the idea of using all of them to be quite satisfactory.
 
Chapter 5

	Tarrin found out that any kind of punishment or retribution against Jasana for what she did shouldn't be done when he was angry.  That didn't come about because of his own desire, for he had every intention of going into that tent and thrashing his daughter to within an inch of her life, but Fara'Nae had pulled rank on him when he reached the tent, informing him in no short terms that he wasn't to go in there while he was angry.  So instead, he dropped Eron off there at the tent and had him go inside, where Allia and Allyn could watch over him, and was relegated to stalking around the camp in an icy fury.
	He shouldn't have been too surprised.  Jasana was cunning and manipulative, and if Eron made her mad, she'd forego fighting him and instead find a way to make him pay that was much worse.  The idea that she had tried to trick Eron into doing something that got him sent home wasn't surprising, it was the method she used to do it that infuriated Tarrin so much.  She had put Eron in very real danger when she tricked him into sneaking out of the camp, then put herself in danger when she went after him.  How could she have been so foolish, so blind?  Tarrin had set down that rule for a reason.  Did she think that he did it just to keep the cubs in camp?  That was silly.  At home, they had free reign to go wherever they wanted, because there was nothing around the house that could really threaten them.  But he'd shown them the dangers of the desert, as had Allia, and they were both fully warned about how deadly the Sandmen were.  If Tarrin himself respected them enough to steer clear of them, that certainly should have been reason enough for the cubs to fear them.
	He stalked around almost all night, pacing circles around the camp as the nervous sentries watched him.  He occasionally broke out into strings of potent cursing and swearing, punctuated with waves or stabs of his arms...and the occasional detonating bush or blast of hot wind, or slight tremor of earth or strange lights that sparkled around the Were-cat.  Tarrin was so angry that the All had been attracted to him, and despite his attempts to control, it was starting to leak out just a little bit here and there, whenever his pondering caused his temper to rise close to his snapping point.  Tarrin was a very dangerous individual when he was angry, even more so because his control of his formidable magical powers began to waver and break down when he was in such a state.  One particular rant, as the Were-cat cursed in every language he knew, vile, terrible curses and swearwords, the most potent to be found in each language, particularly frightened the Selani sentries because thin lances of hard rock erupted from the ground behind the Were-cat, driving up from the ground wherever the Were-cat's feet had touched the ground.  He left behind him a row of jagged, randomly leaning pillars of rock, irregular in form but all ending in very sharp points, reaching up about twice the height of the Were-cat but in actuality more than half again as long as that, for they all leaned this way or that, interweaving with one another.  If that wasn't bad enough, the Were-cat turned and made a slashing motion with his arm, which caused a hundred span long line of rock lances to suddenly shatter, sending dusty debris flying in all directions.
	Eventually, however, even Tarrin's anger began to work itself out.  He gave up ranting and swearing and pacing to sit on the ground well away from the camp, out in the darkness, and even the Sandmen seemed to sense the Were-cat's dangerous temper and decided to avoid him.  He wanted to go back there and administer some sorely needed chastisement on Jasana, but Fara'Nae had ordered him to stay away from her until he got his temper back under control, and he would not disobey.  So instead of pacing around, he sat there, arms and legs crossed, tail wrapped around his legs, trying to regain his temper.  But without much success.  Every time he thought about what happened, every time he remembered seeing Eron trapped by the enveloping Sandman, it got him angry all over again.  He tried to do the mental exercises that Allia and Triana had taught him, and had gotten enough of a handle on himself to stop throwing around wild Druidic magic, but every replay of events of his mind set him seething again.
	Close to dawn, he finally got annoyed enough to find out why he'd been warned off.  "Alright, answer me," he said pugnaciously, knowing that Fara'Nae knew precisely what he was asking.
	You agreed to let me deal with her, she answered.  I'm dealing with her.  I didn't need you going in there and distracting her from what I'm doing by spanking her with a scourge.
	A little chagrined, he blew out his breath.  "I'm sorry.  I didn't realize that."
	You were angry, kitten, she said gently.  I know how you are when you're angry.
	"Did it work?"
	Only time will tell, but I will say that her mind is in turmoil, she answered.  She is sick with herself that Eron was attacked, and she feels rightful guilt.  I think that that is what she needed, kitten.  I didn't plan it, but this little episode was exactly what needed to happen to show her that there are consequences for her actions, and they can be dire.
	Tarrin narrowed his eyes.  "That's why you didn't warn me the instant they left the camp," he accused.  "You were going to see what happened, didn't you?  You were hoping something happened!"
	Guilty, she admitted.  But I wouldn't allow Eron to be harmed, kitten.  Had you not arrived, I would have come myself and dealt with the matter.  It would have been quite traumatic for Allia's tribe, but that would be a paltry matter compared to the idea of your son being harmed.
	Tarrin tried to find a reason to be angry over that, he really tried, but in the end, he couldn't argue her point.  If a god said she was going to make sure that things wouldn't get out of hand, then he'd bloody well better accept it at face value and move on.  He blew out his breath and put his paws on his knees.  "I'm sorry."
	I can understand your position, she told him calmly.
	Tarrin groaned and flopped down on his back on the sandy ground, looking up at the sky, at the Skybands.  "How did I end up with a child so stubborn it takes a god to set her straight?" he complained.
	It's the mother's curse, kitten, Fara'Nae said lightly.  In your case, I'd say it was quite powerful.
	"What curse?"
	Don't you remember your mother telling you in a fit of anger that she hoped that your children were as troublesome as you are?
	Tarrin blinked, and then he laughed ruefully.  "Between Triana and my mother, I guess that would be a powerful curse," he admitted.
	And just think, kitten, she added.  You have three other children.
	Tarrin gave out a growling snort, then picked up a small stone from the ground and hurled it aimlessly into the air, a gesture of irritation at the Holy Mother.  He heard her cascading laughter, which only annoyed him more.  "You really know how to put me in a good mood," he accused.
	At least they'll be grown and gone in ten years rather than twenty, she added impishly.  Just hang in there, kitten.
	Tarrin laid there for a while and considered things.  It would probably be best to take Jasana and Eron home now.  He'd done what he came to do, and he had no real reason to remain.  He didn't want to leave so soon, he wanted to stay and visit with Allia and Allyn more, wanted to get to know her tribe, but he wasn't sure if his heart would be in it.  And he wasn't sure if Jasana's heart was going to be in it either.  There was no telling how she was going to act, how she was going to feel after a night of Fara'Nae baring the wounds of her soul and forcing her to look at them.  It may be best to take her home, take her back to comfortable, familiar surroundings, back to her mother.  Who, after hearing about this, would probably give her a thrashing the likes of which she hadn't seen since she turned Tarrin Were.  He'd have to wait and see, though.  Besides, he wouldn't take her home until Fara'Nae told him that he could.  She may not be done with her yet, and she couldn't do anything unless Jasana was in the desert.
	So, he guessed it was just another waiting game.  He wouldn't take Jasana home until Fara'Nae told him it was alright, but he had the feeling that that wouldn't take very long.  In a way, he was glad of it.  He wanted a little more time with Allia, and wanted to make sure that Allyn was going to be alright.  He wouldn't mind getting to know Kallan and Kaila a little better as well, and figure out why Fara'Nae wouldn't allow the Priestess to heal her.  He knew it had something to do with Kallan.  Kallan had to learn something, to discover some truth, either about Kaila or about himself.  He was curious to find out what it was, and see if he couldn't help it along.  Seeing Kaila like that offended his healer's spirit, that gentle side of him that so few people saw.  Every time he saw her, his fingers literally itched to do something about it.
	The landscape around him began to illuminate as the sun creeped up towards the horizon, but it was a sudden movement at the edge of the low rise upon which he was standing was what caught his attention.  It was approaching, and when the figure appeared over the ridge enough, he realized with some surprise that it was Triana.  Then again, that shouldn't have been too much of a surprise.  She had probably sensed his anger, and come out here to see what was going on.  She had a habit of doing that.  She padded up to him confidently, and when she reached him, she didn't greet him.  She simply sat down beside him and remained silent a moment, studying his features.  "What happened this time?" she finally asked.
	Without much emotion, Tarrin explained what had happened last night, including telling her about Fara'Nae's campaign to straighten Jasana out.  "She wouldn't let me thrash Jasana and vent," he surmised for her.  "So I've been stomping around out here trying to calm down."
	"I thought that cub learned her lesson the last time," she said in an ugly tone, flexing her claws.  "I guess she needs more education."
	"I think Fara'Nae believes that will interfere with what she's doing," he answered.  "I trust her, mother.  She's the reason I shed some of my feral nature.  She's doing the same thing to Jasana she did to me, just for a different reason and with a different goal."
	If it surprised his aged bond-mother, she didn't show it.  "Well, it's not like you can argue," she snorted.  "You don't argue with gods.  It doesn't get you very far."
	Tarrin chuckled.  "I've noticed," he agreed.  "What have you been up to?"
	"This and that," she answered.  "I dropped in on Camara to see how things were going, after I tied up some more loose ends of the Hierarchs.  I'm trying to get all that business done as quickly as I can."
	"Why?"
	"You," she answered.  "When I train you, I want no distractions."
	"I thought you'd forgotten about that," he chuckled.
	"Don't even think I'll forget," she said with a flat stare.  "I'm just setting things up so we won't be interrupted."
	"So, when is this going to start?"
	"After Camara has her baby," she answered.  "We'd have to stop for that anyway.  We both promised to be there."
	"So did all the others," Tarrin said.  "It'll be good to see them again.  At least all in the same place at the same time.  I miss them."
	"They're your friends, cub," she said simply.  "Of course you'll miss them."
	"I need to talk to Dar," Tarrin frowned.  "I haven't talked to him in almost a month.  I'll bet he thinks I've forgotten about him."
	"I doubt that," she said with a scoff.
	"He'd better have Tiella pregnant," he said.  "He's had enough time for it."
	"Where are they living?"
	"Dar took Tiella back to Arkis two months ago, so she could meet his parents," he answered.  "The last time I talked to him, he was fuming over it.  His parents want him to marry a rich Arkisian noble, not a Sulasian backwoods villager.  For that matter, they hate the fact that he's katzh-dashi.  They're trying to make him give it up and enter the family's trading business."
	"That'll never happen," Triana said with mild amusement.  "Aren't they already married?"
	Tarrin nodded.  "By the Goddess.  But Dar wants another ceremony in Arkis, so it's legal there.  Arkis doesn't legally recognize any marriage not performed by a priest of Mikaras."  Mikaras was the patron god of Arkis, who was the Younger God of travelling, roads, and also of merchants and those who travelled for a living.  "His parents are fighting it with everything they have.  They're about to make Dar disown them."
	"Then it's their own fault," she stated bluntly.  "You have to let cubs find their own happiness.  You can't shove your idea of happiness down their throats."
	"That sounds hypocritical coming from you, mother," Tarrin said with a sly smile.
	"I don't make you do what makes me happy," she told him.  "I make you do what you need to do.  There's a difference."
	"I'm so glad you think so."
	"Watch it, cub," she said in an ugly tone.  "You're not too old to spank."
	Coming from Triana, that was no idle threat.  Tarrin chuckled and leaned back on his paws, looking towards the rising sun.  "I don't think you should hang around too long, mother.  I may have trouble explaining you to the Selani."
	"I have other things to do, and you were on the way," she answered.  "I was on my way back from Amazar.  It wasn't much of a detour to come find out what had you all ruffled."
	"You're going to have to teach me how you do that."
	"I intend to," she answered.
	"Sarraya's obsessed with learning it now," he warned.
	"I know.  She keeps pestering me to teach her."
	"Think she can do it?"
	"I know she can, but I don't like the idea of unleashing a Faerie that can dimension travel on the world," she said with a little trepidation.  "As it is now, the havoc she can wreak is confined to a certain area."
	Tarrin laughed.  "She's not that bad," he objected.
	"Oh yes she is," Triana said adamantly.  "She behaves when she's around you, cub.  Even now, she's afraid of getting too outrageous around you.  If I taught her how to dimension travel, you'd have to babysit her."
	Tarrin snorted.  "Just how do you do it, mother?"
	"It's hard to explain.  Let's just say that I kind of step between dimensions, into a place that's connected to the real world but isn't quite it, a place where time and physical laws work differently.  When you're there, a single step sends you a few hundred spans.  You can travel about three hundred leagues in an hour.  If you make a day of it, you can travel almost three thousand leagues."
	"I'd hate to run into something," he winced.
	"You can't.  Everything looks just like it does in reality, but it's all insubstantial when you're like that.  You can't touch anything."
	"Then how can you walk?"
	"Because your mind creates a point of reference that your body uses to determine what you're doing," she answered.  "There's no such thing as gravity in there.  It's all in how you decide it should be.  When you decide you're standing on solid ground, you are.  If you decide there's no such thing, then you just kind of float there.  How I do it is I decide on a path from where I am to where I'm going, then I run along it.  I know I'm drifting off course when I suddenly can't find anything under my feet."
	"Clever.  How long did it take you to figure that out?"
	"About fifty years," she replied.  "The trick of it is getting in and getting out.  You don't have to hold yourself in there.  The spell comes only to breach the barrier to get into or out of that place."
	"Odd."
	"It can be at first, especially when you get used to not breathing."
	"What?"
	"I told you, time works differently in there," she answered.  "You don't breathe, you don't eat, and you don't drink.  You don't even get tired.  It's like you're suspended in time."
	"That's a scary thought."
	"It's a little unnerving at first, but you get used to it."  She glanced behind them.  "I think I'd better go.  The Selani are starting to get curious about us, and I have to attend to a few other matters."
	"I'll see you when I get home, then."
	"Maybe not.  When are you going back, anyway?" she asked as she stood.
	"I'm not sure," he replied as he got up with her.  "I've done everything I had to do here, but that doesn't matter because I can't take Jasana until I'm told by her that it's alright.  I'd like to stay a couple of days longer no matter what.  I need to make sure of a couple of things before I'll feel comfortable leaving."
	"Have you talked to Jesmind?"
	"Not in a few days," he answered.  "I don't want to tell her what's going on with Jasana just yet.  I don't want to hear her screaming at me."
	"Why would she scream?"
	"It's Jesmind, mother.  She'll find a reason."
	Triana laughed quietly.  "Sometimes I think that girl argues with people for the fun of it," she confided.  "Alright, cub.  I'll see you when you get home, or whenever."
	"Have a safe trip."
	"Always," she said with a slight snort as she put her paw on his shoulder, a touch that reinforced the intimate closeness between them.  She didn't bear him, but Triana was as much to him his mother as his birth mother was.  That touch conveyed all the complex emotions that they had for one another.  Her touch lingered, even as she started turning away from him, and she kept her eyes on him until her paw slid from his shoulder.  Though she didn't show it or act it, Tarrin knew just how strongly she felt about him.  She was his son, as far as she was concerned, and probably her favorite son at that.
	He sat back down as she stalked away.  He knew better than to try to follow her, and he knew she was putting distance between them so he couldn't sense what she did when she did whatever she did to get into that other place.  It wasn't that she was guarding her secret, it was that she was keeping any temptation at all away from him.  If he tried it and messed it up, it very well may kill him, or send him hurtling into some other dimension, or something even worse.  Druidic magic was amazingly unpredictable when it went wild.  It was good to see Triana, but it was just a little disconcerting to hear that she had his training on her schedule.  But then again, he'd been somewhat bored the last month or so, so perhaps a little side project was just what he needed.  He was curious about Druidic magic, and Triana's claim that it would make him forget all about Sorcery--which he seriously doubted--did pique his interest a bit.  He'd give her the chance to try, that was for certain.
	Triana's visit drifting out of his mind, he went over what he wanted to accomplish before he left, and most of it surrounded Allyn.  He was going to teach him what the Priestess wouldn't, and if he could get away with it, he was going to educate her about not wavering in her duties and taking her to task for being so objectionable and quick to judge.  He did want to talk with Kallan and Kaira and figure out what it was going on there, and maybe find out why Dulai seemed so stuck up.  The woman had barely said a word to him since he arrived, and her attempts to try to keep Jasana and Eron from playing with her son Zakra seemed very strange.
	He was in the desert.  If he didn't at least make an attempt to talk to Sapphire, she might get offended.  There was no telling with dragons, but he knew Sapphire well enough to know that she'd really let him have it if she found out he was this close to her, and didn't at least contact her and see if she wanted to fly over and see him.  He talked to her every few days or so, so he doubted that she'd drop everything and fly over to see him.  And if she did, he'd have to wait for her to arive.  But that may not be a bad thing; it could give him a very viable excuse to kind of hang around a few days.  And it would certainly shock Allia's tribe when Sapphire arrived.  Tarrin had to suppress an evil chuckle at that thought.
	He did have some information to pass to her, however.  She told him that she wanted to know when Triana was going to train him.  He wasn't sure why she wanted to know, but she did.  Sapphire was mightily impressed with Triana's Druidic ability, and considering Sapphire was a dragon, that was a tremendous complement.  Sapphire had talked about the two of them getting together and trading knowledge for a while now, so perhaps she was going to use Tarrin's education as the perfect excuse.
	No time like the present.  Besides, he wanted to get all the little business out of the way so he'd be able to focus his full attention on the matters at hand.  Raising a paw to his amulet, he sighed and called out her name.
	"Little friend, you just saved yourself from a serious chastisement," her voice emanated from his amulet, a bit tinny and higher-pitched than normal.  Considering Sapphire's exceptionally deep bass voice, an effect from having a throat larger than Jasana, it made her voice seem almost feminine.  "And why did it take you this long to contact me?  You've been in the desert for six days!"
	How Sapphire knew that was beyond him, but he learned long ago that Sapphire had ways of finding things out that he'd never understand.  "I've had some pretty serious things going on here, Sapphire," he said quickly.  "I've only just managed to sort things out to the point where I can start taking time out to catch up on things.  I wasn't going to come and go and never talk to you, my friend.  I'm not that stupid."
	"I should say so," she said huffily.  "So, is this purely a saving your butt call, or did you have something of substance to talk about?" she asked with a little amusement.
	"A little of both, actually.  Putting the pleasantries aside, Triana's set a date for my training."
	"It's about time.  When?"
	"Right after we get back from going to Amazar for the birth of Camara Tal's baby," he answered.  "She's been busy organizing things so she can train me without any distractions.  That's why it's taken her so long to get started."
	There was a short pause.  "She is a rather busy woman.  I can understand why it took her that long," she said, mainly to herself, he figured.  "That does work for me."
	"Why?  Are you going to sit in?"
	"I'm going to do more than that," she answered.  "I'm going to teach as well as learn.  I'm not sure if you're strong enough to do what I'm going to teach Triana, but I'm rather certain that she is."
	"You should know better than to teach me things I can't use, Sapphire," Tarrin chuckled.  "Are you begging for me to get into trouble?"
	There was a pause, then Sapphire laughed.  "You can get into trouble without any help from me, little friend," she teased.  "Besides, I think you can do some of it.  You are a Hierarch, by power if not by title.  They've never called you before them, have they?"
	"The Hierarchs?  No."
	"I thought not.  Given who you are and what kind of record you have, I doubted they'd give you the official title.  I'd be surprised if they ever officially dealt with you, since that'd bring your past indiscretions out in the open.  You'd be hard to explain being given the title of Hierarch when they go after other Were-kin for breaking the rules.  I don't think you've ever met a rule you didn't break."
	"It's a part of my roguish charm, Sapphire," he said dryly.
	"I know," she said winsomely.  "So long as they never speak your name and do their best to ignore you when you're moving around, they can pretend that you don't exist.  It works better for them that way."
	"Me too, for that matter.  I don't think I'd like to be a Hierarch.  I don't want any responsibilities."
	"You can't avoid them forever, my little one," she said in a motherly voice.
	"I'll take your advice to heart, Sapphire.  So, want to come see me and Allia now, or wait until we all gather in Amazar?"
	"I'll be there by sunset," she replied, a smirk resounding in her voice.  "I was in the neighborhood, dealing with a territory dispute between two blues in my domain.  You're only a day's detour away."
	"You're going to shock the Selani," Tarrin chuckled.
	"Good.  They know the dragons are here.  Maybe it's best we had a meeting."
	"How did the dispute turn out?" he asked curiously.
	"The land they're disputing is barely a longspan long and not even five hundred spans wide," she said with disdain dripping from her voice.  "I swear, both dragons have territories in the hundreds of square longspans, yet they spat over what amounts to a high ridge that's a good spot to bask, which is more than large enough to accommodate five dragons.  I spanked both of them for being silly and declared the disputed territory common ground.  They both share it."
	"Not a bad solution," he said appreciatively.
	"Thank you.  I'm so glad my decisions meet with your approval," she teased.
	"Maybe I'll try to take over your job, Sapphire," he said tauntingly.
	"You?  The Were-cat who hates responsibility, wants my job?  Tell you what, little friend, I'll give it to you.  I'd like to see how well you handle it."
	"No thanks," he laughed.  "When you've had the world set squarely on your shoulders, you tend to shy away from anything that even remotely resembles duty," he told her.
	"I can imagine.  I'll be there right around sunset, little friend.  Oh, do me a favor and don't tell the Selani I'm coming.  I want to see what they do."
	Tarrin laughed.  "Alright, I won't, at least all of them except Allia and Allyn.  They can keep a secret.  It should be interesting, that's for sure."
	"It probably will be.  I'll see you then, alright?"
	"Alright.  Good journey.  See you when you get here."
	"Watch for me."
	She broke contact, and Tarrin had to grin a little.  Sapphire's appearance at the camp was going to be very interesting.  Nothing else she said was a real surprise, but her coming here was rather interesting news.  Tarrin suddenly couldn't wait for her to arrive.  If the Selani thought he was bad, they just needed to wait until they met some of Allia's other, more interesting friends.
	The sun started peeking over the eastern horizon, to Tarrin's back, and he leaned on his paws again and pondered on the possibilities for the day, debating how to best approach the Selani Priestess and get his point across without getting into trouble with Fara'Nae, how he was going to find out what was going on between Allia's parents, and what he was going to do about Jasana.  But that would have to wait until he saw her.  How she acted was going to heavily affect how he dealt with her.  The Holy Mother had said she was dealing with it, and he'd need her advice and guidance before taking a paw in the matter himself.  He was still rather angry with her, but a night to vent had done much to cool his temper, and the knowledge that Fara'Nae was making sure that Jasana couldn't just convince herself to forget it like she did the last time was very comforting to him.  He was actually quite optomistic that maybe this time, Jasana had learned a valuable lesson, a lesson she just couldn't ignore.
	He had personal experience about how effective Fara'Nae's lessons could be.
	As if thinking about her would make her appear, her scent touched his nose as the morning wind suddenly kicked up, going in the wrong direction, which wasn't an unusual phenomenon early in the morning.  He sat up but didn't turn around, waiting to see what she did, and besides, her scent touched off a new spat of anger in him, an anger he quickly moved to suppress.  He didn't want to have a conniption out in the open where the Selani could see it.  He waited for a long moment, until he sensed her standing right beside him.  He looked over at her--even seated, his head was above hers--and was sincerely surprised at how she looked.  Her eyes were red and sunken, as if she'd been crying for quite a long while, and her face was sallow and her expression both terrified and haunted.  She stood there wringing her paws to her chest, her tail drooping almost limply behind her, dragging the ground, looking at him with such a desperately fearful and pained look that it almost made him sick at himself.  He looked into her eyes cooly, aloofly, trying to gauge what he was seeing, whether she was just faking it, but then her jaw started trembling, and she suddenly burst into fits of wailful sobbing.  She stumbled forward and literally fell into his arms, and he gathered her up as she clung to him tightly, desperately, as if seeking both solace and forgiveness within his embrace.
	Despite everything, she was still his daughter, and he found his anger at her melt away as he heard her cry.  There was no way she could engineer that; Jasana was good at stretching the truth and acting to make others do what she wanted, but this kind of feigned emotional response was beyond her capability.  It seemed that Fara'Nae's lesson was harsh, poignant, and highly effective.  Tarrin put a paw on her back, covering almost her entire back, and it reminded him extremely small his children were compared to him, how small and young and vulnerable.  A strong wave of fatherly protectiveness welled up in him, parental duty, and he comforted his child without words, in subtle, gentle, intimate ways that only his children would sense and understand.  It was never their father's way to be overt about showing tender emotion, at least in public.  Jasana seemed to sense his forgiveness in his touch and manner, and it caused the majority of her wracking sobs to ease.  She settled down quite a bit, but still clung to him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder and chest, wrapping her tail around his arm as his paw continued to rest lightly, lovingly over her back, surrounding her with the sense and scent of him.
	It was quite a while, well after sunrise, before her grip on him eased, as her needle-like little claws finally extracted themselves from his skin.  Her fit of weeping had ended some time before, and she had wanted nothing more than to be held and comforted.  "I was stupid," she said in a near-whisper.  "I can't believe I did that, Papa."
	"You did," he said pointedly.
	"I'm sorry," she said with utter and complete sincerity.  "I never wanted to hurt Eron."
	"But it happened, cub," he told her with gentle focus.  "Every time you start thinking about ways to get around the rules or make things the way you want them, you should remember what happened to Eron, and ask yourself if it's wor