d the pain of disconnection was almost intolerable.  His body was trembling from the lightning-fast wave of pain the rushed through it, as if some intangible being had flown through his body.  Panting, he put his paws on the table to brace himself, letting the trembling cease and the memory of the pain dim.
	"Alright, Tarrin, try it again," the Keeper said.
	"No," he snapped.  "I felt you try twice, and you couldn't stop it.  If you didn't know, that hurts.  I'm not going to torture myself just so you can study me."  He felt the Cat rise in his mind, and a sudden irrational fear began to choke off his reasoning.  He had no idea where it came from, but it was incredibly powerful.  It was all he could do to stop himself from jumping off the table.
	"Tarrin, you have to trust us," the Keeper said in a reasoning tone.  "We can't help you until we have a complete understanding of what's wrong.  If you let us try again, we could succeed this time."  He felt them all join into a circle, and the Keeper's body almost began to glow in a white aura to his eyes.  She was the lead of the circle.  How he knew that, he had no idea.  "Now, one more time," she said.  "Try it again."
	That they joined in a circle meant something.  Perhaps joined, they could control the power.  Tarrin pushed that irrational fear away enough to get a center on himself, then reached out and touched the Weave.
	Almost instantly, he was overwhelmed by power.  There was more of it, and it came faster and harder than it did before.  Thought disintigrated before that tidal wave of power, and only sensation told him that something was trying to stop the energy.  But again, to no avail.  The incoming power simply flowed around the attempt to block it, overwhelming it, pulling it into him.
	And in the instant it was carried into him, Tarrin was forcibly joined to their circle.
	He felt an expansion of consciousness as his own power and even his mind reached out and made a connection to a greater whole.  The Group Consciousness of a circle.  And in that fleeting moment, he understood several fundamental truths.  Sorcerers could join in circles no larger than seven, for an eighth member with a similarly structured mind created a permanent group consciousness, a mass mind that existed independent of the bodies of the Sorcerers involved, an amalgamation of the personalities of the victims.  And when the circle was broken, the mass mind faded away, leaving the linked Sorcerers nothing but empty shells.
	But that mass mind was formed because of the similarities between the minds of those forming the circle.  Seven humans, who thought in similar ways, could form a safe circle, but eight would push the similarities over that intangible border, and create a permanent mass mind.  Tarrin was not human, and because of that, human weaves of mind couldn't affect him.  The human mind could not comprehend the way his mind worked, and thus could not affect his thoughts.  But Tarrin's dissimilar mind joined to a circle of seven and made it eight.
	And the dissimilarity of his mind prevented the formation of a permanent mass mind.
	In that glimmer, he understood why the Ancients could do what legends said they could do.  The Sha'Kar had been living then, and the Sha'Kar were not human.  The Ancients could safely join into circles larger than seven.  He wasn't sure of how the actual mechanics of it worked, but it was now obvious that the Ancients could join into circles of at least eight.  And who knew what limit the Ancients truly had?  Perhaps they could form circles with a specific arrangement that allowed even a hundred Sorcerers to combine their powers into one massive effort.  A circle of a hundred Sorcerers with the power of the Ancients could move mountains.  That was how they earned their reputation.
	In joining into the circle, Tarrin had wrested control of it away from the Keeper.  He felt the power flooding into him dissipate into the other seven, reducing the burden it was placing on his body, returning rational thought into his mind.  He had never been in a circle before, and the sudden intrusion of the alien minds into his consciousness caused the Cat to instantly and savagely react, pushing the unknown thoughts away with such force that it disrupted the tenuous bonds that kept them linked in a circle.
	Instead of a violent tearing away from the Weave, Tarrin simply let it go.  But the backlash he had suffered the first time was now placed fully on the Council, as the power inside them evaporated like smoke and caused that shockwave of pain.  The Keeper almost fell over backwards in her chair, and the little blond Water Seat fainted dead away.  The remaining six all had looks of agony on their faces, which passed quickly into holding their heads in pain.
	"What just happened?" Ahiriya groaned.
	"Tarrin somehow got into the circle," the burly Earth Seat managed to say. "His Were-cat mind disrupted it.  And a good thing too, else we would all be dead."
	He hadn't understood it the way Tarrin had, he realized.  How could they miss it?  It was so obvious.  But Tarrin said nothing.  The less they knew, the better it would be for him.
	"Why do I hurt?" Koran Dar said in a voice not too much like a sailor with a hangover.
	"I think we're feeling the backlash Tarrin felt the first time," Amelyn said groggily.  "With us linked to him, he pushed it onto us.  Goddess, Tarrin, if this is what you felt, then I won't ask you to do it again."
	That earned a bit of respect in his mind.  His opinion of Amelyn had just improved by several degrees.
	"We can't try that again until we research how it happened," the Keeper grunted, rubbing her temple.  "Tarrin, what did you feel?"
	"I'm not sure," he replied.  "There was the rush, then I felt something connect to me, and then my instincts attacked it as an invader," he replied.  "I didn't suffer a backlash this time."
	"That's because we suffered it for you," the Keeper grunted.  "But I have to agree with Amelyn.  If this is what you feel, then we can't ask you to keep doing it.  We'll go speak with the Lorefinders and see if there's a less painful way for you to try to get a grip on your power."
	"I appreciate that, Keeper," he said calmly.  He knew that the only reason she said that was because now she was at risk to suffer his pain.  Him suffering was just fine, until she had to share in his agony.  Then it was unacceptable.  "May I go now?  I don't think we'll be doing anything else."
	"No, I think not.  Go on.  Just get some rest, there's no telling how that backlash will affect you."
	"Thank you," he said calmly, getting down from the table, and leaving without a word.
	That had been important, in more ways than one.  Tarrin had received a hint of the ancient secrets, lost to the katzh-dashi since the Breaking.  The true secret of the Ancients' power had been partially revealed.
	And the Council had completely missed it.  Then again, Tarrin had the feeling that in that instant, he was the only one of them that was coherent, so he alone could understand the forces at work on all eight of them.
	He had to talk this out with Keritanima.  The Wikuni's intellect and ability to reason were needed.

	What Tarrin got was both Keritanima and Dar.  When it was time for all the other Initiates to get out of class, Tarrin wandered over to Keritanima's room, and found her in the company of Dar.  They were sitting in her room at the table, chatting idly while playing a game called chess.  It was a Wikuni game that had become popular in the western kingdoms, because it required even more strategy than stones, and the lead-cast figurines used to play the game were easy to make.  Miranda was sitting sedately on the bed, working on some embroidery, and Sisska and Binter stood vigil beside the door, protecting the Royal person.  Tarrin nodded to Binter and Sisska as he entered, and Miranda flashed him a cheeky smile, unleashing her undenyable cuteness upon him.  She was sitting with her long, very bushy tail curled up around her ankles, to keep the luxuriantly furred appendage out from underfoot.  Her tail was the same yellow color as her hair, something of an oddity among Wikuni.  Usually, a Wikuni with fur had colorings that matched their brother or sister animal.  Keritanima was a perfect example, for her fur perfectly matched the distinct patterns of a fox, even down to her ears, hands and feet, and tail.  Miranda's tail should have been white, like her fur, but it was instead yellow, the color of her hair.
	Tarrin noticed absently that Dar was the only one in the room that didn't have a tail.
	"Hullo, Tarrin," Keritanima said without looking up.  Like him, her nose was very sharp.  She reached down and made a move, and Dar winced.
	"Ouch," he said.  "I was hoping you wouldn't see that."
	"Dream on, Dar," she teased with a wolfish smile.  "Want to give up now, or are going to go through the futile motions of trying to dig yourself out?"
	Dar laughed.  "I'll quit while I'm behind," he decided, setting one of the pieces on its side.  Tarrin had no idea what significance that move had, because he didn't play the game.
	"It's refreshing to find a human that knows how to play a real game," Keritanima told him.  "Want to lose again?"
	Dar laughed.  "No, not right now," he said.  "Judging by the look on Tarrin's face, he wants to talk to one of us."
	Keritanima glanced at him, her penetrating amber eyes taking in everything at once.  "Me," she said calmly, her voice losing its vapid demeanor instantly.  "Would you mind excusing us for a while, Dar?"
	Dar gave Keritanima a curious look, and nodded.  "I'll see you at dinner?"
	"Sure," she replied.  "Save me a seat."
	Dar patted Tarrin on the shoulder as he passed by, and then was let out by Sisska.  "You're getting cozy with him," he noted after Sisska shut the door.
	"I like him.  Both of us do, for that matter," she shrugged.  "He's impossible to not like.  I've never met anyone quite like him."
	"He had the same effect on me," he replied.  "I think that's why they made him my roommate."
	"It's possible.  Something's on your mind, Tarrin.  Why don't you just get it off you chest now?"
	"Why don't we go take a walk," he said, giving Binter and Sisska a fleeting look.
	"They know about me, Tarrin," she assured him.  "They've been my guards for three years, and their honor forbids them from revealing the truth about me.  Isn't that right, Binter?"
	"It is so, your Highness," he said calmly.  "We have both sworn ourselves to secrecy.  Death Herself could not make us reveal what we know to those who do not."
	And that answered that suspicion.
	Tarrin sat down on the bed beside Miranda and began to relate what had happened in the Chambers of Seven in a calm, analytical voice.  "I have no idea how I know some of it," he grunted after explaining what he felt when he joined their circle.  "I've never really been taught anything about circles.  Just what Dolanna's said in passing.  I knew that they couldn't go over seven, but I never asked why."
	"Lula hasn't really gotten into circles either," Keritanima said.  "I think that's something they teach after the individual instruction is complete.  Lula said they'd be reforming a class again soon.  Maybe even in a couple of days.  Lula likes me.  Maybe I could get her to teach me a bit about circles tomorrow."
	"That may help, but what about the conclusion?  Could we form a circle larger than seven, as long as there's a mind of another race present?"
	"It certainly seems logical," Keritanima said after a moment.  "Mind weaves don't affect members of other races, because of a dissimilarity in the way different races think.  It only stands to reason that if circles are limited by a similarity in the thought processes of the Sorcerers that make them, then Sorcerers with different thought processes could expand that limit.  By only themselves, at the very least, or perhaps they can act as a buffer between two smaller circles, letting two circles join into one through them."
	"I never thought of that," Tarrin said, thinking about it.  Who was to say that the lead of a circle couldn't turn around and join another circle?
	"But I think that you're right, brother," she said.  "There's a good chance that you may be onto something.  Too bad we can't really take advantage of it.  There are only three of us.  Four, if you count Dolanna.  Actually five, if we let Dar into our little group.  And Dar hasn't yet managed to touch the Weave."
	"There may be something we can use, Kerri," Tarrin told her.  "When I got swept up into the Council's circle, the stress put on me suddenly lifted.  I was still being flooded, but I could almost control it.  I shunted most of what I couldn't control onto the Council, and that left me coherent enough to understand a few things before the circle was broken."
	"What broke the circle?"
	"I did," he said.  "The Cat in me doesn't like the sensation of joining consciousness.  It attacked the circle's bonds as soon as they formed, and it broke them before I could really get a handle on what was going on.  I think it was an instinctive reaction.  With some practice, maybe that part of me could accept a circle."
	"We're not going to experiment, Tarrin," she warned.  "I have a fondness for my own tail."
	"I'm not asking you to, sister," he assured her.  "But you're the smartest of us.  If anyone could think up a way we could use this information, it's you."
	"Not without a better understanding of the subject," she said emphatically.  "Maybe a visit to the library is in order.  They have to have a couple of books on circles there."
	"That's always an idea," Tarrin agreed.  "But that'll have to wait."
	She nodded.  "We have bigger whales to hunt tonight."
	"I'll take care of it, Princess," Miranda said demurely.  "I know where the library is.  I'll find the books you'll need."
	"Thank you, Miranda," Keritanima told her sincerely.  "You're too good to me."
	"Someone has to be, Princess," she said with a disarming smile.  Tarrin glanced at Miranda, and he caught a very slight little smile.
	"Be careful, Miranda.  You don't have appearances on your side here."
	"What does that mean?"
	"My younger sister, Jenawalani, she's a mink too," Keritanima told him.  "That let Miranda get through the palace at home a little easier.  They look nothing alike, but from a distance, it's hard to tell them apart."
	"My tail is longer than Princess Jenawalani's, and her coloring is more gray than white," Miranda told Tarrin calmly.  "And she's shorter than I am."
	"And she's ugly, where Miranda always has the eyes of the young men," Keritanima said, which made Miranda's cheek fur ruffle slightly.  A Wikuni version of a blush.  "Sisska, be a dear and escort Miranda tonight.  She's starting to attract attention, and the rather unpleasant deaths of few of my spies means that I have to start protecting the important people."
	"It will be as you command, Princess," Sisska said in a deep, rumbling voice.  A voice that was not even remotely female.  Now that he looked at them, he couldn't easily tell Binter and Sisska apart by anything other than scent.  Binter's crest was larger than Sisska's, and she was shorter than him, but they weren't very apparent distinctions.  They were equally muscular, and there were no real physiological differences between their genders.  No, Sisska was a bit slimmer than Binter, but she was still awesomely muscled.
	"Deaths?  You mean there were more?" Tarrin asked.
	Keritanima nodded.  "Three," she replied.  "All of them were my spies at court.  Someone's trying to undermine my operation, and now I'm not so certain that it's Jervis.  Ahiriya has her own people, and I have the feeling that it's her."
	"How can you tell?"
	"Because wanton killing isn't Jervis' style," she replied.  "He prefers to buy off enemy spies and turn them into double agents, because he has such a large budget to work with.  Ahiriya is reputed to have a heavy hand.  Eliminating the opposition is more in line with her way of doing things.  It also makes sense.  Jervis doesn't care what I know, because it's not his job to keep me in the dark.  He's just here to keep an eye on me, and use his information network to search out and remove threats to my safety.  In that respect, Jervis works for me.  But Ahiriya has a very real need to keep Miranda from finding out what's going on, and then taking steps to protect me, or passing that information on to Jervis.  Right now, Ahiriya is probably doing everything she can to disrupt both my and Jervis' operations, because they both represent a threat to the interests of the Tower.  I don't doubt that a few of Jervis' men have also turned up dead.  I'm waiting for him to get his daily reports, so I can confirm that."
	"Sometimes you scare me, Kerri," Tarrin told her.
	"Why?"
	"It's almost frightening, how smart you are."
	She gave him a shy smile.  "I'm glad someone appreciates me," she told him.
	There was a knock at the door, and Binter opened it to reveal Allia.  "I am sorry I am late," she said in the common tongue, scurrying in.  "Alloran would not let me leave until I master multi-flow weaving.  I am exhausted."
	"It's not easy, is it?" Keritanima asked in Selani.
	"Not remotely," Allia agreed.  She sat down on the other side of Miranda, who put aside her embroidery and began to listen to them attentatively.  Like Tarrin, Allia accepted Miranda and the Vendari without question.  They trusted Keritanima's judgement.
	"Miranda, I need the plans," Keritanima told her.
	"Yes, your Highness," she said calmly, standing up and retreating to the communal closet linking Keritanima's room with hers.  She returned as Keritanima moved over to the bed, and helped the fox Wikuni spread them out.  On the large rolled parchment were detailed plans of the T shaped building known as the Hammer Cathedral.  The hammer and scales were the symbol of Karas, and they had built their main cathredral in that shape and places a huge sculpture of a set of scales at the head of it to honor the god.
	"Alright, this is our target," Keritanima said in a brusque, businesslike manner.  "There are three rooms that we'll have to check out.  Here, here, and here," she said, pointing to rooms within the "heads" of the hammer shape.  "These two are linked by this secret passage, but we'll have to cross the cathedral's open passages to get to this one.  We'll enter through this servant's door here," she said, pointing to a door in the left branch.  "We should be able to reach the secret passage that links to this room easily and without attracting attention.  We'll check out these two rooms, then go through these secret tunnels so that we have the smallest amount of open area to cross," she explained, tracing her clawed finger along a series of dashed marks that ran through the cathedral's walls.  "That will put us in the third chamber without putting ourselves at too much risk.  After we're done, we leave through this servant's entrance," she concluded, pointing to a door that mirrored the one through which they wound enter.  "Tarrin will carry our loot.  I'll take point, and Allia will bring up the rear.  We'll use your little trick to get over the fence, Tarrin, but Binter will be there when we return to help us get our loot onto the grounds quickly."
	"You think you can manage landing after I get you over the fence?" Tarrin asked.
	"I'm not a china doll, Tarrin," she said with a teasing smile.  "I may look like a little slip of a girl, but I know how to land after falling some distance.  Trust me.  I'll be fine."
	"I have worked with her on the field, Tarrin.  She is capable," Allia assured him.  "She is much stronger than she appears."
	"Why thank you, Allia," Keritanima said to her with a grin.  "We'll leave on the first bell after sunset.  Dress in clothes suitable for sneaking around."
	"That's it?" Tarrin asked.  "That's the plan?"
	"That's the plan."
	"I thought it would be more complicated."
	"The simpler a plan is, brother, the easier it is for it to succeed," she told him patiently.  "Our only real danger is getting caught out in the open in the cathedral.  For something like a simple break-in and theft, I hope things will go smoothly and easily.  They have priests and acolytes up and moving at all times, so we'll get our share of excitement."  She looked at Miranda.  "Did you pack my skulking clothes?"
	"I'll have them ready for you, Highness," she assured her.  "I've also got the sacks you asked for.  They're in my clothes chest."
	"What would I ever do without you, Miranda?"
	"Let's hope you never have to find out," the mink said in a lilting voice, a gentle smile on her face.
	"Indeed," Keritanima agreed with a toothy grin.  "Alright,  we'll meet on the Knight's field on the first bell after sunset," she told them.
	"I'll be there," Tarrin assured her.
	"As will I."
	"Pray to your Goddess, Tarrin," Keritanima told him.  "We may need her help before all is said and done."
	"I thought you said this would be easy."
	"I said I hope it will be easy.  I'm a cynic, brother dear.  I'm sure something will come along and ruin my elegant little plan.  It's best to be ready for it now, than scrambling to cover it when it happens."
	"Things should go well," Miranda assured them.  "It's such a simple plan that it can't help but to succeed.  I'll have the books you want here when you return, Highness."
	"Is everything ready for us?"
	She nodded.  "The tents you asked for are where you wanted them to be in the maze.  I had some trouble getting the waterproof chests in there without arousing suspicion, but they're waiting for you as well."
	"What do we need those for?" Tarrin asked.
	"We have to put this stuff somewhere, Tarrin," she replied.  "We can't very well just stick in our rooms.  Nobody ever goes into the courtyard, and nobody will disturb it if we hide our booty in there.  Put it in waterproof containers and throw some good waterproof canvas over it, and it'll be just fine.  A good thief is as ready to dispose of his loot as she is ready to get it.  The longer you hold stolen goods, the better chance others have of pinning the crime to you."
	"That makes sense, I suppose," Tarrin said dubiously, noticing the bright, eager look in Keritanima's amber eyes.  She liked stealing things.
	"Trust me.  I've done this before."
	"That's what scares me."
	"You," she said, slapping him on the forearm.
	"Is she like this at home, Miranda?" Tarrin asked the mink curiously.
	"No," she replied.  "She's worse."
	"Miranda!"
	"It's the truth, Highness," she shrugged.  "You don't have to do all the things you do.  I can do it, or find someone to do it for you.  You just enjoy the game."
	Keritanima gave Miranda a withering look, then she laughed ruefully.  "Alright, alright, I do like being a sneak.  It's much more entertaining than listening to my father's teachers rant about history and etiquette, and it keeps me ready for Jenawalani and Veranika's assassins."  She looked to her maid again.  "Do you have my diversion ready?"
	Miranda nodded.  "They'll never know you left, your Highness," she assured her, scratching her little pink button nose absently.
	"What diversion?"
	"Oh, just a squad of Royal Marines getting into a very nasty brawl," Keritanima said with an evil smile.  "They'll provide us with a good ten minutes to get out of here unseen."
	"You're scaring me, Kerri," Tarrin said.
	"What?"
	"Is there anything you can't arrange?"
	Keritanima laughed.  "I couldn't get the Keeper married," she said with a wolfish smile.  "So I guess there are some things that I can't manage."
	"All in all, deshida, I prefer her having the skills," Allia said with a slight smile.  "She makes it much easier for us."
	"True enough," Tarrin agreed.  "I think I want to get something to eat before we go."
	"Dar is waiting for us anyway," Keritanima shrugged.  "Let's go eat.  We have a long night ahead of us."
	Miranda halted Tarrin as he left behind his two sisters, and he stopped to see what she wanted.  "Watch her," she said in a low voice.  "She sometimes loses her head on these little excursions.  She can be too impulsive.  Keep her focused on the plan."
	"I will," he promised.  "Why don't you come with us and eat?  There's always room for one more."
	"Maybe next time," she said with a cheeky smile, a smile that enhanced her almost insufferable cuteness.  "I have some errands to run."
	"Well, alright.  Hope they go well."
	"Oh, they will," she said with a smile, letting Tarrin leave the room.  She looked to Binter and Sisska, and they all traded a calm, knowing look.  Binter moved with surprising quiet as he moved to shadow the Princess, keeping an eye on her, and Sisska closed the door behind him.  "We have much to do, Sisska," she said in a calm, businesslike tone.
	"Much," the Vendari agreed.  "Her Highness needs us, and we must help as we can."
	Miranda sighed.  Keritanima would not be happy about this.  "Do me a favor and go get Jervis, Sisska," she said.  "It's time that we had a little talk."
	"It is about time," Sisska said bluntly, picking up her massive two-handed axe and setting it on her shoulder, then going out the door.  Miranda bolted it behind her, fingering a small dagger she had at her belt.
	Ahiriya was becoming an inconvenience.  Jervis would listen to her, Miranda was sure of it.  They may be at odds from time to time, but at the moment, they were working towards a common goal.  She was sure that Jervis would agree to her little plan to get at the truth.
	The truth was all that mattered.
	Keritanima had taught her well, and unknown to her Royal employer, Miranda did alot more than she would ever know.  Talking with Jervis wouldn't be the first time that the cute little mink Wikuni had acted outside her employer's knowledge, but it was always for Keritanima's good.  Miranda took Keritanima's well being seriously.  It was her duty, it was her role as protector, friend, and confidante.
	It was her reason for living.
 
Chapter 17

	There was a bit of anxiety wound up in what they were doing, but on the other hand, there was also an undeniable excitement about it.
	Tarrin sat sedately on his haunches in the sand near one of the posts, his eyes scanning the dim, misty night, a night that promised frost.  His small cat body blended with the shadows of the post, making his sleek black fur blend into the night and turn him into nothing but a pair of intense green eyes.  Heavy clouds dimmed the usual light from the moons and Skybands, clouds that helped keep the warmth of the land trapped against it.  Clouds that would only work in their favor.  Humans had long adapted to the light of the Skybands at night, and when clouds covered the land and threw them into total darkness, they had a great deal of trouble seeing.  Even with torches and artificial light.  But to Tarrin's night-sighted eyes, the landscape was illuminated by light that the human eye couldn't see, or was too dim for it to use.  The field and grass were painted in black, white and gray to his eyes, for it was too dim to see in color, but that black and white view of the world was every bit as sharp as it would have been if the sun was shining down on him.  He could see Keritanima's stealthy approach, her feet not even disturbing the grass.
	As could Allia.  His sister was behind the post, keeping watch.  She wore a pair of black trousers and shirt that Miranda brought to her at sunset, and her bright silver hair was bound into a black cloth and tied into a wrapped tail behind her.  Her dusky skin helped her fade into the murky shadows.  Allia's eyesight was her most dangerous weapon, for she could read an open book from one hundred paces away, and her night sight was just as acute as Tarrin's was.  She was shepa, Scout, for her clan, for her unusual eyesight wasn't normal for her people, but did occur with enough frequency for the Selani to have a special word for her type.
	Keritanima was an entirely different person.  Gone was the meticulous dress and carefully groomed appearance.  She wore black trousers, shirt, and boots just like the ones she had sent to Allia, and large leather bracers were tied around her forearms.  A black cloth was over her head, with holes cut in it for her fox ears, and her russet hair was tied at the tip of its tail to keep it behind her.  Where Keritanima looked soft and pretty before, she looked sleek and deadly in her skulking garb, for it clung to her slim form and accented her in ways her dress never could.  Also gone was the vapid expression of the Brat, or the calculating expression of the Keritanima he knew.  In its place was a woman with dancing eyes, fully enjoying the danger to come, who moved with the grace of a cat even while those amber eyes took in everything around her.
	Tarrin shapeshifted absently as she reached them, and her gloved hands started moving in the Selani Code, the hand-language her people had developed.  That put Allia back on her heels.  The Selani didn't teach that to outsiders.  --Alright, are we all ready?-- her hands asked.
	--How did you learn that!-- Allia's hands asked with a snapping motion that betrayed her disbelief.
	--Sister, there's very little that the Wikuni don't know,-- Keritanima replied with a smirk.  --I was taught the Code at the same time I was taught the spoken tongue.  It was so I'd have an advantage when dealing with Selani.--
	--That's quite an advantage,-- Tarrin noted.
	--This is the first time I've ever used it.  I was afraid I was getting rusty.--
	--You are,-- Tarrin noted.
	She glared at him.  --Let's move.  We're on a tight schedule.--
	One thing Tarrin had to admit.  She may be a Princess, she may be smart, but she moved like Allia.  Keritanima's flowing movements made absolutely no sound, and her flowing style produced no sharp movements that tended to attract the eyes, even when the eyes couldn't see.  That she could alter the very way she moved, seemingly at will, was yet another example of just how remarkable she was.  Keritanima was always graceful, but the perfect ease in which she moved without making a whisper of sound made her grace in a dress look like a cow trying to two-step by comparison.
	They reached the fence without incident, having to wait for a few moments for them to move between the roving patrols, and they moved with quiet, efficient stealth.  Tarrin first heaved Allia up and over, then tried to be gentle as he pushed Keritanima's foot as she lept off of his boost.  But