
"Alright," Jasana said with a sudden smile.
"Can we be excused, mother?" Janette asked.
"Right up and right down," Janine told her sternly. "It's impolite to ignore our guests, and I'm sure you'll want to visit a while with Tarrin."
"Of course I do," she said with a smile.
Jesmind fixed Jasana with an icy stare. "Remember what you were told, young lady," she warned.
"I know, I know," Jasana said glumly. "Don't break anything, and no horseplay. I may hurt someone."
"Good girl. Now go on," Jesmind said with a nudge of her head.
Jasana followed Janette out of the room, and Janine had everyone sit down. Tarrin and Jesmind sat on the sofa beside the fireplace, which was moved from the other side of the parlor since the last time he'd been there. "She's lovely, Tarrin," Janine said appreciatively of Jasana. "How old is she?"
"About two," Tarrin replied, and then he cut off the scoffing remark. "She's not human, Janine. Were-cat children grow much, much faster than human children."
"I guess so, but it seems almost unnatural," Janine bristled.
"For you, it would be," Jesmind said mildly.
"Alright, now spill it, Tarrin. What happened to make you so tall?" Tomas asked impatiently.
Tarrin dutifully repeated the story for Tomas and Janine, and then he caught up with them over a cup of Nanna's excellent tea. The children returned from upstairs after a little while, and Tarrin enjoyed having them both on his lap as he listened to what had been going on in Suld, both or the family and for the people in general, getting a point of view from the common citizen. "Everyone's really nervous," Janine sighed. "Everybody knows there's an army coming, though the regent won't admit it. The Knights told the army, the army told the Watch, and the Watch told everyone else. We've been getting ready for it."
"Yes. I've put all my holdings on my ships and sent them to the Stormhavens," Tomas added. "I'm not sure what to do about the house. I don't want to pack it up, but I don't want to lose what's inside it either."
"I doubt it'll get this far, Tomas," Tarrin told him. "I'm privy to some of the higher-up information. We have enough soldiers on hand to repel an invasion, if it comes down to it. If there is any damage, it's going to be mainly in the areas of the city near the walls. This house should be safe, since it's behind the Tower."
"What do you mean?" Janine asked.
"That's the target of this attack," Tarrin told her. "The army wants to crush the Tower and destroy the katzh-dashi. If they get into the city, they'll go right for the Tower. Since this house is between the Tower and the harbor, it'll be out of the direct path of the attack."
"Well, that's almost a relief," Janine said. "Why are they after the Tower?"
"The Firestaff, Janine," he told her. They knew about it; they'd been in the room when he told the others he'd been charged to seek it out, so long ago. "The katzh-dashi is close to finding the Firestaff. This attack is meant to stop them from getting it by destroying them before they can do anything about it."
"You mean you are close to the Firestaff," Tomas reasoned.
Tarrin gave him a rueful look. "I'm closer than I was when I left Suld, but I'm still a long way from it," he replied. "But I'm closer than my enemies are, and that's good enough for them to do anything to stop me. Even attack Suld."
"What is this Firestaff, Tarrin?" Janette asked him curiously.
"An old artifact that's very, very valuable, little mother," he told her. "It's so valuable that people are willing to fight over it."
"That seems silly, fighting over some old piece of junk," she fretted, taking a scone from the tray and biting into it.
"Some people are like that," Jesmind told her. "Some can't see what they have, they can only yearn for what they don't."
"That's very well said, Mistress Jesmind," Tomas said with an approving nod. "Is that more or less everything, Tarrin?"
"Pretty much," he replied. "I don't really sit in with the high-ups. It's not my style. Besides, I have my mate and daughter, and they require alot of attention."
"Better you spend your time with me than with them," Jesmind said bluntly. "At least you don't leave me in a tizzy like you do when you're around them."
"Mate? Is that a term for a wife?" Janine asked. She would, being so straight-laced.
"Loosely," Jesmind told her. "Me and Tarrin are a couple until we can't stand each other anymore, then we'll part ways. It's a Were-cat peculiarity. We can't settle down with one mate like humans can. We'd wear on each other to the point where we'd be fighting every day." She looked at him. "As long as he's my mate, the other females know to stay away from him. When we part ways, they'll probably start circling him like vultures. Tarrin is very popular among the females."
"Kimmie says he's smart, and he's kind, and he has a nice-"
"That's enough, cub!" Jesmind warned. "No talk like that around the humans!"
Janine looked about ready to have a fit. Jesmind had cut Jasana off, but it was pretty apparent what Jasana was about to say, and it was a word that no two year old child should understand. It was no word that any morally responsible twenty year old human female should understand. There was an uncomfortable silence, and then Janette burst into a fit of giggling that nearly made Janine's eyes pop out of her head. Tarrin realized that Janine was having a tiff in her mind trying frantically to figure out if Janette was giggling because she did understand what that word meant.
"I say, you must have a much different culture," Tomas said to Jesmind with a slight grin, which Janine couldn't see.
"We don't hide things from our children, Tomas," she said evenly. "We're part animal, so that means that we accept all things natural as they are, without assigning the same importances to them that humans do."
"Ah. A very logical explanation," he said. "Would you like more tea?"
"Please," she said, holding up her cup.
Tomas rather artfully steered the conversation to inane, little things, giving his wife the time she needed to regain her composure. Janine managed to engage Jesmind in a talk about music, then she agreed to play her harpsichord for them. Tarrin had heard her play that keyboard instrument before, with its haunting, sharp sounds, and Tarrin used that time to catch up with Janette. He laid on the floor by the fire with her and Jasana, listening to her as she told him all about everything that had happened to her since he'd last seen her, all those things that were important to a child, yet had little meaning to an adult. The time and the talking let him reestablish the strong bond he had with the little human girl, the girl whose love for him had sustained him through many hard times, had caused him to make many of the decisions that had brought him to where he was. The hectic pace of his life didn't often let him lay back and enjoy the simple things in life, or appreciate what he indeed did have. Then again, here lately, he had so many of his friends and family around him that he couldn't seem to find the time to spend as much time with each and every one of them as he should. He always felt like he was neglecting one to pay attention to another.