Weavespinner

"You've been here before?" Je

"I was once on the Council at this very Tower," she said with a nod. "I was the Divine seat."

"Well, I'm sure we can sort things out. Do your people speak Sulasian?"

"Only some, and it is the Sulasian of a thousand years ago," she said with a rueful smile. "I'm sure we have terrible accents, but we will adjust."

"Well, you're going to have to learn," Je

"We will help them along, and they will help us along with Sulasian," Ianelle said. "Sha'Kar was always the common tongue within the walls of the Tower."

"Until we can get the language barrier out of the way, I'll assign those katzh-dashi that have learned enough Sha'Kar to communicate to you to act as translators. Please don't be offended, but your translators may not know which form to use. If they speak to you informally, don't take it the wrong way."

"We appreciate it, honored one, and don't worry. We fully understand that Sha'Kar is a second language for them, and we will be very patient. May we settle in now?"

"Please, don't let me stop you," Je

"Yes, honored one."

"When you get settled in, let me know, and we'll seat both Councils and have a conference. It's going to be nice to speak to you face to face for a change."

"Speaking in the Heart has its own charm, but there is much to be said for face to face conversation," Ianelle agreed. "It shouldn't take us long to move our trunks into the towers and assign chambers. Two hours, I would say. May I call on you then?"

"Ianelle, you're the First. You can call on me any time you feel it necessary," Je

"You honor me, honored one," Ianelle said with a curtsy. "By your leave?"

"You don't have to ask me for permission to withdraw, Ianelle," Je

"You are the honored one, Keeper," Ianelle said brusquely. "To us, you are a queen. We will treat you as one."

Je

"And I you, honored one," she said, giving her one more curtsy, then scurrying off to bark commands to the Sha'Kar.

"Queen, eh?" Tarrin said with a smile.

"That's right," she said primly, tossing her hair a bit. "So you'd better treat me like the queen I am, or I'll throw you in the dungeon."

"Yah yah yah," Tarrin retorted, slapping her lightly on the arm. "To me, you're just my little sister."

"Well, come on then, big brother," Je

"Why didn't she come out here?"

"She didn't want to cause a scene," Je

"Is she really that upset?" Tarrin asked nervously. From what he'd heard of Jesmind, she was emotional, short-tempered, and somewhat high-strung. He'd been worrying about meeting her for a while, because he had no idea what she was going to do when he met her face to face.

"Not really," Je

Je

It was times like this that Tarrin felt his loss of memory most keenly, looking at Je

He wanted to know. It drove him crazy that all those things that had happened were buried in his mind, and it was being denied to him. It was an entire lifetime of experiences and adventures locked away, and even though there were things there that he probably wouldn't want to remember, what he would gain would more than make up for what it would cost him to remember. He felt lost like he was, surrounded by people who knew everything, while he floundered around behind them, depending on them for almost everything.

And if any one thing ate at him more, it was that. Tarrin was a fiercely independent young man, having been cut loose from his parents' watchful eye when he was twelve. They had trusted him to be careful, and he hadn't violated that trust more than a few hundred times. But they'd never caught him. He hated having them hovering around him, but he hated the fact that he had to depend on them even more than that. To someone like him, who was so used to doing for himself, being by himself, managing to make it by himself, being dependent on another was humiliating, aggravating, and intolerable.

There was very little that could be done right now, but he'd feel alot better after he established a little space for himself. Once he learned his way around the Tower, he'd feel more secure. And he knew that there was a fight coming over it, but he was going to demand his own room. He liked the Were-cats, but their stifling overprotectiveness had just gotten too irritating. It was a big Tower, and he was sure they could find him a room somewhere to himself. And since it was the Tower, they'd have absolutely no reason not to give him that room. It was one of the safest places in the world, the Tower was. He would be surrounded by Sorcerers, Knights, and servants, all of whom would keep him from getting lost and keep a wary eye out for intruders. Triana would have no valid excuse to giving him his own room. And if she refused, well, there were ways around that. He wasn't quite so intimidated by her now. She said she loved him, and he could use that as a weapon against her if necessary.

Holding Je

"It's because she's trying to break the younger Sha'Kar of their habits," Keritanima told him. "She doesn't want them getting any idea that they're special or anything like that. Ianelle's even making them carry their own trunks, without using Sorcery or anything," she added with a snicker. "Ianelle can be brutal."