It gave Suld a multinational aire that Tarrin couldn't miss. Suld was the capital of Sulasia, seat of the Lion Throne, but the city looked more like a crossroads of the world. In Suld, Tarrin's obvious exotic appearance didn't attract as much attention as he thought it might. Some people gave him second looks, but by and large, he was left alone. But then again, the hulking ten span tall menace travelling beside him may have alot to do with that.
The only think Tarrin didn't like about it was the smell. He'd grown used to that foul miasma since being on the grounds, since it carried over into the grassy, natural setting of the Tower. Out in the city, with the humans all bustling about, it intensified that pungent amalgamation of waste, sweat, anxiety, animals, weathered stone, wood, and fire. There would be no way he could backtrack even his own scent in that unpleasant riot of smells.
After they were about ten blocks from the Tower gate, well out of sight from the katzh-dashi, Tarrin stopped by a large tavern, whose weathered sign showed a mug resting on the skull of a Troll. Trollskull Tavern, it was called. It wasn't that far from Tomas' house, and it would be a good place for them to wait for him.
"This is as far as you go," Tarrin told Dolanna and the others. "Just wait here for me. I'll be back in a couple of hours."
"I have to accompany you, Tarrin," Azakar objected. "It's my duty."
"It's also your duty as my brother Knight to accede to my wishes," he told him calmly. "I'm not in any danger, Zak. Trust me. But I'm not leading the eyes following us back to my parents. I had them hide for a reason."
"Just let him go, Zak," Faalken told him calmly. "Tarrin can take care of himself, and he could lose us so easily that at least we look dignified this way."
Tarrin chuckled. "True enough," he agreed in a modest voice. "I'll be back soon. Just have a drink and some breakfast, and I'll come get you when I'm ready."
"Alright, just be careful, dear one," Dolanna said, patting him on the arm.
He left them there, the quickly and easily lost all his followers by stepping into an alley, shifting into his cat form, and then squirming through a hole in a wall into a building that turned out to be a warehouse, sneaking through, and then slowly making his way to the house. It wasn't easy in cat form, because he had to cross alot of human and horse traffic, and more than a few people actively tried to kick him when he got close to them. But he reached the back door without a whole lot of trouble, shifted back into his humanoid form, and found it to be unlocked.
Nanna was busily chopping onions as Deris tended a pot sitting on the metal stove. The wood stoves were from Wikuna, and they were all the rage with anyone who could afford them, because they made cooking so much easier.
"I must say, you two are alert," Tarrin said, making both of them jump. Nanna whirled around with her chopping knife held like a sword, then she took one look at him and laughed.
"Don't do that to an old woman!" she threatened, putting the knife down. Then she laughed. "Is Allia with you?"
"Not today," he replied, stepping forward and taking Nanna's hand.
"So this is Tarrin. I'm sorry I was too tired to stay up the other night," Deris said with a grin.
"Deris," Tarrin greeted calmly.
"Are you playing hookey again?"
"Yes and no," he smiled. "Are my parents here? I need to talk to them."
Eron is down in the cellar, teaching Janine how to brew his brandy. Your mother is in the parlor with some relative of hers."
"Relative? Mother-" Tarrin suddenly laughed, then left Nanna standing there as he rushed to the parlor.
Elke was sitting on the sofa, and a large, older man with steel gray hair and a powerful frame sat across from her. He had a patch over his right eye, with a wicked scar running up from his jaw, over his cheek, and under that patch. His features were rugged, almost brutish, and his body looked as intimidating as his face appeared. A beak of a nose was a bit red, and his single eye was just a bit bloodshot.
Anrak Whiteaxe, clan chief of the Whiteaxe clan, had a bit of a cold. That, or he was hung over. But he wasn't stupid enough to come into his daughter's presence after drinking.
"Grandfather!" Tarrin said in surprise, making both of them look at him.
"Tarrin, lad," he said in a voice roughened by a lifetime at sea, standing up. "Ye're as Elke described ye. I think ye look good that way."
Tarrin laughed, then rushed over and crushed his grandfather in a fierce hug. "When did you get in? Mother said you'd been visiting. How did you know to come here?"
"She saw my ship in the harbor," he replied, then he pushed him away enough to sneeze.
"I told you to do something about that, father," Elke told him.
"I will I will," he snapped. "Ye're lookin' healthy, me boy. Taller. And with fur."
Tarrin chuckled. "Well, that wasn't my choice, believe me," he said.
"Elke told me all about it," he said. "I been lookin' fer that Were-cat woman to give her a piece of my mind, but she's not showin' up in ports. She should save herself the trouble and come find me, so I can get her overwith."
Tarrin laughed. "Leave her alone, grandfather," he warned. "She's not worth your trouble, and I've more or less forgiven her for what happened. It wasn't entirely her fault."
"Me? Give up a grudge? I ain't that old, lad."
Tarrin laughed. He missed Anrak. The burly old sailor was quite a character. "How's the clan?"
"Doin' fine, my lad, doin' fine. Yer uncle Jarl is doing the paperwork for me while I keep us bringing in the coin. It's a good situation for both of us."
"I keep telling you that you're getting too old for wandering, father," Elke said sourly. "You should spend at least every other trip at home, so you have a chance to recover from your journeys. It's not healthy for you to be running all the time."
"I'll stop wanderin' when I'm dead," Anrak grunted. "And only cause dead men can't walk."
"Well, you'll stop wandering until I get rid of that chill," she said in a steely voice. "You can't go out on the winter seas with a cold. It'll go into your lungs, and they'll be throwing your carcass over the rail within a ride."
"I ain't the only one sick, so we're wintering here," he replied. "I ain't gonna risk my men to the chills, and there's already ice out on the seas. It's too dangerous to sail north."
"Already? It's not even winter yet!" Elke said in surprise.
"It's been a warm summer up north, hon," Anrak told her. "The ice flows have been breaking up, and the summer current's been haulin' them out of the Bay of Ice. There's been ice in the water all summer, but now that it's colder up north, it ain't breakin' up and meltin' like it was in the summer."
"Well, at least you'll be wintering where mother can keep an eye on you," Tarrin chuckled.
"Only cause my men can't sail," Anrak said with an evil grin at his daughter. "I'd rather spend my winter in Dayise, where it's warm all winter, and the ladies are much more friendly."