The door opened, and Dolanna and Faalken entered. Their entrance cramped the small cabin somewhat, but Tarrin's eyes were locked on Dolanna. She looked very tired and wan, with dark circles under her eyes. Faalken was literally supporting her. She smiled at him warmly, and that made Tarrin feel an entire world better for some reason, as if their fight had never been. "Dolanna, you look terrible," he told her.
"I look much better than you," she said in a weary tone, but her eyes danced and she gave him a glorious smile. "After the fight, there were many people to tend. You among them."
"How bad was it?" he asked quietly.
"By some gift of the Goddess, only two people were killed," she replied. "The Zakkites struck during the breakfast meal, and most of Renoit's people were in the galley filling their plates. Most of the injuries were very serious, but the conditioning of these people allowed them to live more than long enough for us to render aid."
"It pays to be in shape, it seems," Faalken noted, as Miranda took another sip of her broth.
"We did pick up a few survivors from the Zakkites. All of them are slaves," Dolanna told him. "One is an Aeradalla."
"What is that?" he asked.
"A race that is reputed to no longer exist," she said in a tired voice. "Some call them the Winged Ones, winged, human-like beings that were thought to be long dead. She has refused to leave until you recovered, even after I healed her of her injuries."
"Refused? How long have I been asleep?"
"Nearly two days," Allia told him.
"They had her in their soultrap," Dolanna told him. "It was her life force that was making the ship to which she was bound fly. That is how Zakkite skyships defy gravity, by consuming the life force of flying creatures. She managed to get free of it before what was left of the vessel sank."
Tarrin sipped up the rest of the broth, then laid his head wearily back on the pillow. Just the act of raising his head had completely exhausted him.
"Tarrin, do you remember what happened?" Dolanna asked intently.
"No, not really," he said. "Just seeing Miranda laying on the deck. Everything after that is a blur."
"Let us hope that you can recall what happened," she said. "You and I absolutely must discuss what you did."
"Why, what did I do?"
"Tarrin, you created strands," Keritanima told him in a gentle voice. "You made them, but they're just like any other strand. It's like you reached out and put new threads into the Weave."
"That is exactly what he did, Keritanima," Dolanna assured her. "It is something that is supposed to be completely impossible, and yet you did it." She leaned against Faalken a bit more. "If you can remember how you did it, then the possibilities may be boundless. We could repair the thinned sections of the Weave and restore it to its former state. Maybe even reclaim some of the power of the Ancients."
She smiled and patted him on the arm. "But that can wait. Right now, you need rest, and your sisters need to sleep. Neither Keritanima nor Allia has left this room since we put you here."
"And she made me sit here when I wasn't in my own bed," Miranda said with a caustic little look at the princess.
"I was not about to leave him alone, Dolanna," Allia said. "He always knows when we are near, and it makes him rest better."
"It's that nose of his," Miranda said with a cheeky grin. At that moment, there was nothing more beautiful in the world to him than that quirky little cheeky grin Miranda had.
"Come on, children," Dolanna ordered. "Let us let him rest."
"And you're going to bed too," Faalken told the Sorceress. "You've been up almost as long as them. You won't be any good to anyone if I have to drag your unconscous body around by the hair."
"Right now, my friend, I am too tired to put up much of a fight."
"That's good, because I wasn't looking forward to knocking you over the head with a belaying pin," he said adamantly. "You push yourself to hard, Dolanna. Now then, I'm going to take you to your room and put you to bed. And if I see you out of that room until tomorrow, I'm going to borrow a nice heavy blunt object from Renoit and bash it over your head."
Miranda grinned, but she had the sense not to laugh. Faalken escorted Dolanna out of the room, forcefully. Only after the door closed did she laugh.
"I heard that," Dolanna's voice came through the door.
Keritanima giggled, and Allia smiled. "Bed sounds like a good thing, but I want-"
"Go to bed, Kerri," he told her. "I'll be alright by myself for a while. You too, sister."
"Alright, my brother," Allia said in a gentle voice, "but if you should need anything, just call for us, and we will be here."
"Go on, I'll catch up in a minute," Miranda told them as they kissed Tarrin goodbye. She stood and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders, ignoring Keritanima's heated look and dismissing her with a wave of her hand. Tarrin's sisters filed out of his room, and Miranda sat down on the edge of the bed. She stroked his unbraided hair back from his face tenderly, looking down at him with serious, sober eyes and a gentle smile. "You saved my life, Tarrin," she told him calmly. "You did more than that, actually. I could feel Death coming for me, but you fought her off. You brought me back from the edge of death. I don't even know where to begin thanking you."
"We are friends, Miranda," he told her weakly, exerting what little strength he had to reach out with a paw and take her small hand. "If you haven't noticed, I'm very protective over my friends. You're all I have, and there's nothing I wouldn't do for you, or any of the others either."
She chuckled in her throat, smiling as she leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Be that as it may, I owe you a big one, Tarrin," she told him.
"I'm not keeping score, Miranda," he replied in a voice barely more than a whisper. Her form was becoming fuzzy, and he found it a sudden chore to keep his eyes open. "I'd do… anything… for a friend…"
And he surrendered to sleep, leaving whatever reply she had for him unheard.
Miranda stared down at his inert form for a long time, stroking back his tangled blond hair, pulling it out of his ear gently. The door opened, and Keritanima stood there. "Regrets?" she asked simply.
"No," Miranda replied. "I don't love him that way, Kerri. I'm just thinking about what friendship can really mean, that's all." She stroked his hair again. "I could feel it, Kerri. When he healed us, he touched us. I could look right into his soul. He healed me and Sisska, knowing that it was going to kill him. It would have killed him, if you hadn't stepped in and saved him. I feel unworthy."
"I think you're more than worthy, Miranda," Keritanima told her gently. "And so did he. If anything, you've been a good friend to both of us, and if he's taught me anything over these months, it's how important friends really are." She was quiet a moment. "What else did you see when you looked into him, Miranda?"
Miranda's eyes were a mystery. "A friend," she replied with a gentle smile.
Her name was Ariana, and everything about her was exotic.
Her wings absolutely dominated her entire appearance. They were very large, bird-like wings with white feathers, some of which were over two spans long. They folded nearly three spans over her head, and their tips brushed the wooden deck. Fully spread, those wings had to have a breadth of nearly twenty spans. She was very tall, seven spans in height, about Allia's height, thin, willowy, and maybe just a little bony. Or she would seem that way, if not for the fact that she was generously buxom and had the wide hips of a heartstopper. She was very sleek, athletic, and her visible corded muscles rippled whenever she moved. The most surprising of her musculature had to be her rock-hard, ripped abdominal muscles, but then again, powerful abdominals would be necessary for a flying being whose wings were attached so far forward. She would literally have to hold the rest of her body straight while flying, and that had developed exceptionally powerful muscles in her body.