"The tairen use lights in their lair?" she asked in surprise.

He laughed softly. "Nei, but Feyreisen in their Fey form find it helpful. It's said Feyreisen and their families once lived together in Fey'Bahren with the tairen, but it's been long since that was true—if it ever was. Most fellana are too afraid of the tairen to be comfortable here."

"Was your mother afraid of the tairen?"

His smile grew sad. "Nei. Nei, she never was."

The passage finally opened into an enormous firelit cavern deep within the heart of Fey'Bahren. Dark, ledged walls soared ten tairen lengths high. A thick layer of hot black sand covered the cavern floor. Ellysetta could feel the heat through the soles of her boots as she and Rain entered. All around them, glowing eyes watched from the darkness of the encircling ledges. The cavern hummed with a low, mournful growling that made her want to weep.

A smoky shadow moved along the far side of the cavern, startling Ellysetta when two large glowing green eyes appeared in its midst. Then the shadow moved again, rising to pad silently across the sand. The illusory camouflage of the approaching great dark gray cat was astonishing. Even moving, it appeared more smoke than solid flesh. As the tairen approached, Ellysetta sensed a rich mix of welcome, strength, and a powerful calming stillness. Almost as if this one tairen were singlehandedly holding the grief of the others in check.

"Sybharukai." Rain touched Ellie's shoulder. «Wait here, shei'tani.» He continued forward alone to greet the matriarch of the tairen pride. His towering Fey height seemed dwarfed against the tairen, and the gentle welcoming nudge of Sybharukai's massive head pushed him back several steps. He raised his arms and embraced the enormous cat, pressing his face against the furred jaw.

When they parted, Ellysetta saw what Sybharukai's body had previously hidden from view. Another tairen lay motionless upon the dark sands of the nesting lair. Its great head was cocked to one side, jaws parted to reveal once lethal fangs and a lolling tongue. Its eyes were open, but they had turned a flat, opaque white. The cat lay curled around six large eggs, protecting them even in death. Behind the dead tairen crouched a large, dark brown tairen who was the source of the mournful growls.

Every instinct urged Ellysetta to soothe the deep hurt that caused such overwhelming sorrow. She took a step nearer, then stopped. This was a place of mourning, and she was a stranger.

"That is Cahlah," Rain said quietly as he returned to her side. "She is—was—the mother of those unhatched kits, and it is she whose passing we felt. The male behind her is her mate, Merdrahl." Deep emotion thickened his voice, and his expression had grown stony.

Unlike the tairen, Rain was no stranger, and she needed neither invitation nor introduction to offer him comfort. She reached for his hand. As her fingers clasped it, she could feel the faint tingles of warmth passing from her body to his, healing magic, which she wove instinctively. Condolence, sympathy, gentle love.

"I'm sorry, Rain. This is my fault. If you hadn't given me time with my family—if you'd flown me here straightaway—we could have arrived days ago. Maybe we could have found a way to save them." Guilt lay heavy upon her. She tried to block the emotion so Rain would not sense it, but they were touching skin to skin. He read her guilt and grief as easily as if they were his own.

He drew a shuddering breath and pulled her into his embrace. "Nei, I will not allow you to blame yourself. The decision was mine. You would have come if I had insisted, but I did not. Even Sybharukai thought Cahlah was improving, and this…thing—whatever it is—that slays the kitlings in the egg has never taken an adult tairen before now. Sybharukai says Cahlah fought it cha, meicha, te seyani, fang, claw, and tail; but she had already lost too much strength, and she spent the last of it battling the thing that came to claim her kit."

Ellysetta laid her hand on his chest. "I am the one the Eye of Truth sent you to find. I am the one meant to save them. If I am not to blame for Cahlah's death, then how can you be?"

Sybharukai gave a purring growl that sounded to Ellie like both a gentle remonstration and a slightly impatient command.

Rain gave a small, rueful smile. «She who leads the tairen has no patience for guilt. What's done cannot be undone.» He stepped back. Still holding her hand, he tugged her gently towards Sybharukai. "Come, Ellysetta, and meet Sybharukai, makai of the Fey'Bahren pride."

They stood so close to the tairen that the great cat's breath rippled through Ellysetta's hair.

"Greetings, Lady Sybharukai," Ellie murmured politely. She'd never been introduced to an animal before, but the sheer presence of this tairen was so magnificent that offering a polite greeting and attaching a noble honorific to the tairen's name seemed only fitting.

A moment later, she was glad she'd been so polite. The glowing beacons of the tairen's eyes fixed on her, and a wave of pure power enveloped her. It flowed through her body like a swift wind through the branches of a tree. Comforting warmth, followed abruptly by a brisk, forceful chill that left her gasping as though she'd been stripped bare and tossed into an icy lake. Hesitation. Surprise. Then another dagger-sharp probing. All the while Sybharukai's eyes held hers, deep wells of knowing green, ancient and wise.

This was no animal, but a being of great power and intelligence.

There was a huffing sound—tairen laughter—and a low, vibrant voice filled her mind, not tairen song but words that simply appeared in her mind. In Celierian.