Welcome to Gaia! ::

tam snatches him up as well and takes them both to shore... he sits them down and shifts form.... this time he stands there hands on hips and shakes his head angrily...

alright i get it... the void is a big bad terrible place and ye live in the void, right.... but would yer mama have allowed ye to do that... what iffin there had been two or three sharks or even a whole damn pack... they do hunt that way sometimes ye know...

and you... he says turning on kero... one bit of lost concentration and ye could have been shark food too... iffin a shark had caught ye unawares before ye had time to protect yerself... all the talent in the world wouldn't have saved ye... and don't ye dare try to tell me otherwise.. i've seen some mighty powerful wizards fall to distraction... i... i... he pauses and starts shaking... i'm.... i'm going home, he says shortly... i.. i don't feel so well....
and he staggers for the bus stop.....

tam climbs aboard the bus, shaking like a leaf

ye ok, mister asks the driver worriedly... tam nods but certainly doesn't look alright.... the ride back to the apartment is silent, people on the bus avoid talking to or looking at tam, except for one little old lady who keeps trying to get the people around them to open the windows... to let the young man have some air.... tam flashes her a winning grin and rubs kerko's ears... where's l. kero he asks worriedly, then he sees him hiding under the seat before them...

he's always been a smart cat... until today... says tam softly rubbing the back of his head he reaches down and pulls the little quet out from under the seat and holds him on his lap... hey... calm down... says tam softly... this isn't yer fault.. kero... he calls to the cub... i... i need... need... he shakes his head to clear it... ugh... i need me harp he hisses anngrily... where's me harp.... he looks about seeing no one staring into the crowded bus as if no one is there before him... kero... where are ye... find me me harp......

tam fingers drift to the strings almost of their own volition and he begins to play, the music is entrancing, beautiful beyond belief, it takes ye to a meadow, filled with flowers and dotted with thick patches of soft green grass... ye blink and realize the bus is no longer there but all the passengers are, including the driver... everyone is drifting about the meadow with vacant smiles upon their face and when ye look closer ye see the familiar red cords attaching them to tam... this goes on for far longer than before... tam seems lost in his music... it doesn't seem to want to stop... and people are beginning to lie down in the grass.... fall down actually....

tam blinks and gives a weak mewing cry before falling over in a dead faint across his harp... ye are back on the bus which is sitting still in traffic, cars are honking madly about it (and i suspect yer all going to get a visit from meribel soon iffin ye don't go to her first)

the driver shakes his head dizzily and pulls the buss to one side... he calls into his dispatcher for a replacement, while people slowly file off the bus, confused and dazed.... after a bit only the three of ye and the driver remain, but he doesn't seem to notice ye....

tam sleeps through the night waking in the morning, groggy and disorientated... he takes one look at kero points to a corner then stumbles for the gem... only after he has absorbed it does he even begin to look human... surprisingly he goes and sits with kero in the corner.,.

move over bud, he hisses... i belong here just as much as ye do.... ma sent me out to feed and i couldn't find zel, so i put it off... and i never once thought how much energy i was spending these past few days just using it without replenishing it...

tam chuckles ruefully... so we'll both sit here until nightfall... and iffin yer other half gets mad, so be it... but i warn ye, brat... ye scare me again like that and i will turn ye over me knee.. ye frightened the daylight out of me.... i was so afraid i'd lose ye... and iffin i did that... he sighs and gives the cub a hug... let's not talk about that... i'm tired already... what do ye do when yer stuck like this... i've never sat in a corner before... that i know of....

tam curls up next to him and shares his own impressions of flight... of the wind rushing through his feathers of the warmth of the up draft the chill of the heights... the panoramic view below him ever shifting ever changing... coupled with an all encompassing sense of joy....