Ty's rage was heard throughout the palace--and throughout Corus the piercing shriek, it was said or whispered—though no one but her pack knew it was her—had created a monumental uproar: Numair had jumped and woken in his sleep, run off to waken the king—who had been roused by the shriek and needed no help getting up but was furious for explanations—and had roused with his help a better part of the magical populace of Tortal. Daine had flown in eagle shape all the way to Pirate's Swoop to fetch Alanna,—Lioness and King's Champion—her husband and adopted father, who had happened to be on holiday. Through Nealen of Queenscove, Kelandry—Protector of the Small—had heard what that strange shriek had been and was presently charging toward the palace.

Ty grinned as Kehel reported this news. If the king had heard, surely whoever had raped Sabi also had—and if he had the lightest shred of intelligence, was running for the hills that instant. Her cold fury for him was such that she would be willing to give up her shield to get at him.

Her pack was not murderous, like her—they had no cold fury—theirs was a hot rage, and at the slightest mention of Sabi, their healer and charge, they would become red with anger and clench their fists. She had been their responsibility only a little less than she had been Ty's.

"Pack," she said to them icily when they met up a week later in the Practice Courts, "this has gone on long enough. It used to be none of my business—but an attack on my maid is the last drop, the last straw on a pile of hay. My limited patience with this filth is gone."

She looked into their maddened faces and knew they, too, had taken this to chest and would fight to the last breath. Fabulous. She would need all of them to pull this off. She had explored the city at night, had noticed how much of the populace was now simply refugees from a war off in the sea. Many getting off the ships—all coming to Corus for a reason she couldn't fathom, but reasons are often unimportant. Facts were, and facts are that they needed every man, every sword.

"Look to your Tehea, who guides you and protects you," she said, standing. They stayed seated, and as she towered over them, sweating lightly, she asked, "Would you trust him on earth, here and beyond, to lead you whichever form he take?"

They all nodded, wary, anxious, slightly frightened; none knew exactly what Ty was capable of, though Kehel had a pretty good, however un-detailed, idea. They had no idea how abnormal Ty was in comparison to themselves.

"My pack, your Tehea leads the pack because he must, because he can, because it is the duty of the powers given to him. Observe who he is!"

Before their eyes, for the first time, she called in the Panther completely. Before their eyes her skin changed, coming the dark tone of the Panther's own, fur appearing thin, slick and shining. As they gasped, she closed her eyes and leaned forward, taking on her prowler's stance. Her tail whipped free of her breeches. Placing her paws in front of her, she walked carefully to the middle of the circle they made, sat herself down in the middle of their ring as her clothes fell from her, and opened her eyes.

Leej's mouth was open, gaping like a fish as he fought to breathe. Mel's eyes were filled with awe, Terry's with admiration. Otian's eyes were filled with glee. Kehel's looked to her with fierce approval and reverence. She smiled at him, and at him only, before turning to her pack.

"I am what I am by blood-right, given not born," she told them in her true, purring voice, which stank of danger and femininity. "When I was very young, I came across a panther in the high-grass to the sides of our castle. It seemed to smile at me, and then pounced on me and gashed my arm. Its blood moved into my wound from where I drew it at its back. When I returned and for years since, within my head I heard a voice that was not mine. No one believed me but my nurse told me there was hope that the 'evil taint' would leave me alone. At age seven she snuck me out to see a priest who claimed to the 'half-feline'. When he tried to free me from her, she sprung out of my head and into my awareness, tapped into my only and rare magic, and struck gold."

Leej looked petrified. "She?" he squeaked.

"I am the Panther," she boomed, "and she is me. I am not who I was born, but who I was freed to be. Panther is she. Can you live with this?"

The pack nodded, all but Kehel.

"He or she I don't care," he said, voice filled with wonder and pride. "She is my Tehea, my leader and my friend, the best of the pack. Male or female, I will serve."

Otian smiled at him, then stuck out his arm to place on top of Kehel's outstretched one. The rest of the pack followed suit. Ty placed herself in such a position that she could lean forward without tripping over the clothes gripping her. She placed her forehead to the hands, changed back with a silver flash, and rose.

"Plans then."