ividual Selani were trying to make up their minds about him concerning their first impressions, and no impression was taken until they looked at his brands.  Some were inclined towards him because he took good brands, but some were inclined against him even more that an outsider would be allowed to be branded.  Some were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because he was Allia's brother, and he had no doubt that they knew that he had been educated in Selani custom and culture, but some were hardened against him that an outsider would be permitted to learn of their intimate, private ways.  Every Selani had a different view of him, a different impression, as varied as they were themselves.
	He knew that all of them, even those inclined towards him, would not be satisfied with him unless he proved himself.  That wasn't outrageous given Selani mentality, people who were intensely competitive and also intensely interdependent, striving to be the best they could be as well as depending very much on every other member of the clan.  That "we" mentality that was pervasive through the Selani made them highly suspicious of new people or strange things.  They were alot like Tarrin that way, suspicious and mistrustful of those who had not proven themselves, because unproven people were a danger to everyone in the clan as well as themselves.  That was where some of the hostility he would encounter would come from, he understood, the fact that brands or no brands, he was still an outsider.  He would have to prove himself to them before he would be accepted.
	That was the trouble that Allyn was having.  Tarrin looked at him, struggling in the blistering heat to raise a tent pole with a few other Selani as they raised the largest tent in camp, the tent of the Priestess who was the voice of the Goddess.  Kallan's tent wasn't the central aspect of the camp or the Selani, it was the Priestess, what they called shaman, she who spoke with the voice of the Holy Mother.  Kallan was the tribal chief and also the clan's leader, the kirza, clan-king, but that one Priestess had more social weight than a whole tent full of kirza.  The Selani had such tremendous respect and honor for their goddess that they put all things, and all things associated with her, above all other things.  That was why the Selani would not touch the gold that absolutely littered their desert, because it was considered holy to Fara'Nae.  Had they found gold nuggets on the plain where they set camp, they would have set their tents around the gold, would not touch it, not even to clear space.  Gold found while digging firepits was left alone, and the firepit was filled back in and a new one dug elsewhere.  They were just as respectful for the tribe's shaman, and she spoke with more weight than Kallan.  Custom forbade the Priestess from interfering in Kallan's duties, but the Selani would obey her before they would obey him.  Perhaps that was why Allyn was having so much trouble in the tribe.  He said that the tribe's Priestess really didn't like him...if that was common knowledge, it would polarize most of the other Selani in the camp against him.  But then again, she wasn't playing fair, he understood.  She was so set on seeing him fail, he felt that she was taking unfair steps to make sure it came about.  Not teaching Allyn what he needed to know to fit in with the Selani was just one example of that.  If she actively spoke against him to other Selani, that would harden them against him even more.  She wasn't being fair, and in a way, he felt that she was being dishonorable.  It wasn't her place to decide whether Allyn was fit to be accepted into the clan or not.  That decision was Fara'Nae's, not hers.  Despite her warning for him to stay out of it, Tarrin had quite a compulsion to put in his paw in the matter.
	Of course, the simplest way to do that would be to even the playing field.  Yes, that would be quite satisfactory.  The Selani wouldn't dare talk about what the Priestess would teach Allyn, for it was taboo to even presume--to even pretend--to know the mind of the Holy Mother.  That honor was left to the shaman alone.  All Selani prayed to the Holy Mother, and many were answered, but they felt that it was only for the one who spoke with the Holy Mother's voice to teach the young about the Holy Mother's customs and ceremonies.  Well, Tarrin knew all those things, and he wasn't Selani.  He could teach them to Allyn.  And if he was lucky, Allyn would show him an Illusion of his memory of the look on that Priestess' face when Allyn didn't embarass himself among the tribe with his lack of knowledge.
	Tarrin's unusual indoctrination had all sorts of advantages.  Allia, in wanting him to be accepted into the clan, had broken all sorts of rules and customs to teach him, even teaching him that which only shaman was supposed to teach.  But then again, given the circumstances, she had no choice.  She was the only one who could teach him, so perhaps she felt that it made it acceptable.
	She could have saved herself all sorts of trouble by just teaching Allyn as she had taught him, rather than bring him home and let him learn like the other Selani.  But then again, hindsight was always perfect.
	Yes, that would work very well.  If the shaman wouldn't teach Allyn, then Tarrin would.  And if that made her angry, so much the better.  Tarrin was not like the Selani in that he had absolutely no fear of the Selani Priestess, didn't particularly respect her any more than any other Selani, and he wasn't afraid of Fara'Nae.  If she had a problem with what he was doing, she could bloody well tell him herself.
	Maybe it was a little crazy to think that way about gods, but then again, Tarrin wasn't quite a normal, run-of-the-mill mortal.  His many talks with the Goddess gave him an insight and understanding of gods that went quite beyond most mortals.  And in honesty, he wasn't exactly a mortal anymore.  They called him a demigod, a mortal with the faintest traces of something that could be called divine, something even the gods didn't quite understand.  But even without that, he'd have the same attitude towards the gods.  To him, they weren't awe-inspiring divinities.  To him, they were exceptionally powerful beings who had emotions and weaknesses just like mortals, "mortal" weaknesses that actually endeared them to him more for their shortcomings than it did their divine qualities.  There was something quite comforting in knowing that his Goddess and Fara'Nae and all the Elder and Younger Gods had at least one thing that allowed them to identify with the mortals over whom they watched.
	They were almost done now.  The tent of the shaman was the last one to be erected, as she stood near to it with two robed acolytes, her apprentices, who used large fan-like fronds to shade her.  The shaman didn't wear desert garb as other Selani did, they wore white robes with hoods and wide sleeves, and they were the only Selani that could be seen wearing gold.  They wore beaten gold belts and wore an amulet made of gold that bore the holy symbol of the Holy Mother Fara'Nae, the amulets worn over their robes proudly to display them to the clan.  Tarrin stared at the shaman a moment before moving on, an unusually tall woman with dirty blond hair, pattern blue eyes, and a narrow, sharp face that seemed more stern than beautiful, as if she would not let down her guard at any time.  He saw how deferential the other Selani were around her and with her, how they would all bow to her whenever they addressed her.  She looked right at him, her blue eyes dark and stormy and her expression very tight, but Tarrin didn't pay her very much attention.  No matter who she thought she was, she was just the same as everyone else in his mind.
	Weaker.
	It wasn't easy to suppress that in him, to think of those around him as anything other than weaker.  Tarrin's Were-cat mentality classified every Selani around him as a potential threat--they were Selani, after all--but not enough to challenge his superiority.  After all, he was thoroughly familiar with Selani, where they had no idea what he was capable of doing.  That gave him a decided advantage, and that made them below him.  He would treat Kallan and Kaila with honor because they were Allia's parents, but the rest of the Selani wouldn't receive the same preferential treatment.  That wouldn't be too much of a problem, however, because Selani custom wouldn't let them do anything that Tarrin could take as challenging.  If they wanted to fight with him, they'd ask him, quite politely.  In other things, he'd be just some other person.  He wouldn't be bossing them around, and they wouldn't be bossing him around.  Bossing around was the honor of the kirza and the shaman.  No other Selani would try, and because of that, Tarrin wouldn't have any trouble with them challenging his authority.  All he had to do was remember not to try to boss them around, and everyone would be perfectly content with the situation.
	The chores that the children had to accomplish were varied depending on age.  The youngest of them were kept close to parents, but those that looked about six or so had the chore of collecting water.  At first he saw elders drawing water from the deep well that he and Allia had dug, but now it was a line of children in loose-fitting shirts and trousers, the color of Selani garb but not quite the same fit.  They were standing patiently in a line, waiting as those before collected up the seepage from the ground at the bottom of the hole in wide, relatively flat buckets.  An exercise in patience, keeping the children out of trouble and out from underfoot while the adults finished setting up camp.  The older children, looking about nine or ten, were helping to tend the flocks of sukk.  This wasn't much of a chore, as the large birds generally tended to themselves, and knew better than to wander.  They were there as much to watch for threats to the flocks more than they were there to prevent the flocks from wandering too far from the camp.  That required a little responsibility, but since there were also adult eyes watching the land around the camp, it wasn't something that the children were solely responsible for handling.  The adolescents were performing the same tasks as the adults, some with help and some without, being trained in the tasks required to set up a camp.  Being trained for when they were adults themselves, and would be responsible for the things they were being taught.
	Tarrin noticed more than one stern look at both him and his children.  Eron was careening around in his typical overly energetic fashion, stopping Selani and asking them breathless questions before racing off to look at something that caught his interest.  Eron was a hyper child, and this kind of behavior wasn't unusual for him.  Jasana remained steadfastly at her father's side, seeming to want to hide behind him as she held onto his tail, which for her was a normal reaction to the situation.  Jasana was always shy around strangers.  What seemed to irritate the Selani, he figured, was the fact that his cubs weren't doing what the Selani children were doing.  For their size, that would mean that they would be waiting to gather water.  Tarrin understood that, but since he had no use for the water, he saw no reason to send them off to get some.  Besides, they weren't here to learn how to be Selani children.  Jasana was here to learn a lesson, and Eron was here if only to give his mother a few days of peace and quiet.
	"They don't seem to like us, Papa," Jasana noted to him in a hushed tone.  Despite her youth, Jasana was a very observant and smart child.  That was part of the problem, for she used those gifts in her quests to get her own way.
	"They're not quite sure about us yet, cub," he answered.  "I expected it."
	"Why were you so nice to Allia's papa?"
	"How do you mean?"
	"Well, first he got mean with you when you gave him the gloves.   I thought you'd just smack him down when you fight him because of that."
	Tarrin chuckled.  "You have to understand the Selani, cub.  He'll respect me because I want a fair fight, and that I understand his intentions clearly.  He just wants to test me, and he can't do that if he never stands a chance, can he?"
	"Wouldn't that mean that you passed the test?  If you just smack him down right off the mark, I mean."
	"It would mean that I relied on my advantages," he answered.  "He wants to see what Allia taught me, not whether or not I can knock him down in a fight.  There's a difference."
	"Oh.  I understand.  Did you notice that they're all mean to Allyn?"
	"I noticed, cub," he told her seriously.
	"I like Allyn.  I think it's wrong that they're doing it."
	"So do I, but Allyn doesn't want me to interfere.  He wants to prove to them all by himself that they're wrong about him.  I can respect that."
	"I don't see why he doesn't want help."
	"Because the Selani will respect him much more if he proves himself alone," he answered.  "Remember what I've told you about the Selani, cub?  Think about it."
	She was silent a moment, her strawberry blond brows knitting for a moment as she pondered it.  "I, I think I understand," she answered.  "They want to make sure he won't put anyone in danger.  I guess that's something he'd have to prove all by himself, because if anyone helped, the others would always have doubts."
	Tarrin nodded, impressed anew with his daughter's intellect, when she so chose to utilize it to its full potential.  Jasana was one smart little girl.
	"That's why I won't interfere, and why you shouldn't either," he warned.  "If either of us tries, we'll only make it worse for him."
	"I understand that, but I still think it's wrong."
	"So do I, but in this case, the best thing we can do is leave things alone.  I think we can trust Allyn to make all his nay-sayers eat their words.  I think he'll do fine.  He's a pretty determined fellow, cub."
	Jasana giggled.  "He's as lovestruck as you and Mama," she observed.
	"I don't think we're quite that bad, cub," Tarrin said with a slight smile.
	"You're not," Jasana said impishly.  "Mama is."
	"I guess I can't argue with that," Tarrin conceded.
	It didn't take too long for the camp to be fully erected, and Tarrin saw that they would be staying there until it was necessary for them to move again, because they were making themselves at home.  Families were digging individual firepits for cooking and light, and oil for lamps and charcoal for braziers was being set out for light and heat within the tents during the cold desert nights.  The Selani retreated into their tents as the noontime sun hammered down on them, to wait out the heat in the comparative coolness of their tents.  Only the guards and the shepards of the flocks remained out, as well as Tarrin and Jasana.  He'd knew that Kallan wouldn't challenge him until the midday heat waned later in the afternoon.  Tarrin had a decided advantage if they fought in the full heat of the day, for he was immune to the heat's detrimental effects.  He had also told Kallan to put on the gloves and get used to the way they affected him, so he wouldn't have to go through that during their match.  They had asked him to come to their tent and talk, but Tarrin begged off, being quite honest when he told them that he wanted to look around the camp without too many of the others staring at him.  Jasana enjoyed similar immunity to heat, and Eron had had five days to acclimate to the heat, so they were in no danger during the hottest part of the day.  He took his children out and wandered the camp, then let Eron go look at the sukk as he explained to Jasana what he was going to do with the sukk, the core reason that they had come to the desert in the first place.  Tarrin had to warn his son to go carefully with the birds, as they didn't know him and wouldn't be sure if he was an enemy, but it turned out that Eron at least had respect for the big flightless birds.  Not that he'd been showing any respect for the desert's poisonous creatures, but at least he showed it to them.  Maybe it was size, that Eron wouldn't be afraid of anything smaller than himself, no matter how lethally poisonous it was.  Were-cat regeneration was proof against many things, but it couldn't purge poison quite as easily as it did other things.  The most lethal poisons couldn't really kill a Were-cat, but they would make one as sick as a dog until the body's regeneration burned out the poison.
	There were few Selani out now, only those tending the flocks, and some sitting under flaps over the entrances to the tents, shaded porch-like places where they tended to sedate pursuits such as sewing, playing instruments, carving small pieces of ivory or bone, checking and adjusting weapons, or in one Selani male's case, making them.  The fellow had several wooden poles laying by his feet, and he was carefully and meticulously affixing spearpoints to them.  Selani used spears, javelins, and bows as missle weapons, and they were very good with them.  Allia had a personal distaste for using spears, but that made sense considering she could put a dagger between an umuni's eyeballs from fifty paces.  Allia's accuracy with thrown daggers was astounding, but among her people, it was merely considered somewhat above average.  The Selani were a very graceful, agile, supple race, and the physical control necessary for being a good dagger thrower would be child's play to them.
	Tarrin sat down by the edge of the sukk herd on a low, flat rock that was jutting out of the sany dirt, and Jasana sat down on his lap, fidgeting with the end of her tail as they watched Eron move carefully from sukk to sukk, as if to see if they were different from one another.  Tarrin and Jasana talked about sukk, as Tarrin explained to her the mechanics of speaking to animals, something that she could probably do and do safely, for it required very little real power in order to use.  It was more of a determination of the mind than it was an exercise of Druidic power.  He explained that she'd have to use a Druidic spell to hear what they said in reply, but if she just wanted to say something to them or give them an order, that that trick would work.  He was excruciatingly careful to explain the strict rules of morality that went along with doing it, which meant that any animal that was addressed in such a manner was receiving the Druid's trust.  That meant that she would never, never speak to any animal she intended to kill.  Along with that was the strict rule that when a Druid spoke to an animal, they also didn't give it orders that would be highly dangerous to its life.  She could ask a stag for help fighting a pack of Goblinoids, for example, but not to ask it to do battle with the entire pack of them by itself.  The rules concerning Druidic etiquette weren't that complicated, boiling down to the simple concept that once a Druid spoke to an animal, he was extending an offer of friendship, and that that trust must never be broken.  It wouldn't be that complicated for a human Druid, but since they were Were-cats, carnivores and hunters, it meant that they had to exercise care when using the ability.
	Jasana may have been self-centered and conniving, but she also understood the absolutes involved with Druidic magic.  She was fully aware that in the world of Druidic magic, one never, NEVER broke a rule.  Breaking a rule in Druidic magic was fatal, no matter how silly or ridiculous it seemed.  That made him confident that even though the rules about talking to animals weren't rules of life or death, Jasana would use the same meticulous care to obey them as other rules of Druidic magic.  When it came to Druidic magic, one never even so much as relaxed the strict discipline and regimented rules surrounding the skill.  It was total truth that a second's distraction could kill a Druid, so the practice of rigid self-discipline was an absolute necessity at all times.
	Eron got bored with the sukk and joined them, listening without much interest as he competed with Jasana for space in their father's lap, pushing at one another absently as Tarrin continued to educate Jasana about speaking to animals.  Tarrin honestly had no idea how much time passed until the Selani began emerging from their tents, the noontime rest coming to an end as the sun started to lower towards the horizon and the temperatures dropped back down to what would be comfortable levels for Selani.  It also didn't take Kallan very long to come seek Tarrin out.  Tarrin heard his voice and Allia's as they approached, as Allia spoke quickly to her father.  "Remember, father, you have to stop if I give you warning," she was saying to him.
	"I understand, daughter," Kallan's voice replied calmly.  "I'll heed your call if it comes, but I'm not sure I can get the full measure of him with such a restriction."
	"So long as you pull back if I call out a warning, I'll have no reservations, father, but it's only a precaution.  Tarrin knows that this is nothing but spar.  Even if you goad him, he shouldn't lose control of himself.  From what I know of you and him, I dare say that you'll get him quite angry before he finally puts you on your butt."
	"I'll take that wager, daughter," Kaila chuckled.
	"Name your stakes, mother.  I have every confidence in my brother."
	"Just as much as I have in your father," she replied lightly.
	"Then the stakes should be quite high," Allia said in a slightly challenging tone.
	"The confidence of youth," she teased.
	"No, it's the confidence of knowing the competitors," she shot back.  "I'll put any wager on Tarrin you wish to back."
	"Now you have my attention," Kaila said as Tarrin hurried the cubs off his lap and moved to stand.  He got his first look at them, and saw all of Kallan's family following him.  Kallan had his shirt off, bare to the waist, and was carrying a spear and two longswords in a harness in his hands, a harness that looked to usually be on his back.  Kallan was an impressive male, Tarrin saw.  He was thin, but his entire torso and both arms absolutely rippled every time he moved, and there couldn't be a smidge of fat anywhere on him.  He looked to be both very strong and extremely limber, the perfect combination for a Selani warrior.  "I've been eyeing that rug you have, daughter.  I'll take that as a wager."
	"And I want your silver lamp."
	"Done, then," Kaila said with a smile.
	"Are you going to beat up Aunt Allia's papa now?" Eron asked in anticipation, loud enough for most of the gathering Selani to clearly hear him.  Since he spoke in Selani, there was no doubt as to what he was saying.
	"I'm sure it'll take a while, but that's the general idea of it, cub," Tarrin answered him calmly, sizing up Kallan as the Selani clan-chief approached with his daughter, son-in-law, wife, sister, and nephew in tow.  "Allia's father looks plenty tough to me.  It won't be easy."
	"Aww, Papa, you give that skinny man too much credit," Jasana scoffed.  "He's way smaller than you, and not half as strong.  I think you could break him over your knee."
	"Size and strength aren't everything, Jasana," he answered cooly.  "Sometimes, they're a liability more than an advantage."
	"Your children don't seem to have much faith in my husband," Kaila noted to him with a dazzling smile as they reached him.
	"Nor do they seem to have much tact," Dulai noted sharply.
	"Were-cats are a blunt species, Dulai," Tarrin said in reply.  "If one speaks a truth, why hide it or dance around it?  After all, it's truth."
	"It's not established that you can beat me yet, Tarrin," Kallan said with a half-smile.
	"Yes it is," Jasana and Eron said in perfect unison.
	"Oh?  And just how did you come to know this?" Kallan asked the two in amusement.
	"Our Papa can beat anyone!" Eron said with bravado.  "He even beat up a god once!"
	"Papa can beat humans and Wikuni and he's beat Selani before, and he's beat Demons and even gods!  You don't stand a chance!" Jasana added with surprising ferocity.  "Once Papa gets ahold of you, he'll rip you into little pieces!"
	"My, they really don't know anything about tact," Kaila laughed, which broke a sudden sense of hostility among the Selani gathering around the combatants.
	"They're Were-cats, all right," Allia laughed in agreement.
	"Then I'll just have to make sure he doesn't get a hold of me," Kallan told them with a patronizing smile.
	"Never happen," they again said in unison, which made Kaila laugh even louder.
	"I think you've bragged about me enough, cubs," Tarrin told them in a distracted manner, as all his attention was focused on Kallan, his gaze hawkish and his tail slowing to a stop behind him.  "Go over and wait with Allia.  And be nice.  No rubbing it in, cubs."
	"Aww, you take all the fun out of it, Papa," Jasana complained as they passed Kallan and moved to stand with Allia and Allyn.
	Kallan handed his sword harness to his wife, then advanced with his spear.  Tarrin remembered that Var had first started the fight they'd had with a spear, but Tarrin had disarmed him of it within three seconds of the start of the battle, and Allia didn't use spears, so he wasn't sure about how good Selani were with them.  Well, now he was going to find out.  Kallan grounded the butt of his spear on the sandy ground and gave Tarrin a knowing half-smile, almost a smirk.  "Choose your weapon, and it will be provided to you," he announced.
	"I have my own," he said, reaching out with his paw and clasping it around empty air.  His Ironwood staff appeared in it, brought out of the elsewhere, and he then spread his feet, relaxed his knees, and brought the staff up into the end-grip guard stance.  Tarrin sized up Kallan, and noted that the gloves would give him strength close to Tarrin's own, and his agility and speed were comparable, if not superior, to his own.  But Kallan's weapons may not be up to the challenge.  When beings of Tarrin's strength fought with weapons, those weapons were subjected to tremendous physical forces.  That was why Tarrin was always careful to use weapons that were virtually unbreakable, so he could fully utilize all his strength.  But Kallan's spear and swords probably weren't nearly as sturdy as Tarrin's Ironwood staff or his other-worldly unbreakable sword, or even the Cat's Claws.  Tarrin could break Kallan's spear at his leisure, and could probably snap his swords as well.  But that would be him taking advantage of the situation, and he wouldn't do that.  Reaching within, Tarrin came into contact with the boundless energy of the All.  It read his intent, saw him image, and responded.  Its power flowed through him effortlessly and entered Kallan's spear, fusing its power into it and reinforcing the fiber of its wood, making it all but unbreakable.  Kallan would probably never know, but it only mattered that Tarrin knew.
	He also knew that this had to be a fair fight.  The Cat's Claws on his arms were more than weapons, they were powerful defensive items as well, surrounding him in a kind of phantom suit of armor.  Tarrin knew that that if Kallan found his blows turned aside by some invisible magic, he would lose respect for Tarrin.  So the defensive nature of the magical items had to be suspended for a time.  Jenna had never set a trigger that turned those off, so Tarrin dealt with it by temporarily cutting the bracers off from the Weave, then setting it so it would last some ten or so minutes after he stopped concentrating on it.  That wouldn't destroy their magical enchantment, but it would prevent them from affecting him.  It also would deter him from the temptation of suddenly extending the blades of the Cat's Claws and carving Kallan into dog food if the Selani made him angry.
	Kallan raised his spear in an end grip, something of a standard grip for a spear, but Kallan held it much closer to the center than a human-trained spear wielder would do so, and his hands were rather far apart.  Tarrin realized that it would let him lever the weapon, to use the shaft as much as the point to block, strike, or parry.  It was like a modified center grip, just held closer to one end.  Interesting grip, and Tarrin could make out the advantages it would give him.
	When Tarrin's tail suddenly stopped, and his ears laid back so they would be protected from injury during the fight, Kallan's eyes narrowed.  He had little doubt that Allia had described him in detail to her, and those were the things Tarrin did before engaging in combat.  Kallan was waiting for Tarrin to make the first move.
	He didn't disappoint.  In an absolute explosion, so quickly that it raised a cloud of dust behind him, Tarrin surged forward with all the speed of a raging sandstorm, staff levered to the side as it seemed that he floated just above the ground in his forward momentum.  Kallan took a single step back and raised his spear as Tarrin hurtled towards him, then Tarrin's long, long staff split the air as the Were-cat brought it around his body, first high, then suddenly shifting its trajectory and going low, the tip of it seeking the Selani's ankles.  The staff moved with such speed that it whistled shrilly as it cut the air, a singular arc of color that painted the air to the Were-cat's side, but Selani eyes could track the weapon even at such speeds.  Kallan deftly jumped over the staff's end, the wind of the weapon's passage pulling at the laces on the Selani clan-chief's boots, as he thrust out with the butt end of his spear to slam it into the Were-cat's face as he raced past.  But as quickly as he erupted forward, Tarrin absolutely stopped, as if he were rooted to the spot, and contemptuously smacked the weapon's shaft aside before it could reach his head.  Kallan's feet were in the air, he had no base, no leverage, and as such all his magically endowed strength meant nothing without something for him to push against.  Kallan was knocked askew in the air, but he deftly twisted and got his feet down on the ground first, a startled look on his face but a gleam of excitement in his eye.
	Tarrin could see it in his eyes as the cloud of dust Tarrin kicked up from his charge billowed past both combatants.  Kallan understood that Tarrin was intimately familiar with the advantages that inhuman strength could provide, such as the ability to move with blinding speed, and to stop just as quickly as powerful muscles absorbed such a radical shift in momentum.  It was a lesson for the clan-chief that he was capable of much more than the limits of which he knew, an upper realm of capability opened to him,