ds and family, but Jula had managed to tag along with him almost the entire time.
	She had been a constant companion to him for the four days that they had been on Amazar, quietly accompanying him on walks with friends, talks with sisters, quiet time spent in the beautiful garden with his children, games played with Haley and Auli, arguments overheard as the ShaKar and the Faerie snipped at one another behind a veil of playful banter; Auli was toying with Sarraya, but the Faerie didnt know that.  She had managed to spend more time with him than anyone else, even Jesmind, even when she said or did nothing, when she was little more than a silent shadow.  She was there when he took his children out with their mothers to look at the city, she was with him when he sat in the stone building with Camara Tal, her husband, and her mother, as they talked about many different things.  She was there when he sparred with the same Amazon who had won a nights service from Ulger--if you could call it a spar, for Tarrin thrashed her so utterly the woman looked like a rank amateur, and she was with him when he, Darvon, and Kargon got to ride along on an Amazon raker as it raced across what they called the Bloody Strait to the island of Tringa, some ten leagues off Amazars northern coast.  She was there when he traded amazingly insightful debating arguments with Phandebrass--Kimmie had been informally teaching Tarrin about Wizard magic--and she was there when Keritanima, Jenna, and Alexis were talking about leading, while at the same time quietly trying to teach Tarrin some of the tricks of their trade.  That amused Jula; Tarrin would never be a formal leader of men.  No Were-cat would, for it went against their basic natures.
	Sometimes it was funny to her.  Everyone was clamoring around him like friendly puppies, and Tarrin was totally oblivious to it.  He saw them and took the time to acknowledge them, but he had no idea how serious everyone was to get and keep his attention.  He had no idea how important he was to the others, and the others probably didnt realize how important he truly was to them.  He was the hub of this strange wheel, the single being around which the others gathered, the only one that could keep them all together.  He had managed to bring the ultra-powerful into that same circle with the mundane mortals, beings like a dragon, a Demon, and even a god, none of whom happened to be with them, but all of whom were spokes in the wheel that formed the complex interconnected relationships surrounding her father.
	Jula could see it quite clearly.  But then again, she had always been particularly adept at working out the emotions of others.  It was ridiculously easy for her now, with her ultra-sensitive nose and eyes much more attuned to minute shifts in movement, even ears that could detect the faintest shifting in the rhythm of a persons heart, given there wasnt too much background noise interfering.  By taking what she knew and applying it to the information provided to her by her acute senses, she could read most people like a book.
	It had been a pretty interesting four days.  Sulina Dar had been trying to ingratiate herself to Tarrin, but without much success.  He was cordial to her, but everyone around could tell that she got his fur up.  Tarrin didnt hate her, but her attempts to get on his good side had had the opposite effectjust as she predicted.  Tarrin himself spent his days in quiet, happy companionship with family and friends, relishing in their being together once again.  Many of them visited with Tarrin, but not all at once, and that was what was making him happy.  Those who werent present did make their presences known, however.  Sapphire was unable to come because of a serious dispute between dragons in her desert realm that required her undivided attention and her continual presence, but she sent several expensive gifts to Camara Tal to display her joy at the Amazons happy occasion.  The mysterious Shiika, continuing to involve herself in the lives of people who werent entirely happy about it, also sent a gift, one that gave everyone more than a few apprehensions.  It was one of Shiikas Hellhounds, Demonic animals from the dark dimension of the Abyss, intelligent dog-like animals that could breathe fire.  The Hellhound had a nasty disposition and a serious attitude problem, but it displayed unswerving loyalty and obedience to Camara and Koran Tal, and looked upon little Shaul Tal with almost puppy-like adoration.  Shiika had obviously fixed the animal to be faithful to its new masters.  Tarrin wasnt the only one worried about this gift, but Camara Tal seemed to have a strange affection for the evil brute, something that, given that she was a Priestess, was rather surprising.
	One thing was certain, however.  With that powerful animal there, Shaul Tal was going to be very well protected.  They just had to teach the Hellhound to distinguish between antagonist and visitor, a distinction it had trouble making the first few days.  It made that mistake with Tarrin.
	Once.
	Needless to say, the huge dog-like animal, with its utterly black pelt and burning, glowing red eyes, gave the Were-cat a very wide berth afterwards.  At least after Camara Tal put it back together.
	Camara Tal named the massive Hellhound Ember, and despite the reservations of Dolanna and some of the others, she defended her new pet quite vociferously, even after it managed to scorch half the garden and burn down the copula on the island in the pond.  None of them quite understood what Camara Tal saw in the big dog-like creature, but she really liked it.  Perhaps she didnt really need a reason, or perhaps the fact that the Hellhound was the size of a pony, far larger than any other dog on the islands, was all the reason she needed.  Amazons liked big, and that Hellhound was bigger than any dog was ever going to get.
	The Goddess also put a hand in and provided a gift.  It was a little shaeram, one that would grow with its infant owner, a magical device that would function like any other shaeram, and would also protect Shaul Tal from fire until she crossed over and became a dashar.  Given that her new pet and protector could breathe fire, they all agreed that the Goddess gift was as practical as it was welcome.
	But now, after five days, things were getting a little disjointed.  The Hierarchs had called Triana away, and she had left, returned, left, then returned once again, endlessly busy with whatever it was she did for the Hierarchs.  It had been universally agreed that it was time to separate Auli and Sarraya; Auli had been toying with the Faerie the whole time they had been together, but Ianelle had warned them that her daughter was about to finish whatever it was she was preparing to do to Sarraya.  A few examples of Aulis idea of a good joke was enough to worry Tarrinif she did that to Sarraya, the Faerie would dedicate the rest of her life to making the ShaKars remaining days as miserable as possible.  Auli might think it to be great fun to lead Sarraya around by the nose, but she didnt realize how vindictive a Faerie could be when one felt it had been humiliated.  Faeries were capricious, impulsive beings, but they had a terrible single-mindedness when it came to paying back past wrongs, and they could be mercilessly cold while doing so.  Faeries had been known to even kill during the course of gaining revenge, but never directly.  It would just be some convenient lethal trap left for the hapless victim to encounter, which often managed to kill innocent bystanders in the process.  Getting Sarraya and Aulia apart was a matter of quiet urgency, one that would require a way to get them apart without making it apparent that they were being split up, else Sarraya would get offended and Auli may go ahead and carry out her plan while she had the opportunity.
	Darvon wanted to get Ulger off of Amazar as well.  The Knight took his nights servitude surprisingly well, but had been flirting with the Amazons over the last few days.  That was relatively harmless, but he didnt seem to fathom that he got a womans attention, then he would become a permanent resident of the islands.
	And then there was the fact that for many of them, days away from their affairs meant a great deal of work to be done when they got back.  Keritanima was happy to be there, but quietly admitted to Tarrin that her desk was going to collapse from the weight of all the paper before she had a chance to clear it off.  Keritanima was a very busy woman, being a queen of one of the largest and most organized kingdoms on Sennadar, and was just as worried about the work piling on her desk as she was happy to be ignoring it for a few days of delightful reuinion.  Jenna had the same problem, as did Alexis, but those two were projecting back to their Towers to manage things through their Councils and secretaries.  For Jenna, that was Duncan, the ever-silent worker in the background who quietly managed the Tower with effortless ease but also with incredible attention to every little detail.  Alexis had a similar servant named Tasil, a Nyrian Sorceress who was almost as good as Duncan, but not quite as reserved and humble.  Jenna was at a little bit of a disadvantage because Ianelle, the First of the Council, was also with her, leaving the Council to do things on their own.  In Suld, that meant that there was more argument and bickering than there was leading.  The Council--at least the original Council of Seven--was still somewhat annoyed over the abdication of Myriam Lar and the ascendance of Jenna, and they didnt like sharing their power with the six ShaKar representatives of Ianelles Council who had been merged with them.  The ShaKar, on the other hand, felt that the humans were beneath their power and capability, in the typical ShaKar arrogance, and thought that they should be running things themselves.  That required Jenna to keep a tight leash on everyone involved.
	So, for various reasons, and certainly not because anyone wanted to do so, it was decided by general acclimation that it was just about time for everyone to go home.  The only one that seemed excited about the idea was Triana, but that was because she had laid claim to the next few years of Tarrins life to train him in Druidic magic, and she was literally chomping at the bit to get started.  Everyone else was a bit reluctant at the idea, no more so than Tarrin.  Tarrin liked having all of his friends and family around him, all at the same time.  But then again, he was one of the rare few on Sennadar who would never be more than a thought away from anyone.  Tarrins power to Teleport gave him the ability to be almost anywhere he wanted to be.
	They would be leaving the next morning, but not all together.  Jenna was going to Teleport everyone who wished to go back to Suld, and from there they would travel wherever they wanted to go.  Tarrin was Teleporting his family back to his home.  Allia was going to use the device that Jenna made for her to return to the desert.  Alexis would be returning aboard her flying ship, bringing anyone who wished to return to Abrodar back with her.  Keritanima intended to Teleport home to Wikuna rather than tag along with anyone else.
	So, the final night there turned into something of an informal party, but not one to which the entirety of the city was invited.  The Royal compounds doors were closed, and the tight circle that formed the core of Tarrins family and friends celebrated a final night together before time and necessity caused them to once again part ways.  It was a diverse celebration, as those who were most boisterous were tempered by the quiet dignity of those who were most reserved.  Of course, a gathering couldnt go by without Phandebrass and Camara Tal getting into an argument, nor could a gathering go by without Sarraya pulling some kind of prank on someone and end up spending the rest of it in some out-of-reach area, waiting for the victim to get over his indignity.  There was all the food they wanted, Conjured by Tarrin and Triana and Haley, and Sorcery provided all the music they wished, thanks to Dars newest trick, sound-only sustained Illusions, Illusions that Dar could weave and then release, but the clever Arkisian could extend by recharging the matrix of their weaving, and Illusions that Dar could control by programming into them what he wanted them to do.  He could literally cause the sound Illusions to play any music which he could remember, even sounds he could only imagine, and they were quite remarkable.  So remarkable, in fact, that every Sorcerer in the group had to grill Dar on the formula of the spell, and how he went about programming it, recharging it, and altering it as he did.
	Dar may not have been as experienced or as powerful as Tarrin or Jenna or Ianelle, but when it came to Illusions, there was no Sorcerer more skilled than Dar.  Dar could do things with Illusions that made the vastly educated Ianelle gawk like a first-day Novice.
	And through it all, Jula was right there, not two steps from her father, just being around himand happy to be there.
	But nights could not last forever.  Much quicker than anyone really wanted it to, the sun rose, and the fact that it was a new day could no longer be denied.  It was the day that they would all leave Amazar, that they would all once again split up and return to the places that they called home.
	Jula watched the foot-dragging with a clinical interest that came in one who had gambled her very life on being able to guess at the emotions and actions of others.  She could tell that nobody wanted to go, not even those who were more or less outsiders, like Kargon and Ulger.  But they had gotten swept up in the mystique of Tarrin and his inner circle, where the fantastic was commonplace and things like Demons and dragons and gods werent anything to get ones knickers in a twist over.  They had been seduced by the strange chemistry that existed between the members of the group, a group that was so unbelievably diverse that its differences formed the cohesive bonds that made them a congruous whole.  It was a group where one could belong, no matter how strange, how outlandish, how exotic, or how different one could be.  In such unusual company, anyone would want to belong.
	As she had managed for the entire time they were on Amazar, Jula managed to be beside her bond-father when he said his farewells.  They were not sad or somber; in a way, they didnt seem like farewells at all.  After all, he talked to all of them about once every other day or so on the average, so it wasnt like he wouldnt see them or talk to them again for a long time.  But there was a certain tension about the goodbyes, for she could tell that it wasnt the parting that bothered him, it was the splitting up.  To know that when he saw one or talked to one, it would be just that--one.  It wouldnt be all of them, and that was how he always preferred his friends and familytogether.
	It didnt take very long.  A round of hugs, promises to see everyone, to contact them soon to make sure everyone got to where they were going safely, and that brushed the last obstacle to departure out of their path.  Tarrin was never one to dawdle, even when it came to doing something he preferred not to do.  There was no valid reason to remain, and so it was time to go.
	Time to go.  They all looked unhappy about it, but it was a necessity--well, everyone but Triana.  She almost had a spring in her step as she sauntered up to him, knowing that after they got back to Aldreth, she had exclusive rights to her bond-son, to begin his training in the mysterious arts of Druidic magic.  Real Druidic magic, on a level which most Druids could not manage, magic that, Triana boasted, would make Tarrin forget all about Sorcery.  Jula rather doubted that, but she had the feeling that shed get a chance to see how wrong Triana was going to be.  Jula was very good at lurking in the background, and she was confident shed manage to sneak into a few training session here and there, enough to get a taste of what her father was learning.  Jesmind too seemed just a bit content with the idea of going home, but Jula had the feeling that her happiness at getting Tarrin back wouldnt last very long.  Magical training was very intense and exhausting, and her mother was going to be taking much more of his time than the time in which they actively trained.  No, Jula thought that Tarrins training wasnt going to sit well with Jesmind, not one bit.
	Perhaps a trip to Suld wouldnt be a bad idea.  A very long trip to Suld.  Jesmind would not be a very good housemate once the reality of Tarrins education struck her.  She was welcome in the Tower, if only just.  Many there still reviled her for her betrayal, but Jenna accepted her, and that was all that really mattered to her.  She didnt care what the others thought about her anymore.  Jennas approval was all that matteredand with Tarrin under Trianas tutelage, Jula was going to need to take her lessons in Sorcery from Jenna.  Or perhaps Ianelle, if she was busy.  Jenna was always happy to give her bond-sister a lesson or two, one of the very few that got exclusive, private lessons from the Keeper.
	Who needed the approval and friendship of the Sorcerers, when she was the sister of the Keeper?
	Sometimes being related to the Tarrin Kael had certain material advantages.
	And so, the quite enjoyable reunion on Amazar was about to come to an end.  For everyone involved, it had been a wonderful experience--well, perhaps everyone but Ulger and Sarraya.  Camara Tal and her family had been outstanding hosts, the weather had been beautiful, the island gorgeous and exciting, and there had been no nasty surprises.  Camara Tal had a new infant daughter and a monstrously big, evil-tempered brute of a Hellhound for a pet, Tarrin got to be with all his family and friends once again, and they had a chance for the spouses of the inner circle to get to know them just a little better, find their places within the group.  Allyn and Tiella, Rallix and Koran Tal, they did rather well, showing no intimidation, holding their ground, finding friends and friendship, coming to enjoy the beautiful experience of being a member of one of the most elite social circles in the entire world, a circle to which even kings and queens could not belong without the right connections, a circle which, if one was a member, opened almost any door in the world and made virtually everyone else quite hospitable.
	A social circle that included Demons, and dragons, and even gods.
	Jula watched as Tarrin gave Camara Tal a warm embrace, then reached down and put a single finger on Shaul Tals forehead.  She could tell that Tarrin was wistful already, starting to miss the togetherness even before they were apart.  A temporary emotional reaction, to be sure, for the Were impulse for isolation would override that desire for companionship eventually.  A few warm words of farewell were exchanged, Tarrin patted Koran Tal on the shoulder fondly, then fixed Sulina Tal with a direct, challenging stare, just daring her to try to be too friendly with him.
	Sulina Tal was rather bitter about that particular failure, she could tell.
	And then there was nothing else standing in their way.  It was time to go.
	Jesmind and Kimmie, Jasana and the twins, they gathered around Tarrin with Jula and Triana, knowing that the closer they were to him, the easier it would be for him to perform his spell to take them home.  But a keening cry froma above brought them all up short.  Jula looked up with the others to see a solitary Phoenix circle over them, and then land on the roof of the stone building that served as the throne hall for Sulina Tal.  It stood on the edge of the building and looked down at them with those glowing red eyes, then raised and spread out its impressive fan of tail feathers, displaying those strange eye-markings on the longest of its colorful plumed feathers.
	It was strange.  The way it was moving, the way it was watching them, it was almost as if it had known that they were leaving.  Had it come to see them off?
	No, that couldnt be.  Jula knew that Phoenixes werent all the myths made them out to be.  They were actually just birds, birds with strong magical powers, but still just birds.  It was just coincidence.  The Phoenix was probably just drawn to the aura of power that surrounded suikun like Tarrin and Jenna.
	That was probably it.
	Jula watched the Phoenix as Tarrin took his attention from it, rose his paws, and wove the spell to return them to their little slice of peaceful bliss a days ride east of Aldreth.  It was time to go home.
 
Chapter 11

	Tarrin had fully expected that his training in Druidic magic was not going to be anything which he would look back upon with much fondness.  He knew how difficult Druidic magic could be to use, and he was more than familiar with how stringent and demanding Triana was.  He had approached the idea of it with a kind of reluctant expectance, willing to learn what he was going to be taught, but knowing that the learning would not be pleasant.
	He was both right and wrong.
	At first, he expected a period of basic training, where Triana would grind him across the washboard for a while to break down any bad habits he had and prepare him to receive her wisdom and knowledge, and in this, Triana did not disappoint.  Triana was the oldest of all the Were-cats, but what most didnt know was that she was probably the most healthy and one of the strongest.  She maintained that peak physical ability with intensive exercise and training, for she had found out long ago that exercise even benefited a Were-cat; it just took longer to show any benefit, and their progression of improvement was much slower than it would be for a human.  Were-cats had supernatural strength that was a gift from their bonds to the land, a magical strength that was a Druidic aspect of their beings.  Since it was predominately a magical strength, and Were-cats never exercised, Tarrin and most others had assumed that it was a set state for each Were-cat and could not change.  A similar assumption was made of endurance, for the Were-cat regeneration gave them tremendous staying power, not only healing wounds but reinvigorating tiring muscles to grant extended periods of heavy activity.  But the reality was that those Druidic gifts built upon the base abilities of the body they augmented.  By improving the body, those magical gifts also improved by raising the bar from which they operated.  Triana had been engaged in an almost tortuous regimen of intense exercise for nearly seven hundred years, and that gave her a physical resilience that far outstripped nearly any other Were-cat.  Tarrin had once thought that Mist had to be the strongest of their kind, but he was wrong.  Triana was much stronger than Mist, and since she was so much taller, she could apply that strength with far more effective leverage.
	This was the first thing that greeted him on that first day, and it was something he was expecting.  He just didnt expect to literally crawl back in through the door that night feeling as if someone had shot needles of salt into every finger of muscle tissue he possessed.  Triana had run him for nearly twenty leagues, then made him move boulders that weighed more than two horses around a clearing, then push logs up hillsides, then carry a boulder on his back as he ran another five leagues.
	It was more of the same the next day, and the next day, as Triana systematically broke down his ability to regenerate and then physically exhausted him.  She broke him down so severely that his regeneration couldnt completely recover to face the next day, a day that was even more strenuous than the last.  She pushed him beyond his physical limits, pushed him so hard that he would collapse on a daily basis, physically incapable of carrying out her tasks, and that was what she had been waiting for.  After a ride of this torture, he finally demanded to know why he had to kill himself on a daily basis when she intended to teach him a magical art, which had nothing to do with the body.
	Phaugh, she had snorted in her typical manner.  I thought youd know better than to ask such a stupid question.  The limits of a Druid are physical limits, how much power your body can handle.  You can increase it by being fit.  If I wasnt in such good shape, I wouldnt be able to do half of what I do.
	Thats why dragons are so strong in Druidic magic, Tarrin said in a moment of clarity.  Because theyre so big and powerful.
	Size has nothing to do with it, Triana said in a scathing tone, bursting his bubble.  Dragons are strong in all magic because of what they are.  If you want to find the most powerful Druids, pound for pound, then dont look any further than Faeries.
	Faeries? Tarrin asked in surprise.
	She nodded abruptly.  Despite being so tiny, any Faerie with Druidic talent is much stronger than any other race.  Do you know why?
	Tarrin did manage to figure that one out rather quickly.  Because they fly.
	Exactly.  Flying is very demanding work.  Youll never in your life see a fat Faerie.  She glanced at him.  Dragons are the same way.  Its not their size, its because theyre so fit.  If you think its hard for a Faerie to fly, imagine how much work it is for that behemoth Sapphire to drag all that body into the air.
	That was something Tarrin had never really considered, but he had to agree.  Sapphire didnt just have to be strong to fly, she had to be incredibly fit.  Just getting her massive body into the air was the first step in the process.  Keeping it up there was the other, much more demanding step.
	With that answered, Triana must have felt that if was able to talk, he obviously wasnt working hard enough.
	For nearly a month, Triana wore Tarrin down to the bone every single day, with progressively more and more difficult tasks that involved moving more weight further, carrying it longer, and repeating it more times.  Tarrin would drag home so tired that he could barely open the front door, so dirty that his footprints left footprints if another stepped upon them, and he was too weary to even care about cleaning up.  Eating was more of a chore than a chance to restore some energy to his depleted frame, and he slept absolutely any time he was not eating, training, or traveling to his next destination.  The worst part, he felt, was the running.  Running in itself wasnt a strenuous pursuit, but when one carried nearly half a ton of additional weight, and was expected to keep up with an unburdened, harshly critical mentor, it became an extreme exercise in willpower not to dump his heavy burden and attack Triana with the sincere intent to kill.  It reminded him of his training under his mother long ago, when she would make him run for longspans wearing a heavy mail shirt.  He also recalled similar murderous daydreams when he was doing that.  At one point, he had dreamt up one hundred and seventeen distinct and separate ways to murder his mother without getting killed in response, and every day he would go through them one by one in his mind and decide which one was the one that would bring him the most pleasure.  That list was considerably shorter where Triana was involved, for the main prerequisite for any technique of murder was that Tarrin survive it.
	The purely physical phase of his training ended a few days after that first month, and it ended quite abruptly to Tarrin.  Triana had been making him run with his favorite boulder up and down a small but steep hill, but abruptly told him to stop, set the boulder down, and then curtly informed him that it was time for him to learn.
	His eagerness at the idea of not carrying that boulder around dissipated quickly when Triana started teaching him Druidic magic, but from the very beginning.  She started as if he was a completely untrained novice, going over the five most basic rules of Druidic magic.  Tarrins mind whirled as she was doing so--though he wasnt stupid enough to tune her completely out--as he tried to fathom why she was doing it, why she was starting there.  Could it be because of Sarraya?  She had always been very cross that Sarraya had been the one to train him in Druidic magic and not herself.  Could this be her attempt to make up for that lost opportunity?
	That was an unfounded worry, he discovered shortly thereafter, when she finished going over the most basic of basics, the rules that no Druid that had managed to live long enough to become competent with the art of Druidic magic forgot.  When she finished, she looked him bluntly in the eye.  Do you understand all that, cub?
	He nodded in confusion.
	Good.  Now, for right now, forget it all.
	That was a major shock.  That was the last thing he ever expected her to say, and almost immediately, he realized that the magic that she was going to teach him had to be dramatically different than the Druidic magic that most other Druids learned.
	Surprised?  Dont be, she told him.  From what I know of Sorcery, cub, High Sorcery and the Sorcery that Weavespinners use operates under different rules than the Sorcery you learned at first.  Druidic magic is much the same.  The more powerful and complicated spells require us to bend the rules a little to use, or totally ignore.  She gave him a penetrating stare.  Thats the key of it, cub.  The main thing Im going to teach you, over the spells themselves, is to know when you have to obey a rule, and when you have to ignore it.  I dont think I have to explain whatll happen if you mess up.
	He shook his head.  There was only one real penalty when it came to botching Druidic magic, and that was death.
	That doesnt change, cub.   Thats the one rule you can never ignore.  That means that youre never to practice any advanced magic unless Im here to watch over you, and you will never perform any spells I teach you away from me unless I specifically tell you youre allowed.  Is that clear?
	Very clear, mother, he said soberly.
	Good.  Now, Conjure some lunch, and well start after we eat.
	The first rule of Druidic magic was the rule of image and intent.  In order to use Druidic magic, the Druid formed a very clear and concise image in his mind of what he intended to do, and also formed a very clear and strong intent of what was to happen.  When the All touched the Druid, it saw that image, read that intent