?" Ariana asked.
	"I'm pretty sure of it," Tarrin replied.  "They're probably living on some distant continent, far away from here, but there are still Dwarves.  There have to be, if their god still has power in the world."
	"Well, wonders never cease," Ariana smiled.
	It made no difference to him one way or the other, but it seemed odd that they would discover that the Dwarves weren't really extinct.  But that was a subject for another time.  Tarrin was sleepy, and now that Sarraya was returned safely, he had no reason not to go to sleep.  So he stood up long enough to shapeshift into cat form, then curled up into a comfortable ball by the fire.
	"Jegojah, he will go," the Revenant said.  "Jegojah, he wishes ye good night, yes."
	Something about that tickled at Tarrin as he lay there, drifting off to sleep, listening to the Revenant's boots fade into the night.  Just as he was about to slide into slumber, he realized that the Revenant probably wasn't going to come back.  That didn't offend Tarrin, for Jegojah wasn't the kind to wax emotional.  He was a pretty simple being, and he probably didn't want to get drowned in questions and farewells.  He'd said his farewell, and that was that.
	Tarrin sent a silent prayer to the Goddess that she watch over the Revenant, and get him to within sword's reach of their hated common enemy.  And then he went to sleep.
	
	The next morning dawned strangely calm for the desert.  Tarrin, Sarraya, Var, and Denai were up with the sun, preparing to leave, as the two Aeradalla continued to sleep.  He'd heard what he wanted to hear from Andos, so he saw no reason to remain for extended conversation.  He'd wake them up right before he left, to tell them where to send the volunteers, and that would be that.  Andos' attitude was dangerous to Tarrin, who found that he couldn't hold his annoyance at not being unconditionally obeyed in check.  So the best thing to do was to simply cut their interaction as short as possible.  Tarrin and Sarraya didn't travel with very much, and Selani were experts at packing a camp for the day's travel, so it only took a few moments to gather everything together, fill waterskins, eat breakfast, and be ready to leave.  Jegojah had yet to return, and Tarrin knew that the odds that he would return were very slim.  The Revenant could find them, and if he did intend to travel with Tarrin, he'd catch up.  If not, Tarrin understood.  Jegojah had a year and a day to hunt down and exact his vengeance on Kravon, and that meant that he couldn't just lay around and waste time.  He'd already wasted two days staying with Tarrin, and those two days could possibly matter.  Getting at Kravon wouldn't be as easy as walking into his study.  Jegojah had to go through quite a few defenses, both magical and mundane, to get within sword's point of his hated tormentor.  Jegojah had already decided to leave, last night, and Tarrin wished him good luck and good hunting.
	Ariana came out of the tent she'd shared with Andos just as the Selani shrugged their packs into place.  Her blue hair was dishevelled and her halter was skewed, making it apparent that Ariana was not a morning person.  She yawned widely, but her eyes came alert when she saw the five of them getting ready to leave.  "You're leaving now?  Without waking us up?" she demanded.
	"We were going to wake you before we left," Tarrin told her.  "Actually, since I can talk to you and not Andos, it's probably for the best."
	"Why is that?"
	"Your king annoys me," he replied bluntly.  "If you do have any other volunteers, tell Andos to have them fly to Suld.  The Sorcerers there will be expecting them, and they'll be working out of the Tower."
	"I can do that, but I was hoping we could at least eat breakfast together."
	"I have a long way to go, Ariana, and I don't have much time to get there.  I have to get to Suld before the ki'zadun's army does.  I'll be running Var and Denai so hard they may have to stay behind."
	"I told you before, you can't outrun a Selani, Tarrin," Denai challenged.  "Especially me."
	"We'll see about that, Denai," he said calmly.
	"If they may slow you down, why are you taking them?" Ariana asked.
	"Because they know the desert," he replied.  "Right now, I need the fastest route to the closest pass through the Sandshield.  Var and Denai can give me that route."
	Var nodded.  "We are about a tenday and a half from the North Pass, but the weather is going to make it a dangerous journey across."
	"Danger isn't an issue now, Var," Tarrin told him bluntly.  "Just get me to that pass.  I'll worry about how I'm going to cross it."
	"Denai is going to have to get you to that pass, Tarrin," Var said mildly.  "I have to go back."
	"Why?" Sarraya asked.
	"My clan should be moving in this direction by now," he replied.  "I have to meet them and tell them what's going on.  Don't worry, we'll probably be in Suld before you will, Tarrin," Var smiled lightly.  "Few can match the speed of a Selani clan on the march."
	"I'll miss your company, Var," Tarrin said honestly.
	"It won't be for long," Var smiled.  "It will only take my clan about ten days to cross what took you a month.  You weren't really moving very fast.  We'll only be about ten days behind you."
	"I want you to make sure your people understand that I'm not asking this of them, Var," Tarrin said.
	"We know.  That is why we'll be there."
	"Good enough, then," Tarrin said.  Var extended his hand, and Tarrin clasped it in his paw, swallowing it up.  "Safe journey.  May you find cool shade and sweet water."
	"May the winds ever be at your back, Tarrin," Var told him.
	Denai hovered around Var as Sarraya said her goodbyes, then pulled him off behind a tent for some personal farewells, that would probably best be conducted outside the eyes of the others.
	Tarrin saw no reason to linger.  Everything was ready.  Denai could catch up, as could Jegojah, if he chose to do so.  He had no reason to stay.
	"Be there for me, Ariana," he said calmly.  "I'll see you in Suld."
	"You're leaving right now?  Stupid question," she laughed.  "I'll be there waiting for you, Tarrin.  You may even see us fly overhead while you're on your way."
	She stepped up and hugged him, which took Tarrin off guard.  He wasn't used to such intimate contact with someone he still considered a stranger.  But he kept his fear and his surprise in check, though the claws on his paws did reflexively extend before he got himself under control  Ariana had no idea how close she came to getting hurt.
	Tarrin pushed her away, looking down at her with his emotionless expression.  "I'll see you in Suld," he repeated, then without another word, he turned and started walking out of camp.
	"Tarrin, you clod, at least let me say goodbye!" Sarraya fumed at him.
	"You can catch up," he called over his shoulder.
	And so, Tarrin walked slowly away from the unnamed ruin of the Dwarven city, alone.  He didn't really know why he was so intent on leaving, so much so that he wasn't willing to wait for the others, but it was something strong enough to do.
	Sarraya caught up with him a few moments later, and she didn't look very happy.  "Do you know that you are the rudest person I've ever known?" she demanded hotly.  "Why I ever accepted you into Fae-da'Nar is beyond me!"
	"Live with it," Tarrin said in a cool voice.
	That effectively shut Sarraya up.  She flew along with him in sulky silence until Denai trotted up to them some time later, after they had ascended the shallow valley that held the ruin and found themselves looking out over a barren expanse of windswept desert, with very little vegetation, but many rocks of various sizes to cover the desert floor in their place.  "You're mean, Tarrin," Denai accused.  "I didn't have half as much time with Var as I wanted."
	"You can undress Var later," Tarrin told her, in a manner that even made the Selani blush.  "Which way do we go?"
	"We want the fastest route to the Sandshield?  Does danger matter?"
	"No."
	"My, you're curt today," Denai huffed, pointing northwest.  "Then we want to go that way.  It will bring us close to an oasis we'd be better off avoiding, but you said danger is no concern."
	"What's wrong with that oasis?" Sarraya asked curiously.
	"Nothing, it's a lush place that actually has a small forest, but that means that it's infested with kajat and inu.  The trees give them cover, so they can get too close to you before you know they're there."
	"The Selani aren't used to that kind of terrain, Denai.  I am," Tarrin told her calmly.  "I know how to kill kajat and inu."
	"We noticed.  Were you going out of your way, or did that many actually come after you?"
	"Both," Sarraya laughed.  "Whever Tarrin felt testy, he'd hunt down a playmate."
	Denai chuckled.  "Well, are you ready to get left behind?" she said in a swaggering tone to Tarrin.
	Tarrin snorted shortly, then picked up into a loping pace.

	Denai was a true Selani, and that meant that she knew how to run.  She could run at high speeds for long periods of time, and there were only a handful of non-Selani that could keep up with her.  Even fewer of them could overtake her, and fewer than that could run her into the ground.  Tarrin proved that he was one of those few.  The uncertainty with what was going on in Suld had him worried, and he was intent to get there as quickly as possible, now that he had nothing holding him in place.  So the pace he set leaving the Dwarven city could only be called murderous, so demanding that even Tarrin had begun to feel the effects of it after a half a day.  Tarrin's inhuman endurance, bolstered by his regenerative powers, was put to the test with the pace he set for himself, a pace that left him weak and exhausted by sunset.
	The effect it had on Denai was much, much worse.  The Selani refused to be left behind, refused to admit that she couldn't keep up, so she pushed herself beyond her limits.  Denai's intensely competitive nature had made keeping up with Tarrin a holy crusade, something which would not end in failure.  To her credit, she had managed to keep up with him for a majority of the day, but then the effects of the heat and the exercise had begun to take their toll, and she started lagging behind more and more.  Tarrin slowed up from time to time during the afternoon to make sure that she was still following, but those were the only repreieves he granted himself.  Denai had no chance to rest, no chance to slow down, pushing herself to keep up with Tarrin.  By the time they stopped, near sunset, Tarrin and Sarraya already had camp made by the time Denai staggered into camp.  And all she did was wobble over to the fire, panting heavily, then collapse in the soft sand.  Only her labored breathing assured them that she was still alive.
	"Poor thing," Sarraya crooned.  "You pushed her too hard, Tarrin."
	"She pushed herself.  All she had to do was tell me to slow down."
	"She'd die before doing something like that, you know.  Her honor wouldn't allow it."
	"I'll slow down a little tomorrow," he promised.
	"You did that just to prove to her that she was wrong, didn't you?"
	Tarrin only gave her a slight smile, then his expression melted back into that emotionless, stony mask.
	"And they think you don't have a sense of humor," Sarraya laughed.  "Jegojah hasn't caught up yet."
	"I don't think he's going to.  I think he's started out after Kravon.  Jegojah said his goodbye last night, but I don't think anyone except me noticed.  And I think that's the way he wanted it."
	"Well, I hope he has good luck," Sarraya chuckled.
	Tarrin did slow down to a less murderous pace the next day, and the days thereafter, but it was still a pace that gave Denai serious problems.  To her credit, she refused to be left behind, keeping up with them, but the effort left her all but incapacitated during the nightly camps.  She would splay herself on the ground, trying to recover after they pulled in and the others made camp.  Then she would eat what was offered to her, drink enough to restore her body's water, and then immediately go to sleep, wherever she happened to be at that moment.  Tarrin had to carry her into her tent every night and tuck her in, a chore which he didn't mind all that much.  He warned Denai that he wasn't going to dawdle, not with such an important reason to return to Suld, but he was starting to get concerned that the exertion was going to be bad for her.  Denai had seemed like a little girl to him, a child, and that gave him reservations about what his pace was doing to her.
	Six days after they started out, the terrain began to change.  Rock spires began to appear again in the landscape, and the vegetation began to thicken considerably.  Tarrin decided that it was time to start stopping during the midday heat in the shade of one of those spires to give Denai a little rest.  She was just fine until the noonday, when the blistering heat of the desert sucked all the strength out of her and left her struggling for the afternoon.  Denai didn't say much about the stop, but the relief and gratitude was written all over her face as they pulled in.  Denai even built a fire and hunted down a handful of good-sized rabbits to serve as a noontime meal.
	"I wonder why we haven't seen the Aeradalla," Denai mused.  "They should have reached us by now."
	"We won't see them, Denai," Sarraya told her.  "They'll fly south of us.  For them, Suld is reached faster by a more southerly route.  They don't have to go to a pass to get over the mountains."
	"I didn't think of that.  It must be wonderful to fly," she said in a dreamy tone.
	"I thought it was pretty nice," Tarrin said absently.
	"You flew?"
	"Ariana brought us down from the top of the Cloud Spire," he told her.
	"Sometimes I dream about having wings too," she admitted in a distant tone.  "But I guess it's just a silly daydream.  The Holy Mother never meant for us to fly, or she'd have given us wings too."
	"Daydreams are never silly," Sarraya told her.
	"How far are we away from this forest?"
	"We'll reach it tomorrow," Denai replied.  "We should be able to skirt around its edge.  We're about seven days from the Sandshield.  Maybe five, if we keep running like we have."
	"Six," Tarrin told her.  "We're keeping the pace, but we'll stop during the midday from now on."
	"Thank the Holy Mother," Denai said with an explosive sigh.  "How do you stand running in the heat?"
	"I told you before, Denai, heat doesn't bother me," he told her.  "This--" he said, holding out his arms-- "means nothing to me."
	"You should have been born Selani," Denai grinned.
	Tarrin twisted the manacle on his arm in irritation, wincing when it pulled out a few strands of fur.
	"You should take them off, Tarrin," Denai told him.  "I know they mean something to you, but if they're bothering you that much, you should take them off."
	"It wouldn't be the same."
	"Would it?  Just carry them around with you.  That way they're always there for whatever reason you keep them, but they're not tearing the fur out of your arms in the process."
	Tarrin looked at Denai, and he could find no logical argument to deny her suggestion.  He looked at Sarraya, who only laughed and winked at him, saying "don't look at me.  I'd rather see you without them myself.  I'm not going to give you a reason to refute Denai."
	It may have been logical, but the illogical reasons were strong.  It just wouldn't seem right to not wear the manacles.  What they represented was more important than getting the fur pulled out of his arms.  They were a reminder of the price of trust.
	But what did that mean to him now?  He had become more trusting, despite the manacles.  He had accepted Sarraya and Phandebrass and Camara Tal.  He had accepted Var and Denai, had found it in himself to resist his paranoid fear of strangers when necessary.  The manacles reminded him of the price of putting his trust in strangers.  Var and Denai, Camara Tal and Phandebrass, and especially Sarraya, they had proven their worth to him.  They weren't strangers anymore.  He still suspected and feared strangers.  Did he need the manacles to remind him of that now?
	"I'm going to get some rest," Denai said.  "I'm going to need it."
	Denai laid down by the extinguished fire, and Tarrin laid back and looked up at the sky.  The Skybands were widening slowly as they moved northwest, and now they were the same width as he remembered them from Aldreth, his home.  Aldreth.  He hoped the village was alright.  He'd come out into Arkis far to the north. and he'd be using the Skydancer mountains as a reference while he crossed the Frontier.  He'd come very close to Aldreth.  If he set his course right, he'd come out in Aldreth.  Part of him wanted to do that.  With all the stories over what happened when the Dals invaded, he wanted to go there, to his old home, go there and make sure everything was alright.  And it would be nice to go back, back to the farm, look around and remember his past before being turned.  It seemed so distant to him now, going there would be like a reminder of a life long lost, a reinforcement of who he was and where he had come from.  No matter who or what he was now, he had started as Tarrin Kael, a young villager from Aldreth, who had lived on an isolated farmstead just far enough away from the others to make it feel like his family had the whole world to themselves.  Those were good times, and he'd like to go back there and relive them again, if only for a day.  To remember what he often refused to allow himself to remember, afraid of the nostalgia and bitterness it may bring in him.  He was who he was.  The villager boy he had been was long gone, and there was no going back.  But it would still be nice to go home.
	Aldreth was the only home he had ever known, and even now, with everything that had happened, it was still the only place he thought of when someone mentioned home.  It was the place he imagined when someone talked about family.  It was where he was meant to be, despite all the craziness that had sent him halfway across the world.
	It was home.
	Tarrin held up an arm, looked at the manacle there.  Maybe.  He might take them off, someday.  His attitudes had changed since he had decided to leave them on, changed greatly.  But not enough.  Just as his fur and tail and claws and ears were, the manacles were a part of him, defined a part of himself, and he wouldn't abandon that just because of a little discomfort.  Good or bad, they were a part of him, and they would remain.
	For a while longer.
 
Chapter 20

	The strange woods that Denai had talked about were no exaggeration.  They were honest-to-goodness trees, and he was told that they surrounded a large, nearly lake-sized oasis.
	But they were a kind of tree that Tarrin had never seen before, tall trees with no branches on the trunks.  The only foliage on those brown-barked, ribbed trees was at the very top, and it consisted of a fluffy, down-like greenish fuzz growing from drooping spines that blossomed out from the tops of the trees like some kind of gigantic flower.  Those bizarre leaves drifted and danced in the wind, and the trees looked as if one good sandstorm would uproot them and send them flying like the seeds of a dandelion.
	Tarrin and Denai stood on a rocky promontory on a very low escarpment wall, staring at the forest some longspan or so to the northwest, directly in their path, with the midday sun beating down on them from above.  The trees were strange-looking, but they were thick, making the wood deep and dark and a perfect place for things to hide.  He could see wide tracts in the woods, where kajat had probably knocked over the trees to form pathways, and there was a very large herd of chisa grazing on a grassy undergrowth that grew on the ground under the trees.  He could see, looking closer, that there were large lizards climbing on the tree trunks, trying to get to strange fruits or nuts that dangled from the foliage of the trees, out far enough to make reaching them a dicey proposition.
	Tarrin had to agree.  The place probably was infested with the reptillian carnivores of the desert, given that so many prey animals lived within the forest's boundaries.  That meant that it was a place worth avoiding.
	Avoiding it would be a simple matter of skirting it from the south.  They were only two days from the Sandshield, by Denai's estimation, and it was almost due west from their position.  They wouldn't have to enter the forest, only pass close to it.  But passing close to it would probably be just as dangerous as entering it.  Kajat tracks were on the ground not five spans from them, on the sandy ground at the base of the small, five-span high escarpment, showing that the big predators, and most likely their smaller cousins as well, did leave the forest and come out into the windswept plain from time to time.
	"I've never seen trees like that," Sarraya noted from her hover between them.
	"The clan that lives here trades the nuts from the trees," Denai said.  "It's a dangerous pastime to collect them, but they're very good at it."
	"The Selani tend to be good at anything they put their minds to," Tarrin noted absently, looking to the west, to the Sandshield invisble beyond the horizon.  So close.  They had been in the desert for three months now, and he was ready to leave.  He looked more Selani than Were-cat now, with his sun-browned skin and sun-bleached hair, which was nearly white now.  His time in the desert had been eventful and he had enjoyed much of it, but it paled in comparison to the driving need to get to Suld, and get there quickly.
	He had checked in with Keritanima during their journey to the forest.  The spring was coming late to the northern sections of the West, and much of Draconia and points north and west were still snowbound, even in the lower plains.  It was still snowing in the mountains.  That was a tremendous relief, but he knew that it wouldn't last forever.  He figured it would take him about a month to get from Arkis to Suld, and he also knew that it would take a month for the ki'zadun's armies to reach Suld once they could march.  That was cutting it very, very close.  All he could do was thank the Goddess and her sisters, T'Kya and Leia, the goddesses of the weather and nature respectively, that the snow was still coming down in the north.  They would need him in Suld, need his power, to fight off the Demonic horde that the ki'zadun had assembled to destroy the Tower.  It was a race now, and from the looks of it, Tarrin had an edge.
	But that could all change if a warm spell melted the mountain snows, and that warm spell was more and more likely as the spring matured into summer.  It was already unusual that it was still snowing so far into spring, so counting on the snow to stay on the ground wasn't a realistic hope.  All he really wanted--or realistically hoped for--was that the snow would stay on the ground long enough for him to get to Arkis.  Once he got to Arkis, he could outrun the marching army and beat them to Suld.  Armies didn't move very fast, and though Tarrin had to cover three times as much distance, he could do it ten times faster.
	Keritanima had seemed almost bubbly when he talked to her.  She was in Suld now, with her Wikuni army, and she had more coming.  They had put cannons on the walls and had blockaded all Tykarthian ports to stop any possible supplies from getting into the hands of their enemies.  The king of Tykarthia had been furious over the blockade, called it an act of war, but Keritanima literally told him to stuff it and get ready to fend off an invasion of nightmares.  She had also managed to get information that the Ungardt had stopped the war with Tykarthia.  This surprised Tarrin, since he hadn't yet talked to Jenna.  He wanted at first to talk to her immediately, but then he remembered the severe weakness he had felt after his own ordeal.  It took him two days to recover from that, and Jenna wasn't a Were-cat.  It would tak her much longer.  So he decided to allow her to have a full ten days of rest, a full ten days to recover and come to terms with what had happened, before talking to her.  But it seemed that someone else had already told someone in Ungardt what was going on, and it wasn't necessary now for him to intervene.  He had a sneaking suspicion that the Goddess had done that, had directly told Jenna what to do, what to say to their mother to get Grandfather to stop the war, and that is what seemed to have happened.
	Things looked favorable, in that regard.  Keritanima told him that the Ungardt were assembling into large groups, and that was an omen of what was coming.  Even an army of Trolls would be wary to attack a mob of Ungardt berzerkers.  Ungardt didn't form large, singular armies.  Every clan was its own army, and it only followed orders from its clan chief.  That was seventeen separate formations of Ungardt, and they weren't all going in the same direction. Some were moving into Tykarthia, obviously to attack and slow down the ki'zadun when they did march out of the Draconian mountains, and some were moving along the coast either on ships or on foot, Suld being their obvious destination.  Tarrin didn't hold much hope for the survival of those armies intending to attack the ki'zadun in Tykarthia, but they would buy everyone else precious time.  Ungardt weren't ones for guerilla tactics.  They would fall on the enemy in a furious assault, and about all they could hope to do was engage the army and slow it down a few days, and thin out the numbers.  Tarrin didn't like the idea of men and women throwing their lives away like that, but under the circumstances, he wasn't going to object too much.  If the enemy was attacked three separate times it would slow them down by nine days, at the least--one day to set up, one day to fight, one day to recover--and those nine days would be critical.  The Arakites were coming, already on ships and under full sail for Suld, and the Legions would make every difference in the world.  Even a few of the famous Legions could turn the tide of battle, for there was no army of soldiers better trained, commanded, and experienced than the Legions of Arak.  Their endless battles with Godan and Nyr made them some of the most fit soldiers in the world.
	Keritanima had things well in hand.  He had every confidence in her, mainly because she was doing it all without letting the katzh-dashi know what was going on.  That spy was still in the Tower, and she could warn the ki'zadun that the Sulasians knew that the army's target was Suld.  She had Miranda and that one fellow called Jervis, and they had quite effectively locked the katzh-dashi out of the loop of information.  Only the Keeper was being kept informed of what was going on, and she deferred to Keritanima, since she had to use Keritanima's spies, messengers, and resources to do anything regarding the invasion.  Keritanima was the real power in the Tower now, the Keeper in everything but name, and that suited him just fine.
	There was also bad news.  Jula had been set loose to track down the spy, but so far she had had no luck.  Tarrin had felt the fringes of her frustration from time to time, skulking the Tower in search of her elusive prey, but Tarrin had confidence in his bond-child.  Jula was smart, resourceful, and now she had the Were-cat temper to give her a fearsome reputation.  It would only be a matter of time before her quarry made a mistake, and that one mistake would be all it would take.  Jula would have her then, and Keritanima and the Keeper could move their preparations out of the secret closets and into the public eye.
	But bad news often held good news.  Triana had told Keritanima to tell him that Jula was about as stable as she was going to get.  Triana had requested for a Druid to come and evaluate Jula, and Triana had high hopes for her.  Jula had managed to find her balance, just as Tarrin had done, and it looked very hopeful that she would be the third of the turned Were-cats to be accepted into Fae-da'Nar.  Jula was alot like Tarrin, relatively feral thanks to her treatment by the ki'zadun, but she had managed to stave off the madness.  He knew that she could do it.  Jula was an iron-willed woman, all she had required was someone to teach her how to keep control over her instincts.  Triana was the best teacher in the world at that kind of thing, teaching what the instincts meant as well as how to keep them in check.  With a better understanding of herself, Jula would be able to maintain the laws of Fae-da'Nar, and not be a danger to herself or others.  At least no more of a danger than any other Were-cat, anyway.
	Tarrin had the feeling that Triana had grown somewhat attached to his bond-child, but he knew that Triana would never admit to it.
	Denai nudged at his arm and pointed towards the forest, where a very large, dark shape moved behind the initial treeline, then disappeared.  "We've been noticed," she told him.  "You know how kajats are.  If he thinks he can chase us down, he'll try."
	"Let him," Tarrin grunted, dropping down to the base of the small escarpment.  "He'll only try once."
	Denai laughed.  "You'll have to teach me how to kill kajats."
	"Easy.  All it takes is insanity."
	"Or the ability to jump twenty spans," Sarraya chuckled.
	They stayed about a longspan away from the forest, skirting its edge, and they kept one eye on the trees, and the other on the surrounding rocky, scrubby terrain.  Tarrin could smell the kajat and the inu, both old tracks and fresh trails, and their prints were visible between the low, fluffy bushes that grew near the forest, soaking up the water that seemed to be more abundant in this small area.  Their prints as well as chisa, sukk, and a few tracks and scents he didn't know.  There were also Selani tracks, their soft-soled boots leaving those distinctive marks in the ground as they moved towards or away from the forest, from north to south.
	"It's getting pretty hot," Denai complained, fanning the top of her loose shirt.  "Strange for it to be so hot this far north."
	"I didn't notice," Tarrin replied absently.  "I hope that doesn't mean it's getting warm in the West," he added with a grunt.
	"I'm sure your Wikuni will let us know if something important happens," Sarraya told him.  "Are we going to stop for the midday?"
	"No," Denai said before Tarrin.  "We'd be crazy to stop this close to the forest.  I don't want to stop until we have an entire afternoon between us and the forest."
	"Good plan