After all, a world destroyed by their own hands could be rebuilt. The price in the lives of those who lived on that world would be staggering, maybe even insurmountable, but the world would survive. And that was all that mattered to them. The Elder Gods cared only for the world as a whole. The civilizations that lived on it and their accomplishments did not matter in the grand plan of things which was the Balance. The Elder Gods would grieve for their act, but they would still go through with it, because it was what had to be done.
You must be able to do what must be done. He had heard that so many times, and for the first time, he realized that he wasn't the only one in this mad game that had to live with that heavy rule.
He was shaken out of his sober reverie by a series of low growls coming over the howling wind outside, their pitch and timbre causing him to pick them out from the shrill whistle of the wind. Tarrin's instincts warned him immediately when he realized that it was an inu, and he rose up to block the fissure to protect Allia and Sarraya, who were chatting behind him. The owner of those growls stepped around a bend in the narrow, constricting cave, and Tarrin saw with some surprise that it was the inu he had healed. It had followed them! If that wasn't impressive enough, the fact that it could keep up with them was itself quite astonishing.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded irritably of the animal.
"What is it?" Allia asked, then she rose up and looked under his shoulder. "It followed us?" she asked in confusion.
"I guess it likes you, Tarrin," Sarraya laughed.
"What is it with you and these big animals, brother?" Allia asked lightly. "First Sapphire, and now an inu. What is about you that attracts them?"
"I think we'll have to leave him behind when he brings a kajat into camp, trailing along behind him like an energetic puppy," Sarraya sniggered.
The inu looked slightly embarassed, but didn't look away, its reptillian, amber eyes unwavering as they looked up at Tarrin.
"It lost its pack. I guess it thinks we're its new one," Allia mused.
"She," Tarrin corrected absently. "This one is female."
"Ah, now I see what it is," Sarraya said in a wicked manner. "First Sapphire, now this one. I never knew Were-cats were sexy to these warm-blooded reptiles."
"Don't ever let Sapphire hear you say that, bug," Tarrin warned in a flat tone. It wouldn't do to send her back out into the sandstorm. Tarrin blew out his breath. "Alright, but keep out of trouble," he told her imperiously.
Having a little trouble turning around in the very tight space, the inu turned and laid down in the fissure with her head facing outside, keeping watch on the entrance to their refuge.
"What are we going to do with her now?" Allia asked, looking at the inu.
"Nothing," he shrugged. "If she wants to follow, let her follow. We can't do anything about that."
The inu remained even after the sandstorm was over, and that irritated Tarrin just a little bit. He didn't want to be nasty to her, but he didn't like the idea of her following along behind him either. Not that it bothered him or he feared her, but if she followed them, she wouldn't hunt, and she was going to get weak. If she followed too long, she was going to get too weak to hunt once she did break off. Tarrin felt kind of responsible for her, but he knew the instant he fed her, he'd never get rid of her. And taking an adult inu home with him would cause Jesmind to absolutely explode. He went to sleep worrying over that, understanding that he'd have to run her off in the morning, for both the good of both of them.
It turned out that Allia totally destroyed any chance that they would ever get rid of the inu. When Tarrin woke up the next morning, he came out of the fissure to see his Selani sister feeding the inu a rather large umuni. She had a strange, bright look in her eyes, and she was stroking the animal's sand-colored flank gently, almost affectionately. The inu seemed to enjoy the attention, even sidled up against the Selani and growled in a playful manner, nuzzling at her side with her wickedly toothed snout.
Tarrin groaned. "Allia!" he admonished in expasperation. "Now she's going to follow us around all the time!"
"Let her," she said with a strange kind of enthusiasm. "Sarraya may have joked about it, but now the idea of taming inu intrigues me. They would be excellent hunting partners. Inu are swift and intelligent, and we respect their ability."
"What about the domestic flocks?"
"Some of those sheep-herding men use dogs to control their flocks," she shrugged. "Dogs are predators. It would just take some training on both sides to keep them from fighting."
"It's a bad idea," he warned.
"I'll find out in time, won't I?" she asked pointedly.
Tarrin blew out his breath. "Alright, have it your way," he said shortly.
"Naturally."
"Before you get too attached to idea, you should consider what we're going to do with her when we go up to the Cloud Spire."
"Take her with us, of course."
"Are you out of your mind?" he said hotly. "If I take an inu up there, they may throw us off!"
"They would throw you off if you took a kajat," she said calmly. "But not an inu. She's too small to be a danger, and you and Sarraya can explain things to her so she doesn't cause any problems." She patted the inu 's flank fondly as the big predator bent down and ripped the umuni carcass apart with her long, dangerous teeth, swallowing it in huge, bloody chunks as she held the remaining carcass down with her wickedly clawed foot.
This was an argument he knew he was destined to lose. He knew when to cut his losses and at least bow out with some measure of dignity. "All right, but I'm not going to help you in any way. She's your burden."
"Yes you will," she said absently. "You'll argue, and you may even try to put your foot down, but we both know in the end, I'm going to win." She flashed him a bright, affectionate smile. "Because you love me."
"Sometimes love really stinks," he said with a snort, turning and stalking away.
They didn't have to slow down much for their new pet. The inu that Allia named Talon could keep up with them rather well, a testament to her stamina and her will to keep up. Inu were born runners, but Tarrin hadn't realized how much like the Selani they were until he saw Talon and Allia together. They had the same basic survival instincts. Both inu and Selani were nomadic, going to where the food was, and that meant that both groups were used to travelling great distances. Inu were fast sprinters, but they were also effective distance runners, able to eat up the longspans with an easy stride that they could hold for hours on end. He realized that the Selani had probably learned from the inu when they first came to the desert, for the inu 's hunting tactics were similar to the Selani's. They used ambushing tactics, running down a meal in a furious sprint, and a pack cooperated during hunts meant to bring down more than one prey animal, with one group chasing meals to where the rest lay in wait. The Selani did the same thing, able to either run down lone prey or chase them into an ambush set up by the rest of the hunting party. The Selani had found the desert a harsh, forbidding place when they first arrived, so they probably turned to those who thrived here and learned the secrets of survival from them. Selani were alot like inu, and it was no surprise that someone had finally noticed that.
Talon herself surprised Tarrin a great deal. She was very intelligent, playful, and seemed quite happy to stay in their rather unusual pack. She seemed a formidable, intimidating predator to him, but at the same time she was affectionate and very social, and surprisingly gentle. It amused him that he realized that he'd done the same thing so many others do, only see the bad side in a thing. He'd judged the inu from a bad experience with a pack and their fearsome reputation, but hadn't once thought about how they lived. A pack of wolves seemed dangerous and forbidding, but wolves themselves were very social and intelligent animals, capable of great expressions of devotion and love to members of the pack. Inu were like wolves that way. They were ferocious, and they were dangerous, but they were also mothers and cub, mates and pack members. To members of the pack, they were cordial, even compassionate, dutiful and loyal, and protective. That, he realized, what was caused them to attack in what some thought was a suicidal manner. They weren't attacking mindlessly, it was a powerful instinct to defend the pack against a dangerous enemy. That instinct to defend caused them to be wildly aggressive, attacking even things like kajats, because the concept of pack lived on even if the entire pack was killed in the fight. Even the last surviving inu thought in terms of pack, as we instead of I, and would continue to fight on for the pack. It took the realization that the entire pack would die unless someone retreated to make them break off from an attack.