  She was flighty, capricious, scathing, and combative most of the time, and for a Faerie, she was remarkably disciplined...but that was for a Faerie.  Actually, she had very little self control, succumbing to her impulses most of the time, and those usually got her in trouble.  But she was still one of Tarrin's best friends, and her irreverence and light manner had often cheered him up.  He had spent the most time with Sarraya, but he had the chance to make friends with several others.  Ariana was an Aeradalla, a race of human-looking people with large feathered wings, and though he hadn't seen her but a few times, he considered her to be a very good friend.  She was quite smart, a trader and merchant by profession, though now she was a queen and no longer pursued trade as an occupation.  Her help had proved invaluable to Tarrin and his friends more than once in the past, and he made a point to contact her about once every ride or so and see how things were going.  His other close friends from the desert were Var and Denai, two Selani who had travelled with Tarrin as he crossed the desert, and had had a hand in showing him both the darkness deep within himself and the strength that would control it.  Var was a Selani to the roots of his hair, sober, serious, and intense in everything he did.  Denai, his wife, was probably the most un-Selani Selani he'd ever seen.  She was whimsical, a little erratic, daring and impulsive, unusual traits in a Selani.  But she had manners, and those manners were probably what kept her out of trouble.
	They were slightly unusual people, but they were nothing compared to three others of Tarrin's acquaintance.  The first was Spyder.  She was the Spyder, a figure out of the oldest myths and legends of Sennadar, a ten thousand year old Urzani, the forefathers of the modern Sha'Kar, who had stood vigil at the gates leading into the world of Sennadar, defending their world from incursion from the forces and creatures that lurked outside their dimension.  She was the most powerful mortal on all of Sennadar, a being whose powers of Sorcery rivalled the entire Tower, both in raw power and experience.  She was a blunt, direct, silent woman whose very demeanor was one of complete mystery.  Nobody knew Spyder, even those who were acquainted with her.  She was almost as complicated and mysterious as a god.  For that matter, she was nearly a god on her own.  No living thing on Sennadar could stand against her, and she knew it, but she never acted in arrogance or condescension.  It was as if that were simple fact, as simple as the fact that she might be wearing leather boots.
	The second was one that Tarrin knew, but didn't really call a friend.  She was a Demon, a Succubus, and currently was the Empress of Yar Arak, the largest kingdom on all of Sennadar.  The only reason she was allowed to remain on Sennadar was because she had struck a deal with the Elder Gods, to perform certain missions and tasks for them that regular mortals could not accomplish, but Spyder could not perform because of her other duties.  They looked the other way when she did some of the things she did, tolerating her in exchange for the invaluable service she could provide.  She was named Shiika, or at least that was what she called herself.  She was a thoroughly dangerous creature, cunning and manipulative, and Tarrin didn't trust her one whit.  But she had proved in the past many times that when her goals were the same as his, they could be powerful allies, and in a very odd kind of way, he sort of liked her.  She was a Demoness who had turned her back on the nature of her own kind, preferring to dwell in the mortal dimension.  But she was by no means a sweet and innocent maiden.  She was a Demon, with a dark soul and something of a evil streak in her, but nothing compared to the evil of other Demons.  As Demons went, she was almost...nice.  But that was only in comparison to other Demons.  She had five female daughters, half-breed Demons called Alus, and one of them was almost an acquaintance on her own, the blond-haired Anayi.
	The third was very much his friend, a very beloved and close friend, literally a member of his family.  She also just happened to be a blue dragon.  He had thought her to be nothing but a drake when he found her, and in a way, that was all that she had been.  She was actually a dragon, though, who had retreated into the body and mind of a drake to survive the Breaking.  After the Weave was restored, Sapphire and all the other dragons shed their drake forms and reverted to their true power, a power that no living thing on Sennadar, not even Shiika or Spyder, would take lightly.  Dragons were immensely powerful creatures, both physically formidable and magically adept.  A single dragon could wipe out the entire army of a kingdom.  Sapphire had started as his pet, but when she had regained her mind after the Weave was restored, their relationship evolved into one of deep friendship.  Sapphire saw him as one of her broodlings, a child, but she loved him and had tremendous respect for him, and he had similar love and respect for her.  She was vastly intelligent and tremendously wise, but she was also highly protective of him, a protectiveness that had both been crucial to his mission and a serious impediment.  Two days after he had come to his new house, Sapphire had showed up on the doorstep in her magically-granted human form, the result of a magic spell, and toured the place to make sure it was good enough for him.  It took nearly five hours, and she decided that it was "barely adequate."  That put Sapphire on the hot list for his Goddess, who had put quite a bit of thought and work into the house's design.  Just how she had known of the house or where to find him still aggravated Tarrin whenever he stopped to think about it, but that was Sapphire.  She had abilities and sources of information he would probably never understand.
	But the companion that still had the most impact on his life was the one who was no longer with him.  His name had been Faalken, and he had been a Knight like Azakar.  He had died in battle with the Doomwalker Jegojah, sacrficing himself to protect Dolanna and Dar just long enough to save their lives.  Faalken's death had been crushing for Tarrin, for the jovial Knight had been with him a very long time, had known him, and was one of the very few people that could make him laugh.  He had been irreverent, almost immature, someone that Sarraya would have loved to know, but when the cards were on the table, he was all business.  And he could back up that business with his broadsword.  Faalken's amazing mixture of childish delight and mature seriousness seemed a paradox, but he always knew when to be serious and when it was alright to let his curly hair down and have a little fun.  There were few men as solid and dependable as Faalken had been, and even now, not a day went by that he didn't think about his old friend with great sadness.  Faalken's death had had a very powerful effect on him because Tarrin knew that he was directly responsible for Faalken's death, and the combination of his death and the knowledge that he had been its cause had turned him truly feral.  It had been a very long road to recover the ground he lost when that happened.  He'd blamed himself, and when not torturing himself over it, he was defending his remaining friends with a savage brutality that mirrored the feral nature that had overwhelmed him.  For a time after Faalken's death, Tarrin was more of a monster than the ones who had sent Jegojah to kill him, utterly consumed by grief, rage, hatred, and fury.  He had been evil, completely evil, during those dark times, and it was still something for which he was not sorry.  Ferality in Were-cats was a constant through the breed, with only the degree of ferality in question.  Even the mildest Were-cats, like Kimmie, had a touch of feral nature in them.  But Tarrin had represented the other extreme, a cold-blooded monster who would kill with as much moral consideration as a housewife would have over slicing bread.  But he had recovered from that, and at the end, Faalken himself had a hand in changing Tarrin, easing his feral nature, by being there the last time he fought Jegojah, bringing Tarrin a sense over closure of the Knight's death and allowing him to finally put Faalken's body and soul to rest.  To this day, Faalken's crypt stood in the ruins of the ancient Dwarven city of Mala Myrr, a place that Tarrin visited in his mind at least once a day to pay his respects to his fallen but never forgotten friend.
	Having such unusual friends made life exciting, but it was nothing like a day in the Kael household.  Tarrin was a lone male Were-cat surrounded by four females and four children, and though they all liked each other, Were-cat mentality being what it was, it did cause some friction.  The biggest friction, predictably, was Jesmind and Mist.  The two elder Were-cat females each had their own ideas of the way things should be in the house, who should do what, and they butted heads and exchanged heated shouts at least once a day.  At the very least.  Mist was a very short Were-cat, but she was powerful and very nasty, and Jesmind knew that she had to be very careful around her.  Mist had once been as feral as Tarrin had been, savage and unpredictable, and though she too had recovered much ground from that low, she was still short-tempered and not above smacking Jesmind when she felt it necessary.  Mist was much smaller than Jesmind, but Jesmind knew that Mist could thrash her, so more often than not things were done Mist's way in the house.
	Were-cat society generally boiled down to that one simple concept.  Power.  Were-cats possessed human intelligence, but they were still dominated by the cat instincts that were a part of them.  The pecking order in the house was decided by who was physically the strongest, and gender made no difference in it.  If Tarrin was not bigger and stronger than the females around him, one of them would challenge him for his place as the top rung of the ladder.  Below him, the females decided their order simply by who could beat the others into submission.  The differences between Jesmind and Mist were very slight, and that was what caused so much friction between them.  Jesmind's status as Tarrin's mate made up for the fact that Mist could physically overpower her, so that put them on even ground, struggling against one another for total control underneath him.  It was a purely cosmetic thing for everyone else, for everyone in the house knew what needed done, and they simply did it.  Beneath them was something of a harmonious co-existence between Jula and Kimmie.  They had become fast friends when they met in the Tower, two turned females, and they were as inseperable as two siblings, always together, always talking, always gossiping or laughing.  Even if they weren't such good friends and truly didn't care about status, there would still be no friction between them.  Kimmie was so mild-natured that she honestly didn't care about status, more than happy to occupy the bottom rung.  Jula was only recently released as an adult, and was too insecure about herself to even think of trying to assert herself in any way.  Both of them always did whatever Mist or Jesmind told them to do, knowing that it was the easiest way to avoid any hint of conceived challenge.
	Those differences were quite profound to Tarrin as he observed them. The two Were-cat females who were born Were were very much different from the two who were turned. Tarrin was turned himself, but he had so utterly embraced his instincts and his Were nature that it was as if he'd been born Were himself.  Every Were-cat that knew him agreed about that one fact, as if he'd been born a Were-cat in a human body, and Jesmind's bite had only caused him to become what he was always meant to be.  Jesmind and Mist were combative and competitive, while Kimmie and Jula were capable of harmonious coexistence.
	Of course, all that went completely out the window when Triana arrived.  Triana was the oldest living Were-cat, the matriarch of their entire society, and her power was absolute.  Tarrin wouldn't even dream of trying to challenge his bond-mother over that highest rung, and when she was in the house, she ruled it.  Nobody would gainsay Triana, not over anything, not for any reason.  Triana was the ultimate example of Were-cat society, a Were-cat who stood above all others, and fully expected her every command to be obeyed immediately and without question.  Nobody--nobody, not even humans or other members of Fae-da'Nar--could look Triana in the eye and defy her.  Except for Tarrin, and only the defiant Tarrin who had not yet learned about his bond-mother.  After she had trained him when he was wounded by the Wikuni, he had learned how utterly foolish he had been to ever think that he could match wills with Triana.  He did sometimes chafe under her peremptory commands, but he knew that she would never tell him to do something she felt was beneath his dignity.  Triana loved him very much, as much as he loved her, and she was neither outrageous nor overbearing in her rulership of Tarrin's house when she was there.  It was just Triana doing what Triana did wherever she was, totally dominate everyone and everything around her and assume absolute mastery of whatever domain in which she currently stood.  She did it without even thinking about it, so powerful was the sense of her, an aura of absolute power that seemed to surround her at all times, a sense that anyone who disagreed with her must be absolutely crazy to think that she was wrong.  That was her way, making someone feel foolish for disagreeing with her, as if they weren't good enough to be right, and doing it all with a certain look and a set of her body that communicated her towering disregard for one's faulty opinion.
	The relationships among the children were virtually similar, but instead of strength, the fulcrum tilted around age.  Jasana was the oldest, and though she and Eron were the same size, Jasana was the dominant because she was older.  She was also dominant because she was a sneaky little manipulator, capable of talking Eron into doing almost anything she wanted him to do, and convincing him that he'd wanted to do it himself by the time she was done.  Jasana ruled Eron like a little queen, tricking him into doing all the dirty work so that she reaped the rewards, but any punishments would be exacted against him should they come down.  At least she tried.  Tarrin and Jesmind both were wise to their daughter's cunning, and though she could easily talk her way out of trouble with Mist, Jula, and Kimmie, she had no chance against her parents.  The fact that Tarrin could force her to tell the truth killed her little games more often than not, for neither of his children could look him in the eyes and lie, not when he gave them the stare.  No matter how many times Jasana tried to lie, she just could not do it.
	In many ways, Were-cat society was shocked by the scandalous cub of Tarrin and Jesmind.  Never in the entire history of the Were-cats had there been a cub quite like her.  There was no such thing as a deceptive, lying, conniving Were-cat, and her personality and demeanor had utterly shocked several of the Were-cats who had come to visit them.  Lying was an alien concept among the Were-cats, who always took the word of others at its face.  The fact that Jasana was so outrageously deceitful was a heavy black mark against her in the eyes of the other Were-cats.  What they all missed was the fact that Jasana only lied when she couldn't weasel out of something any other way.  She was remarkably loose with the truth when she needed to be, capable of tying truth into a knot and making it look like something it was not without ever actually lying.  And they also didn't understand that she only resorted to such things when she couldn't get what she wanted.  When she was content, she was as honest and forthright as any other Were-cat.  It was just when she was on one of her crusades to gain something she wanted that she turned sly.  Fortunately for everyone involved, Tarrin and Jesmind had learned the signs of a Jasana on the warpath, subtle shifts in her body language, tempo and timbre of voice, and most tellingly in her scent that warned them that their cub was up to no good.  Jasana hadn't quite figured out what was giving her away quite yet, but her parents weren't about to show their hands.
	Jesmind and Tarrin, and then the other adult females in the house, all worked very hard to break her of it.  Tarrin and Jesmind had been trying for as long as they'd been together, but no matter how hard they tried, Jasana simply fell back into the habit of doing whatever it took to get whatever she wanted.  Not even the disaster of Jasana turning Tarrin Were had broken her of her unsavory habits.  All those things ever did was subdue her cunning nature for a while, until the mentality of the Cat, which tended to forget and ignore the past, made her revert back to her former mannerisms.
	And it certainly didn't help that Keritanima had been giving Jasana "sneaking lessons."  True to her word, Keritanima was doing her best to spoil Jasana, and she'd been teaching her all her underhanded tricks, like picking locks and stealing things, as well as refining her ability to lie.  Tarrin was furious with his sister for doing that, but that was nothing compared to Jesmind's reaction.  Keritanima was forced to project to the house for nearly a month after that.  If Jesmind would have been able to get her claws into the fox Wikuni, she probably would have killed her.
	The most remarkable personality Tarrin had witnessed in the house had to be Jula's.  They had started as enemies, and then they were connected by bonds of duty, but now they were the best of friends.  Jula's earning of her adulthood had made her much more confident in herself, and though she was nowhere near as aggressive or pushy as Jesmind and Mist, she was starting to show the same traits she had had back when she was human.  Tarrin and Jula would stay up late into the night just talking, about anything and everything.  Tarrin learned to value his bond-daughter's experience and insight into things, for she had been a very well-travelled and experienced woman, and she brought that seasoned outlook to her bond-father in their long conversations.  And he was quite honestly impressed with her mind.  Jula was very intelligent, calm, unruffled, and now that she was an adult and had had time to adjust to being a Were-cat, confident.  Neither Jesmind nor Mist liked the friendship that had formed between Tarrin and Jula, but Jesmind and Mist could never think with anything north of their waists.  They didn't understand the simple fact that a male and a female could have a strong and involved relationship that didn't involve sex.  Jula was Tarrin's daughter, and only Kimmie could understand the position that that made her hold in his mind.  Tarrin would be repulsed by the very idea of taking Jula for mate, as much as he would at the thought of taking one of his own daughters.
	Life was good for Tarrin after his ordeal, after he settled in.  The first thing that happened were visits from Sapphire, Jenna, and Keritanima, after which his two sisters got a solid sense of his home so they could Teleport there whenever they wished.  After that, Tarrin spent his days relaxing or talking with old friends using his magic, and occasionally entertaining visitors.  His parents were the most frequent visitors, dropping by at least once a day to see him and their grandchildren.  He spoke to his old friends at least once a day, but Keritanima had a habit of Teleporting in every two or three days to spend some time with him.  She often brought Rallix, and Tarrin had gotten to know the thin badger, and respect him.  Rallix was perfect for Keritanima.  He was observant, smart, and unruffled sort of fellow that never seemed to be surprised by anything.  And Keritanima had learned quickly that her authority over him meant as much to him as dust in his bowler hat.  She couldn't dominate her husband, and that strength made for both some pretty heated arguments, as well as just the kind of man she needed to complement her.  Sarraya dropped in about once a ride or so, just to see how things were going, as well as to keep Tarrin abreast of what was going on out in Fae-da'Nar.  Sarraya was a Hierarch, one of the strongest Druids, and he had learned that the Council of Hierarchs had elevated him to that status as well.  They had never so much as spoken to him, but they made sure to pass along information the Hierarchs felt that all the other Hierarchs should know through Sarraya.  Tarrin felt that perhaps his history wouldn't make it very good for the Woodkin to know that Tarrin was considered to be among them, for they were the group that made the laws of Fae-da'Nar, and Tarrin was very well known as a Were-cat who would toss the rulebook out the window whenever it suited him.  Sapphire's visits were clockwork; every seven days, precisely at noon, she showed up on the front doorstep for what she called kirsa, or what Jesmind coined the "invasion."  Sapphire's visits were only enjoyable for Tarrin and his children.  The other Were-cats didn't appreciate the dragon coming in and telling them everything she felt they were doing wrong in the house, or what they should fix, or how they could arrange things to make her more comfortable when she visited.  They put up with it because Sapphire was a dragon, and not even a Were-cat was insane enough to cross one of those most powerful of creatures.  Every once in a while, he got a projected visit from Ianelle or ghostly voice visits from Auli, two Sha'Kar, mother and daughter, with whom he had become quite fond while at the Tower.  Auli talked to him quite a bit just to talk, for he and her had been fast friends back in the Tower, after the protective spell surrounding the Firestaff stripped him of both his memory and his Were nature.  Ianelle called on him almost as frequently, but she was more business.  His visits with Jenna were purely social, so Ianelle kept him abreast of what was going on in the world.  He was no longer involved in the world, but it was nice to know what was going on out there, far from his isolated homestead.  When she wasn't filling him in on what king was doing what to whom, they often shared warm, friendly conversation.  Tarrin liked Ianelle a great deal, and what was more, he trusted her.  She was Jenna's right-hand woman, universally understood to be second in command in the Tower, and she advised Tarrin's sister on various aspects of rulership.  Ianelle was a steady, methodical woman, deeply rooted in her Sha'Kar heritage and society, and Jenna could not have a better advisor than the dependable Sha'Kar Sorceress.
	It was everything he had hoped for.  It was quiet, peaceful, and serene.  Winter gave way to spring, and spring to summer without anything earth-shattering happening in his life in the least.  In those six months he had witnessed the miracle of Were-cat children growing up, for Were-cats aged at twice the speed of humans when they were children, both in body and mind.  Jasana, the oldest, grew almost half a span in those five months, going from resembling a five year old to resembling an eight year old, and the first signs of maturity were starting to show in her features.  She was going to look so much like Jesmind that it wasn't funny.  The maturation of her body was kept pace by the maturation of her mind, as the bubbly child that had shown tremendous affection for her parents slowly evolved into an intensely curious child that was starting to mimic her grandmother in many ways, adopting a very sober and serious posture while still remaining a carefree and fun-loving cub.  Jasana really was more mature than other Were-cats her age, a result of her unique experiences and her abilities, and the ordeal of being kidnapped and held hostage had not affected her personality very much at all.  She did tend to hover near her parents most of the time and didn't like to go out alone, but those things faded over time until she was as she had been before.  For those six months, Tarrin had started teaching both Jasana and Jula about the aspects of Weavespinner magic, starting to train them in a magical art form not practiced since the Breaking, but one that had suddenly become resurgent with the appearance of the Sha'Kar and the crossing over of more and more of the Sorcerers in both Towers.  There were a few deaths, but Ianelle had told him that even in the times of the Ancients, sometimes Sorcerers didn't survive the ordeal.  Jula proved to be an apt pupil, but Jasana had an unreasoning fear of the concept of joining to the Weave and sending her spirit out into it, probably spawned by a traumatic episode when she'd stumbled across Tarrin as he was doing so and thinking he was dead.  Ever since then, she'd been afraid of it, both of seeing others do it, and now of doing it herself.
	When not working with his daughters with Sorcery and not talking to any number of his friends or relatives scattered all over the world, Tarrin spent time with his children as both a father and teacher, teaching Jasana and Eron how to hunt and fish, teaching them the ways of the forest as they were taught to him by his own father, a Sulasian Ranger named Eron, and joining that education to his Were abilities to turn both of his little pupils into top-notched hunters and trackers.  Eron especially seemed to be quite adept at the idea of hunting, stalking, and tracking, for he had a very sensitive nose--even compared to other Were-cats--and he loved chasing things.  Mist had told him that ever since he was a baby, he'd loved to chase things, and that was all hunting and tracking really was, chasing something.  But unlike an adult, the chase was what was fun for Eron, not the kill.  That didn't mean that he was squeamish, but he saw catching his prey as a let-down, an end to his game.  For Eron, the perfect prey was the one that could never be caught, for it would provide him with endless entertainment.
	Eron was developing into quite an interesting child.  He had a fast mind...perhaps too fast.  He tended to talk fast and move fast whenever he got excited, which unfortunately was fairly often, but these traits didn't detract from his ability to sit down, be quiet, and learn, when he was being taught something that he wanted to learn.  He didn't show it as much as Jasana, but Eron was actually quite an intelligent little cub, probably as smart as his sister.  It was just that his intellect was not as refiined as his sister's, who had received more education than him.  He was usually a rather well-behaved cub, at least when Jasana hadn't talked him into stealing something for her, but he had that eternal youthful exuberance in him that made him quite dangerous to the house's furnishings and decorations.  He tended to break things, crash around the house, and never, ever seemed to get tired.  He was alot like any energetic human boy, but his Were-cat strength gave him the ability to do more than break plates.  Getting him to go to sleep was like battling an army of Demons, and getting him to sit still if he was bored often required chaining him to his chair.  Handling Eron required at least two adults, because he could break almost anything within ten seconds of coming into proximity to it.  Despite his exuberance, he was a little darling.  He was very affectionate and lovable, and it was in those rare moments when he was at peace that he was the most beautiful and treasured.
	Tarrin watched Tara and Rina grow at an astonishing rate over those six months.  They had gone from tiny little things that could fit in the palm of his paw to ambulatory little darlings, tiny little replicas of Kimmie, but with Tarrin's fur.  But while they looked alike, it was apparent that their personalities were not.  Tara was the elder, and she was highly aggressive, but not mean-spirited.  She never pushed her twin sister around, but she was quite pushy with Jasana and Eron, who were not impressed by the Were-cat toddler's bravado.  She had a baleful glare already, those flashing blue eyes blazing whenever she felt she wasn't getting the attention or the objects that she desired.  She was willful, stubborn, loud, brash, and could be quite grating on the ears when she didn't get her way, and she gave Kimmie fits.  She was extremely mischievious, getting into absolutely everything, much as Eron had done at that age.  Rina was much different from Tara.  She was gentle, sweet, quiet, and quite observant.  She had been a very mild-tempered little baby, rarely crying and always staring at everyone with those lucent blue eyes of hers.  Her growth had done little to change her personality, for she was still quiet and observant, like a student in a classroom, and she was both gentle in nature and generous.  She willingly shared what Tara would selfishly keep for herself.  Everyone who had seen the two girls grow over the months agreed that Tara was every bit Tarrin's daughter, while Rina was every bit Kimmie's.  It was as if the personalities of their parents had been ingrained to them, but instead of mixing together equally between them, each had inherited all the traits of one parent.  They were very much identical in appearance, but not in demeanor.  These personality extremes seemed to be softening, however, now that they were learning how to talk and rationalize things without resorting to instinct.  Both of them were intelligent, but where Rina seemed very curious about the world and what her parents had to teach, Tara preferred to learn by doing instead of being told.  It didn't make Tara any less intelligent than Rina, but Tarrin could see that Tara would probably never be one with the patience to sit down and read a book, where Rina would be more than happy to do so.
	It had been quite a wonderful six months.  Ianelle kept him up to speed on the happenings out in the world, which were pleasantly dull.  The only real news going on out there was the endless war of diplomacy that Keritanima fought with Shiika.  His Wikuni sister and the Demoness that ruled Yar Arak were evenly matched, and their fencing had provided all the other monarchs whose kingdoms bordered the Sea of Storms and Sea of Glass with endless amusement.  Tarrin had never thought that a personal war could erup