llyn, would take him.  And if she didn't like some of the things he did, she'd force him at swordpoint to change.  In that way, Allia was nearly as arrogant as the Sha'Kar.  It was her way or no way.  Everyone else thought that Tarrin was the dominant in their relationship, but they had no idea how wrong they were.  Allia ruled him as effectively as Keritanima ruled Wikuna.  He had been the one that had to conform to her, throughout their entire relationship.  But he really hadn't minded, because he loved her, and was willing to do it.  Allyn would have to feel the same way if he wanted any kind of long-term relationship with Allia.
	Allia would turn that boy into a Selani, when he was already trying to turn Allia into a Sha'Kar.
	"Oh, we do need to tell you about one thing," Kimmie said.  "Sapphire!" she called.  Sapphire was in the pool room, using the privy.  At least she started doing that after Tarrin explained the concept to her.  The Sha'Kar privy, just off the pool room, was alot like Keritanima's running water toilets.  They used magic to flush the waste out of the bowl with water, but Tarrin had no idea where it went after that.
	Sapphire flew into the room a moment later and landed on Tarrin's lap.  "Allia," Tarrin said with a smile.  "Meet Sapphire."
	"I know your drake, my brother," she said, looking down at the drake with a gentle smile.  "How are you today, little one?"
	"Doing well," Sapphire said conversationally.  Allia gaped at the drake, then she burst out into surprised laughter.
	"Clever!" she said.  "You taught her to speak!"
	"She started, and we decided to finish for her," Tarrin told his sister.
	"You said she was intelligent.  I did not think she had become that intelligent!"
	"She's agreed to help us," Tarrin told her.  "Since we don't have Sarraya, she'll go try to listen in on the Sha'Kar.  We've been teaching her Sha'Kar to get her ready.  We think they'll say things around her that they wouldn't say to us.  She just has to get in where she can eavesdrop, that's all."
	"The memory spell works on her?"
	Tarrin nodded.  "We were going to have Dolanna and Kerri help at first, but she learns so fast that we don't need them.  We weren't going to say anything to the others about it yet, but when Sapphire offered to help us, we decided they'd better know."  Tarrin scratched Sapphire between the horns with his claw, and the drake pushed up against his paw happily.  "Even Sapphire's helping out as she can.  With luck, we'll have what we need in a few days."
	"Have the others made any progress?" Allia asked.
	"Not really," Tarrin replied.  "The drinks they served at that feast were drugged.  It's some kind of drug that the Sha'Kar drink all the time, like alcohol for humans, so it didn't affect them much.  It didn't affect the Vendari or us either.  But it pretty effectively kicked the Wikuni and the humans in the backside.  The Wikuni didn't really even get up until about noon today, and it had a pretty interesting effect on the humans."
	"What kind?"
	"It must be some kind of aphrodesiac to humans," Kimmie said.  "Even Dolanna and Phandebrass ended up sleeping with strangers last night.  We wondered if it had any kind of effect on you."
	"Not that I noticed," she answered.  "I doubt my interest in Allyn was spurred by this drug.  I was starting to feel interest in him before the feast."
	"That soon?"
	"As soon as I saw him," she answered.  "He is a very handsome boy."
	"You're alot closer physically to the Sha'Kar than the Wikuni are," Tarrin speculated.  "Maybe you're similar enough to where this drug really is no more than alcohol to you."
	"That does seem reasonable," Allia agreed, adjusting the hem of her robe.  "I feel uncomfortable in this.  I am not used to feeling such a draft on my legs."
	"Take it off," Tarrin told her.
	"I want to look presentable for Allyn at his party," she said quickly.  "He asked me to wear this, so I will wear it."
	Tarrin reached up and put his paw on Allia's arm, and sent probing flows into her.  Maybe the drug had affected her, because she wasn't behaving normally.  His searching spell sought out the presence of the drug, but found none.  Perhaps she was acting strangely without being affected by an outside source that wasn't Allyn.  Perhaps it was love.  Love made people do strange things.  Tarrin himself was living proof of that.
	Allia, falling in love?  It wasn't absolutely outlandish.  She was a very loving and emotional person.  And she was certainly deserving of some happiness.
	Tarrin let go of her, smiling up at her.  "Well, if it makes you happy, then I'm all for it," he told her.  She seemed to understand what he really meant, and smiled down at him, then kissed him on the cheek.  "When will you be finished learning, little one?" Allia asked the drake.
	"Tarrin tells me tonight," Sapphire answered her.
	"Have  Chopstick and Turnkey shown signs of this?"
	"No, and that's driving Phandebrass crazy," Kimmie replied.  "He's kept them locked up in his room since they got here.  He said that the Sha'Kar keep wanting to take them home with them, and they don't know how to care for drakes properly.  He's afraid the Sha'Kar may hurt them by accident."
	"So far, our little friend here is the only one to show us how smart she is," Tarrin said, patting Sapphire on the flank, right under the wing.  "Maybe Chopstick and Turnkey will show the same intelligence, but it'll just take them longer."
	"I, don't think so," Sapphire said slowly.  "They seem...different.  I don't know how to explain it.  But they're different from me."
	"They're another species of drake," Tarrin reasoned.	
	"It's more than that.  They're not like me.  I don't know how I know that, but I do."
	"Well, we'll take your word for it, little one," Tarrin told her.
	"How are they different?" Kimmie asked intently, staring at Sapphire.
	"I'm not sure.  But I feel that they're different somehow.  They don't have the same sense that the drakes in my pack had.  That's as well as I can explain it, I'm sorry."
	"Well, they don't have magical powers like you do," Kimmie said.  "Could that be it?"
	"Maybe," the drake said, her amber eyes narrowing.
	"Well, I am going to go, my brother.  Allyn is going to treat me to some Sha'Kar desserts that were not served at the feast."
	"You know, he is shorter than you, Allia," Kimmie said with a grin.  "That doesn't bother you?"
	"He is not short where it counts, Kimmie," Allia said with a wicked little smile, and that made Kimmie explode into gales of girlish laughter.  "I will see you after the party?" she asked Tarrin.
	"We'll be here.  Drop by with Allyn before you drag him to bed and torture him some more."
	"We will come see you," she promised.  She kissed him on the cheek one more time, then sauntered out of the room.
	"She's so bad!" Kimmie said, trying to recover her composure.  "She's evil!  I like her alot better like this than I do with what she shows everyone else!"
	"You're lucky.  I haven't seen her be so open with anyone other than me and Kerri.  She must really like you, Kimmie."
	"I feel honored," she said, then she broke down into fits of giggling again.
	Tarrin and Kimmie got back to the business of teaching Sapphire Sha'Kar after Allia left, breaking briefly to get some food.  Afterwards, Tarrin refreshed the spell of learning and let Kimmie take over for a while, and he went to go look for Iselde.  It was just before sunset, meaning that she would be getting ready for her party tonight.  He wanted to make sure that Keritanima and Dolanna had talked to her and arranged to have her escort them.
	He found her in her room.  He knocked politely to gain entry, and after he announced who he was, Iselde called for him quickly to come in.  Iselde's room was about half the size of Arlan's chamber, but was much more cluttered.  Iselde had a love for furniture, it seemed.  She had three divans, two plush chairs, and two couches arranged in a loose circle near the door, and one of her walls also had ivy growing on it.  The soft light that emanated from the walls seemed brighter in her room than in any other.  She too had a bed on a dais near the back of the room, and had a bathing room just off from the bed, the arch on the far wall.  She had several bureaus and dresser chests with drawers, and also several conventional chests stacked in corners.  She had four bookcases, all of them holding an impressive amount of books, as well as little crystal figurings, tiny sculptures, little paintings, and other various types of small art.  Iselde seemed to like minitature things.  Iselde's room had a crystal chandelier, the first such decoration he'd seen, but it was not meant to hold candles.  It was a piece of crystalline art, with carefully cut pieces of crystal hanging from the polished brass tines by fine golden wire.  The chandelier caught the light from the walls and reflected it and refracted it, resulting in a dazzling display of multicolored light whenever the viewer moved his head to regard the thing.  It was quite lovely, and the light it gave off was almost hypnotic.  Iselde wasn't very neat either.  There were dresses and slippers and frilly little things that had to be underclothes scattered all over the furniture, looking like a human girl's room.   She also wasn't alone.  Auli was with her, and to his surprise, Iselde had asked him in while the two of them were in the act of changing clothes.  Auli was completely nude, her back to him as she held up a shimmering blue robe that caught the light of the chandelier in a very appealing manner.  Iselde's hair was wet, and she was wearing a bath robe.
	"I didn't realize you were dressing," he said apologetically.  "I'll let you finish."
	"There's no need for that, honored one," Auli said, giving him a naughty smile while looking over her shoulder.  "We Sha'Kar aren't quite as stuffy as the humans are."
	"If it doesn't bother you, it doesn't bother me," Tarrin shrugged, sitting on one of the divans.  "Did Keritanima and Dolanna come talk to you today, Iselde?"
	"They did, honored one.  They asked if I would take them to the party tonight.  I told them I would."
	"I like the furry one," Auli announced.  "What was her name?  Keratimina?"
	"Keritanima," Tarrin corrected.
	"She's got a wicked sense of humor," Auli giggled.
	"That sounds like her," Tarrin agreed smoothly.
	"Are you coming to the party, honored one?" Iselde asked hopefully.
	"Not tonight," he replied.  "I'm helping my mate with something, and we can't be bothered."
	"What are you helping her with?"
	"It's something that has to do with being Were and her being pregnant," he lied.  "You wouldn't understand, even if I told you."
	"Oh.  Alright then," she shrugged, holding the dress up again.  "I think this one will do tonight," she told Iselde.  "It's Thaline's party, and you know how stuffy she is.  She'd throw me out if I wore something more fun."
	"There's only the one party tonight?" Tarrin asked.
	"There's only one party on any night," Iselde answered him as Auli pulled the dress over her head.
	"That's alot of people."
	"Not everyone attends a party every night, honored one," Auli said.  "Us youngers tend to do it because we're bored and don't have anything else to do.  Some Sha'Kar don't bother circulating.  The social outcasts and the oldest, who don't have to worry about it the way we do.  So there are some faces at a party every night, and others come when the mood hits them, or the host of the party is someone they're friends with."
	"Ah.  I understand."
	Iselde shrugged out of her robe and held up a green shimmering dress.  "I like this one," she told Auli.  Tarrin admired her lithe form; it reminded him of Allia.  Iselde wasn't nearly so generously endowed in the bosom as Allia was, but she had a similarly beautiful figure.  Just thinner.  And she lacked Allia's muscular appearance.  She pulled the dress over her head and fussed with her hair after getting it on.  "Do you think I should wear a chain in my hair?" she asked her friend.
	"Well, I found out what I needed to know, so I'll let you two get ready," he announced, standing up.
	"My mother asked me to invite you to our house tomorrow, honored one," Auli said to him.  "So has about everyone else we know, but my mother threatened to do something nasty to me if I didn't deliver her invitation."
	Tarrin chuckled.  He remembered Iselde tell him that everyone she knew wanted her to invite him to their homes for them.  Obviously Auli's mother had the same idea.  "What's your mother's name?" he asked.
	"Lienne," she replied.
	"Do you know--what's their names--oh, Trevan and Tarielle Andiari?"
	"Not really, honored one.  They're a little too old to be in our circles.  But they have a good reputation and they're good Sorcerers.  Why do you ask about them?"
	"Of all the Sha'Kar I met at the feast, those two are the only ones that stuck out," he replied.  "I don't remember your mother introducing herself to me, Auli.  But those two, they stuck in my mind.  I'm not quite sure exactly why, but they did."
	"Tarielle's come to buy art from my mother, and she seems nice enough," Auli told him, tying a sash around her waist.
	"I was curious about something.  Why don't Sha'Kar wear more jewelry?"
	"Why would we want to do that?" Auli asked.  "Jewelry is supposed to accessorize the woman, not the woman accessorize the jewelry.  Aren't I beautiful enough without gaudy baubles to distract the eye from me?"
	"It's an old custom that dates back before we came here," Iselde told him sedately, ignoring her friend.  "Too much jewelry is seen as tacky among us, so we don't wear more than a ring or two, or earrings."  She touched her golden amulet.  "Except this, of course.  But it's a symbol of our devotion to the Goddess, not something we wear to highlight ourselves."
	"I think it's a silly old custom," Auli sniffed.  "It's not like the Goddess can hear us or anything.  I think the Elders make us wear them just to go through the motions."  She got a sly look.  "Actually, I think they make us wear them because they think it will impress the Goddess that we were so faithful even when we were separated."
	"Why don't you take it off then?"
	"And become a social pariah?  I don't think so," she snorted.  "That's the biggest blunder a girl can make.  Lamidrelle Velsanse showed up in the city without her amulet two years ago, and they still gossip about it today.  It didn't matter that the chain broke and she had it in her pocket, all that mattered was that she wasn't wearing it."
	Tarrin reached behind him and scratched at the fur at the base of his tail absently.  "Well, I think I'll leave you two to finish getting ready.  I found out what I came her to find out."
	"I've noticed that you always say you're leaving more than once," Auli winked at him.
	"That's because certain talkative young girls keep trying to keep me from going," he told her with a slight smile.  "I'll see you two tomorrow.  Iselde will bring me over to your house, Auli."
	"I'm not talkative.  You just can't resist my beauty.  That's why you don't want to leave," she teased flippantly.
	Tarrin snorted in the way that Were-cats did, glancing at her.  "It takes more that what you've got to keep my attention, Auli," he told her, then he started walking away.
	Tarrin heard her give a huff and stamp her foot, almost drowned out by Iselde's sudden laughter.  "I was wrong!  I really don't like you!" Auli shouted at him as he left.
	"That'll change in a few hours," he said absently, waving a paw noncommitally over his shoulder.
	Tarrin returned to his borrowed room and continued with the task of educating Sapphire.  He saw that Kimmie had a couple of her books in Sha'Kar open on the floor, sitting on a rug with Sapphire looking down at it, teaching her how to read as she taught her more words.  He gave Kimmie a break to go stretch her legs after she told him how far they'd progressed, and took over Sapphire's education.  She seemed to be having trouble making out the different systems the Sha'Kar used to write.  He found that the spell was wearing off, so he renewed it and continued on.
	It took until nearly midnight, but when they were done, after nearly seventeen marathon hours of education, Tarrin proclaimed Sapphire to be fluent in Sha'Kar.  She possessed the same language skills in it that he did, him teaching her everything he knew about the language and its many nuances and subtle variations.  Sapphire seemed very pleased with herself.  She took him by surprise when, as soon as he said they were done, she asked him if he would teach her Wikuni next.  He laughed and promised he would, but only after they were done what they were doing there.  When they had the Firestaff, he promised, he would teach it to her on the way back to Suld.  He told her he'd make sure she was fluent before they got back to Wikuna, so she would be able to understand what was going on.
	About ten minutes after Sapphire laid down on her bed and got some much needed and well deserved rest, Allia barged in without knocking.  She wasn't alone, either.  Keritanima, Dolanna, Allyn, Iselde, and a male Sha'Kar that Tarrin didn't know were with them, the male letting Isele hang off his arm.  The unknown male was tall and narrow-featured, with unusually long fingers, and dull blond hair held back from his face by a gold circlet.  Kimmie and Tarrin had just started playing chess, and they paused to look up at them as the filed into the room.  Iselde was laughing happily and pulling on the male's arm, who looked a little nervous.  Allia was smiling broadly, showing more emotion in public than he'd ever seen out of her, and Keritanima was wobbling very slightly.  Dolanna looked a bit flushed.  Were they drugged again?  The smell of them reached him, and he couldn't mistake the heavy wine-smell that emanated from all of them.  It wasn't a drug...it was good old fashioned wine.
	"Brother," Allia said vibrantly.  "It's too beautiful a night for you and Kimmie to be sitting in here.  Come outside with us!"  She was speaking in informal Sha'Kar, a clear indication she felt comfortable with the unknown male Iselde was using a prop.  "The stars are out, all four moons are full, and the Skybands look very bright and beautiful tonight."
	"Yeah, come on, Tarrin," Keritanima slurred slightly.  "Stop being so stuck up and come out and have fun!"
	"Stuck up?" Tarrin asked mildly, trying to cover his shock.  He'd never heard Allia talk like that unless they were alone.  "If anyone understands why I don't mingle, I thought you would, Kerri."
	"Oh, bugger that," she told him.  "Come on!"
	"Are you drunk, Kerri?" he asked bluntly.
	"I don't know.  Dolanna, am I drunk?"
	"I think so, Kerri," she replied.  "I think I am too.  How curious," she said, looking down.  The floor...it keeps moving."  She grabbed hold of Kerri to keep from falling over.  "How does it do that?"
	Tarrin was stunned.  They were all roaring, blind drunk!  He thought that only one or two of them was so drunk, but it was all of them!
	"I think I may be drunk too.  Isn't it marvelous?" Allia asked with a brilliant smile, then she laughed lightly.  "Come on.  We can look up at the stars and just watch."
	"I think the only stars you ladies are seeing are the spots in front of your eyes," Tarrin told them.
	"Don't be a prude, honored one.  You'll start sounding like an Elder again," Iselde giggled.  "And here I went and told Oran here how relaxed you are.  Don't prove me a liar."
	"Relaxed and blind drunk are two different things, Iselde," Tarrin told her.
	"Now you are being a prude, brother," Keritanima accused.
	"Our dignity wouldn't allow us to get drunk," Kimmie said.  "It's against our instincts.  So is losing control of ourselves.  Would any of you really like to see what a Were-cat is like when she's drunk?  When she's not in control of herself?" Kimmie asked pointedly.
	Kerri winced, and Allia looked a little concerned.  Dolanna just kept staring at the floor.  "Ah, not really, Kimmie," Keritanima said.  "I don't think I'd want to clean up that mess.  It would be monumental."
	"Why would it be a mess?" the male asked.
	"Were-cats are very strong, Oran," Iselde told him.  "If the honored one got drunk, he'd be ripping doors off their hinges and shattering tables without meaning it."
	Tarrin wasn't sure how Iselde knew that.  Did Allia or Keritanima tell her?  "Did you have fun at the party, outside of getting drunk?" Tarrin asked, trying to organize his thoughts.  Seeing them all like this had shocked him so deeply that he couldn't even think of where to begin to try to figure out what happened that got them like this.
	"It was a blast," Keritanima grinned.  "We drank and talked and talked some more, then we danced half the night.  Then we listened to Auli's mother sing, then we listened to a few Sha'Kar playing some old songs.  Then they caught Auli in Thaline's parents' bedroom with Julian Orialis, and she got thrown out," she laughed.  "I hope they managed to finish before that."
	"Julian left the party afterwards," Iselde giggled.  "I think he went to go find Auli so they could."
	"Don't talk about that," Allia said, patting Allyn on the backside.  "You may make us go to bed early."
	"I won't complain, Allia," Allyn said with a worshipful smile as he looked up at her.
	"What do you think Oran?" Iselde asked.  "Uncle Arlan is at the Grand's house tonight.  Want to go play?"
	Oran groped her in a most obvious manner, grinning.  "Well, sorry all, but me and Oran are going to go and take pleasure from each other," Iselde announced like she was going to run to the kitchens for a snack.  "Have fun without us!  Come on, Oran!" she giggled, pulling him out of the room.
	"I think a night in bed with you is better than staring at the stars, Allyn," Allia told him.
	"I won't complain, my heart," Allyn said with a bright smile.  "I'll worship your body any time you ask it."
	"I'm asking it."
	"Then let's go," he offered.
	"Sorry, brother.  We'll talk in the morning," Allia told him, taking Allyn's hand and leading him towards the door.
	"Man, what a time to not have Rallix around," Keritanima fumed.  "I guess I'll just have to go out and look at the stars with you, Dolanna.  I can lament over not having my husband here, and you can be my sympathetic ear."
	"So long as you can get me outside," the Sorceress replied.  "I do not think I can get across this moving floor without help."
	Keritanima and Dolanna staggered out the door, and left Tarrin and Kimmie sitting, chess game forgotten, staring after them in absolute shock.  What in the furies was going on!  Keritanima and Dolanna getting drunk?  Allia behaving like a Sha'Kar?  what on earth caused this to happen?  It was so out of character for all three of them!  Keritanima would have never gotten drunk.  She was too well conditioned to allow herself to lose her self-control.  Neither would Dolanna have intentionally gotten drunk.  And Allia!  It was as if she'd completely shed her Selani reserve, ever since she'd seduced Allyn.  Had the Sha'Kar male had such a powerful effect on his sister?  She was like a different person!  They all were!
	Tarrin looked at Kimmie in confusion, but she looked just as flabbergasted as he was.  It was insanity!  He was of half a mind to go after them, burn the alcohol out of them, and demand some answers.  But that could wait until tomorrow.  Besides, he wanted to get them when they were deep in the hangover, so he could punish them that much more.
	It disturbed him, distubed him greatly.  But the thing that most disturbed him was Allia.  She wasn't acting like herself, and as her best friend, that really worried him.  Allia was like steel, unchanging before any force that sought to reshape it.  He had never imagined her changing like she had since she met Allyn.  Even if she was in love, it seemed wrong for her to speak so informally or behave as she'd been behaving.  Even if she was head-over-heels, hopelessly in love with Allyn, her formidable dignity and sense of honor would not allow her to act like she was acting now, and it was a major transgression in the customs in which she'd been raised to laugh in public, or be so informal with strangers.  Or even be informal with friends in the presence of strangers.  Selani customs were very refined and almost ritualized, and he couldn't even count the number of customs he saw her break in that short conversation.  It was almost as if she had abandoned her Selani ways, and was acting like a Sha'Kar.
	That wasn't just frightening to him, or worrisome, or even astounding.  That seemed wrong.  Now matter how smitten she was or drunk she was, Allia would not act that way in public.  It was that simple.  It went against everything she was, the very fiber of her being.
	Tarrin's eyes narrowed, the beginnings of suspicion starting to set in his mind.  What was really going on around here?  Allia would never act like that unless she was being influenced somehow.  Had that drug had an effect on her that he hadn't noticed?  There hadn't been any of the drug left in her system, though...was its effect lingering?
	Questions, questions, more and more questions.  And only time would provide him with answers.  He glanced at Kimmie, who looked a little worried, and frowned.  Tomorrow morning, he was going to get some answers.
	One way or another.

	Tarrin didn't sleep well that night, since he was so upset and worried by what he'd seen of his friends the night before.  He was up before the sun, and for the first time since coming to the island, he walked the streets of the town unaccompanied, exercising his legs and getting some fresh air while he slept.  It had rained during the night, leaving the iron fences and the lush grass wet and the white stones cold and slick beneath his feet.  There was virtually nobody out except human servants, who were carrying bales of material, baskets of food, or were trundling out to begin a day's work in the fields.  Tarrin watched the toil of the humans around them, doing their jobs without their Sha'Kar masters watching over them, and remembered what that servant had told him.  That the Sha'Kar were good masters, and they served because it pleased them to serve.  But they didn't look very happy now, with resigned looks on their faces as they bent over their heavy toil with a strange sense of reluctant resolve.
	The walk cleared his head a little, and also reminded him about the plan they had.  This was the third day, and that meant that today he had to confront the Elders and the Grand and give them his ultimatum.  Then they'd make a show of leaving tomorrow, only to return and tell the Sha'Kar that their ship was broken and needed repair.  That was the plan as they'd developed it, but now Tarrin wasn't so sure it was going to work.  Allia seemed out of control, and Keritanima and Dolanna didn't seem much better.  He hadn't talked to the others since the day before, but he hoped that they weren't going to be quite so bad.
	But things weren't out the window yet.  Around noon, he would go see his sisters and Dolanna and find out what happened the night before.  He may have to kick Allyn out of Allia's chamber, but that was fine by him.  He also needed to talk to the others, and find out what they'd discovered.
	Tarrin paused to look between the two hills that formed the valley at the north side of the large, spread-out town, looking up at the volcano.  It was still smoking, if only faintly, almost like the snoring of a sleeping giant.  It had erupted once since the Sha'Kar had been here, but had lain semi-dormant ever since then.
	"H-Honored one," a young, very pretty girl said with a deep curtsy.  Tarrin hadn't noticed her until he was almost on top of her.  She was very pretty, very pretty indeed, looking to be about sixteen or so, with a heart-shaped face and dark hair that was long and lustrous.  Tarrin noted that she wore only a blue wrap-like skirt, vaguely similar to a kilt or Camara Tal's tripa which left her breasts bare.  That was the first time he'd seen a display of overt nudity among the humans, but the girl didn't seem to be self-conscious about her lack of raiment.  Tarrin's eyes locked for a moment on the elegant tattoo just over her left breast, the symbol of the house she served.  She was very pale, telling him that she spent most of her time inside, and she was carrying a finely woven wicker basket full of what looked like cabbage leaves.
	"Forget your top?" he asked her conversationally.
	She blushed slightly.  "My Master prefers me like this, honored one," she replied.  "He says my beauty shouldn't be hidden behind clothes."
	"You're the first human I've met who has an employer with such forceful opinions," he remarked.  "And you're wearing clothes now."
	She blushed a little deeper.  "I have to take it off when I return to the manor," she told him.  "My Master likes his view of me to be unimpeded."
	Either they'd been told to speak to him truthfully, or she was so conditioned to speak truth, even at personal embarassment, that it compelled her to do so.
	"Well, to each his own, I guess," Tarrin said.  "What are you carrying?"
	"Lettuce, honored one," she said, holding up the basket.  "For the morning salad."
	Tarrin leaned down to look at the lettuce, but what he was really doing was getting his nose closer to the girl.  That close to her, he could smell Sha'Kar all over her.  Her "master" obviously was one of the ones that preferred the company of human females.  Actually, she had more than one scent on her, and to his surprise, one of them was female.  That put him a bit aback.  Tarrin's Cat instincts precluded him from even thinking about that kind of unusual situation, for concepts of same-sex intimacy didn't exist in the more primitive mindset of the Cat.  They existed, and were even natural, in sentient beings, however.  Such acts were considered unnatural in Ungardt, but the Sulasians were slightly more progressive, and the Arkisians and Arakites openly accepted such behavior.  Tarrin had been taught to be tolerant as a boy, since his mother was much more open-minded that most Ungardt, and had he been human, he may have been able to rationalize that concept.
	One thing did stand out in his mind as he surreptitiously sniffed the girl.  The Sha'Kar used her for pleasure, and the mingling and freshness of the scents told him that they had all used her at the same time.  They'd had turns with her, like they were marauding brigands 