That was getting to Kimmie, but there was an emotional toll as well. What happened to Jasana had hit her hard, made her rather fearful for her own baby, and it had hurt her to see the damage it had done to Tarrin. She knew exactly how he felt, and to a degree felt the same way herself. Jasana wasn't her daughter, but she did love the little girl, considered her a part of her immediate family. The grief of her abduction was only matched by her anger over it, and the need she felt to help Tarrin and Jesmind get their daughter back. She knew that they'd need to stay together now, in case the enemy decided that having two of Tarrin's children or mates was better than just one. They would gather together and probably have Triana with them to protect them, and they would not permit them to take another Were-cat.
She was exhausted. All of them had gathered together, including the ones from Ungardt, and Jenna told them what was happening. Keritanima immediately had something of a power struggle with Jenna, a confrontation that Jenna won; Keritanima was so used to giving orders that she probably didn't even realize she was infringing on Jenna's authority. But things did look hopeful. They needed to get a look at the army they were facing, but the simple idea that dragons may be fighting with them made any enemy numbers seem even to their own. The idea of gathering the army in small elements then having the gods themselves collect the pieces and then transport the entire mass to a surprise attack on the battlefield was a clever idea, one with a great deal of potential.
That had been the hardest thing about the meeting. The Goddess of the Sorcerers was there in person, sitting on a luxurious chair and letting the mortals make their plans, either answering questions or making suggestions from time to time. Kimmie had found herself staring at the figure more than once. It seemed too bizarre to be in the presence of a god! And she was such a beautiful one! Her very presence was overwhelming, as if her body couldn't contain all her mighty power, and her voice too seemed to echo and resonate in choral tones, as if no one voice could hold the power it contained. But her aura of power was a gentle one, and her smiles reassuring. Kimmie almost immediately understood why the Sorcerers informally referred to their Goddess as Mother. There was a nurturing quality about her, a feminine aire of protectiveness and kindness, that made her seem like the mother of them all, and she had felt quite safe sitting there in the Goddess' presence. And had been reluctant to leave it. Their Goddess was a gentle and loving goddess, and Kimmie felt a little jealous over it. The patron god of Wizards, the god of the original Wizard who had brought Arcane magic to Sennadar from his other dimension, was called Azur, and he had never once answered one of Kimmie's prayers. It seemed unfair that the Sorcerers would have a patron so intimately involved with her followers, while their own god was so terribly aloof and uncaring.
And when she'd thought that, the Goddess looked right into her eyes and gave her a loving smile. There was something in that smile, that look, almost like a look of invitation. Was the Goddess inviting her to cast off the worship of an uncaring god and accept her as her patron? She had to admit, being there in her presence, she was sorely tempted. Azur had never answered a prayer, had never seemed like a part of her life, and her worship of him was simply because he was the patron of her order. Because it was expected of her to be a subject of Azur. She even had his holy symbol, that of a human hand surrounded by an aura of flames, but she kept it in the bottom of her pack, where it rarely saw the light of day. But was it a real invitation? She'd never so much as seen any hint that Azur knew she was alive, but the thought of being rejected by the Goddess if she did try told her that Azur would definitely notice that. As long as she was a good little subject, he'd not care, but if she sought acceptance with another god, he'd probably be rather offended, and she would suffer his wrath.
Still, it was a rather intriguing idea. The Goddess of the Sorcerers was never known to have any worshippers outside the members of the order of which she was patroness. Would she accept Kimmie, even though she wasn't a Sorcerer? It was an idea to ponder.
But all those thoughts left her when she returned to her room, and found something waiting for her on a small table beside her bed. She noticed it immediately because Tarrin's scent was strong in the room, and it came from those objects. One was a black metal statuette, a sleek cat sitting on its haunches with its tail curled around its legs, an expression of truly feline indifference on its face. It was a lovely sculpture, very detailed and remarkably lifelike, with emeralds for eyes that seemed to glow in the light of the glowglobe hovering over the bed.
The second object was what looked like a piece of rope laid carefully around the statue, but as she got closer, she realized that it was Tarrin's braid. He had cut it off and left it in her room, carefully weaving the cut end with the braid's tip to form an unbroken circle.
Seeing that braid, knowing from experience what something like that meant, Kimmie immediately burst into tears and ran over to the table, kneeling before it and clutching the severed braid between trembling paws. She knew that he would never have left something like that, a piece of himself a magic-user could use against him, without a very good reason. And giving it to her, the mother of one of his children, told her his reason, even if she wasn't entirely sure how she knew what it meant.
Weeping into the braid, she cradled it and the cat statue to her breast, knowing that it was Tarrin's way of telling her goodbye.
And that he wasn't sure if he was coming back.
And so, without fanfare, without farewells, and without even any notice, Tarrin and Jesmind disappeared from the Tower of Six Spires after Tarrin retrieved a small book of lunar charts and astronomical observances from Phandebrass, made a few other arrangements, picked up Jesmind, and then he had Jenna Teleport them silently out of the Tower. The only ones who knew they'd left were Triana and Jenna, and neither mentioned anything to anyone until well into the next day
And a quiet, mourning Kimmie, who jealously guarded the precious gifts he had left to her, gifts that she did not reveal to any other living soul.
To: Title EoF
Chapter 13
It was cold.
Cold wasn't a very descriptive term, however. Freezing would have been better, or arctic, or brutal, but they all described the biting, knife-like cold of the coastal plains of Ungardt.
Tarrin and Jesmind loped to the east, leaving the city of Dusgaard behind during the dead of night, with only the light of the Skybands and the Red Moon to light their way, the colors casting stranges shadows on the crusted snow that was piled a span or more on the ground. The snow did little to slow them down, for Tarrin's height made a span of snow a pittance, and Jesmind followed in the trail he broke in the frozen snow. His feet, submerged in the snow most of the time, felt comparitavely warm compared to what he felt against his skin. Winters were cold in Ungardt, and coming out at night, the temperature was as far below the freezing point of water as it was above the freezing point in the midday desert. Biting cold sank its teeth into both of them, but it found that it could not gain purchase. Neither was properly dressed for the intense cold, but their Were-cat natures defended them from frostbite. Their regenerative abilities prevented their flesh from freezing by expending energy to keep them warm, and that would protect them for a short while. For Tarrin, it was a bit more. His strong connection to the Weave allowed its energy to flow through him just as if he were a strand, something that required no effort or energy on his part, and that energy produced heat. The same heat he had Transmuted his body to protect against now warded off the arctic chill, keeping him at a comfortable temperature.