But the marching of time had reminded him that they were on a tight schedule. Finally growing tired of not having a way to keep track of the passing of time, Tarrin broke down and did something that he rather regretted doing. He remembered the gold pocketwatch that the rabbit Wikuni Jervis owned, a marvel of Tellurian design that made it keep accurate time despite its tiny size. Tarrin Summoned that watch, and then used Druidic magic to send back to the place where he'd stolen it a note explaining to Jervis how sorry he was for taking it, and a large, uncut, Created ruby that was worth about five times what he'd paid for the watch. Tarrin didn't mind Conjuring away from people things that they could easily replace, but taking something as treasured and priceless as Jervis' beloved watch was quite another matter. Unfortunately, since the watch was a manufactured thing, Tarrin couldn't Create one of his own; such a technological contraption was beyond the bounds of nature, and as such he wasn't about to experiment to see if he could indeed Create something like that. Stealing someone else's was much safer and easier, and at least Jervis would understand his desperate need for it.
Jervis' watch turned out to be the one thing he needed, because it not only told time, it also had a little dial on it that showed the White Moon, Domammon, travelling through its phases. It had little marks on the dial to denote days, and with that he could count how many days until Domammon was again full, which was when the conjunction would occur. By looking at the watch, he could see how many days he had left, and that was critical down in the tunnel, where he had no way to mark the passing of the days.
Now that he had a way to tell time, Tarrin fretted and grew more unsettled as the days passed. He was still no closer to solving his problem, and there were only twenty-eight days left. It would still take them about eighteen days to get out of the mountains, and he estimated five days to cross the tundra, so he only had five days of working time to come up with a solution. And he did not want to use up all that time. If they had an emergency, they may need an extra day or two to get everything settled and back on track. He did not relish the idea of burning up all his time here and now and end up being behind after something happened to delay them.
Being late was not an option.
Jesmind shared his impatience. The time alone had allowed them to become close again, but they both shared the desperation of needing to recover their daughter. He was just as impatient as she was, but he understood that this was not the time to rush off without being prepared and without a plan. They had spent several hours talking about Jasana, and though the speaking of her hurt both of them and made them both want to fly over to the pyramid on the back of an Elemental and tear the place apart until they found her, he constantly reminded her just who had their daughter. But it was still hard. Every time he was with her, all either of them could think about was the fact that their daughter was not there with them. Even in the intense throes of passion, the emptiness that their daughter had once filled was like a hole in each of them, taking much of the joy and pleasure out of it. It was hard to find joy or happiness without Jasana, but they both tried, intentionally tried to distract themselves from the fact that their daughter had been stolen from them. They knew that they couldn't succumb to depression, or what was worse, couldn't surrender to their anger. So they went through the motions of being mates, even engaged in lovemaking, trying to keep their grief and fury from overwhelming them, and in that overwhelming commit a grievous error that would lose their daughter to them forever.
It was hard for Were-cats to keep such control of themselves, but both of them somehow found a way. Tarrin was utterly focused on their little problem, and spent every waking moment not engaged with his mate searching for a solution. Jesmind had little to do in the hot spring, but she tried to keep busy. Tarrin had Conjured her a great deal of material, and she passed her time fashioning large white cloaks for both of them to wear, cloaks that would blend in with the color of the snow and make them very hard to spot. Jesmind had a surprising number of hidden talents and skills, and her ability to sew was probably one of the most surprising. She had to take on human hands to do it, but Jesmind's knack for holding the human shape-or parts of it-for extended periods of time was still a matter of pride for her. Not even Tarrin and Triana could match Jesmind in her endurance for withstanding the discomfort for taking on the human form. She had learned it because she wanted to learn how to play the lute, but it served her well in many hobbies and skills that she had learned from the humans that necessitated the smaller, more agile human hands. Because she could tolerate it so well, her fingers remained supple and agile long after the pain stiffened the fingers of other Were-cats, so she could enjoy her hobbies for much longer than any other Were-cat could practice them. Because of that, Jesmind was much better at such things than any other Were-cat, and she had often been asked to sew garments or make things for others.
"Tarrin," she called, nudging his shoulder.
He opened his eyes, and found himself looking at her thighs, right where her white fur ended and her skin began. She didn't have any pants on, and that fact caused his eyes to immediately drift up to certain parts of her that most human women struggled mightily to conceal.
"Ogle me later, love," she said seriously. "It's back, and it wants in."
It was proof that the caves were not devoid of animal life. It was a strange, curious thing, looking like some kind of gigantic lobster. It was about ten spans long, its armored shell grayish brown, and had wicked, powerful claws like a lobster, as well as ten armored legs and long, whip-like antennae. The animal had no eyes, or at least none that Tarrin and Jesmind could find. It had shown up the day after Tarrin raised the Ward blocking the entrance, but Tarrin had lowered the Ward for the animal after talking to it and finding out that it came here to both get water and feed on the moss-like plants that grew on the walls and cast the reddish light in the chamber. Tarrin would not deny the animal its right to graze, and it promised not to bother the Were-cats or disturb their things in exchange for right of passage in the hot spring. It told Tarrin that there were carnivores in the cave system, so Tarrin didn't lower his Wards. He would let the lobster animal in, let it graze and water, then let it out again once it was ready to go.
"Alright," he said, looking towards the opening that led to the passage beyond. It was there, alright, a huge armored monstrosity waiting patiently for Tarrin to permit it entry. Though it was ugly, Tarrin rather liked the big brute. It was surprisingly intelligent, and had exquisite manners. Jesmind kept wanting to throw it in one of the boiling springs and cook it-she adored seafood-but he had to remind her again and again that a Druid just didn't do such a thing. As Triana had said about talking to animals, it was very bad form to talk to an animal, then turn around and eat it. As soon as he opened communications with the animal, it was his word and bond that he would do it no harm. The fact that the big lobster-creature was an armored juggernaut and had no fear of predators was why it was so polite and willing to engage the obvious carnivore in conversation. This beast was on the top of the food chain, too large for any normal cave predator to kill without seriously risking its own life. Those huge pincers could tear through solid rock; in fact, it used them to burrow into the rock to make dens and widen constricting chokepoints to gain entry to the tunnels beyond them. It too engaged in the occasional hunt, being omnivorous, but tended to prefer the blind cave fish found in some of the larger underground lakes over hunting down other landwalkers.