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When Tam returns, he finds the note and takes t to Hopian, waking him gently, so as not to disturb the rest of the family.

"Ok... now he's really up and gone awol this time... and it's probably my fault... but ye know what.... I only told him what he needed to hear... that I was angry with him and he had crossed the line big time. He's been doing that an awful lot lately, so I told him that if he kept it up, I was sending him to you. Probably not the smartest thing in the world to say, but when he is glaring at ye, sometimes it is damn hard to keep yer temper with him. I told him we'd talk in the morning, that I needed to talk to people... I wanted to see my Ma and Corby... to make sure they were ok and he wasn't as bad as ye kind of hinted he was.... and when I got back I found this...." he hands Hopian the letter.

Tam sighs and walks out into the kitchen, wracking his brain on how to track the cub. Then suddenly he remembers Kero's charm, the one he never takes off. He runs back to the bedroom and tears it apart looking for it. To his relief it is missing and he prays the cub doesn't remember than he's wearing a gift from him. He goes outside, and clears his mind, concentrating on the love he has for the young lion, trying to follow that tenuous tie he has always kept open to the charm so that he'd know if the cub was in danger.

Suddenly he gets a fix and makes a decision he prays he never regrets. He shifts into lion form and begins to track him down. No wings, just a big white, heavily furred lion, only this time he stayed male. After a bit of intense searching he finds the entrance to the tunnel and creeps inside, moving quietly downwards, coming ever closer, at times squeezinmach, until he hears the sounds of someone sobbing mournfully.

So he moves as quiet as only a preditor can, trusting his tie to the cub now to warn him when he goes astray. His feet are soon cut in a hundred tiny places, leaving bloody footprints behind him as he walks and the stinging of the salt on the wounds is more than a little distracting, then he starts to turn a corner and hears it, a loud audible sniff, close by.

Tam simply tracks him down again, or at least tries to. Twice he comes close, but each time the cub ports away. Finally he can walk no further. The pads of his paws are cut to shreds and he lies down, thinking merely to rest for a bit, but when he tries to walk after a few minutes, he cannot go even a few feet before the pain is so intense he has to stop. He refuses to cry. He cannot cry. He dare not cry. Too many times in the past he's succumbed to this sense of failure and he refuses to accept defeat. He tries to heal his paws, but he's too upset to concentrate properly.

Tam merely licks his nose. "Don't ye know... reach down... deep inside... I think you'll find the reason..." says Tam biting back a whimper.

Tam sighs. "It's not that I don't want you, Kero.... I'm not so sure you want or need me anymore. You are doing things on an almost daily basis that says you don't need or want me around... like this episode. You didn't come to me because you knew I'd stop you... right? What good am I if you only listen to me when you feel like it. I mean, we don't even agree to disagree anymore... ye simply go off doing whatever it is ye want to do." He drops his head to his paws and looks so dejected, Kero cannot help but answer truthfully.

Tam sighs and pulls him close, getting blood all over his fur in the process> He licks it off and nudges him gently. "Kero... knowing what you will be has put an awful strain on this relationship. Ye keep thinking ye need to be like him... onlny yer not him anymore... can't you see that? Yer you... and although ye'll someday get his memories and skills, he's not going to overtake ye and wipe ye out. Stop trying so hard. I wish to hell I never told ye anything... Ye've gone and gotten all twisted by it.

"I talked to Corby... and to Ma... both of them think the trail is so darn cold it will take months, if not years to track them down... Ma even says that the faces you gave her were probably not the ones the two of ye were looking for, now that she's had time to think about it. That merc captain was letting men go right and left. The ones at the tavern were still in the company. She believes that they were a group of men he let go earlier, which was trailing them, hoping to either get back in or catch them unaware and steal their supplies. If so, she says they are probably dead and gone... snared in the raids on the bandit bands the region went through in the last two or three years. Makes sense if you stop and think about it... I mean, if he was a decent sort of guy... why would he keep men like that in his company? Hmmmm?" He nuzzles him warmly and sighs heftily.

"I understand... you felt she'd not been given the justice which was due to her, but dear heart... they will recieve it... maybe not now... not here on this earth... but they will. Nothing is hidden from the final judge and they will pay. Right now, I suspect our duty is to the living. Corby may be pretending to be fine... but he isn't. He's been scrapping by, barely hanging in there and twice has tried to do himself in. I learned that from Mica. When he found out we were here, they almost didn't let him come here... not knowing he knew me... but that priest friend of his... the one who cared for him is a friend of Mica's so they decided to give him a chance. It's the first time in ages he's been excited about anything."

Tam holds him close, completely forgetting about his own pain in the light of Kerobian's distress.

"It's alright, dulcha... it's alright... really it is..." he whispers over and over again, hoping that if he says it often enough it will be alright. But deep in his heart he, too, is missing a piece of his past. The nekos were not the first of his students to have met a foul end. No one lived as long as Tam did and not see people he knew be harmed.... but he tried to protect the ones he loved as best he could. Trouble was, both Corby and Chrystal had been stubbornly independent... appearing without notice, staying for a time to touch bases... then vanishing as quickly as they had arrived... seemingly living charmed lives.