"To talk," she said mildly. He continued to glare at her, and she blew out her breath in exasperation. "By the moons, cub, if I wanted to fight, do you think I would have given myself away?"
"Don't call me that," he said, sheathing his claws.
"It's what you are," she said. "Sit down."
"I don't have-"
"I said sit!" she commanded in an imperious tone. Tarrin found himself obeying it before he even thought about what he was doing. "That's better," she said in a calm tone, sitting down on the stone bench beside him. Her scent was carefully neutral. She was keeping herself tightly under control, he could tell. She wasn't about to give anything away. "Now then, we have to talk."
"About what?" he asked gruffly.
"Put away the attitude, cub," she said frostily. "I see no reason why you can't be civil."
"Maybe because you're trying to kill me?"
"Let's not quibble over details," she said quickly. "I'm, leaving, Tarrin," she said quietly. "So consider yourself free. At least for now."
"What's wrong?"
"Do you really care?" she asked sharply. "I have to return to my den. I don't have any choice. But the offer stands still, my cub. Come with me, and we won't have any trouble."
"You know I can't do that," he said bluntly. "I'm even more dangerous to you now than I was a month ago. If the Sorcerers don't teach me how to control my power, I'll end up killing both of us by accident. I won't put you in that kind of risk." He glanced at her. "It's not that I don't want to," he added. "But this is something that I have to do."
"Why?" she demanded suddenly. "My mother is a Druid, Tarrin. She can teach you about magic."
"She could teach me about Druidic magic, but not Sorcery," he replied calmly. "It's oil and water, Jesmind. It won't do me any good."
"You!" she flared. "You you you! What about me? Do you have any idea how much I hate having to do what I do? I like you, Tarrin. A lot. But you make me-"
"Make you what?" he countered. "Where did you ever say that things had to be now? I told you once before that if you would just wait, I'd be happy to go with you. This isn't about me, woman! This is about making sure I don't accidentally barbecue the both of us one day!"
"You have no idea what you're talking about!" she snapped. "My mother can control your power until you learn how to control it yourself! I know you need training, but my mother can help you! You don't have to be here!"
"There, you see?" he said, standing up. "You never told me that before."
"That's because you never gave me a chance!" she challenged, standing to face him. "If you were such a pig-faced stubborn mule-headed lump of dirt, you'd have given me a chance!"
"You never listened! You didn't care about what I needed, just what you wanted!"
"What I wanted? I did what I had to do! If you would have gone mad, it would have destroyed the reputation of our kind! We have laws, Tarrin! I was doing what I had to do!"
"You knew I was a Sorcerer, woman! You should have laid it out at the beginning! But no, you had to play your little game-"
"And you lied to me!" she said in sudden fury. "I still want to wring your little neck for that!"
"You can try any time you feel like it," he hissed, his eyes narrowing.
"Don't tempt me, boy," she snapped. "You may be bigger than me, but you know I can kick your tail all over this garden."
With an animal growl in his throat, he hunkered down into his slouch-like stalking stance, claws out and paws wide. "Bring it on," he said in a low hiss.
Jesmind's eyes flared from within with that unholy greenish radiance, and her claws slid out of their sheaths. "Don't push me, cub," she growled. "I'll kill you right here and now."
"Children," Keritanima's calm voice called from right beside them. The little fox Wikuni stepped slowly and ever-so-calmly between them, and she put one hand on Tarrin's chest and the other hand on Jesmind's shoulder. "This is no place to play. If you want to kill each other, go out onto the training field. I don't want your blood sprayed all over the flowers." She gave Tarrin a look, a look of such calm confidence, her amber eyes so clear and penetrating, that it made him blink. She turned that level gaze on Jesmind, and the Were-cat female gave the small, slight, slender little Wikuni a startled look. Keritanima wasn't that large, but she was a princess, and she knew how to exert her authority. She used that authority like a club, beating both Were-cats over the head with it until they obeyed her. "Now then, can the two of you ever talk to each other without using death threats?" she continued in that same calm, level voice that all but vibrated with power.
"She started it," Tarrin said lamely.
Keritanima grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and jerked him down to her level. "If you get yourself killed because you don't know how to keep your claws in their sheaths, I'll never forgive you," she hissed at him. "Now you will stop acting like a barkat with its tail cut off." Jesmind laughed, but the little Wikuni grabbed her shirt and yanked her down too. "And you will learn that not everyone obeys your every wish and whim," she told her in a low voice. "If you want to talk to him, you will do it politely, and you will respect Tarrin's decisions. Do I make myself abundantly clear?"
"Who are you, little doormouse?" Jesmind asked in obvious shock. "Do you have any idea how close you are to dying?"
"Death is feared by the weak," Keritanima said in a voice that made Jesmind gape. "Do you fear death, Were-cat?"
Jesmind had no answer to that.
"That's what I thought," she said, letting the Were-cats go. "Now, if you're going to talk, talk. But you're not going to fight. The first one that starts provoking the other will answer to me."
And then she walked away, leaving both Were-cats to stare at her in total shock. They stared at where she walked around a hedge for several moments, then Jesmind laughed ruefully. "I think we were just spanked," she said. "Who is that little mouse? She acts like my mother."
"That is a friend of mine," Tarrin said dubiously. He'd never been, manhandled like that before. He didn't quite know how to take it. A little slip of a girl that he could put over his knee and spank had just done the very same thing to him. Figuratively speaking, of course. Part of Tarrin objected violently to that thought, but the Cat had instantly recognized the raw power which the Wikuni princess was bringing to bear against them, and had instantly submitted to her.
"I guess we could try again. Just without bloodshed this time. The trees only know, I'd rather not find out what she'll do to us if we misbehave." She reached out and put a paw on Tarrin's shoulder. He recoiled from that touch immediately, which surprised her. "What's the matter?" she asked in confusion.
"Just don't touch me," he said defensively.
She gave him a curious look, then reached out again. He flinched away before she could reach him, but then she struck like a viper, grabbing him by the shoulder. She grabbed his other shoulder and made him look into her eyes, and when he met her gaze, her eyes widened in surprise. "Look at me," she ordered when he looked away. He met her gaze unwillingly, his eyes betraying his fear.
"I'm not going to hurt you, my cub," she said soothingly. "But I can see, you've been hurt. Hurt too much for someone so young. You're almost feral. No wonder you seem so violent. I thought it was the Cat doing it to you, but it's not, is it?" She didn't wait for an answer. "You trust the Selani, don't you? And the little mouse?"