"I remember that," Keritanima said. "The entire Weave shifted when he did that."
"It shifted because he was making it move with him," Dolanna replied. "Do you remember that, Tarrin?"
"I think so," he said, trying to pierce the veil resting over much of his memory or the episode. "Maybe."
"Do you think that you would remember how it was done?"
"I could do it again," he told her confidently. "I'd rather not, though."
"I do not want you to, dear one," she told him immediately. "The amount of energy it cost you to do it was staggering. I am still shocked that you did not tear the Weave in the attempt, and that you were not burned to ash within seconds. This is something I never want you to attempt alone again."
"I saw the scorchmarks," he said quietly, memory of the pain making his spine tingle. Up above, on the deck, were two blasted, charred marks that were perfect imprints of the bottoms of his own feet, right down the the texturing of his pads. Branded into the deck as a testament to what had occurred. "Was it really as bad as it looks?"
"Worse," Allia answered evenly. "You were all but on fire, brother."
"I don't really remember that."
"I think I'd be happy not to remember something like that," Dar noted.
"No doubt," Tarrin agreed.
"This is something that we will work on later, Tarrin," Dolanna said. "For now, you are too weak to attempt anything, and I am unsure as to how safe it would be to try. But I would very much like to see if there is a safe way, and that brings us to the real reason we are here."
"What is that?" he asked.
"I recall that the Tower never trained you in Circling," she announced. "You will learn this skill with us."
"What good will that do?"
"I did not see what happened when you interposed yourself on the Council's Circle, but I did hear about what happened. If you could circle with us, it may be possible for you to wield your power in a much safer manner, spreading it out among the five of us instead of shouldering the burden alone. There would still be danger, but it would take much longer for it to reach a critical point. In the interests of safety, we should practice and prepare for the possibility that we may have to defend this ship from marauders again."
Tarrin mulled it over, and he found her reasoning somewhat sound. When he had managed to hijack the circle of the Council, it did allow him to spread the burden of his power among them, allowing him to keep control of it much longer. He remembered that clearly. He even had the control necessary to let go of the Weave without having to sever himself and suffer a backlash. He didn't like the idea of putting his friends and sisters at risk, for he remembered clearly the effect he had on the Council after the circle was broken.
And he remembered what had broken the circle. The Cat had done it, rejecting the intimate mental communion that came when Sorcerers formed circles. Even if he was willing to learn, it was very possible that the Cat wouldn't permit him to form a stable link to the others. "There may be a problem, Dolanna," he told her.
"What with?"
"Your idea is good, but they didn't tell you why the circle broke up when I got dragged into it. The Cat rejected the link. It took the circling link to be a foreign entity and attacked it. If I hadn't released the Weave and dissolved the circle myself, the Cat would have broken in for me. I remember that. I'm not sure if I can circle."
"Yes, but you know the four of us intimately. There is a good chance that your trust in us will allow your instincts to accept our bonds."
"Well, I'm not sure, but we can try. If you're willing to accept the risks."
"I'm aware of the risk," Dar told him. "Dolanna explained it to us. I trust you, Tarrin."
That meant more to him than he could easily express. He gave Dar a sincerely grateful look, then nodded. "I know how my sisters will answer."
"If I was not prepared to face danger for my brother, I would not have the honor to call him so," Allia said bluntly.
"I'll do almost anything to further the cause of Sorcery, even if it wasn't my brother and sister doing the risking with me," Keritanima said with a toothy grin.
"Very well then, it is decided," Dolanna said dismissively. "To start, Tarrin, the key of a circle is communion. The Sorcerers join together, both their power and their minds, forming a cohesive will led by the designated Sorcerer commanding the circle. A circle cannot have more than seven, because too many minds in a circle cause the creation of a mass mind that dies when the circle is broken."
"That's not entirely true, Dolanna," he said absently. "Only seven of the same species can circle."
"Where did you hear this?" she asked quickly.
"I didn't. I remember it from when I joined the Council's circle. If you don't mind me sounding obvious, there were eight of us in it. It didn't form a mass mind because my mind isn't human. My different mind blocked it. I realized it when I dissolved the circle. I think that's one of the reasons why I had trouble holding it. If it had been seven other Were-cats, I don't think the Cat would have rejected the contact."
Keritanima gave him a strangled look, then she laughed. "I forgot all about that!" she admitted in a loud voice. "You even told me that!"
"Kerri forgot something?" Tarrin asked, giving her a smile. "Someone look out and see if the sea hasn't turned to glass."
"Well, maybe not forgot. Maybe more like misplaced," she said with a chuckle.
"The theory does have merit," Dolanna said after a moment of tapping her chin, obviously in deep thought. "A great deal of merit. The reason a mass mind forms is because of the presence of numerous minds linked together in the communion of the circle. It only stands to reason that a mind of a dissimilar nature would reject such a formation, and prevent the mass mind from forming. The different mind would insulate the other members of the circle, protecting them from the formation of a mass mind. After all, the mass mind cannot form unless all participants of the circle join with it. If one does not, then all do not. It is the very nature of a circle."
"What does that mean to us students?" Dar asked curiously.
"A circle is inclusive, Dar,"she explained. "It is like a school of fish, or herd of goats. Where one goes, all go, when one turns, all turn. But if one does not jump off a cliff, for example, then none will."
"Even if other goats go first?" he asked.
"It is an abstract concept," she reiterated. "Think of the herd being tied together with rope. If the one goat that does not jump is strong enough, it holds all the other goats up, preventing them from falling to the bottom."
"Oh," he sounded. "I think I get it. Even if all the other goats want to jump, they can't do it because the one goat that doesn't want to jump won't allow them to. Because they all have to go together."
"Pecisely," Dolanna agreed. "They must go together."
"So, if we had seven human Sorcerers aboard, we could conceivably make a circle as large as ten," Keritanima mused. "The seven humans and use three non-humans."
"Perhaps larger," Dolanna elaborated. "There are many ways to circle, young one. If the lead of a circle were to join to another circle, they could conceivably expand the total number to fifteen. Seven in the first, seven in the second, with the non-human mind between them to act as a buffer." She tapped her fingers on the bed. "It certainly makes sense. The old stories tell of the Ancients joining in circles numbering in the hundreds, to perform their mightiest magic. That was when the Sha'Kar lived. Non-humans, to buffer their circles and permit them to join in such large numbers."