"They're going to be alright."
"You speak to a Goddess?" Triana asked sharply.
"It's more like she speaks to me," he replied, leaning back in his pillow. Speaking so much was wearing him out. "She tasked me to find the Firestaff, so I guess she checks in from time to time to make sure things are going alright."
Triana gave him a penetrating look. "You? You're one of those fool Questers?"
"I do what my Goddess tells me to do," he said flintily, but the effort it required made him cough, and that sent a vicious rack of pain through him.
"Nothing wrong with that, cub, it's just not normal."
"Tarrin is not a normal person," Allia said in defense of her brother, giving Triana a direct look.
Triana stared at her, then she actually chuckled. "I'll give you that. Allia, go get some of that broth I had those cooks make. It's time to put some food in my cub. Then he can rest a while."
"Yes, Triana," Allia said obediently, then she leaned in and kissed Tarrin on the forehead before she scurried out.
"I'm sorry I missed that," he said with a wry smile.
"What?"
"You taming my sister," he told the Were-cat elder. "I didn't think it was possible."
"Allia isn't stupid enough to defy me, cub," she said with one of those blood-freezing stares. "Unlike some other people in this room."
"I guess it's just one of my rough edges," he retorted.
"One you're going to lose," she said, sitting down in the chair Allia vacated. "Although, I must admit, I found your defiance of me refreshing. Most people mewl at me like sheep. I'm not used to someone standing up to me." She reached down and took his paw, then put the pad of her palm on his forehead much like Allia had done. "I see you're recovering quickly. I hope to have you out of the bed by the end of the month. I think you'll be fully recovered in three."
"I hope I didn't scare anyone," he apologized.
"You scared all of us out of our wits," Dolanna told him with a smile. "But that you are getting better is all that matters."
"Sorry."
"Don't be sorry," Triana snorted. "Be happy I was close by. That reminds me. Faalken!" she called.
The door opened, and Faalken looked in. He gave Tarrin a quick look, then flashed him a grin that cried out his relief and elation that Tarrin was awake. "Tarrin!" he said happily. "Allia didn't tell me you were up. Feeling better?"
"Much," he replied with a weak smile.
"Faalken, go tell the innkeeper to check again."
"Yes, Triana," he said with a nod, then closed the door.
"Triana has usurped Faalken from me," Dolanna chuckled when Tarrin gave her a curious look.
"He's a good, solid man. And if you tell him I said that, I'll pull off your ears," Triana said with a strong warning look at Tarrin.
"Yes ma'am," he said in a tired voice.
"When the others get here, the Wikuni are going to be very sorry they hurt my cub," she said in a hot tone, her eyes flaring up a bit with that green radiance that marked his own when he was angry.
"Others?" Tarrin asked.
"Me and Jesmind aren't the only ones of our kind, cub," she chided. "I've called in some of the others. They're already on the way. And when they get here, there's going to be some payback."
Tarrin wasn't sure how to feel about that. He knew there were others, but he wasn't sure if he liked Were-cats running around and killing Wikuni. It was sure to start a war. It was a bit flattering to know that others would come at Triana's call and fight for him, though. It made him feel like he belonged. After all, he would do the same if Allia called him to come and help her clan against some enemy.
"Are you sure that's wise?" he asked. "Killing Wikuni won't make me better."
"But it'll make me feel better," she said fiercely. "Besides, there are other people here that have been trying to find where you are, men running around with silvered swords. When we're done, there won't be anyone left in either city that would dare lift a finger against you."
"Now those I don't mind," he sighed. "I've already had one run-in too many with them. Where is Dar?"
"Sleeping," Dolanna replied. "He stayed up most of the night to sit with you."
The door opened, and Allia entered carrying a bowl of steaming broth. The smell of it, the smell of chicken and herbs, made his mouth and stomach respond to it in a most urgent manner. His belly was completely empty, and he was starving.
Triana took it from her and set it in her lap, then picked up the wooden spoon that was sitting in the broth. "Alright. Dolanna, you and Allia go get some rest. Both of you are more like the walking dead. After my cub gets some broth, he's going to sleep some more. He can talk again later."
"We will see you later, Tarrin," Dolanna said gently, patting him on the forearm. "Be well."
"Sleep well, deshida," Allia added.
Triana paw-fed him. He felt a bit silly that she was doing so, but he was too weak to hold the spoon himself. The broth tasted heavenly, but had strange zingy tastes and aftertastes that he had never tasted before. He wondered if it was medicine put in the broth. The pain had subsided to a nagging throb that, with Allia's concentration technique, he could partially block out. But not all of it. It was just too much pain. Triana's eyes regarded him as she fed him, that same stony expression making whatever she was thinking or feeling a mystery. When the bowl was empty, she set it aside and took his paw, staring into his eyes. "How is the wound?" she asked gently.
"It hurts, but Allia taught me ways to deal with pain," he replied in a sated tone. The warmth of the broth in his stomach was radiating through him in the most curiously pleasant manner, washing over the pain in his chest, and it was making him drowsy.
"Well, that's good to know," she said with a gentle smile. He looked up at her, and realized that her concern was for more than a wayward cub. Triana had genuine affection for him. Perhaps his position and plight had tugged at Triana's heartstrings, her maternal need to nurture children. He was certainly nothing but a raw-boned child to her. And he found that he liked her back. He was deeply appreciative of her help, of her support, but the simple fact that she had some faith in him had touched him. "What?" she asked, noticing his strange stare and quirky, dreamy smile.
"I love you too, mother," he said hazily, then he closed his eyes.
There had to have been something in that broth, because he just couldn't stay awake any longer.
Triana gave the injured cub a startled look, then she chuckled ruefully. The herbs in the broth had been specially prepared to make him drowsy and to dull the pain, to help speed him to sleep. His Were-cat metabolism and regenerative powers would burn their effects out of his system in a matter of moments, but they would have served their purpose of putting him to sleep by then. As they had done.
This one was sharp. She smiled and pressed her paw against his cheek gently, tenderly. "Jesmind was right about you, cub," she said, the stony mask that hid her emotions melting away, showing the mother, the nurturing woman beneath. "You are something special."
In his entire life, he didn't think he would ever meet a woman as pushy and willful as Triana.
She was amazing. Her long years and powerful personality were weapons which she used mercilessly to bully everyone else into doing exactly what she expected them to do. For her, there was only one way. Her way. And she made sure everyone around her was adhering that that singular law.
And she was so intimidating! Her height was only part of it. It was those eyes. She would give someone that penetrating stare, and they would absolutely lose every ounce of their own willpower. That was all it took. Nobody challenged her, nobody objected to her bluntly ordered demands, and nobody dared sass her. She ruled the entire inn like an imperious queen, and nobody had the guts to gainsay her. That intimidation was why. It wasn't that she was powerful, or mean, it was that when she gave someone that look, it was like he could see his own inadequacy when compared to her towering ability. She made people feel that they didn't deserve to have the right to challenge her, and there could be no form of intimdation more effective than that.