hings, for all he needed as Kedaira, the sukk, and a small pail of mud.  Jasan and Eron watched as Tarrin ordered the adolescents tending the sukk to bring them to him one at a time, bringing a new one when he sent the one before him away.  After that, he simply sat down on a big rock near the edge of the camp and began.  The sheperds brought the first sukk, herding it with long, thin sticks which they used to gently prod the beast whenever it went off course, and when it got close enough to hear him, Tarrin called it over after reassuring it that it was in no danger.  It would then advance, and Tarrin would explain to it that this particular inu was no danger to it, the flock, or its brood.  He was very careful to stress that, that other inu were a danger, but this particular one was part of the flock, and as such was not a danger.  That actually wasn't that hard to explain, for the flock mentality of the sukk allowed them to accept the idea of it, and they had very acute senses of sight and smell that would allow them to discern Kedaira from other inu.  After he explained it, he told the sukk to pass that on to their chicks whenever they had them, and then marked the bird with a bit of mud on the sides of its heavy hooked beak.  That was the way the herders could tell educated sukk from ones who had yet had it explained to them.  Once that was done, Tarrin told the bird to be on its way, and the young Selani would bring him another so he could repeat the process again.
	It went much faster than he thought.  He had thought sukk to be rather dim-witted birds, and as such he figured it would take quite a while to explain things to them.  But the sukk were smarter than he thought, and their instincts and natures allowed them to accept what Tarrin had to tell them more easily than he expected.  He found out that sukk considered the Selani to simply be a part of the flock.  It was not hard to convince them to extend that same consideration to the lone inu, especially since the binding word of a Druid backed his statements.
	In the few hours between starting and sunset, the time he intended to stop, he counted and realized that he had already talked to most of the flock.  He decided to simply finish up with the last few, and then gave the same speech to the chisa.  That was both easier and harder.  They had a harder time accepting the idea of an inu as a harmless animal, but on the other hand, chisa didn't fear inu as much as sukk did.  Chisa weren't much bigger than inu, but they were very powerful animals, able to kill with a single lash of their whip-like tails, and also had a highly venemous bite.  Inu only attacked chisa in packs, so the big quadrapedal reptiles had little fear of a solitary inu.  So instead of convincing them that Kedaira was a member of the flock, he instead assured the chisa that Kedaira wouldn't attack them.  That, they could accept, and as such would not show open hostility towards her.
	About an hour after sunset, he was done.  All the tribe's animals were educated about Kedaira, and he saw that it had taken immediate hold on them.  Kedaira padded through the flock effortlessly when Tarrin prompted her to do so, and the sukk did not react to her.  In fact, they were somewhat amicable towards her.  They didn't even get defensive when she got close to some of the youngest chicks, who were carried by their parents when the flock was on the move.
	"Does that mean they like her now?" Eron asked as they watched Kedaira wander through the flock, which was illuminated by the many fires the Selani had lit to ward off the Sandmen which lurked in the desert at night.
	"Yes, cub," he nodded.  "I explained it all to them, remember?  They listened to me because I'm a Druid."
	"I wish I could talk to the animals," Eron complained.
	"I can," Jasana said smugly.
	"Just give it time, Eron," Tarrin told him.  "Druidic talent usually doesn't show up in Were-cats until after you're grown.  Jasana's just a little different, that's all."
	"You mean weird," Eron teased.
	"I am not weird!" she flared.  "You're the one that's weird!"
	"Are too weird!" Eron countered.  "Jaweirda!  Jaweirda!" he taunted, getting up and doing a little dance with each repitition of Jasana's creatively altered name.
	"You take that back!" Jasana snapped furiously and in but seconds, they were wrestling on the ground, shouting at one another even while they fought.
	Blowing out his breath, Tarrin reached down and grabbed a tail in each paw, and then yanked.  That separated them instantly.  He picked them up by their tails, which wasn't entirely pleasant, but neither was stupid enough to complain.  "What did I tell you yesterday?" he asked sharply.
	"No fighting," Jasana said with a hot look at Eron, pointing at him with a one of her little claws.  "But he started it!"
	"If you want to fight, then I suggest you save it for when we get home.  Because if you do fight, or if either of you disobey me one more time, you'll be home.  Do I make myself clear?"
	"Yes, Papa," they said in unison.
	Tarrin set them down, then turned when Allia called his name.  He saw that most of the Selani were gathering around the central fire, the largest of the fires that had been lit in the center of the camp.  Tarrin herded his children forward, having to shove Jasana bit more forcefully because of her glowering at her brother.
	Because he was behind her, he missed the calculating look in his daughter's eyes, the look that always meant that her complicated little mind was starting to formulate a plan.
	Tarrin and his children joined the Selani around the central fire, where several carcasses of various animals were roasting over large spits or poles over the flames.  They were the animals that the hunters had killed in their forays after the midday heat.  There were umuni and sukk, including the carcass that Tarrin and the cubs had downed, which had been forgotten in the bustle following the arrival of the clan.  There was a wild chisa roasting in pieces, and several smaller lizards, a couple of desert sand-rabbits, and even a jackal, which weren't very common in the northern stretches of the desert.  Tarrin found the idea of eating a jackal to be a rather unpalatable one.  Complementing the meat were kettles of boiling vegetables, and what looked like small red potatos spitted on sticks and roasting over the fire.  Allia called those things bloodroots, for they had a thick, staining red juice inside looked like blood.  He'd never eaten one before, but they smelled rather tasty.  They had long green leafy vegetables laying in wicker baskets that had been gathered around the fire, which the Selani were eating raw.  A Selani child offered him one, and he sniffed at it, finding that it had a strange mint smell to it.  He bit off a small piece, and was surprised that it was both sweet and very minty, like snowmint leaves, but less sharp and sweeter.  They were also eating small de-needled cactus plants, another plant not too common in the northern reaches because of the severity of the northern storms.  The scrub brush prevelant in this region was one of the few plants hardy enough to withstand them.  Further south they had a wider variety of plants and animals, because the storms weren't as intense as they were north.  There were some cacti somewhat common in that region, but they were small, broad-leafed cactus with very formidable beige spines bristling from them like an angry hedgehog.
	Kedaira padded over to where Tarrin and Allia were sitting with Allyn and the cubs, somewhat separate from most of the others, and she hunkered down with them.  Allia stroked her on her head fondly, and then started feeding her umuni meat that she pulled from a spit near the fire.
	"I saw the beast wandering the flocks without causing a stampede," Kallan called loudly to him in a voice emanating his power and honor as clan-chief.  "I take it you have done as you promised?"
	Tarrin nodded.  "I explained it to the sukk.  They consider Kedaira to be a member of the flock, but they will still consider inu to be enemies.  They can easily tell Kedaira from other inu, so there shouldn't be any trouble with the situation."
	"I'm glad you were careful enough to make that distinction," Kallan nodded in agreement of his solution.
	"I didn't want them thinking that other inu would be as friendly as Kedaira," Tarrin replied.
	"It must be quite interesting to be able to talk to animals," Kaila said with a smile.
	"It's not bad, but just like any skill, it loses its wonder after a while," he admitted, reaching out and patting Kedaira's side.  "I don't use it very often.  I'm just glad I could come here and use it constructively.  I'm not in the habit of talking to animals."
	"Whyever not?"
	"I'm a Druid, but I'm also a Were-cat, Kaila," he explained.  "It's considered very bad form to talk to one's food."  Kaila laughed delightedly, and some of the other Selani smiled or chuckled.  "Once I speak to an animal, I'm giving it my word and bond that I will do it no harm.  That's the credo of the Druid, and that's why animals trust us.  They know we won't harm them."
	"Then doesn't that mean that you can't ever hunt?"
	He shook his head.  "I just can't talk to any animal I intend to eat.  And if I speak to an animal, I can never hunt that particular animal.  So, that's why I'm not in the habit of talking to animals.  You never know if the animal I might talk to today is going to end up on my dinner table tomorrow."
	"I never knew that about the Watchers," Kallan admitted.  There were Druids in the desert, whom the Selani called Watchers.  They afforded much respect to the Druids, and though they didn't actively socialize them them, they were known to trade with them or render aid if a Druid asked for it.  "I knew that there was good reason to give them the respect the Holy Mother demands we give them."
	"There's good reason in everything the Holy Mother says," Tarrin said absently.
	"Spoken like a true child of the Holy Mother," the Priestess said, finally speaking.
	"I serve another goddess, shaman," Tarrin told her bluntly, pointing to his amulet.  "I'm a shaman to her.  But I do honor the Holy Mother, very much so, and I love her.  She helped me through a very difficult time, and because of that I'll always hold her in the highest respect, second only to my own goddess.  My Goddess allows me to afford love and respect to gods other than herself, because she knows she is always first in my heart.  She's quite progressive that way."
	Perhaps it wasn't best to say that, but he would not demean his powerful devotion to the Goddess.  Not in any way or manner, even if meant offending the Selani.
	"The Holy Mother should never be second to anything," the Priestess said stiffly.
	"For you," Tarrin said calmly.  "And I agree with your statement, because it shows your devotion to the Holy Mother, and that is honorable.  Can't you afford me the same respect when I say that my Goddess should never be second to anything as well?  Does it make me any less honorable that I have the same devotion as you, just given to a different god?"
	"The Holy Mother teaches that her way is the path of truth," the shaman said in a poweful voice.  "But she also teaches that her way is not the way of all.  We pity those who can't walk the path of truth, but we must not hate them for their inadequacy.  Only the chosen may walk the path of truth."
	"I'm so glad you can find theological ground not to get into an argument with me," he said dryly.
	The Priestess almost smiled.  "Truth is never a topic of debate.  It is the end of debate in and of itself."
	"Now that, we can agree on," Tarrin told her with a steady look.
	"I think we can leave the debate for another time," Kallan said, standing. "The meat is done, so it is time to feast.  Let us all give thanks to the Holy Mother for watching over us and seeing us through another day, and then we'll enjoy the bounty of the lands she provides us."
	With that, all the Selani stood.  Tarrin did as well, urging his cubs to stand, and then a sound which Tarrin would never forget graced his ears.  It was song.  The Selani sang their prayers to the Holy Mother Fara'Nae, one of only three situations in which they sang.  Selani would also sing when content and happy, like a cat purring, and would also sing of history, turning a tale of the past into an opera, for honoring the memory of the past was another way to honor Fara'Nae.  When Allia described her travels with Tarrin to her tribe, she had put it into song.  Tarrin had always been mesmerized by the incredible beauty of Allia's singing, but to hear her entire tribe singing in such complex and beautiful harmony, where every voice was itself distinct and different, yet all converged into a choral whole that made it much more than the sum of its individual parts, it was almost a religious experience, so powerful was the emotion it provoked in him.  Within the song was the great love and respect they had for their goddess, praising her for her love and attention to them, worshipping her dutifully, and giving thanks for seeing them through another day and providing for their needs.  There was such elegant simplicity in the song, a song of simple thanks, but it moved Tarrin, but the complicated harmony in which the tribe sung as a whole was astounding, would have brought any minstrel or bard to tears and probably discouraged them from ever singing again.  After hearing such wondrous perfection, any other song would be like the cawing of a raven, brutish and rude.  The song of the Selani prayer conveyed more emotion than anything Tarrin had ever heard, conveying to their Holy Mother their love for her and their gratitude in her providing for them.  It was a song of love and respect and worship, a song of devotion from mortal followers to their god, a song of thanksgiving.
	To think that such hard, dangerous people could have such gentle, beautiful voices.  Sometimes things in life made little sense.
	After the last echoes of the gorgeous Selani song died away, the tribe seated themselves and began to eat.  Tarrin had to push the cubs back down, for they were still quite overwhelmed by what they heard.
	"I don't think I'll ever get used to that," Allyn admitted to Tarrin in a hushed voice, speaking Sha'Kar.  "I have to fight back tears every time I hear it."
	"It was very pretty," Jasana said in agreement.
	"It just shows you that there's alot more to the Selani than what you see," Tarrin told him.  "Careful, cub, don't burn yourself," Tarrin warned Eron as he reached for a spit holding a large chunk of pale white meat.
	"I'm alright, Papa," Eron said.  "It's not that hot.  You want some?  I think it's meat from one of those big lizards."
	"Ick," Jasana said, screwing up her face.  "Where's the sukk meat?"
	"Wimp," Eron teased.
	"Are you that dense, boy?" Tarrin warned.  "What did I just tell you not a few moments ago?"
	Eron gave his father an apologetic look and fell silent, but he did glare at Jasana when she stuck her tongue out at him.  Tarrin smacked her lightly across the back of her head, and she flushed guiltily when she realized she'd been caught.
	"I see they're being themselves tonight," Allia laughed.
	"That's the problem," Tarrin grunted.
	Allia handed Jasana a spit holding sukk meat, and they fell to enjoying the feast.  Tarrin watched the Selani around them, and listened to their banter.  They spoke of things that would interest Selani, hunting, the weather, tending the flocks, checking for new eggs, things like that.  He saw how comfortable they were with one another, but also how they spoke respectfully and with familiarity to other Selani.  It was an aspect of how the Selani always tried to behave properly in public, when they could behave quite differently in a private setting.  He had little doubt that almost all Selani were like Allia to some degree, very prim and proper in public so as to not dishonor herself or her family, but acting much differently, more intimate and relaxed, when they were in their own tents and surrounded by family and close friends.  There were exceptions, however, like Kaila, and Denai.  They were Selani that didn't seem to be as worried about how their behavior might be taken as not wholly honorable...and in a way, that made them honorable in itself.  They had the courage to act as they pleased, not as they perceived how others thought they should act.  Tarrin could respect that quite a bit.  It seemed odd to see that behavior in the wife of a clan-king, whose honor and social standing had to be above reproach...but then again, that was business between Kallan and Kaira.  It was none of his.  He also saw that they rarely engaged Allia in their conversations, and for her part, Allia didn't seem to care very much.  She and Allyn and the Were-cats talked almost exclusively, as Tarrin heard all about the new tent that Allia had had made the last time the tribe had visited the clan village, how roomy it was and capable of holding all her possessions--including a brand new lamp--as well as Allyn's own.  She talked of the bow she was having made for Allyn, and how he was coming along very well in learning the Dance and learning the customs of the Selani.  She heaped quite a bit of praise on him, doing so in public to reinforce her confidence and support of him.  Allyn wisely kept his mouth shut, for boasting was considered boorish by Selani custom.  What Tarrin did wasn't exactly boasting, for boasting was making claims one couldn't back up.  Tarrin was fully capable of backing up any claim he made, so for him and other Selani, it was merely the statement of fact.  Until Allyn could back up any claim he made, the other Selani wouldn't take him seriously, and they would find his self-aggrandizement to be rather offensive.
	Tarrin found the entire evening to be rather pleasant.  He had a good time talking with Allia and Allyn, and got to observe the Selani in somewhat relaxed surroundings, though none of them had actively approached him yet.  Kallan hadn't come right out and said he accepted Tarrin yet, so until then, none of them were going to get too close to him.  They'd talk to him, but they wouldn't be overly friendly.  They didn't want to become friends with someone that might get exiled from the clan, and Tarrin could understand that, so he didn't hold that against them.  He knew that it probably hurt the tribe to exile one of its own as much as it hurt the one exiled, since tribes were so close.  After dinner, he went with Allia's parents back to their tent, with Dulai, Zakra, Allia and Allyn along with them, and talked some more.  Dulai spoke very little, doing her best to keep Zakra away from Eron and Jasana, but Kallan and Kaila had quite a bit to say.  They continued grilling Tarrin about what Allia had taught him, and then more about the long adventure they had undertaken together.  Tarrin was honest--brutally honest--with them, not mincing words at some of his past deeds, nor did he make excuses for himself.  He explained things in a rational manner as to why he acted the way he acted at times and left it to them to decide how it would affect their opinion of him.
	After quite a long conversation that went on well into the night, Kallan yawned and politely told everyone that it was time to go back to their tents.  Tarrin had already been invited to stay with Allia and Allyn, so he herded his sleepy cubs back to Allia's tent and put them to bed.  Allia's tent was large, but it still wasn't large enough to accommodate a nine span tall Were-cat, so he shapeshifted into his cat form and curled up on a pillow in the corner and promptly went to sleep.

	Tarrin!  Wake up!
	Tarrin stirred from his sleep and looked up.  It was still dark outside, and he could feel the desert's cold through the fabric of the tent which was just behind him.  Allia and Allyn were curled up on their sleeping mat near the very small fire in the center of the tent, and--
	Jasana and Eron were gone.
	Tarrin, go get them!  It was Fara'Nae's voice, and she sounded a little upset.  They need you right now!
	"Where are they?" he asked in the manner of the Cat, jumping up and running across the tent, then slipping through the opening.  He shapeshifted back into his humanoid form and immediately cast his senses about, searching for Jasana's effect on the Weave.  He found her almost immediately, and with some shock realized that she was nearly five hundred spans away from the edge of the camp!  They were beyond the range of the light of the fires, and that meant they were where the Sandmen could reach them!
	Since he was searching through the Weave, Tarrin distinctly felt Jasana touch on its power.  She was using High Sorcery, and the act of her touching it was like a beacon that would lead him right to her.  She wouldn't use High Sorcery unless she was in real danger!
	Breaking into an instant sprint, Tarrin raced past startled Selani sentries tending the fires and watching for trouble, racing off into the night as his heart began to seize in his chest.  What in the Nine Hells were they doing outside the fire's light!?  Didn't they have any sense at all?  He'd specifically warned them about the dangers of wandering the desert at night!  It was insanity!  While running at full speed, Tarrin himself drew in the power of High Sorcery and wove a fast spell of Air and Divine.  He snapped it down and released it, causing the energy of an extra-dimensional entity to enter his world and occupy the spell he had woven.  The creature, Tarrin's Air Elemental, became fully aware of the material world and his link with it solidified in his mind.  "Find Jasana and Eron and defend them!" he ordered quickly.  "They're being attacked by Sandmen!"
	The Elemental quickly and soberly informed him it would be done, and then it raced off at a speed that Tarrin could not match.  The Elemental would get there first and use its power of wind to do battle with any Sandmen threatening his children.
	Redoubling his efforts, Tarrin sprinted with full speed towards his sense of his daughter.  He felt her use her power again, then again, short, sharp draws on the Weave and used in ways that could only be attacks.  Attack spells were always fast and as simple as possible, so they could be used quickly in a fight.  Tarrin bowled through scrub as he raced towards his children, then up a very low rise.  When he crested it, he saw his Elemental and Jasana attacking a swirling ball of thick, sand-choked air, and held within it was Eron.  Tarrin's heart nearly stopped when he saw that, but he saw that Eron was still moving, trying to swipe at the blowing sand with his little claws, but that would do no good.  The Sandman had enveloped him, and it was trying to suffocate him.  Jasana tried another spell, a weave of Earth and Divine, and that one actually did some good.  She attacked the sand within the Sandman's discorporated form, trying to suck it out of the spherical vortex which formed the Sandman's insubstantial body.  It was a clever idea, but the Sandman simply drew up the sand and dust from the desert floor as fast as Jasana pulled it out.  The Air Elemental was having better luck, using its own wind to disrupt the air of the Sandman, preventing it from organizing itself and surrounding Tarrin's son with enough sand to choke him.
	Touching the Weave, his paws limning over with the ghostly radiance of Magelight, Tarrin wove a very fast spell of all seven Spheres, a fairly complicated one.  But Tarrin's experience allowed him to weave it with exceptional speed, even while running towards the scene of the struggle.  He snapped it down and released it, and the tendrils of the spell instantly closed the distance to Eron, surrounding him and infusing him, and then he disappeared from within the Sandman's sandy body.  He appeared in Tarrin's paws while he still ran towards the Sandman, coughing and choking, but still quite lively and seeming to be relatively unharmed.  Sudden icy fury overwhelming him, Tarrin ordered his Elemental to back off and started on another spell, one just as complicated.  "Back!" Tarrin shouted at Jasana as he snapped it down and released it, causing a ball of utter, incomprehensible blackness to appear in his paw, a black sphere with tiny arcs of electricity swarming around it.  Not even a Sandman could withstand this spell.  Jasana saw the ball, realized what it was, and turned and fled at an angle away from both of them as the Elemental got behind Tarrin, safely away from the deadly spell.  Tarrin threw it at the Sandman, which had begun to moan its chilling moan, moving towards Tarrin mindlessly.  The ball struck the swirling sands which made up the Sandman's body, and in that touch, it sealed the thing's doom.  The sand and air that made up its form was suddenly sucked down into the incomprehensible depths of the spell's effect, a place, a thing even Tarrin did not completely comprehend, sucking it down into utter annihilation.  The moaning of the Sandman turned into a sudden fearful wail, and then that too seemed to dwindle, as if the sound itself was drawn into the black sphere to be utterly consumed.
	Its purpose fulfilled, the black ball collapsed in upon itself and winked out of existence.  And with the Sandman gone, Tarrin breathed a tremendous sigh of relief.  He came to a stop as he absently wove a spell to illuminate the area and deter any other Sandmen in the area, then knelt and hugged his son fiercely before holding him out at arm's length and getting a good look at him.  He had dust caked in his hair and ears, his eyes were a bit crusted, and he was still coughing and almost choking, but he seemed unharmed.  The utter relief he felt at seeing Eron was alright was quickly replaced by sudden anger.  "You fool cub!" Tarrin raged at him.  "What in the world are you doing out here!?!  ANSWER ME!" he thundered when Eron didn't immediately respond.
	"J-Jasana dared me to come out here and see if I could see a Sandman," he answered in a very fearful voice.  "I never saw it, Papa, didn't even smell it!  One second I was looking around, then the next there was sand and dust all around me!"  Eron began to cry hysterically as the shock of nearly being killed finally hit him, and Tarrin gathered him up into another fierce embrace.
	Jasana ran up to them, and stopped in her tracks when she saw her father's infuriated look.  "I tried to stop him, Papa," she said quickly, fearfully, trying to meet his gaze but unable to do so.  "I-I mean, I didn't think he'd actually do it!"
	She tricked him into coming out here, intending to tell you he disobeyed and have him sent home, Fara'Nae's voice touched him.  She did it to get even with him for him calling her names.
	That succeeded in making Tarrin absolutely furious.  "You nearly got your brother killed because you wanted to get even with him?" Tarrin raged.  "I don't believe you, cub!  How could you be so cruel?" he said in disbelief.
	Jasana looked up at her father in shock, and she started trembling.
	"Look what you've done, Jasana!" Tarrin shouted at her, patting a still hysterical Eron on the back gently.  "Does this make you happy?  How does it feel that you nearly killed your own brother just because you wanted to get your own way?  How does it feel?  Answer me!"
	Jasana's eyes filled with tears, and then she erupted into uncontrollable sobs, dropping to her knees and covering her face with her paws.  Tarrin did not comfort her.  He just knelt there and tried to console Eron and let Jasana face the awful truth about what had happened, and what she had done.
	"Now do you understand?" he asked her in a sharp tone.  "Now do you understand what I've been trying to tell you, Jasana?  Did it take nearly getting your brother killed to make you understand?"
	Gently, my son.  She is only a child, Fara'Nae's voice touched him.  Don't be too hard on her.  Let the lesson be a lesson in itself.
	Tarrin blew out his breath.  "Get up," he ordered in a voice that would brook absolutely no disobedience.  "Get up and go back to the tent.  I'll deal with you when I get back.  Go with her," he commanded the Elemental.  "Make sure nothing harms her, and make sure she obeys me."
	The Elemental grimly acknowledged him.  It was as much a part of Tarrin's family as his children were, in its own way, and it was starting to understand the gravity of the situation.  Elementals were sentient beings and possessed of emotions, after all.
	Still crying, Jasana got up and ran towards the camp, stumbling awkardly.  The Elemental trailed behind her, not helping her, but making sure that nothing interfered with her as she obeyed.  Tarrin remained, trying to calm Eron down, holding him close and taking in his scent, just glad that he was unharmed.  That was all that mattered.  No matter how it had come about, the fact that Eron wasn't hurt was all that mattered.  He couldn't help but to hold his son tightly, just thankful that he was alright, feeling a relief and joy that only a parent could feel over his child's well being.  For very long moments he tried to comfort Eron and silently thanked Fara'Nae over and over again for warning him in time, thanking her for her son's well being.
	After quite a while, Eron finally calmed down.  He hiccupped slightly as he held onto his father, his breathing slowly becoming steady and regular.  "Don't be mad at Jassy," he finally said, in a very meek voice.  "I know she didn't mean it, Papa."
	"It doesn't matter if she meant it, cub," Tarrin told him quietly, standing up with him securely in his arms.  "The fact that it happened is what matters."
	"Are you going to kill her?" he asked fearfully.  That was not a stupid question, not among Were-cats.
	"You don't learn your lesson if you're dead," Tarrin snorted.  "Besides, if I killed her, Jesmind would kill me.  I'm in no mood to deal with that particular female.  I'm not that crazy."
	Eron actually giggled, which lightened Tarrin's mood considerably.  He started back towards the camp, cuddling his precious son to him.  "Don't worry, cub.  Jasana's going to get hers."
	"Just don't be too hard on her, Papa.  She tried to save me when the Sandman attacked me.  She didn't want me to get hurt."
	"She's the reason she had to save you, Eron.  That argument doesn't hold any water with me."
	Tarrin padded back towards the camp, a thousand different punishments dancing around in his head about how to deal with his treacherous daughter.  And in the mood he was in, he found 