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Tam waits until he no longer hears Kero grumbling and then digs out the damaged instruments and carries them up the stairs to his room. He knows how much Kero loves them, especially the tiny silver harp. He lays them on his bed and tries to figure out how he is going to fix them. Replacing them is out of the question. It wouldn't mean the same thing if he did. He picks up the pipe which is hopelessly ruined and sighs, tears falling freely down his cheeks and he is crying for Kero, not the instrument. The harp is a bit easier to fix, in that he had created the instrument in the first place. Willing the magic to run through his fingers he reminds the silver of its proper shape, urging it just so. Once he is through he is exhausted. It had taken far less magic to create the piece in the first place. Laughing ruefully at himself, he reaches into one of the drawers beneath his bed and pulls out a handful of silvery wires, that glow in the moonlight. Stringing it and tuning it is no trouble at all. But the damaged pipe remains and he still doesn't know what to do about it.

He scrubs at his cheeks and quickly hides the instruments under his pillows, then opens the door. "Yes?" he asks with a frown.

Tam ushers him in and points to the bed, easing the pillows and instruments behind him so he can sit down as well. "What do you want to talk about, Taro?"

Tam nods. "I understand, but how do you think that will look to the village, iffin ye march in there tomorrow with a sack of gold. Hmmm?" He sighs and shakes his head. "Kero, we are going to live here for a very long time. If ye going marching in there with that much money, it will look as if yer trying to pay yer way out of trouble. Not only that, it makes the severity of what ye did seem trivial and small... like look at me, I'm so damn filthy rich I can do anything I want and pay people to get out of it."

"Let's see iffin ye can fix it first, Kerobian. Seriously. Now do ye have something else ye wish to say to me?" asks Tam hopefully.

Tam smiles kindly. "and... " he prompts gently, rubbing the cub's ears.

Tam sighs. "Kero, Taro... ye need to understand. I'm yer guardian. I know I don't always act like it. We were friends long before this came about. But, hey, you have to listen to me, ok? What if something had happened to ye. I wouldn't have known where to look first. I ran into Bez again today. What if he had catnabbed ye? He knows where we are, ye know. Thank the all-father all he wants to do right now is to convince me I'm stupid for choosing a "dumb" animal over him... his point of reference, not mine, kiddo. As far as Bez is concerned anything created after him is a dumb animal." Tam flashes him a wan smile. "Guess I should be glad I'm the elder by oh five or ten minutes I think. I do remember him being made, so he can't lord it over me in that regard. I wasn't the first of the all-father's creations but I was among the first handful."

Tam sighes dramatically. "I would love to, Kero... trust me, I sincerely would. But I'd rather not make an enemy out of him, if ye catch me drift. He a far safer suitor than he is an enemy... His enemies tend not to live very long."