James Galloway - The Tower of Sorcery

"Will he be able to take to the training field tomorrow, Master Koran Dar?" Allia asked.

"Fighting? Yes, he should be up for it," he replied. "I think he'll be whole by tomorrow morning. Now then, I have other matters to attend. Be well, both of you."

Allia got up and bowed to him in the Selani manner as he left, then she sat back down on the side of the bed. "Now then, we were about to start another game," she prompted, putting the stones board back on the bed in front of her.

Later that afternoon, after Allia had gone to bathe and eat, Tarrin wandered idly around the gardens. He did so for nearly a half an hour, feigning intense interest in the flowers and trees, making the other visitors lose track of him. Because of who he was, many eyes followed him, both the curious and those who were there to keep their eyes on him. He entered a confined area of small shrub trees bordering a large trellis holding thick climbing vines, then he managed to evade the other garden visitors' line of sight and change form. Now small and inobtrusive, Tarrin slinked easily through the gardens and entered the hedge maze. Allia was probably already there, waiting for him, as they'd agreed upon as they played stones. They didn't come out and say it, cause both of them were aware that someone was probably listening to them. He simply asked her if those roses of hers were still pretty, and she told him that he should go take a look at them. That was all both of them needed. Tarrin didn't trust speaking to her in the manner of the Cat, because if she could understand it with magic, then so could others. He had no doubt that some Sorcerer about knew a spell to make that happen, so it didn't make that method of communication secure.

She was in there. Her scent trail was strong on the ground, and Tarrin used that as his guide to lead him into the center of the maze. It took him only a short time to get into the center courtyard, where Allia was tending the large rose bushes behind the fountain, the fountain which held the statue of the Goddess who had spoken to him. It had been a very long time since he'd been in the courtyard, and the sight of the statue momentarily overwhelmed him with a feeling of warmth and security. Almost as if it emanated from the statue itself. It was as beautiful as he remembered. The statue's marble face was still carrying that utter perfection, that smooth flawlessness. The body was just as perfect and tall and lithe as he remembered, and the statue's hair flowed over her shoulders and down her back in frozen waves, the detail so fine that he could see the individual strands in the tumbling mass. The peacefulness of the courtyard was still there, and it soothed him, welcomed him, made him feel as if, in all the world, this was the one place where he would be safe. The sound of the bubbling of the fountain's water seemed to soothe him, and the faint rustle of the roses and flowers in the courtyard as the wind caressed them made him feel a tug for the wide expanses of the tractless forest.

He changed form absently, adjusting his shirt a bit as Allia turned around at the faint sounds that he made as his large feet slipped across the thick, lush grass at the edge of the courtyard. "You're late," she chided in Selani.

"There were alot of people in the gardens," he shrugged. "It took me a while to find a secluded spot."

"What did you want to talk about?" she asked, coming over and sitting on the marble bench before the bubbling fountain.

"A few things, actually," he replied, sitting down beside her. "I guess the first would be-"

There was a faint noise outside the choked-off opening. The sound of branches being moved, very carefully. He stood up instantly and rolled his paw to Allia as he padded towards the opening. "Oops, sorry," he said in false contrition.

"That's alright," she said in a voice that lacked the sudden wariness showing on her face. "I don't think you tore it."

Though he doubted that the eavesdropper could understand the words, he had to be impressed by Allia's ability to think on her feet. He rolled his paw at her again as he approached the opening with one paw out, claws extended. "Anyway, what did you want to talk to me about?" she continued.

Tarrin was there. His paw lanced into the ragged wall of irregular branches that choked off the opening of the courtyard, striking like a viper. His claws and fingertips hit the border of a heavy material, and they closed around it. It was the bodice of a dress. He yanked back, dragging the wearer of that bodice through the branches quickly. In a explosion of green and brown, the red dress of an Initiate was yanked into the courtyard, and the wearer of that dress had reddish fur and a tail. Tarrin threw the figure to the ground, where it made a squeak of surprise.

Tarrin looked down into the hot eyes of Keritanima, the yellow orbs blazing up at him as her face screwed up into a near-snarl, showing just a little bit of her formidable canine teeth. "What did you do that for!" she demanded.

"You should know better than that," he shot back at her, reaching a paw down and offering it to her. Allia's eyes were flat and hostile as Tarrin helped the Wikuni to her feet, where she brushed off her red dress and then delicately checked the front of her dress for rips. The neckline was askew, from where Tarrin had grabbed it, showing a considerable amount of fur-clad cleavage.

"I should slap you for putting your hand down my dress!" she barked at him in a tiff, straightening her bodice and then adjusting the plain leather belt around her slim waist. "You don't go pawing a lady! It's impolite."

"So is eavesdropping," Tarrin replied.

"I wasn't eavesdropping," she sniffed. "I was trying to figure out how in blazes you got through there. And I certainly didn't want to get yanked through like a-my, what a lovely statue," she said, her tone going from annoyed to sincerely impressed in a heartbeat.

"Allia, I'd like you to meet Keritanima," he said to his Selani friend. "The real one."

"The Brat Princess is real enough," Keritanima winked. "Pleased to meet you," she said, holding her hand out to Allia as if she expected the Selani to kiss it.

"She is different," Allia said. Allia did nothing to accept that hand, crossing her arms under her breasts and giving the Wikuni a strong look of distrust.

Tarrin nodded. "She screwed up her act and I figured it out," he said, to which Keritanima sniffed disdainfully. "I promised to keep her little secret. I was going to tell you about it, so you didn't kill her in a pique."

"I doubt she'd have gone that far," Keritanima said calmly.

"I beg to differ," Allia said with steady eyes. "I came close to doing it five times during the morning."

"Well, then I guess I'm doing something right," the Wikuni grinned toothily. "I see they Healed you all up, Tarrin. Are you feeling alright?"

"Good enough," he said.

"What are we going to do with her now?" Allia asked Tarrin in Selani.

"You won't do anything with me, oneshai ," Keritanima replied sternly in flawless Selani, using the Selani term for "near-stranger", which was a term to use with business associates and distant acquaintances.

Allia gaped at her, and Tarrin chuckled ruefully. "Where did you learn that?"

"As a Princess, I'm expected to know all the languages of the peoples that we trade with," she said in an annoyed tone. "You have no idea how many people we trade with," she said in exasperation. "I still haven't learned them all. It's a frightful bore."

"I didn't know that the Wikuni trade with the Selani," Tarrin said.

"I did not either," Allia admitted.

"We trade with the Bloodwater Clan," she replied. "They're the only ones that come close enough to the ocean for us to see. We saw them about three hundred years ago, worked out a couple of trade pacts, and everyone's happy. There's quite a market for Selani koufa fiber." Koufa was the plant fiber that the Selani used to make their incredible clothing. It was very tough, and very light. It kept the wearer warm when it was cold, and cool when it was hot. It wouldn't accept dye, so all of the Selani clothing was the same colors, the colors of different types of koufa plants. But those colors were white, brown, and a beige that was almost the exact color of sand, which was perfect camoflauge in the desert.