The Ways of Mages: Starfire (38 page)

Terana barely heard the last of what he said. Mostly her attention was on the fact that it was a
kadelle
, a stone that had a history of melting on her. Would this Keep Stone melt too?  Kadrean was unaware of her moment of trepidation for he was continuing his description of the ceremony
.“
There are several branches of magic taught at Razya
n’
s Keep. Those branches are represented by the color of the cord. There is healing which I am, forest magic, field, and animal magics. There are those with scholarly gifts, basically magic in writing. There are the elemental mages, like Blaano, and then there are war magics
.”
Kadrean grimaced
.“
Basically magic used with brute force and very little talent, if you ask me
.
”

Liam raised an eyebrow
.“
What about my gift
?
”

“
I had
n’
t finished the list yet, my friend. There are seers as well
.
”

Terana blinked as Liam nodded
.“
Seer? I thought you were asking about being a drainer
.
”

“
H
e’
s the one who told us where to find you. Anyway, in the order that I listed them, the branches are represented by these colors; blue, green, gold, brown, purple. The elements are, let se
e…
silver for air, orange for fire, light blue for water and gray for earth. War mages wear the red. Seers wear black. Now that is just the cords. There are levels of talent as well. That is also told by colors. This time it follows the temperature colors of a star. Everyone starts out wearing the red robe, for that is the coldest. After the red robes learn and pass the basic tests they are given the color that matches their magi
c’
s strength is given to them. The order is this; red, orange, yellow, white, blue, blue-white
.
”

“
Are they taught more after the basic tests
?”
Terana asked

“
Oh yes, they learn what is within their talent and interest
.”
Kadrean chuckled.

The group watched the red robes receive their cords and take their seats. As the last red robe was seated, the youth returned to their table with a slab of red meat on a platter. He handed it to Terana, obviously too nervous to give it to Russy himself. Terana smiled her thanks and handed the platter down to Russy. The wolf had sat up when he smelled the food coming. He waited patiently for Terana to put the plate on the floor. Then, with a decency that surprised her, began to eat.

More youths with platters came. There were several dishes set down on each of the round tables and on the head table. They were piled high with things Terana had never seen before. Kadrean handed her a platter with these red stick things that connected to each other. They were jointed and looked like large spider leg
s…
Terana wrinkled her nose at their smell. They did
n’
t smell right. There was a tang to them. She glance back a Kadrean who was spooning black shell-like things onto his plate. In them, were tan snot-like blob
s
…

Growing increasingly ill, Terana handed the plate of weird legs over to Liam, who actually took one
.“
What are those things
?”
She asked of Kadrean. He was busy cracking some of his red legs. The sound was like crunching bone. Again and again. Each crack caused Terana to wince. He pulled the shell apart and revealed white fles
h…
that had no blood in it. It did not look at all right.

“
These
,”
Kadrean said, forking out the white meat and dipping it into melted butter
.“
are crab legs
.
”

“
And those
?”
Terana asked, pointing at shells with their slimy looking snot balls.

“
Oysters. Also very good in butter. And slide wonderfully down the throat
.”
Kadrean added blithely.

Terana gagged and buried her head in her hands
.“
Is there anythin
g…
edible, to eat
?”
She asked hesitantly.

Zeeve made a slurping sound before sayin
g“
What Terana? Do
n’
t like seafood
?
”

“
I used to be hungry
.”
Terana muttered weakly
.“I’
m not really anymore
.
”

“
You should try some, it is
n’
t that bad, different yes, but not that bad
.”
Liam replied.

Terana glanced at him through her fingers. He was actually eating the alien things
.“
I really do
n’
t think I can force myself to eat that.
Those things
. They just do
n’
t look like food
.
”

“
There are some potatoes there
.”
Kadrean said pointing to a bowl full of round, red skinned potatoes. Terana gratefully reached for those and spooned a heap onto her plate. There were some green beans which she also partook of. Next to the green beans were these red and white curled things. There were definite fan tails at their narrowest point.

“
Do I want to know
?”
She asked.

“
Shrimp
.”
Zeeve said picking one up and dipping it in the sauce provided for that purpose. Terana turned back to her own little plate in a hurry. Zeeve chuckled, obviously enjoying her discomfort. Terana dug into her potatoes and beans and tried really,
really
hard to ignore the crunching, cracking, and slurping that was going on around her.

Still hungry for edible things, Terana looked up to see where the potatoes and green beans had gone. As she was reaching she noticed movement by the doors. A group of five people entered the room and sat at an empty table. Terana glanced away long enough make sure she wasn't making a mess. Done serving herself more food, she looked back up to watch this newest group. Terana had found that, since leaving Plarn, that she liked the sport of people watching.

This newest group had two women and three men. All of them wore travelers cloaks. One woman had long red hair flecked with silver. Next to her was a large, well muscled man with long, dark hair. To Terana's eye, there was a noble quality about him. On his other side was a lithe woman with long dark hair that fell in waves down her back. A simple, yet elegant fan-like hair piece kept the hair from falling in the woman's face. Next to her sat an older man whose face had Time's signature written all over it. He looked almost like a gentleman, use to command. But he had kindly eyes as well. On the other side of him was a much younger man with sun darkened skin and black hair tied back. Golden earrings winked in the light from the younger man's ears.

A soft snort distracted Terana from her amusement. She looked down beside her. Russy was staring in the direction of the newcomers. "What is it?" She whispered softly enough that Liam didn't notice. Russy glanced up.

"I smell cat."
The wolf replied.

Terana was not expecting to hear this. Her surprised response did not make it to sound. But Russy heard her anyway.

"Yes, a cat. It smells just like those creatures that you would not let me chase because they belonged to someone."
The wolf sighed. "
I've always wanted to chase a cat..."
His mental voice was filled with longing as he gazed at the newcomers.

I don't see it.
Terana thought at him as she glanced at the newcomers again.

The wolf met her gaze.
"That may be, but I don't need to see it to know that it is there. I smell it."
Russy repeated.

Terana turned back to her food and glanced often at the table where the other travelers were sitting. She still didn't see the cat that Russy was so sure was there. It probably was, she just couldn't smell it. It wasn't the first time that the human sense of smell had failed to measure up to a wol
f’
s. She wondered what she would do if the cat did make an appearance. Would Russy surrender to a life long dream and chase it? Or would he just be content to watch? Terana also wondered if she could somehow dissuade the wolf from doing anything.

Before she could tell Russy to stay where he was, she saw the red haired woman reach for her hood and saw a fluffy white something make its way to the woman's lap. Russy saw it too and was giving it his undivided attention. The cat turned and saw the attentive wolf. Its fluffy fur stood on end and it ran before the red haired woman could stop it.

Claws scrapped on stone as Russy launched into motion. Conversation turned to screams as the wolf darted after the white cat. The cat made a hissing/screeching sound as it flashed out the dinning hall's door. The red haired woman stood, calling after the cat. "Sam! SAM!"

After a frozen second, Terana also stood and raced around the table toward the door. "RUSSY!!!" The two red haired women raced after their animal friends. They were followed by their companions.

Far ahead, Russy followed the fluffy white cat. It felt good to run like this. The cat's fully fluffed tail bobbed in front of him. This was fun. Russy thought as he made the swift, sliding turn after the cat. Russy raced after the little cat with his tongue hanging out of his mouth and trailing after in the wind of his passage. His sharp ears could hear his pack sister and the cat's woman following behind. But they were human and thus slow.

The little cat found a way to escape. A tall window adorned the hall. On either side of it were long draperies that fell from its highest point all the way to the floor. The white cat jumped and caught at the fabric with his claws. In a rush, he climbed all the way to the top of the two story window. Russy stopped just below and barked. The cat turned to look down at him with a glare.

"GO AWAY!'
The cat hissed.

"FUN!"
Russy barked. He wagged his tail as he continued
"Good chase! Can we do it again?"
His tail wagged hopefully.

"NO!"
The cat spat.
"That was
NOT
what I call fun. You could have hurt me!"
The cat pointed out from his perch.

"No! I never wanted to hurt you. I just wanted to chase you."
Russy whined. "
Still do."
The wolf admitted honestly.

The cat hissed. By this time Terana had caught up. "Russy!" She called.

Russy bounded to her and licked her face. Meeting her gaze he said
"That was good chase. Very FUN. FUN, FUN!"
Russy glanced at the cat still up in the curtains. "
Cat didn't think it was fun though... I don't understand why."

Terana tried very hard not to laugh at this. "Maybe because you are big and the cat is little?" She suggested.

Russy cocked his head at her. He glanced at the cat before answering her.
"Perhaps."
Not terribly concerned about the differences in size, Russy wagged his tail.
"Chase was fun though."

The other woman came up. She gave Terana and Russy a stern look before calling up at the cat. "Come here, Sam! I won't let the big dog get you!" Sam did not move.

Terana let Russy back down. She looked at the woman and bowed. The woman blinked at the gesture. "I'm sorry," Terana began. "I hadn't thought that he would go after your cat like that. I'm so sorry."

The woman looked at her with green eyes that re
minded Terana of emeralds. Her hair, Terana noticed, no longer seemed to have silver flecks in it. Now it was just a dark red. Terana gazed at the color. This woman was the first whom she had met who also had red hair. The women looked away from Teran up to her cat.  "Sam, come down". To Terana's amazement, that cat climbed down, albeit much slower than when he climbed up. That could have been because he was going backward, looking over his shoulder to check on his progress. The entire time, Russy paced back and forth, watching the cat's progress attentively. He waged his tail hopefully. Terana had to call him to her to keep him from taking a step too close to the other woman. Eventually the cat was safely in the other woman's hands. She turned to look at Terana. "I accept your apology. However, I do not think Sam is ready for such a step."

Russy whined and sat down. With soulful, amber eyes he gazed at the cat. Terana heard his apology to Sam
"I'm sorry I scared you. I just wanted to play."

Sam looked down on the wolf. "
I don't know you well enough to play."