«We are all animals of one form or another, kitling.»

Ellysetta stared at the tairen in wonder. "I never knew the tairen could speak Celierian."

"She speaks to you in your native tongue?" Rain seemed pleased. "That is a sign of great respect. The tairen can send their thoughts in any language they desire, but they consider words cumbersome and restrictive. Tairen song is much more beautiful."

"Yes, but this is amazing too." She couldn't take her eyes off Sybharukai. "It doesn't feel anything like the Fey mind-speech. It's as if the words are all around me, absorbed by every part of my body."

"Aiyah. It is not Spirit the tairen use, but some other form of communication."

"She read my mind."

"Do not be offended. The tairen do not put the same restrictions on their magic that the Fey do, and within the pride, there are no secrets."

"I'm not offended."

Sybharukai's massive dark gray head nudged Ellie. Before Ellysetta realized what was happening, Sybharukai dipped her head and licked Ellie's face. Her tongue was warm and rough, much like a house cat's.

Sybharukai sat back on her haunches. From the ledges all around the cavern came quiet sounds of movement as the other tairen stirred. A sleek tawny beauty with golden eyes dropped silently to the black sands of the nesting lair, golden wings half extended to break her descent. Behind her, a slightly larger tairen with auburn fur landed. Together they padded towards Ellysetta.

"Xisanna and her mate, Perahl," Rain murmured. "Now that Sybharukai has accepted you, the other tairen will greet you as well."

Tawny Xisanna and auburn Perahl sniffed Ellysetta experimentally as, behind them, more tairen leapt and glided down from the ledges to the cavern floor.

"Greetings, Lady Xisanna, Lord Perahl." She jumped as the two tairen, having finished sniffing her, licked her face, then moved off to let the others approach.

Alone and in pairs, more than a dozen tairen inspected her before granting her their lick of approval and welcome. Fahreeta, Torasul, and Steli returned from outside and came forward to add their greetings.

The dead tairen's mate gave a mournful cry, the sound so full of pain that tears filled Ellysetta's eyes. She made an instinctive step towards him, but Rain held her back. "Nei, shei'tani. The tairen and I will see to him."

Even as he spoke, Sybharukai rose to her feet and padded across the black sands to where Cahlah's body lay. The other tairen followed close on her heels.

"It is time, Ellysetta." Rain lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss on her fingers. "Merdrahl agreed to wait for me, but he cannot stand to wait any longer. There are steps carved into the wall behind us. Climb to at least the fourth ledge, and do not come down until I tell you."

Worry gripped her. "Rain?"

"I will be safe, Ellysetta, as will you, but you must do as I say. Hurry, please."

The sense of urgency in his voice made her turn and run across the sands to the wide, flat steps hewn into the side of the cavern. Magic swelled as Rain summoned the Change, and when she glanced back over her shoulder, he was loping across the lair in tairen form to join the rest of the pride.

Ellysetta made her way to the second ledge high above the cavern floor. Below, several of the tairen took all but one of the eggs in their mouths and carried them to the other side of the lair. They deposited the eggs in a far corner and buried them in a heap of dark sand before returning to join the others, where they formed a ring around Merdrahl and the dead Cahlah.

All the tairen began to growl, the sound a single deep, throaty note that made the hairs on Ellie's arms stand up.

«Higher, shei'tani.»

Rain's silent urging sent her scrambling up another flight of steps. As she reached the third landing, the growling reached a higher pitch. The tairen circling Merdrahl and Cahlah rose to their hind legs, and their wings began to unfurl. Opalescent tairen eyes glowed bright with magic. Merdrahl released a haunting cry and laid his body over his dead mate's motionless form. The mountain itself began to tremble as the voices of the tairen filled the lair, reverberating in the massive cavern. Several of the tairen stretched back their heads and roared. Gouts of fire escaped from their throats, and then she knew.

She scrambled up yet a fourth flight of steps. The palms of her hands scraped against the rock, but she paid no heed to the pain. A sense of urgency had gripped her, spawned by a fierce, unshakable certainty.

Fire was coming, hot and glorious. Tairen's fire to cleanse and purify. Tairen's fire to slay and transform. Tairen's fire, deep and deadly magic.

How she knew it, she could not guess, but she was certain. Her skin felt hot and full and tight, as if the fire were already inside her, fighting for release. Perspiration dewed her skin, and her breath came in ragged gasps. She stopped on the fourth ledge, unable to force herself higher. What was coming alarmed her, but now it also drew her, calling to her like a beloved friend.

Below her, the ring of tairen were all standing on their hind legs. Their wings were fully extended, the furless undersides glistening as though paved with diamond dust. Tairen song played in her mind, pure, endless notes that grew stronger and deeper, building to a crescendo, flooding her with emotions. Aching sadness, vast love, an agony of loneliness, the promise of peace. Tears spilled from her eyes. Merdrahl had lost his mate, and his suffering was unendurable. The tairen, his family, would release him.

The visceral notes of gleaming gold and silver music flashed and trembled in the air, resonance so pure and intense it assumed visual form. The music filled Ellie's ears and mind and went deeper still to invade her blood, flesh, and bones, sinking into the very fabric of her being. Deep within, her own tairen shifted with unease. Feral, frightened, it hissed a warning even as desperate yearning filled her, an aching void, a soul-deep pain. It wanted…needed…what?