 tomorrow."
	"I'll have no infighting here, from any of you!" Sathon suddenly roared.  "I invoke Druid's sanctuary right here and now!  This is now chosen ground, and it will be honored with peace!  Do I make myself clear?"
	"Very clear, Sathon," Jesmind grumbled.
	"As you say," Kimmie said with a snort.
	"Audrey?"
	"I will honor Druid's Sanctuary," the dark-eyed female said with a frown.
	"Tarrin?"
	"Alright," Tarrin growled.
	"Jesmind, Kimmie, please wait for us outside," Sathon repeated.
	"But papa promised I could stay with him!" Jasana objected suddenly.
	"He did, but I'm telling you to come with me," Jesmind told her daughter sharply.  "Do you want to argue about it?"
	"No," Jasana growled.  "Alright, mama."
	"I won't be long, cub," Tarrin told her.  "I can promise you that."
	"Well now," Arren said nervously as Kimmie and Jesmind left the building, "I see the time has been good to you, Tarrin.  How have you been?"
	"Well enough, Arren," he replied with a grunt, sitting back down in a chair that was too small for him.  His knees banged on the top of the table as he tried to get comfortable, scooting it a few fingers to the side.  "It's unfortunate that we had to meet again like this."
	"Well, we can talk after this is over," Arren told him.
	"We waste time," Mikos said gruffly.  "We must devise a plan to take Torrian."
	"And do it without flattening the city in the process," Arren said vehemently.
	"There will be damage no matter how careful we are, human," the female, Audrey, said sharply.  "The key will be minimizing that damage."
	"The first step will be to know where the enemy is, so I think we can all agree that the Aeradalla's going to be a key to any final plans we make," Sathon said.  "She can fly over the city and tell us where the Dals are concentrating their defenses."
	"If we're going to hold off on plans until then, why am I here?" Tarrin asked acidly.  "We can't do anything until Ariana reports.  That makes this a waste of time."
	"Because she'll just influence the plan we make," Sathon told him.  "Now calm down."
	"The plan I've been devising is fairly simple," Arren spoke up.  "Torrian is a hostile city to the Dals.  If we can breach the walls and get in, we can defeat them from the inside.  The citizens of Torrian will aid and support us.  It will be house to house fighting, but we could overwhelm the Dal garrisons in the city because the Rangers are trained for the guerilla tactics necessary in fighting from house to house in that manner, where the Dals are not.  Dals don't function well without officers, and that style of fighting is going to naturally cause the Dal forces to break up into small cells, separated from their chain of command.  That gives my Rangers a huge advantage, because they can fight effectively without support from the chain of command.  We can chew the Dal army up cell by cell and house by house.  That gives us an advantage, and couple it with the Were-kin, Centaurs, and the aid we'll receive from the citizens, and it gives us our best chance of taking the city in the shortest time while doing the least damage.  Doing it that way will also cause only a minimum amount of damage to the walls, walls we'll need to hold the city against any Dal reinforcements that arrive.  The only problem is going to be taking the keep.  They've taken over my castle, and I can attest to how impervious it is to assault."
	"If it's so impervious, how did they take it from you?" the female asked sharply.
	"Because the city surrendered," he replied with a sigh.  "My city was facing an army more than ten times our garrison's size.  I surrended to save as many people as possible.  They would have destroyed the city and killed all the citizens to take the keep, and I couldn't live knowing I'd have caused something like that."
	"Unsound," the female snorted.  "You handed them a perfectly unassailable fortress."
	"We sabotaged the walls and burned the keep before we left," Arren told her, the pain of having to destroy his ancestral home clear in his eyes.  "But it's been a while, and they've managed to repair all the damage we did and rebuild the walls.  They even rebuilt the keep."
	"Then we'll take the keep the same way that we take the city," Sathon said mildly.  "Get inside the walls and take it from the inside."
	"How do you propose we do that, Sathon?" Arren asked.
	"That's how," he said, pointing at Tarrin.  "We have eight fighting Were-cats with us.  They can climb the walls, get inside, then wreak havoc while one of them opens the gates and lets in an invasion force.  The Dals are going to be too busy trying to deal with the Were-cats to worry about closing the gates."
	"Do you think it would work, Tarrin?" Arren asked him directly.
	Tarrin considered it.  The Dals couldn't easily hurt his kin, and they could terrorize them pretty thoroughly.  Tarrin knew the keep's general layout, and Arren could fill in all the gaps.  Given they moved together and adhered to a plan of attack, it was more than possible.  But asking eight Were-cats to take on what would probably be hundreds of men would leave them vulnerable.  Even a human could kill a Were-cat if they took off the head, or severed the spine in such a way that the Were-cat couldn't remove the severing instrument before the heart gave out, or used fire against them.  The Were-cats would have no support, no help, and they would be asked to fight vastly superior numbers in what could be open ground.
	There were other ways, however.
	"Leave the castle to me," he said with a sigh.  "I can eliminate the threat of the castle without risking the lives of the others."
	"How do you intend to do it?" Sathon asked.
	"Any number of ways," he shrugged.  "The easiest way would be to simply destroy the castle, but it's Arren's home, and I'd rather not do that.  So I think I'll just use your plan, but with a different instrument of chaos."
	"What do you have in mind?"
	"An Earth Elemental," he replied, stroking his chin absently.  "It can cause alot more chaos than a pack of Were-cats.  While my Elemental is keeping the Dals busy, I'll open the gates."
	"You can summon such a thing?" Sathon asked in surprise.
	"Not a Druidic Elemental," he elaborated.  "But I can raise an Elemental with Sorcery."
	"Well, it would work, either way," Sathon agreed.  "If you can get the gates open, we can send in a force of Were-kin to finish off the Dals."
	"Why Were-kin?" Arren asked.  "Why not let me retake my own keep?"
	"Because the Dals can't hurt us," Audrey said consicely.  "We are immune to non-magical weapons while in hybrid form.  Unless the Dals have silver swords, we can overwhelm them without much danger to ourselves."
	"The idea is to keep as many humans alive as we can, Arren," Sathon explained.  "We will leave Torrian, and it will be up to the humans staying behind to protect it from any Dals that appear."
	"I can't argue with that logic," Arren agreed.  "We'll do it that way, then.  All we need to know from the Aeradalla is where the Dal forces are inside the city, so we'll know where to move first once we get inside the walls."
	"Let's use Tarrin's idea to get into the city as well," Audrey offered.  "If we can create a distraction, a small group of Were-kin could climb the walls and simply open the gates.  That way, we will do no damage to the walls, and leave the humans with a definsible city."
	"It has to be something that won't alert the Dals that they're being attacked," Arren told her quickly.
	"Then a simple fire would be best," Audrey concluded.  "A fire set near the gate we intend to take.  The fire will keep the attention of the Dals manning the walls, allowing our Were-kin forces to climb the walls and overwhelm them while they're distracted.
	"I can set a fire like that from a distance," Tarrin injected.  "I just need to be able to see my target, that's all."
	"The Aeradalla can provide that," Audrey reasoned.  "Can you use your magic in your cat form?"
	Tarrin nodded.
	"Then we send him up with the Aeradalla.  He sets a fire near the gate we choose to attack.  The Dals' attention will be on the fire, allowing us to strike them and open the gate.  Then we can proceed with Arren's plan.  But I do suggest that the Were-kin stay on the walls and take them, both to stop Dals from shooting arrows at our forces, and to keep them from damaging the walls when it becomes clear that we will win."
	"Very clever, my lady," Arren said appreciatively.  "Where did you learn tactics like that?"
	"I'm not really satisfied staying in the Frontier all the time, Arren," the woman, Audrey, smiled.  "I like to go out among the humans sometimes, and I've picked up any number of talents along the way.  My familiarity with the humans is why my kin selected me to represent them here."
	"That kind of plan requires a night attack," Mikos announced.  "They'll see the Aeradalla and try to shoot her down if we try this during the day.  Can your humans make a night attack, Duke Arren?"
	"The Rangers are extensively trained for night action," Arren announced.  "We can handle a night attack."
	"Were-kin are more at home in the dark anyway," Audrey nodded.
	"The Centaurs have no problem with a night attack," Mikos agreed.
	"Then we'll do it that way," Sathon announced.  "The only problem is that we'll have to attack the night of the day we arrive.  If we get there at night, it means that we'll have no time to rest."
	"Why the haste?"
	"A Druid in Suld has told me that we have about fifteen days to get there," Sathon said.  "That means that we don't have time to dally around.  We have to get to Torrian quickly, take it with all possible speed, then start out for Suld almost as soon as the dust settles.  We don't have time for anything else."
	"Are you sure you can make it that fast?" Arren said dubiously.
	"We can," Mikos nodded.  "The Centaurs can run longer than any horse, and the Were-kin can keep up with us.  Any humans that come along will ride on the backs of Centaurs.  That kind of a run will kill a horse.  We can be there ten days after we start out from Torrian."
	"That just barely gives us the time to set up as the commander of Suld directs us," Sathon added.
	"If time is such an issue, why are we camping?" Arren asked.  "The Rangers can handle a forced march.  We can keep up with you."
	"We camp to rest before the long days ahead, Duke Arren," Mikos explained.  "We know what is coming, and we know that this is our last evening of peace before the trial ahead.  We need this."
	"Ah.  I completely understand," Arren nodded.  "I've sent out runners ahead of us, to gather the rest of the Rangers at Torrian," he told them.  "There are almost twice again what I have here around Torrian, and they'll be ready to help with the attack once we arrive."
	"Very good," Sathon nodded.  "As we've discussed, Duke Arren, we have selected you to be our general," Sathon told him.  "I just want you to know that everyone here will obey your commands."
	"I appreciate that," Arren nodded.  "And I just want you to know that I value your opinions.  This little meeting has shown me that the ideas of our forest neighbors are worth listening to."  He looked around the table.  "So, the plan is to use a diversion to open the gates of the city, then get inside and defeat them from the inside, in house to house fighting.  The Were-kin will swarm the walls and take them to protect our forces, and after they have them, we can man them and use them to shoot arrows at the Dals.  After we've taken the majority of the city, Tarrin and a force of Were-kin will use their plan to take my keep back from the Dals.  After that, the city will generally be secure.  Does everyone agree to this plan?"
	"I agree with it," Mikos nodded.
	"It is a good plan," Audrey agreed.
	"I find nothing wrong with it," Sathon added.
	"It should work," Tarrin said.
	"Then I'd reason to say that this meeting is over," Arren smiled.  "I don't want to take any of you away from your rest any more than necessary."
	"We appreciate your concern for us, Duke Arren," Mikos said with a nod.
	"You show courage to offer so much," Audrey told Tarrin in a calm voice.  "I think I misjudged you.  I'm sorry."
	"Few of the others understand us," he said dismissively.
	"Then maybe we should get to know you," Audrey said calmly, then she stood up.  "I need to go tell my pack of this, and they'll spread the word through the Were-kin," she announced.
	If she had a pack, then that meant that she was a Were-wolf.  It explained her initial reaction to Tarrin and the Were-cats, but it also surprised him in that she would be willing to admit she was wrong about them.  Were-wolves hated Were-cats.
	They broke up after that.  Tarrin was the first one out, picking up Jasana as he came out the door and nodding to Jesmind and Kimmie.  "Let's go find the other Were-cats," he said.  "If I know them, they're off together somewhere."
	"Probably.  We're not exactly welcome with any of the others," Kimmie said soberly, loud enough for Audrey to hear her as she came out of the door.
	"Come on," Tarrin called.
	They found the others well away from the other Woodkin, gathered around a fire that had just been set with their backs to the treeline well to the west of the village.  About as far away as they could get from everyone else.  They had two small deer roasting over the fire, tended to by Nikki and Singer.  "Well, lad, I see Jeri found you," Thean called as they approached.  "What did Sathon want?"
	"They wanted to meet about what would happen in Torrian," Tarrin said, handing Jasana to Jesmind as she sat down on one of the logs dragged over to serve as seats.  "They decided that I had to be there."
	"What did they say?" Shayle asked.
	Tarrin sat down and went over the framework of the plan they had formed at the meeting.  "It should work," he summarized after he was done.  "It utilizes our advantages and protects the majority of the human army, so they can hold Torrian against any Dal forces that wander in or try to retreat back to the city."
	"I think it's a decent plan," Singer mused.  "I don't like much being used as a target, but they do have a point in wanting to keep the city in Sulasian hands after we leave."
	"So we attack the city, then we attack this castle?" Jeri asked.  "Why not attack the castle at the same time?"
	"Human castles have they own defenses," Thean told him.  "We need to reorganize before we can attack the castle.  I've seen the castle at Torrian, lad, and believe me, we'll need to be organized when we attack it."
	"Why is that?"
	"It sits on a bluff with its back to the river that runs through the city," Thean replied.  "There's no easy way to get to it.  Tarrin's idea of setting an Elemental loose in the bailey will let us get to the walls without being rained on with arrows."
	"That was the idea, Thean," Tarrin nodded.  "I don't want to expose us to any more danger than we already have to face."
	"Bah.  There's no reason to fear humans," Rahnee snorted.  "By the time they figure out how to fight us, they're dead."
	"Yes, but those behind the ones we kill very well may figure it out at the same time," Thean said sharply.  "Don't underestimate the humans, Rahnee.  They can be just as dangerous as any of us, and you're not as invulnerable as you'd like to think."
	"Whatever," Rahnee grunted, waving her paw in Thean's direction noncommitally.
	"Anyway, we have this one night to rest, so I suggest we take advantage of it," Tarrin said.  "We'll be moving fast to Torrian, and we'll be attacking the city either as soon as it gets dark or as soon as we get there, depending on when we arrive.  And we'll be leaving for Suld as soon as the dust settles in Torrian, so we're looking at a very hard fifteen days ahead of us."
	"Hah!  They'll have to keep us with us," Shayle grinned.  "We can run any Were-kin or Centaur into the ground."
	"There's no call for competition here, Shayle," Thean told her.  "For us to work together, we need to be considerate of one another.  So that means that we don't go baiting the others.  Let's try to be civil."
	"What if they start it?" Jeri challenged.  "I'm not going to turn away when some mangy Centaur insults me."
	"If they start it, then go ahead and finish it, but we start nothing," Thean instructed them.  "Let's not give anyone any reason to call us out."
	"There won't be any calling out any time soon," Tarrin said.  "Sathon invoked sanctuary.  That means we're on chosen ground until we march out tomorrow.  All of you remember that."
	"Of course he'd call sanctuary, to protect that sharp-mouthed little witch that was sitting at the table," Jesmind growled.  "And I was going to go track her down and teach her some manners, too."
	"Just let it go, Jesmind," Tarrin told her.  "All of us know you could thrash her.  Just be happy with the knowledge of it."
	"I'd rather be happy ripping her face off," Jesmind growled.  No matter how sedate she was trying to be, Jesmind was still Jesmind...and always would be.  And he rather liked her that way.
	"Let's not be breaking the law," Thean cautioned.  "Now after we leave here...well now, that's another story, isn't it?" Thean winked.
	"And this from the one that just told us to be civil," Shayle laughed.
	"Some things can't be ignored," Thean said defensively.  "Since this female started it, I'd say that gives us the right to finish it, now doesn't it?"
	"Alright everyone, the deer's ready," Nikki announced.  "Let's eat!"
	They enjoyed their meal, and then settled in for quiet conversation and simple companionship as the afternoon dwindled into evening, and the sun slowly set.  It wasn't often that so many Were-cats gathered in one place, and all of them were feeling rather sociable.  They took turns telling stories, stories of what they'd been up to since the last time they'd seen one another.  Tarrin more or less tuned them out, playing with Jasana's tail absently as she sat on his lap and listened to the elders talking.  The time was drawing closer and closer, and something inside him both looked forward to and dreaded what was coming.  He had never been in a large-scale battle before, and more to the point, he had never been the focus of the strategy as he was now.  It was going to be his job to distract the Dals with his fire so his Were-kin could take the gate, then he would do the same thing at the castle with an Elemental so they could take the keep.  He didn't feel anxious about having them depend on him, for he was used to having others depend on him and his magic, but it felt strange knowing that he would be so...important.
	That was the real kicker.  Always before, he was just one of a number of unusual, bizarre, or powerful individuals.  He really wasn't that remarkable when compared to Keritanima, or Allia, or Dolanna, or Camara Tal, or Phandebrass, or Sarraya.  He was used to being part of an unusual group, a group of disparate individuals with pretty formidable powers or advantages.  But this felt different.  He did stand out among the Were-cats and the other Woodkin, because of what he was.  A Sorcerer, a Druid, a very aged and powerful Were-cat.  He was just one of the others when he was with his friends, but here he was not.  It felt strange to know that he ruled the others.  It felt strange that he was where he was in the first place.
	Jasana.  Would she feel the way he did?  Her magical powers were without peer.  When she came into those powers, when she matured and learned how to use them, she would be the most powerful Sorcerer alive.  Would that knowledge change her?  Would it make her arrogant, or would she learn how to accept her power without having it change her?  It could, if he didn't teach her the right way.  It was important to teach her the morality of power while she was young, establish it in her before the tempation of her power caused her to embrace the headiness of it.  If he was diligent, he could see her grow to be everything she could be without being twisted by the intoxication that came with great power.  He hoped that he could, that his mission wouldn't make it impossible for him to be there for her when she needed him.  He twirled Jasana's tail up around his fingers, feeling how silky her white fur was, how small and delicate she was compared to him.  Strange that someone he'd only known for a few short days could suddenly become the absolute center of his life.  She yawned and leaned against him, and he put a paw on her belly.  She was a handful.  She was a manipulative little schemer.  She was devious.  She was just like any number of little girls out there, human or not.  But she was his, and that made her the most special little girl in the entire world.
	"It's getting late," Jesmind announced.  "Tarrin, why don't you whip up a tent for us?  I'm about ready to go to bed."
	Tarrin nodded.  "We'll have a very long couple of rides ahead of us.  I think getting some rest is a good idea for everyone."
	"I think I'm going to go talk to Sathon for a while," Thean said.  "I haven't had a chance to catch up yet."
	"I'll keep the bed warm for you, Thean," Singer smiled at him.  "Provided I have one, anyway.  We should have borrowed some tents from the villagers."
	"I'll take care of it," Tarrin told her, looking at them.  "Just tonight.  You'll have to take down the tents and carry them if you want to keep them."
	"Fair enough," Nikki said.
	Tarrin hadn't Created on that scale in a while, and it left him a little tired.  But when he was done, six good-sized tents were standing around the fire, each one with bedrolls in them for their occupants.  He created one tent for his family, one for Rahnee and Jeri, one for Singer and Thean, and one each for Kimmie, Shayle, and Nikki.  Tarrin wasted no time saying his goodnights and ducking into the fairly large tent he made for his family, which had within it nothing but a pair of fairly soft, comfortable bedrolls.  Jesmind and Jasana came in right behind.  "I don't wanna sleep in my clothes," Jasana complained as she looked around the tent.
	"Then take them off," Jesmind told her calmly, grabbing the tail of her shirt and pulling it over her head.  Jasana was a Were-cat, just like her parents, and that meant that they would have on qualms about undressing in front of her.  Or just about anyone else, for that matter.  Tarrin took off his sword and set it on the ground beside the bedroll, then shrugged out of his vest as Jesmind unlaced her breeches.
	Jesmind helped Jasana undress and slide into her small bedroll, then impatiently pulled Tarrin into their bedroll almost before he could get his breeches off.  She cuddled up to him, wrapping him up to keep him from getting away, then sighed in contentment.  "Goodnight, cub," Jesmind called.
	"Night mama, papa."
	"Sleep well, cub," Tarrin told her, then he surrendered to the peace of it all and fell immediately asleep.

	The entire army was up before the sun, and was gone with the dawn.
	The addition of the Rangers did not slow down the host by very much.  They were all mounted, and their horses were in very good condition.  The host had to stop or slow down more frequently to give the horses a chance to rest, but other than that they moved at the same brisk speed that got them to Watch Hill.  Tarrin spent most of the day in his ground-eating pace, keeping stride with Mikos as he and Sathon talked.  Or more to the point, Sathon talked and Tarrin listened.  The Druid meant to teach Tarrin more magic, and he held to his promise.
	Tarrin was surprised at how versatile Druidic magic could be.  He learned a number of useful spells dealing with organic matter, from flesh to wood to earth to leather, spells to change its shape, age it, invigorate it, even destroy it.  Tarrin had been startled to know that a Druid of even moderate talent could use his Druidic magic on himself and affect his own flesh, and bring about a shapeshifting by magic that was natural for the Were-kin.  But where Were-kin were limited to three forms, a Druid could transform into nearly any living creature.  Sathon warned him explicitely that Druidic shapeshifting was not something for him to try, because he was already a shapeshifter.  Any time a Druid Were-kin attempted shapeshifting through Druidic magic, it caused the Were-kin to go temporarily insane.  The magic that made up a Were-kin was incompatible with Druidic spells of shapeshifting, forcing a creature whose body was already designed to transform to do so into a form for which it was not designed.  The taking of an alien shape caused the instincts within to go wild, and that triggered madness.  Tarrin could understand that intimately, because he had a similar restriction in Circling.  Were-cats could only circle with other Were-cats, because of the Cat's violent objection to linking with a mind that was alien to it.  If the Cat objected contact with an alien mind so strongly, it only made sense that it would rebel to being trapped within an alien form.  But where Tarrin couldn't use those spells on himself, he could easily use them against some unwitting victim whom he wanted to punish, but not kill.  Turning someone into a carrot was a pretty formidable vengeance.
	Those types of spells were very versatile.  By the time Sathon was done teaching him the proper images and concepts of will, Tarrin could take a stick from the ground and make it grow or shrink, could cause it to become unbreakable, could cause it to decay into dust, and he could cause it to explode in a fiery ball.  He had done that once before that he could remember, detonating a ship's wheel that had been on the deck of Sheba's ship, a very long time ago.  What was more, Sathon taught him a trick of infusing a natural object with the power of the All directly, a trick that Sathon called Animation.  By animating the stick, Tarrin caused it to have something of a life and will of its own, but was subservient to his commands.  The animated stick would move about by itself and perform tasks as Tarrin directed it.  All in all, it was a particularly clever little trick, and Tarrin could appreciate the innumerable ways in which it could be used to frighten, annoy, startle, or even outright attack another person.  A strong Druid could cause an entire room full of wooden furniture to suddenly come to life and attack someone in the room with it.  A nasty little concept there.
	Sathon had been suprised that Tarrin knew the Druidic spells of healing, so he taught Tarrin spells for augmentation of the body.  Spells to temporarily boost strength or speed or resistance, spells to turn a normal human into a juggernaut against which no other normal human could stand.  Those spells were as hard on the recipient as they were on the Druid, being demanding spells to cast, but they were spells that Druids used on themselves when it became apparent that their lives were in the balance.  They were rarely used because of the stress they put on the recipient's body, a stress that had been known to kill the recipient.
	Then Sathon taught Tarrin spells that almost all Druids knew and used.  The easiest of them was Sending, the sending of messages to other Druids through the All.  It was how Thean and Triana and just about all the Druids communicated with one another, for it was easy and dependable.  A Sending was little more than a message spoken into the All, and then the All caused the Druid who was the recipient to hear the message.  One couldn't conduct a conversation that way, because there was a lag of several moments between the sending of the message and the receiving of it, depending on the distance separating the two.  For direct communication, the Druids used two methods.  One was called Greater Sending, which was a spell that was hard enough to cast to prevent some Druids from using it.  It was a form of Sending, but it allowed for conversation to pass in real time so long as the casting Druid maintained the connection.  The other form was what Triana did, which Sathon called a Window.  Sathon himself couldn't do it, but he was familiar with the technique.  The casting Druid created something of a window through the All, allowing the Druid to see the person to which he or she was talking.  Triana had done that to talk to him before, so he knew what it looked like, and now how it worked.
	After that was learned, they stopped for lunch, and while they were eating Sathon taught him techniques for creating, changing, shaping, destroying, or transforming elemental matter.  A Druid could create fire from nothingness, transform it into earth, change its size, shape, mass, density, or content, then banish it back into nothingness.  Sorcery and Druidic magic both were Elemental in nature, magic derived from natural forces, and it gave both orders of magic strong control of basic elemental forces.  Creating elemental matter was a bit different from the Creation that Sarraya taught him, for it was actually much easier.  The only problem with Druidic creation of elemental matter was that it was always in its base form.  A Sorcerer could use Sorcery to create any manner of fire or water or air, from smoke to cold flames of light to fog to toxic clouds, but Druidic magic always limited it to pure earth or stone, pure water, pure air, or pure fire.  Sorcery proved to be much preferable to Druidic forms of elemental magic when they were compared with one another.  It was even possible to transmute one thing into another through Sorcery, like changing flesh into stone or water into ice or rock into glass, which was much more difficult using Druidic magic.
	When they started out again, Sathon taught him Druidic magic concerning life.  Druids could affect the life cycles of plants and animals, but not sentient creatures.  A Druid could cause a seed to bloom into a flower, accelerating its maturation, and could likewise reverse the damage of aging in an old animal and make it young again.  Sathon had no clear answer for him when he asked why they didn't work on sentient beings, only telling him that the limitation was well documented.  It was a line that no Druid had crossed and survived.  Druids could urge plants or animals to grow in ways that were not natural as well, causing a wolf to become as large as a bear, or causing vines to suddenly grow tens of spans in a short moment to choke off a path or conceal something that needed to be hidden.  Those spells weren't very demanding, but they were very, very complicated, and they took Tarrin much more time to learn than the other spe