on the shoulder and smiled.  "You didn't think she was going to let you sleep on the ground, did you?" she asked lightly.
	Tarrin laughed.
	"Tarrin!  You have to see this!" Jesmind shouted from the door.  Everyone else was inside.  "There's running water, Tarrin!  Just like what you described to me they have in Wikuna!  It comes right out of a faucet in the kitchen!"
	"Well, father?" Jula asked seriously, patting his shoulder again.
	Tarrin could only look at the beautiful house in wonder, and then he silently thanked the Goddess.  She had given everything he had ever wanted.  All he had wanted when all this was said and done was peace.  To live in a house out in the forest where nobody would bother him and raise his children, spend time with his mate, and just live.  His Goddess had demanded so much of him, but now, he saw, she was willing, even happy, to give back to him in return.  She had given him everything he had ever wanted everything he had ever needed.  She had brought him back, so he could be with Jesmind and Kimmie and Mist and watch his children grow up.  She had brought him here, so he could start his new life.  And she had made him this, a beautiful house, where he could live in complete comfort and want for nothing.  Where he could watch his children grow up healthy and happy, where he could teach them all he knew and send them out into the world to make their own marks.  Where he could spend endless night after night in domestic bliss with Jesmind, or Kimmie, or Mist, always with a loving paw and a good companion with him to share his days and enrich his life.  A place he could bring his sisters and friends, a place they would always feel was theirs as well as his own.
	A place where he could live.  A place where he would be happy.
	A tear coming to his eye, he patted Jula's paw, and then started forward.  Yes, he wanted to see this wonderful house, this beautiful and perfect gift from his beloved Goddess.  He wanted to see it and thank her for every room he saw, every piece of furniture, every little nail in every board.  He wanted to see it.
	First at a step, then at a jog, and then at a run, Tarrin ran across the meadow, up the stairs, and through the door of this, his house, his land, his place, his territory.  His home.
	At long last, he had come full circle, and the long journey was finally at an end.
	He was home.


And so, my children, the tale of
Tarrin Kael and the Firestaff has ended,
but this is not the end of Tarrin's adventures.

But as in all things, one end
is naught but the beginning of
another story.

	And there will be other stories to tell.

