ng into a Wizard spell.  It came down to a half hour dissertation on the forces of Wizard magic when a simple yes or no would have answered the question.  Tarrin watched Keritanima and Rallix as he ate, saw how they were acting towards one another.  Keritanima was perfectly comfortable, but Rallix was still a bit scattered, and wasn't quite sure how to act or what to do.  Keritanima had twisted him around her little finger.  For a moment, Tarrin felt a little sorry for him.  The meal was interrupted about halfway through by Binter's return, leading a huge Vendari with a notch taken out of his crest, who came in and said something to Keritanima, having to bend far over to reach that far down.  Keritanima nodded and said something to him in a quiet tone, and he left.
	After the meal, Keritanima beckoned Tarrin and Allia to walk with her and Rallix, as four Royal Guardsmen moved ahead, four lurked behind, and Binter and Sisska moving along with them.  "I'm sure you're waiting for me to yell at you over what happened last night, Tarrin," Keritanima told him.  "Well, after getting to the bottom of things, I realized that you didn't do anything that wasn't given to you first, so I'm not that angry.  At least not anymore."
	"I'm sorry I embarassed you in front of your subjects, Kerri," he apologized.
	"Eh, it's no big deal," she said with a wave of a paw.  "I care more about our friendship than I do about their respect.  They'd all like to stick a dagger in my back anyway, so let's forget about them."
	"Well, it was certainly, unexpected, to hear that you and Rallix have become betrothed," Allia broke the subject.  "Why did you not tell me about this, deshaida?  I am a little upset about it."
	"I'm sorry, but it wasn't sure it was going to work, so I didn't want to say anything until I knew or not," she said with a toothy grin.  "Knowing you, if I told you I wanted to ask Rallix for marriage, you would have put a dagger to his throat and forced a promise out of him."
	"Probably," Allia admitted.
	"I asked you two out here so you could inspect him to your heart's content."
	"Inspect me?" Rallix asked in a little concern.
	"Of course.  Tarrin and Allia are my brother and sister, Rallix, you know that," she told him.  "They have a say in my life.  They'll look you over, and if they like you, they'll let you live to see the wedding."
	Rallix shuddered visibly.  "Let me live?" he asked in a nervous voice.
	"She is teasing you, Rallix," Allia told him calmly.  "I would not kill you.  I would mark you and drive you away from her, but I would not kill you."
	"I would," Tarrin snorted.
	"We know you would," Keritanima grinned.
	"I have heard all I need to hear from Kerri," Allia said diffidently.  "There is no need for inspection.  I trust the judgement of a sister."
	"Tarrin's already looked you over," Keritanima told Rallix with a grin.  "He may look big and mean, but he's got quite a nose and quite a mind.  I could see him figuring you out while we were eating, and it's pretty apparent he's already made his decisions about you.  Haven't you, Tarrin?" she asked.
	Tarrin nodded.
	"Well?"
	"He loves you," Tarrin said bluntly, glancing down at her.  "He doesn't quite understand that yet, but it will come to him in time.  He'll be a good mate."
	"Just couldn't say it diplomatically, could you?" Keritanima said archly as Rallix almost missed a step.
	"If you don't understand your feelings, there's nothing wrong with someone else pointing them out to you."
	"You don't have a romantic bone in your body," Keritanima fussed.
	"You should know by now that if you ask me a question, you're going to get an answer.  If you're not ready for the answer, don't ask the question."
	"I figured that out," Keritanima chuckled.
	"You do not have to go through with it, Rallix," Allia told him.  "Keritanima would not force you to marry her."
	"Yes she would," Tarrin disagreed.
	"Tarrin!" Keritanima snapped.  "Don't listen to him, Rallix," she said quickly.  "Tarrin loves to dwell on my faults."
	"Actually, Lady Allia, I have to admit that I'm not entirely against the idea," he said quietly.  "I am rather fond of her Majesty, and I can't argue the merits of the arguments she made to go through with the marriage.  I must admit, I'm rather surprised that she seems to like me so much.  And, well, this may seem a bit offensive to you, my Lady--"
	"You can't offend Allia, Rallix," Keritanima chuckled.  "She's a Selani.  They're alot more worldly than we are."
	"Yes, well," he said, clearing his throat.  "Actually, her Majesty's biggest club is an obscure law dealing with Royal chastity," he said, looking very uncomfortable.  "Since we--ah, since we slept together, I'm now technically guilty of high treason.  She didn't reveal that until after we--ah, after it was over."
	"You mean that when she seduced you, she put a legal noose around your neck?" Tarrin asked.
	Rallix nodded, his facial fur standing on end to have to talk about such things.  "Her Majesty threatened to invoke that law, should I refuse her.  The penalty for deflowering a Royal Lady is quite severe," he said, clearing his throat again.
	"Kerri, you blackmailed him into marrying you?" Allia asked in surprise.
	"Well, you're the one who always talks about equal measures of sugar and the strap.  I laid out the sugar before I showed him the strap," she said sheepishly.
	Tarrin stared at Keritanima, then he laughed loudly.  Even Allia laughed, displaying the fact that she did indeed have a sense of humor.  A Selani would find that situation to be very funny.  "Sister, I knew you were cunning, but that is almost deplorable!" Allia told her, then she laughed again.  "But it was an honorable trap, since you would not be forcing Rallix to do anything he is not already inclined to do."
	"Excuse me?" Rallix asked in confusion.
	"Selani adore romantic games," Tarrin told him absently.  "Prospective mates will challenge each over other the silliest things to demonstrate their strength or their intelligence or their courage.  Keritanima played a game with you, a game of deception, a game you lost.  Since she was baiting her trap with something you wanted, it means that a Selani wouldn't consider what Kerri did to be dishonorable.  She's not forcing you to do anything you really don't want to do.  It would be the same as a Selani male kidnapping his love interest.  The female is given an opportunity to escape, though it may not seem apparent to her.  If she doesn't escape, then she obviously wanted to go in the first place."
	"Just so," Allia agreed.  "You were inclined to marry her, or you would never have slept with her.  As I understand Wikuni, anyway.  Why is that humans and Wikuni put so much on the taking of a lover?"
	"They're just backwards, sister," Tarrin replied.  "At least the Arkisians and Arakites are more progressive."
	"In other words, when I allowed her Majesty to seduce me, I sealed my own fate," Rallix mused.
	"The bait she used was herself," Tarrin chuckled.  "The one thing you couldn't resist.  A clever trap."
	"Thank you," Keritanima said shamelessly.  "I worked quite a while to make it.  Are you proud of me?"
	"Quite," Allia agreed with a smile.  "If you are half of what Kerri says you are, you will be a fine husband," she told Rallix.  "The husband of a sister is my brother.  It would honor me to speak of you thusly."
	"The honor is mine, Lady Allia," Rallix said with a light smile.  "Acceptance by a Selani is the highest honor one like myself could hope to achieve."
	"At least he can sweet-talk," Tarrin chuckled.
	"Hush," both Allia and Keritanima told him.
	Tarrin, Allia, Keritanima, and Rallix spent the rest of the morning together in Keritanima's new apartments as Binter and Sisska stood quiet, vigilent guard over the room.  They were huge, grand, and decorated in Keritanima's own style, a style of simplistic taste.  There were only a few works of art, two tapestries, and three sculptures, but all of them were beautiful and powerful pieces, invoking great emotion.  Keritanima did appreciate finery, so her furniture was all obvious antique, made of a dark wood that was highly polished, and was graceful and elegant in design.  The motiff of her outer parlor was blue, with the upholstery of the chairs and couch a deep yet soft-seeming blue, with a tapestry depicting the night sky over Wikuna hanging from the wall.  They sat in that parlor on those comfortable chairs and did nothing but talk, giving Tarrin and Allia a chance to come to know Rallix's mind.  They talked of their journey and their mission, of what had happened in Suld, and even listened as Rallix voiced his reservations and opinions about the new governmental system that Keritanima was trying to institutute.  Then Keritanima took her turn defending her system, explaining to Rallix how it was supposed to work in detail.
	"There, that is the problem," Rallix said as he listened to her explain the concept of Parliament as a governing body.  "This is why the common man hasn't become so supportive, your Majesty."
	"We're in private, Rallix," she chided.  "You can call me by my name here."
	"I'm sorry, Kerita--uh, Kerri," he said.  "The system as you describe it does make sense, and I can see the potential of it.  But the common man, someone without my education, he's not going to understand the system by the documents you've distributed to the Mayor and the papers.  You need to explain things, not send out a sheaf of papers with new rules.  If you explain things in simple terms, as you did for me, you'll gain a great deal more support from the common man."
	"Kerri sometimes believes that all can understand what she understands," Allia said mildly.  "She cannot conceive of someone not being able to understand what is very simple to her."
	"I've noticed that about her," Rallix agreed, looking at her calmly.  "Usually, she doesn't bother to explain.  It's not going to work in this instance, Kerri.  You're trying to change a fundamental cornerstone of our society, so if you want people to embrace it, you need to explain it."
	"I guess I should have at that," she admitted, tapping on her muzzle with a finger.  "I did try to explain how it would improve the lot of the common man."
	"Your statement and speech wasn't very clear on that, Kerri," he told her.  "I read it from the Examiner."
	"What is this examiner?" Allia asked.
	"A newspaper," Rallix told her.  "A printed journal of events," he explained when he saw Allia's blank look.  "They pay people to go out and find information that people would find interesting, and then they print it on paper and sell it."
	"It's a new idea that's just catching on," Keritanima told them.  "Someone invented a machine that makes it very fast and easy to mass produce printed pages, and change those printed pages quickly.  The Examiner was the first of these 'news-papers' to appear, about a year ago.  I have to admit, they're making a killing.  People actually pay to read the news."
	"What you should do is print a detailed explanation of your system and distribute it the same way they do with newspapers," Rallix told her.  "The nobility is already starting to realize that if they attack you and your ideas in the press, they can lie through their teeth and have people believe them as long as they do it first.  People are starting to take what they read in the newspapers as inviolate truth.  It won't be long before one of the nobles gets the idea of printing a pamphlet decrying the system and handing it out all over the kingdom."
	"That's a good point.  If I write this thing, how long would it take to get it printed?" she asked.
	"I know the owner of the Wikuna Herald, a new newspaper.  If I bring him the article you write and the gold to cover his expenses, he'll print it and hand it out.  I could have it on the streets the day after you hand me what you want printed."
	"Don't you love modern technology?" Keritanima laughed, looking at Tarrin and Allia.  "I'm going to resort to using propaganda against myself.  Ironic, isn't it?"
	"You just lost me, Kerri," Tarrin said.
	"I told you a while ago, what I'm doing is akin to overthrowing myself, Tarrin.  Now I'm going to convince people that me overthrowing myself is actually a good idea.  Using selective information to present a single view in favor of any other is called propaganda."
	"I just do not understand Wikuni politics," Allia said with a shake of her head.
	"That's a good thing," Keritanima grinned.  "If you did, it would stain your honor."  She clapped her hands together and rubbed them.  "Well, if I'm going to do this before I leave, I'd better get started."
	"That would be a good idea," Tarrin agreed.
	"Seeing as how we're getting married later tonight, I'd like to get this out of the way," she added as she stood up.  "Now, if the Ministry of Science could invent something that makes writing faster and easier," she grunted.  "Binter, could you go find Miranda for me?"
	"At once, your Majesty," Binter said with a bow, marching from the room.
	"Well, you're going to be busy, so we'll leave you to it," Tarrin told her.
	"What are you going to be doing for the rest of the day?" she asked.
	"I'm not sure," he replied.
	"I wanted to go down into the city and see their wonders," Allia told him.  "Would you go with me, brother?"
	"That's a good idea," Tarrin agreed.  "I'd like to go see Wikuna for myself."
	"I'll send a guide--"
	"No guides," Allia said.  "No guards, no fanfare.  I wish to walk the streets as any other."
	"You're a Selani, sister.  You're not going to just walk around unnoticed," Keritanima chuckled.
	"Perhaps, but I would prefer to go on our own rather than be escorted."
	"Well, I seriously doubt that there's a single living thing in Wikuna that could threaten either of you, so you have my blessing," she grinned.  "Just be back before sunset, alright?  You don't want to miss our wedding, do you?"
	Rallix fidgeted a bit.  Sleeping with Keritanima was one thing, but now he had to pay for it, and the cost still hadn't settled with him quite yet.
	"Just call to us when you want us to return," Allia said, touching her amulet meaningfully.
	The mention of Sorcery reminded him that he was going to take Keritanima into the Weave.  He sat back down, and Keritanima looked at him strangely as he used Sorcery to spin out two new strands, anchoring them to the same strand he'd used to anchor the new strand in his room.  "I forgot," he grunted.  "This is going to be our one and only chance to do this, Kerri.  We'll be on the move again tomorrow."
	"Oh, right!" she said brightly.  "Writing that article can wait!"  She rushed over to where he had put the strands, on the floor between her chair and his, grabbing a pillow off the nearby couch, dropping it on the floor, then sitting on it.
	"What are you doing, Kerri?" Rallix asked.
	"Kerri is Tarrin's student in magic," Allia answered for her.  "He is going to train her in an aspect of Sorcery that can only be done when they are stationary.  While we are waiting, would you like to play a game of stones?" Allia offered.
	"What kind of Sorcery?" he asked curiously.
	"A very old kind," Tarrin said.  "And no, you can't do it."
	"I'm rather sure I couldn't," he said mildly.
	"I know your type, Rallix.  Trust me, you can't do it, and you can't make a spell that copies it either."
	"Make a spell?" Keritanima asked quickly.
	"How did you know that I once dabbled in Wizardry?" Rallix asked in surprise.
	"It leaves a mark on you," Tarrin told him.  "I sensed it in you the moment I met you."
	"You learned Wizardry?" Keritanima asked in surprise.  "Rallix, that's forbidden by law!"
	"I was in Sennadar at the time, your Majesty," Rallix said with a smile.  "The law doesn't apply there.  So long as I don't actively practice magic on Wikuni soil, it's perfectly legal."
	"When were you in Sennadar long enough to learn magic?" Keritanima asked curiously.
	"When I got out of primary school, I signed on with House Plantan as a sailor," he told her.  "They saw I wasn't much of a sailor, but I had a nose for business, so when we reached our destination, Dala Zah in Yar Arak, they put me on at their trade consulate so I could learn about the merchant business.  I learned magic from one of the local Wizards.  He thought it a grandly funny thing that a Wikuni was willing to learn magic, but back then, I often didn't consider the consequences before jumping head first into things."
	"That sounds alot like someone we know," Tarrin told Allia with a smile.
	"Yes, it does, does it not?" she agreed.
	"I spent two years there.  Long enough to learn some very simple spells, little more than cantrips, but it was enough to satisfy my curiosity.  I reached the end of my contract with Plantan and didn't extend, so I was returned to Wikuna.  I still have my spellbook," he said with a distant smile.  "Sometimes, when I feel nostalgic, I take it out and read it."
	"You were born on the wrong continent, Rallix," Tarrin said.
	"Sometimes I have to agree with you," Rallix sighed.  "I was always fascinated by magic.  It's a pity the priesthoods of Wikuna managed to get the laws against other forms of magic passed."
	"I've already started undoing those laws, Rallix," Keritanima said, patting the floor beside her impatiently.  "Hurry up, Tarrin!  I already have a long day ahead of me, and my night will probably be even longer," she said with a look at Rallix.  The badger cleared his throat and pulled at the neck of his tunic.
	"Alright," Tarrin said, sitting down beside her.  "This isn't that hard.  All you have to do is relax and do what you did the first time, Kerri."
	"I don't remember much about that," she warned him.
	"You do, you just don't realize it," he added.  "First you do what you always do when working with Sorcery.  Calm down, clear your mind, and concentrate on what you're doing.  When you do that, you'll feel the Weave above you.  You just rise up into it, that's all.  That's how I imagine it, myself."
	"That's it?"
	"More or less.  The currents of the Weave will pick you up as soon as you join with it, and carry you to the Heart.  So don't get panicky when you feel yourself being carried away."
	"Do you always start there?"
	"At first, yes," he answered.  "When you have more experience, you can hold your position and go wherever you want.  But I haven't done very much of that."
	"Why not?"
	"Well, mainly because you have to be stationary when you do this," he told her.  "We've been on a ship the last month, and there was too much going on at the Tower for me to explore the Weave very much."
	"Those are good reasons," Keritanima chuckled.
	"Pardon my curiosity, but exactly what are you going to do?" Rallix asked.
	"They are going to join with the Weave," Allia answered him.  "Certain Sorcerers have the ability to join their minds to it, and it gives them a period of expanded consciousness."
	"Ah.  Interesting," Rallix hummed.
	"It's more like an alternate consciousness," Tarrin clarified.  "While we're joined, we'll be completely unresponsive.  We won't hear or see or smell, but we can feel.  If there's an emergency and you need us to return, just pull our hair.  We'll feel the pain and return."
	Tarrin waited for Keritanima in the Heart, and it only took her about ten minutes to arrive.  He allowed her a little time to marvel over the place, then he began her education.  He explained things as best he could, given his limited knowledge, then taught her the same spell he'd taught Jenna, using a Sorcerer's star to speak directly to his or her mind.  Tarrin used that spell to talk to Dolanna, to tell her to find a strand and attempt to join the Weave.  She arrived not long after that, and then Tarrin repeated his lesson for Dolanna, who already seemed to have a much firmer grip on the information that Keritanima did.  Tarrin described the Heart and the Goddess, then explained how the strands worked when travelling through them from the inside.  He stressed that Weave geography didn't correspond to the geography of the real world, and it usually required help from another Sorcerer or some kind of landmark or beacon to allow a Sorcerer to find something in the real world through the Weave.  He taught them spells for looking into the real world from the Weave, a form of completely undetectable spying, and taught them how he projected into the real world through the Weave, using an Illusion and then pushing his consciousness into the matrix of the weave to allow him to use it like a borrowed body.
	"It's not a real body, though," he warned them.  "When you move your arm, you're not really moving your arm, you're changing the weave to alter the image.  It takes a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, it does feel like you're moving your arm."
	"Understandable," Dolanna agreed.  "I remember when I saw you doing it that you did not walk.  The projection simply changed positions, sliding along the floor."
	"I remember that," Keritanima agreed.
	"You can weave spells through a projection, but it's very hard," he told them.  "You're literally weaving over a distance between your physical body and the projection.  The further it is, the harder it is."
	"You explained that already," Keritanima said.  "I want to try this."
	"So do I," Dolanna agreed.  Then she looked at him.  "Tarrin, are you shorter?"
	"The image here is an image of self generated by my subconscious," he explained.  "In the Heart, I don't appear as I really am, I appear the way my mind perceives me to be.  I guess my mind hasn't reconciled the fact that I'm so tall yet.  I'm not the only one that appears differently.  Jenna appears as an adult, and Jula appears as she looked when she was human."
	"Ah.  Interesting," Dolanna mused.  "Do I look the same?"
	"Both of you look exactly as you do in reality," he told them.
	"Then I guess we don't have any identity issues," Keritanima laughed.
	"Alright then, let's go visit Jasana," he said, giving Keritanima a rather cool look.  "I want to see my daughter."  He turned and looked at all the many stars, and it only took him a moment to find Jasana's star.  It was one of the brightest ones, a visible marker of her tremendous power.  He wove the spell to talk to her and reached out and put his paw on her star, feeling its power and vibrance pulsing into his paw.  "Jasana," he called.
	There was a pause.  "Papa?" her voice came through the star.  "I can hear you talking inside my head!"
	"I'm using a spell to talk to you, cub," he said gently.  "Are you alone?"
	"No, papa," she replied.  "Mama and gramma are here, and so is Aunt Jenna and Jula."
	"That's fine.  Where are you?"
	"We're in our rooms," she answered.
	"Tell them we're coming to see them," he told her.  "We'll be there in just a minute, alright?"
	"Alright, papa," she answered excitedly.
	Tarrin felt back between her star and her physical body, until he knew which way to go to reach them through the Weave.  He paused and then explained what he did to Keritanima and Dolanna, teaching them how to use the star of a Sorcerer to find his or her physical body, then he taught them the specifics of weaving the projection they would occupy, and exactly how to go about animating it.  Then he led them away from the Heart, rising up and entering a Conduit, following that into a smaller strand, then another, then yet another, hurtling through the Weave against the flow of the magical currents.  He entered a small feeder strand and moved along it slowly until the sense of Jasana was right before him.  He paused and waited for the other two to join him, and when they did so, they were both looking rather amazed.  "It's incredible!" she said, looking around. "We're inside the strand.  In the magic!"
	"Can't you feel it flowing around you?" Tarrin asked, motioning with a paw at the river of soft radiance in which they were submerged, which did reduce visibility, making anything more than twenty spans away hazy and indistinct, like looking into a fog.  The boundary of the strand was cleary distinguishable as a black wall at the edge of the radiance, a physical boundary that would hinder any travel through it.  Tarrin had never really paused to look around at the interior of a strand before, understanding its nature without having to look at it with his spectral eyes.  He could sense much more than he could see anyway, feeling the flow of the power, the gentle eddies and currents even with in the flow, and the occasional pulses and flickers of alien magic that travelled through the Weave.
	"It's beautiful," Dolanna said in Sharadi, looking around.  "We went so fast, I didn't get the chance to appreciate it before."
	"Yes, it is, isn't it?" Tarrin agreed.  "Alright, first you look out and get an idea of where you're going, then you weave the Illusion and then enter its weaving just like a strand.  That will allow you to join with the spell.  Ready?"
	"Ready," they both said.
	Tarrin wove the Illusion of himself as he truly appeared, and then pushed himself into the Illusion.  He opened his spectral eyes to see that they were all in the apartments he had in the Tower, sitting or standing in the parlor with its three couches surrounding the tea table, all set before the fireplace.  Jesmind and Jasana were sitting on one couch, Triana standing behind it, and Jenna and Jula sitting on one of the others.  He focused on his mate and daughter and smiled.  Jasana squealed in delight and tried to jump up to hug him, but Jesmind put her paws around her daughter quickly.  "It's not really your father, cub," she warned.  "If you try to hug him, you'll pass right through.  It's just an Illusion."
	"Aww," Jasana said with a pout.
	"I'm sorry, cub, but this is the best I can do," he smiled at her, feeling his powerful love for the little girl flow through him at the sight of her.  Seeing Jesmind had as strong an effect, reminding him again how much he loved his fiery, tempermental mate.  "Believe me, I'd give a great deal to be able to touch you right now," he said longingly, looking into her eyes.
	"I feel the same way," she answered from her heart, gazing into his eyes.
	Tarrin sensed the building of other spells, and then images of Dolanna and Keritanima appeared on either side of him.  They were motionless, still, until he felt their minds join to the weaves, and then the Illusions became animate.  Their eyes opened, and they looked around the room in wonder.
	"Amazing!" Dolanna breathed, turning to look around.  They both, it seemed, caught onto the trick of simulating motion immediately.  In reality, it was very much like moving a physical body.
	"You're about six hours late," Jenna said critically.  "It's midafternoon here."
	"It's still morning here," he told her.  "I forgot about the time difference.  We should have made it clear whose morning we'd use to meet," he told her.
	Jenna chuckled.  "I guess so," she agreed.
	"You're looking well, father," Jula said with a gentle smile.  "How are things going there?"
	"Rather well," he replied.  "We'll be leaving for Vendaka tomorrow, so this will be the only chance I have to do this.  I can't project like this when the ship is moving."
	"Why not?" Jesmind asked.
	"Because we have to be in physical contact with a strand," Jenna answered her.  "If we're moving, then we'll move out of contact with the strand, and I don't know what would happen to us if that happened."
	"Exactly," Tarrin agreed.  "Mother," he greeted Triana.  "You're looking well."
	"Not for Jesmind's trying to make me go bald," she said sourly.  "Sometimes I think I should have killed her when she was younger.  I'd have saved myself alot of headache."
	Tarrin chuckled.  "I'm rather glad you didn't, mother," he told her.  "She may be a handful, but she's my handful."
	"Then you come deal with her," Triana said as Jesmind gave him a glorious smile.
	"I'd love to, but as you know, things can't be that way at the moment," he sighed.
	"How are the lessons going?" Jenna asked Dolanna.
	"I was there to observe as Tarrin trained Keritanima, so there is little he has had to repeat for me," she answered.  "This is our first excursion into the Weave, and it will be our last for some time."
	"Travelling doesn't make for good teaching," Jula said sagely.
	"Actually, since we are on a ship, we have plenty of time for teaching," Dolanna told her.  "But since the ship moves, it restricts what we can learn."  Dolanna wiped her brow.  "Tarrin, you were right.  This is demanding."
	"I'm starting to feel it myself," Keritanima agreed.
	"It takes practice," he told them.  "Why don't the two of you go on back?  You need to rest.  Trust me, as soon as you go back to your bodies, you'll feel twice as tired as you do now."
	"What motivation," Keritanima grunted.
	"He's right, Kerri," Jula said, then seemed to blush when she realized she'd used the contraction that only Keritanima's friends used.  "I almost collapsed when you saw me do it back when Dolanna crossed over.  It's a good thing I was already in bed."
	"Uh, Tarrin, you didn't teach us how to stop this."
	"Just pull out of the Illusion and go back into the Weave," Jenna told them.  "It's as simple as that.  Rejoin the Weave, and when you're there, just will to return to your body.  And you'll go back, almost immediately."
	"Oh.  I think I can do that," Keritanima grinned.  "See you all later."  And then her Illusion dissipated.  Tarrin felt her consciousness hurtle back into the distance, as she returned to her body.
	"It was good to see you again," Dolanna said with a smile, then her Illusion too wavered and vanished, and her mind rejoined her body in Wikuna.
	Tarrin remained behind, however.  He caused his projection to kneel before his mate and daughter, looking at them with yearning eyes.  If only he could touch them!  But as he was, they were insubstantial to him as he was to them.  Jasana put her paw out as if to touch him, then she flinched when her paw passed through his head, disappearing into the Illusion.  "That's scary, papa," she complained.
	"I warned you, cub," Jesmind said softly, gazing into his eyes.  "When are you coming home to me, beloved?" she asked.
	"I don't know yet, my mate," he answered, resisting the urge to reach a paw out to her.  "Is Jasana behaving herself now?"  Tarrin talked to both Jesmind and Jasana every night, but he was leery to bring up such things when both of them could hear, so he hadn't had a chance to ask about that quite yet. 
	"Jenna's cr