Welcome to Gaia! ::

Tam's look of relief as he reappears is profound. "Kero... please... never ever do that again without telling me... please!" he begs in a troubled voice. Then to show the cub why, he sends him a horrifying picture from his memory, of a fox cub protruding from a wall... quite dead and the sound of wailing in the background. He keeps it mercifully short.

"I don't want to frighten you, but you need to understand that I wasn't just being paranoid, kiddo." he says in a soft troubled voice. "This was one of the cubs born when I first came into Lyssan's life. Not hers, thankfully. But he was trying to get to his dam and miscalculated. No one knew where he was until it was too late."

Tam snorts rudely. "You just tell that voice to take a long walk off a short pier, okay? No form of moving through time and space is fool proof. Or rather no form of landing is fool proof. The moving part differs from person to person differs and some are indeed safer than others... it's the landing or reappearing part that matters. And that needs training. Something you have not yet had. And if it still insists upon telling you differently, remind it that it left me in charge... don't ask... just do as I say. It will understand."

"It would... the dirty old man that it is..." sighs Tam sadly. "Kero, the voice is a friend... but promise me you'll not repeat nine tenths of what it says." Then he shakes his head and looking at the cub, ports him back to his own bed. "There... no need to keep the laundry room hopping by dirtying up more beds than we need."

He smiles at Kerobian and touches his nose with his own. Hopefully I can find a way to shut that voice up... you are really too young to be dealing with it just yet."

"Naw... not evil... stubborn... pig headed... and stuck in his ways... but evil.... not highly likely. He is an individual who believes he knows exactly what needs to be done forgetting that others may have a good idea from time to time as well. And it has left him as... well, a benevolent dictator."

Tam grins from ear to ear. Winking he lifts a paw to his chin. "Tyrant then..." he muses out loud, but it is obvious to Kerobian he is teasing.

"Good..." says Tam firmly. "And I hope he stays that way. As I said, you are far too young to deal with him just yet.."

"Would someone mind telling me what is going on?" begs Sharmistra with a frown that would put a thundercloud to shame.

**np... though iffin ye do that Tam is still going to be stuck as a lion... ah, well... he'll get used to it... Bez won't though...**

Tam laughs and ruffles the cub's fur. "I'm sorry to say... I'd have to agree with them..." What will be... will be... let's not rush things, shall we?"

The late evening breeze was sweet smelling, perfumes not with flowers but the scent of fresh fallen fruit. It was autumn, after all, very little was blooming now and those plants in the temple gardens which were were of the sun-loving variety. But the allure of the night air was lost on Talesian as he paced the path leading off to a quiet corner, deep in thought.

Kerobian was sitting on a cushion in the main square, safely ensconced between Mica and Sharmistra, watching as the village's inhabitants danced through jigs and reels, celebrating their annual harvest festival. But Tam felt uneasy joining them. He knew he made the villagers uncomfortable. Even now, a full two weeks after Kerobian's unfortunate accident, people were avoiding the seemingly gentle white lion who had brought him in to be seen to.

Rumors were beginning to circulate. Kerobian had been injured, the bard had disappeared, and a great white winged lion had somehow appeared to take his place. Everyone knew there had to be some sort of a connection, but most had figured it wrong. No one, but a select few knew that the bard and the lion were one and the same.

He had stopped to examine something of interest on the ground, a rather large grey feather, when the sound of a footfall behind him caused him to freeze in his tracks.

"Well... I suppose I should congratulate you. You have finally chosen a form that even I could find pleasing. Though why you wanted to revert to that is beyond me." The speaker's voice was heavily laced with sarcasm, so full of acid it could cut to the bone.

"Go away Bez..." growled Tam without turning around. He ground the feather beneath one wide white paw and started to move on, only to find himself pinned from behind, his wings crushed beneath the weight of a far larger animal.

"And why should I do that, dulcha... when you have finally found a form I can deal with, hmmm"

Tam twisted in place, trying to win his way free, when a powerful pair of jaws grabbed him by the back of the neck, forcing his head down. He caught a glimpse of black fur and a hint of musk and let out a howl of dismay. Frantic, he tried to roll, but Bez's weight was far greater than his. Even so, he refused to surrender, forcing the dark beast to bear down even harder on his neck.

Then just as Tam began to realize he was truly losing the one battle he swore he'd never lose, his world began to go black. Pain, far greater than any he had ever felt in the past shot though his body, twisting him. Fire burned in his blood and his eyes blazed with an internalized inferno. And he exploded, at least that was how it felt. In a blaze of power so strong and pure, it dissolved him in a mere fragment of a second, only to reform him in it's recoil into a familiar long legged pale skinned shape. Large green feline shaped eyes peered out from under a shockingly red mass of hair, while slender clawed fingers dug into the dirt beneath him.

A savage howl behind him brought him weakly to his knees. Then it broke off in a burst of manic laughter. "So... you run from me still...." growled Bez, climbing to his feet from where he had been thrown.

Tam stared numbly up at him through a tangled mass of hair, but Bez seemed to be less than eager to press his assault. His swedh stared out at him through the yellowed eyes of a great black leopard, took one uneasy step forward, then vanished in a whirl of wind and smoke.

"Go... play with your pets... pretend that you care... but we both know the truth..." came Bez's voice in his head. "Your heart of stone belongs to no one... not even your lord..."