Weavespinner

Tarrin laughed in spite of himself. Sarraya was indeed back.

Sarraya flitted out of Je

"You'll have time for catching up later," Triana grunted. "It's late and we don't have much time. You can go to bed now, Je

"I'll take that as a peremptory dismissal," Je

"It was one. Now off to bed with you."

Je

Triana gave her a hard look, but it was a look of pure bravado. Tarrin could see it in her posture. She was pleased that Je

"I always do knowing you're near us, mother," Je

Triana put a paw on her cheek, over where Je

"O, how the mighty have fallen!" Sarraya said with a snigger after recovering from her mirth. "I thought you were about to let her scratch you behind the ears!"

"That will do, Sarraya," Triana said in a dangerous tone.

"Aww, you want your widdle belly rubbed, Twiana?" she asked in an outrageous ma

Despite knowing the consequences, Tarrin suddenly couldn't help but to succumb to a fit of laughter. Triana glared hotly at both of them, and her expression made it abundantly clear that was going to be retribution. She snorted loudly, crossing her arms beneath her breasts and waiting out Tarrin's fit like an impatient teacher waiting out a student's floundering for an answer. "If you're done, we have alot to do and not much time," she said tartly.

"I'm sorry, mother," he sniffed, still smiling. "I take it I'm not getting any sleep tonight?"

"Judging by how fast you learn? I doubt it," she said acidly and turned towards the door, waving him to follow.

"Ouch," Tarrin grunted.

"She'll get over it," Sarraya giggled. "It's good to see you! Triana told me about what happened. What was it like? How did Jesmind take it? What did you do all that time?"

"We'll have plenty of time to talk about it later, Sarraya," he told her calmly, moving to follow Triana. "I don't think I want to keep mother waiting. Not after what you said."

"Posh. She needs someone to tease her every now and then."

"Then you can do it," he said fervently. "I'm not that crazy." Then he started laughing again. "But it was fu

"Of course it was," Sarraya said airily. "I said it, didn't I?"

The instruction he got from Triana and Sarraya was surprisingly simple, and it was also very similar to some things he had already learned from Allia. The problem was that when a Druid reached a certain level of ability or had enough natural aptitude, he attracted the All to him. This attraction increased dramatically whenever a Druid was emotionally upset or afraid, as the turmoil of the Druid was like water ru

The first method was simple control of emotion. It was why Triana always seemed so grim and emotionless. It wasn't that she wasn't a very emotional person, it was that at her level of power, it took very little to attract the All to her. It would virtually come at a whim, and any time she even thought about Druidic magic, the All began to respond to her. She always had to be extremely careful, and she kept an almost perpetual check on her emotion. This wasn't going to be easy for Tarrin, and he knew it, but she drilled it into his head again and again that he had to at least try to maintain a throttle on his emotions. She didn't completely supress her emotion; in fact, she had gone past the need to really control her emotion to protect herself from the All, but it had become such an ingrained practice for her by now that it was second nature. But she always kept control. She offered to teach him some mental exercises that caused one to relax and regain control, but he explained that Allia had already taught him several of those things, as well as how to meditate. He had used a similar mental technique to remain in human form much longer than any other Were-cat, a method of thought and preparation that allowed him to ignore the pain. She had also taught him techniques for remaining calm and focused in the face of great turmoil, exercises to help him prevent a rage and keep his head in the many desperate situations he had faced. Tarrin had a very disciplined mind, as Triana had learned from her touch with it, and she seemed comfortable with what he had already learned. It was the only reason why she had been willing to leave him at all, because she was confident that, now that he understood the danger involved, he could keep control of his mind and not cause an accident.

The second method of defense against the All was learning how to resist it when it did come. This was the part that, to his surprise, Sarraya was much better at explaining than Triana. The whimsical little Faerie was a very powerful Druid, and that meant that she had the All coming at her all the time, since she had such little control of her emotion. So she was a master of blocking it when it did reach out to her, much better at it than Triana, and much better at explaining it in terms and images that he could easily understand. She explained that the key was sensing it the instant it began, because it was like a boulder rolling downhill, much easier to stop at the begi