he feral aspects of his personality.  Surrounded by strangers and trapped on a ship with an available female, he wasn't surprised he'd been so contrary lately.  It got worse when she was close, when he started resisting the call of his instincts.  That was a very fast way for a Were-cat way to get unpredictable, as the instincts warred with the human will.  So far, Tarrin's will had won out, but the instincts only had to win once.  And he knew that.
	He pondered the problem through dinner, as Kimmie's proximity and her alluring scent dominated his mind, picking at his food without much enthusiasm.  He listened as Phandebrass prattled on about some kind of magical spell that he and Kimmie had been developing as part of her training, a spell that supposedly would cause any book that contained magical Wizard spells to glow when they came within the spell's area of effect.
	"So, how is the training going, Kimmie?" Dar asked.
	"Pretty well,"she replied with a cute little smile.  "I've already tripled the size of my spellbook, and Master Phandebrass taught me some things that allowed me to understand some of the spells I already had, but couldn't cast."
	"I say, for a self-taught dabbler, she has considerable potential," Phandebrass praised.  "I think she could learn some of the greatest secrets of the art if she applies herself."
	"It'll be a ways before I get there," she chuckled wryly.  "I looked through Master Phandebrass' spellbook.  I think I could only understand about ten of them."
	"You were looking through one of my advanced books, my dear," he chided her.  "If you did understand ten of them, then you do have potential, you do.  I say, I couldn't possibly keep all my spells in one book, I couldn't.  Why, it would be so big that I wouldn't be able to carry it!"
	"No need to brag, Master Phandebrass," Kimmie teased.  "You're offending my one little spellbook, you know."
	"Give yourself time, my dear," he assured her.  "I say, you'll have a spellbook collection just as large as mine, you will."
	Tarrin excused himself after that, and went up on deck.  After leaving the dining room, his appetite returned, and he Conjured the meal he'd left sitting on the table and finished it sitting at the bow, looking out over the sea.  It was a bit before sunset, and the ships were still plying their way westward before a strong tailwind.  The wind was very warm and muggy, and some threatening clouds were gathering ahead of them, threatening to swallow up the sun before it reached the horizon.  There was a small island just to the right, some distance away, but it was large enough to support a colony of seagulls.  Some of them were circling over the ship, cawing and crying, looking for a meal.  Birds followed ships to partake of the scraps that were thrown overboard from time to time.  Tarrin looked at the island, just being eclipsed by a clipper sailing alongside, and saw that it was carpeted with green.  It was too far away to see much else, though.  He'd never heard of an island out here, so odds were it was uninhabited.
	Admiral Torm wandered over and looked off the rail just beside him.  Tarrin wasn't sure about Admiral Torm.  He was a sober fellow, not much of a sense of humor, all business and all leader.  He was respected by his men, and from what Tarrin had heard, the man had a very, very impressive reputation.
	"Ah, Twinfluke," he mused aloud.  "We'll be in Wikuna in six days, with Kikalli's favor."
	"That's the name of that island?" Tarrin asked, standing up.
	"Aye," he replied.  "So named because of the whales that tend to gather around it."
	"That would be a nice place to live if you didn't want to be disturbed."
	"You wouldn't live there long," Torm told him.  "It's populated by some pretty unfriendly animals, and some of them are rather rare."
	"Like what?"
	"Like a bird-like animal that can turn a man to stone if you touch its tailfeathers," he answered.  "I think they're called Cockatrices.  There are also a fair number of wild drakes, and it's also the island where the last of the Minotaurs were exiled some five hundred years ago.  From what I've heard, there are some of them still living on the island."
	"Minotaur?  I've never heard of that."
	"It's a creature with a man's body but the head of a bull," he replied.  "They're not very smart, they're pretty rough customers, and they're very unfriendly.  They were rounded up and exiled off Wikuna when we tried to bring them into the kingdom, but they just couldn't obey the law.  It was decided it was more humane to move them than to kill them all off."
	"And they still live there on that island?"
	Torm nodded.  "We don't know how many there are, because we won't land there.  But some sailors see them on the shores as they pass, often enough to know they're still alive.  I'm glad of that."
	"Why?"
	"It's a crime to kill off an entire species just because you don't get along with them," he replied.  "They may have lost their home range, but killing them all would have been wrong.  Wikuna has made some bad decisions in its time, but at least in that respect, it made a good one.  They seem to be doing well on the island, so maybe it all turned out for the best.  If they're happy there, then it turned out even better."
	"I guess," Tarrin said in agreement.
	The crying of the birds began to intensify, and Tarrin looked up at them.  They seemed to be getting very agitated.  Tarrin lifted his nose and tested the air, but found no scent that would seem threatening to him.  Birds had good vision, so it had to be something they could see that was making them upset, or perhaps a change in the wind or the air.
	"That's odd," Torm noted, looking up.  "Seagulls don't act like that unless there's a predator about."
	Tarrin saw it coming over the ship that now blocked the view of the island.  A little cloud of smaller blue birds, all swarming around something in its center.  From the looks of it, they were attacking whatever they kept surrounded, pecking at it and scratching at it with their claws.
	Those weren't birds!  They were drakes!
	Tarrin watched in surprise as a large pack of blue-scaled drakes attacked whatever was in the middle of their group, flying closer and closer to the ship as the seagulls overhead scattered  They weren't pecking at it, as he first thought, they were biting it, and there were weird little flashes of bluish light now and again.  They came closer and closer to their ship, until he could make out what they were attacking.
	It was another drake!
	Tarrin and Torm watched as the victim of the assault, a blue-scaled drake just like all the others, tried to stay aloft, but was being bitten on the wings and having the membranes torn by the claws of its attackers.  It was smaller than the other drakes, and it was being pretty well thoroughly thrashed by them.  It managed to stay aloft until one of the largest drakes managed to bite it on the wingjoint, and he distinctly heard it squeal in pain and suddenly spin down on the same side that the drake had bitten it.  The attackers gave chase, coming shockingly close to the ship, only spans away, and continued to pursue the victim until it fell into the water.  They circled over it for a moment as it weakly tried to swim, keep its head above water as the water around became stained pink with its blood, then they all banked and flew back towards the island.
	"I've never seen that before," Torm said.  "I wonder what made them attack that other one like that."
	Tarrin was leaning over the rail, looking at the drake as the ship passed it by.  It was obviously going to drown, and its body sank deeper and deeper into the water as its attempts to stay afloat became weaker.  On an implulse, Tarrin wove together a short weave of Water and caused the water surrounding the drake to become solid, to give it something against which to push.  Then he brought his water cage up to the side of the ship and then, after making sure the other drakes were gone and wouldn't see what was happening, raised it up on a column of water to where he could reach it.  The drake looked terrified by whatever was happening to it, but it was too weak and tired to struggle.  Its terror didn't improve when a creature with a predatory scent reached down into the water with wickedly clawed paws and grabbed it, then pulled it free of the watery prison.
	Tarrin was rather partial to drakes.  Chopstick and Turnkey were very beloved companions for him, and he couldn't stand to see another drake die.  Even if it was a wild one.
	He gathered the drake up in his paws, knelt, and set it on the deck, as it hissed threatening at him and tried to bite him.  The other drakes had torn it up pretty effectively, and he could see countless tears in its beautiful, blue scaled hide.  They were so blue that they almost shined.  It did bite him when he put a pair of fingers on the base of its long neck, turning its head to take a bite out the paw holding it down, but its small jaws had trouble getting much of a grip on his thick paw, and the lower teeth couldn't even penetrate the pad on his palm.  The pain it caused was barely even an annoyance, but the pressure he exerted against it did cause it to stop thrashing, beating its shredded wings against the deck.
	"Calm down," he chided the drake in a gentle voice.  He thought about using Sorcerer's healing, but the discomfort it caused would make the drake think he was attacking it somehow.  It wasn't something to use on a wild animal.  So he instead reached within, through the Cat, and touched the vast, endless energy of the All.  His intent was to heal, and the image was that of the little drake in perfect health.  The All responded to him, sending its energy through him and into the drake through his fingers.  The warm, gentle energy suffused the little animal, causing its natural healing processes to accelerate dramatically.  Torm watched with wide eyes as the many tears and bite wounds on the drake smoothed over, as the holes in the membranes of its wings mended before his eyes, and the animal suddenly stopped struggling and yielded to the Were-cat.
	When he was done, he pulled his fingers away, resting his arm on his knee, and looked down at the drake.  It was about the same size as Chopstick and Turnkey, maybe just a shade smaller than them, with the same appearance.  It had the ridges on its back, and the little backswept horns on its head, but its muzzle was a bit more boxed and a little shorter, and it was a little leaner than the two red-scaled drakes.  Its scent was a little different than the red-scaled drakes, probably a result of a different environment.  It seemed to lay there for a moment, then got up to its feet hesitantly, shaking its head and shivering its wings.  "There now," Tarrin cooed to it in a gentle voice.  "All better.  You can go ahead and fly home now."
	"I've never seen a drake so close before," Torm said, looking at it.  "Not even the two that Wizard owns gets this close to me.  It's very pretty, isn't it?" he asked, leaning down to get a better look.
	And then the blue flashes he saw became very clear to Tarrin.  The little drake hissed, then Tarrin sensed a sudden release of magical energy.  A small arc of electricity, like a miniature bolt of lightning, emanated from the little blue drake's body and struck Torm in the chest as he leaned down.  Torm was knocked backwards and crashed to the deck, his swearing telling Tarrin that he was alright.  A little singed, but alright.
	"Wow," Tarrin said in appreciation.  Now that was a defense mechanism!  "Calmly, little one," he said in a soothing voice, not moving.  "We're not going to hurt you."
	The little drake looked up at him, blinking, its front paws fidgeting and its claws scrabbling on the deck.  Then, to Tarrin's surprise, the little drake ambled forward and rubbed the side of its head against his ankle, chirping pleasantly.  Just like Chopstick and Turnkey did when they were in an affectionate mood.
	It liked him!  The drake either liked him because he'd healed it, or it could tell that he was a Druid.  Most wild animals wouldn't bother Druids, because the sense of the All that surrounded them put the animal at ease.  No wild animal saw a Druid as an enemy.  Tarrin reached down and rubbed the scales on its back, mindful of the little ridges and spines, then patted it on the head.
	"Ouch," Torm grunted from the deck.
	Tarrin looked back and saw that the Wikuni was sitting up, with a little scorch mark on the chest of his resplendent red uniform coat.  "That was interesting," Tarrin told him.  "I've never seen a drake do that before."
	"Me either," Torm agreed.
	"You alright?"
	"I will be in a minute.  All my fur is standing on end."
	"It must have thought you were going to attack it when you leaned down.  I wouldn't do that again if I were you."
	"I'm not planning on it, no," Torm agreed mildly.  "That's quite a trick, though.  I'll bet that's how it hunts.  It shocks birds out of the sky and lets the fall kill them."
	"That would be an effective tactic," Tarrin agreed, looking down at the drake.  "Alright now, little one," he told it.  "You're better now.  You should be going home now."  The drake made no move to turn and fly away.  Instead, it reared up on its hind legs and put its front paws on his knee, begging for attention.  "You're welcome," he chuckled to it, petting it on the head gently.  When he stood up, the drake did turn around and jump into the air, flapping its wings, but it did little more than gain altitude, turn around, and land on his shoulder.
	Tarrin was a bit surprised.  It seemed to be in no hurry to go home, but it had to leave soon, or the island would be too far away for it to get back.  He reached up and took hold of the drake, holding it gently, then set it on the rail.  "You need to start back, little one, or you'll be too far away to reach the island," he warned it.  "Now go on.  Before we get too far away."
	It looked at him quizzically.
	"Go on now," he ordered.  "Back home.  Go home!"  He made a shooing motion with his paws, and the drake reacted to that, vaulting up into the air and flapping its leathery wings, back towards the island.  Tarrin watched it go with a slight smile, happy that he'd had a chance to help someone for a change.  "Phandebrass is going to kill me," he chuckled.
	"Why?"
	"A drake that can shoot lightning?  He would have loved to have studied it.  If he would have survived," he added with a laugh.  "Did it burn you?"
	"Not really," he replied, getting up and putting a furry hand to his chest.  "It would have if it would have hit my fur.  The coat took the burn for me.  I've never been shocked like that before.  It didn't burn, but it certainly wasn't pleasant."
	"I can imagine it wasn't," Tarrin agreed mildly.  "I'd better be going, Torm.  I have an appointment to keep."
	"I need to change coats," the admiral noted, looking down.
	The rest of the day went by as all the days did, but the next morning was anything if not ordinary.  Tarrin had woken up to some shouting bleeding down from the deck above, but hadn't paid much attention to it.  He dressed and went out on deck to find Camara Tal, but found all the sailors on the deck, looking up into the rigging.  Some of them were rubbing arms or shoulders, and there were little burn marks on a few of them.  Keritanima was standing by the foremast with Miranda, watching Phandebrass crawling through the rigging as Chopstick and Turnkey fluttered about the mainmast, circling the crow's nest.
	"What's going on?" he asked Dar, who was standing not far from the sterncastle.
	"There's a little animal up there in the rigging," Dar replied.  "It attacked a few of the sailors, and now Phandebrass is trying to catch it."
	Tarrin looked up, seeing that the thin Wizard was on the rope ladder leading to the crow's nest, a rope in his teeth and his ridiculous conical hat gripped in one hand.  His hair had gone all white again, Tarrin noticed, and the Wizard had trouble with getting his feet tangled in his robes as he tried to climb up the rigging.
	He stopped as a little streak suddenly shot out of the crow's nest, towards the bow, then dove down through the rigging with Chopstick and Turnkey in hot pursuit.  Tarrin didn't get a good look at it, since it was behind the sails on the foremast, but when it dropped under the lowest sail and pulled out of its dive, he realized that the flying thing was a little blue blur.
	It was the drake!
	It flew right at him then pulled up and landed on his shoulder, its claws tearing his shirt and drawing blood from the speed of the landing.  It chirped in his ear and licked him on the side of the face with that reptillian tongue, then suddenly hissed threateningly as Chopstick and Turnkey flew towards him.
	"Land!" Tarrin called, holding his paws out.  That was a command that both the drakes knew, and they obediently flapped down to the deck and stayed where they were.  He reached up and took hold of the blue drake, bringing it down to his chest and looked down at it.  It looked up at him with eyes as blue as its scales, vertically slitted, reminding him irrationally of Kimmie's eyes.  "I told you to go home, little one," he chided the drake in a stern voice.
	It looked up at him unashamedly, then it gave that chirping sound and rubbed the side of its head against his chest.
	Tarrin blew out his breath in a snort as Dar looked at the drake in surprise.  "How does it know you, Tarrin?" he asked.
	"I met it last night, when we passed by that island.  I guess it decided to follow the ship," he replied.
	"I say, you got it!" Phandebrass' voice called from overhead.  The thin Wizard shimmied down a rope and got back on the deck, putting his hat back on as he ambled over quickly.  "I say, it's a rare blue!" he gasped.  "A Blue!"
	"Rare?"  Tarrin asked.  "There was a whole pack of them flying around out here last night."
	"I missed it?" he asked in a crestfallen voice.  "I say, we need to turn the ship around, we do!  I really must see this!"
	"Dream on, Wizard," Camara Tal scoffed as she appraoched, with all his other friends converging on him.  "It certainly seems to like you, Tarrin," she noted.
	Tarrin told them what happened the night before, about the attack and his saving it.  "I let it go, but I guess it just flew far enough away to convince me it left, then turned around."
	"Drakes are like that, lad," Phandebrass said.  "When they find someone they like, they stay with them.  This drake is attached to you, and there's nothing you can do short of attacking it to make it leave, there isn't.  You're stuck with it."
	"I wouldn't attack it!" Tarrin said in a sudden voice.
	"Then you should give her a name," Phandebrass grinned.  "I say, what luck!  I can study a blue!"
	"Her?" Dar asked.
	"I say, certainly!" Phandebrass said confidently.  "See the smaller horns, and the different proportions of the ridge-spine pattern?  Those are the markings of a female."
	"Why would the other drakes attack this one?" Allia asked Phandebrass curiously.
	"Any number of reasons, my dear," he replied.  "I say, she may have been an intruder in the territory of another pack, she might.  Drakes are social animals, they are, and live in packs in the wild.  Or she may have tried to win leadership of her pack, and lost.  Losers are chased out of the territory.  Sometimes they're killed."
	"They certainly tried to kill her," Tarrin mused.  "Even chased her halfway out to sea."
	"Then she must have nearly won," Phandebrass said.  "The pack leader certainly didn't want her coming back to challenge again, so he was making sure of her, he was."
	"Well, brother, it looks like you have a new pet," Keritanima grinned at him.  "Care to introduce us?"
	"I say, that's a bad idea," Phandebrass warned.  "She's a wild drake, Tarrin.  You'll need to domesticate her and train her.  She may like you, but she'll be aggressive towards everyone else, she will."
	"We noticed," Camara Tal said.
	"I say, take her below decks, to your cabin, and I'll come by in a few minutes and tell you what to do," Phandebrass said.  "Raising a drake isn't easy, my boy.  You'll need some help, you will."
	Tarrin wasn't entirely sure about this.  He'd never had a pet before, not even a dog, because his father was allergic to dogs.  The Kael farm was one of the rare few that didn't have dogs on the farm, and the few cats there were were restricted to the barn to control the rodents, because the small flock of sheep they'd kept on the farm didn't like them.  He took the little blue drake down to his cabin and sat down on the bed, stroking it absently, considering the situation.  If it was true, and he couldn't make the drake go away, he was more or less stuck with her.  He did like drakes, though, and if he was going to have a pet, then a drake seemed a sensible choice.  He wasn't sure how much the drake was going to affect his life, because Chopstick and Turnkey seemed to more or less take care of themselves.  So long as they were fed regularly and someone paid attention to them every so often, they didn't seem to need anything special.  On those terms, Tarrin wouldn't mind at all to take care of the drake.
	Phandebrass knocked on the door, then entered immediately afterward.  To his surprise, Kimmie filed in behind him.  That made him inwardly groan; now he'd have to scour her scent out of his room or he'd get no peace at night.  But he put on a brave face and greeted her as amicably as he could.  She smiled at him and sat down on the stool in front of the desk, and the Wizard stood before him.  "I say, very good.  The first thing you need to do is domesticate her, you do.  She's a wild drake, and she'll need to learn that everyone isn't going to attack her."
	"How do we do that?"
	"Carefully," Phandebrass grinned.  "She's a blue, and they have magical powers, so we have to be cautious.  I trained my drakes to behave by slowly introducing them to people, being nice to the people and such to show that the person was my friend.  Drakes are clever creatures, my boy, she'll understand that your friends are her friends.  Once you have her acclimated, she'll start relaxing around strangers.  While you're taming her, you'll have to teach her what you want her to know, you will."
	"Like what?"
	"Like housebreaking her, but that will actually be an easy task, it will," he replied.  "Drakes prefer to bury their waste, or expel it while flying, but they'll never soil what they consider their den.  You have to convince her that this is her den, then leave the window open for her so she can leave to relieve herself.  I say, you'll also have to teach her not to chew," he continued.  "Drakes chew on things to keep their teeth sharp.  I have chew toys for my drakes in my cabin.  Leather works best, it does.  Get yourself a piece of ragged leather and reprimand her whenever she chews on anything other than that chew toy."
	"How do you reprimand a drake?"
	"An angry tone," he replied.  "Drakes are smart, my boy.  She'll learn what your voice sounds like when you're in certain moods, and she'll respond to it.  But don't ever hit a drake as punishment.  She'll think you're attacking her, she will, and she'll either run away or attack in kind, or both."
	"Alright.  What else should I know?"
	"That's basicly it, my boy," he replied.  "As far as basics go.  But drakes are smart little devils, and they're easy to train.  Training her in certain things and to do some tasks would be a very good idea, it would.  As you've seen, Chopstick and Turnkey have been trained how to attack enemies.  I've also trained them to fetch certain things, and they also know how to find certain things that I need.  They also know a good variety of commands for their own good, to keep them out of trouble and out of harm's way.  Such as the land command I saw you use.  It's a good idea to have a well trained drake if she's going to go out in public with you, it is."  He looked at the drake longingly.  "I can't wait until she's tame," he said in an excited tone.  "I'll teach you how to teach her commands, and I can study her abilities."
	"One thing at a time, Phandebrass," Tarrin said, scratching the drake between the horns, right where Turnkey and Chopstick liked to be scratched.  She too seemed to like being scratched there, leaning into his claw.
	"I say, you need to give her a name," the Wizard told him.  "You should always call her by her name."
	"I think Sapphire would be a good name," Kimmie offered.  "She has the same color as a sapphire."
	"It's as good a name as any," Tarrin shrugged.  "So her name is Sapphire."
	"Very good then.  Stay with her in the cabin for the rest of the day, and make sure to open the window.  She'll learn that this is her den, and she'll also get used to you.  Just keep visitors on this side of the room until tomorrow."
	"What should I feed her?"
	"Drakes eat anything, but they can be finicky, they can," he replied.  "Table scraps work best.  She'll tell you what she does and doesn't like.  Oh, and make sure she always has fresh water in a bowl somewhere.  Drakes drink alot of water, they do."
	"Alright," he nodded.  "Anything else?"
	"Not that I can think of at the moment, no," he replied.  "As soon as I remember something else, I'll run down here and tell you, I will."
	"So, just sit in here with her all day?"
	"Just so," Phandebrass nodded.  "I say, you may want to get a book or something."
	"I can have visitors, so could you go find Camara Tal and ask her to come to my room?" he asked.
	"I say, I'd be happy to, my boy," he replied with a smile.
	Phandebrass turned around and took of his cap, then replaced it on his head for some strange reason.  "I'll send Camara down here for you, my boy," he promised.  "I say, coming, Kimmie?"
	"In a bit," she replied.
	"See you in a bit, then," he replied, nodding to her.  Then he let himself out.
	"What do you want, Kimmie?" he asked her.
	"To know why you've been avoiding me," she replied bluntly, putting her elbows on her knees and leaning towards him.
	"I didn't realize I was avoiding you on purpose, Kimmie," he said blandly.  "You've been busy, and I've been busy.  That's all."
	"That's not all, and don't deny it," she countered.  "Am I upsetting you, Tarrin?  If so, tell me so, and I'll fix whatever it is I'm doing that annoys you."
	He snorted.  "There's nothing you can do, Kimmie," he told her directly.
	She looked at him, then she blinked.  Then she laughed.  "Is that all that's bothering you?" she asked with a sudden grin.  "Why didn't you say so!"
	"What are you talking about?"
	"Do you really think Jesmind is going to care if we go to bed together?" she asked easily.  "I thought you knew females better than that!"
	"What are you talking about?"
	"Tarrin," she chided.  "Love is love, but sex is just that.  Sex.  Jesmind isn't going to give a flip of her hair if we go to bed, so long as your love for her doesn't change."
	"Maybe, but I wouldn't feel right if I did," he told her.  "It would be like cheating on her."
	"If I'm bothering you this much after only a couple of rides, what do you think it's going to be like in a month, Tarrin?" she asked bluntly.  "And I wasn't even trying for you.  But now that you've made your interest clear, I will be trying for you.  It'll only get worse."
	"That's a cheap shot, Kimmie!"
	"That's one way of putting it," she teased with a wink.  "I told you a long time ago that I'm interested in you, Tarrin.  Now that I have you all to myself and I know that you're interested in me too, do you really think I'm going to pass up the chance?"
	"But what about Jesmind?"
	"What about her?" Kimmie mirrored.  "I don't really care what your feelings are for Jesmind, Tarrin.  What matters is now.  And right now, you're a male, I'm a female, and we're attracted to one another.  Just let instinct run its course."
	"You're an evil woman, Kimmie," he accused.
	"I know," she replied with a wicked little smile.  "If you feel all that worried about what Jesmind thinks, tell her," she offered.  "Tell her everything.  Even tell her that I'm going to try to lure you now, I don't mind.  Because she knows that you can't ignore instinct.  She knows it's in my instincts to lure a male I find attractive, especially when I know he's interested.  Tell her anything you want to tell her.  I think you'll be surprised what she tells you."
	"What do you mean?"
	"Odds are, after shouting at you a while to make herself feel better, she'll tell you to take me for mate," she said calmly, leaning against the desk.  "Just make sure that you stress how it would feel like cheating if you did," she added with a chuckle.  "That'll remind her that you're still in her thoughts."
	"So, you're telling me to ask my mate if I can dump her and take another," he said in a dangerous tone.
	"Not at all.  There's no rule that says you can only have one mate at a time, Tarrin," she replied calmly.  "I don't want you to give up Jesmind.  I'm just asking to take up with you, and I'll gladly step aside when we get back to Suld.  Jesmind can't be here to attend to your physical needs," she said with a surprising leer.  Tarrin never expected that kind of behavior out of Kimmie.  "I'll be happy to take care of it for you," she finished with a wink.
	Tarrin was taken aback.  In just a short moment, Kimmie had gone from her usual demure, conservative self to the epitomy of a hot and bothered Were-cat female.  Kimmie really was just like all the other females, just as she had told him a while ago.  Tarrin had never seen this side of Kimmie before, and he was startled by it.  But in reality, he shouldn't have been too surprised.  Despite being turned, her instincts and her blood were just as hot as any other female's.
	"I, I don't know, Kimmie," he told her.
	"Just talk to Jesmind, Tarrin," she told him.  "Because if you don't, I'm going to make your life a living hell," she finished with a seductive smile.
	"You are a witch," he said, but in a teasing tone.
	"No, I just have you where I want you," she replied.  "It's a buyer's market, Tarrin.  And you're the merchandise."
	"I really hate females sometimes," he grunted, patting Sapphire on the head gently.
	"Then we're doing things right," Kimmie retorted with a grin.  "Oh, Tarrin, by the way."
	"What?"
	"I can smell it all over you," she said bluntly.
	To Tarrin's intense pique, he blushed.
	"Talk to Jesmind.  I'm sure Triana told you that it's highly offensive to a female when she can smell a 