Following Safara down the street they made their way to another shop, only this one was a grocery store. More of an open market style food bin, than an actual grocery store. Safara stopped in front of a woman who was judging the ripeness of some melons of some kind.

"Yes?" The woman asked.

The woman had short hair that was so blonde it was almost white. Her eyes were very beautiful, almond shaped and a bright blue. Her neck was long and elegant, and her limbs were slender. If he was to choose a word to describe her, he would have said, frail. But he knew better than to judge someone based on their outward appearances.

To Acharya's surprise it was Mary who stepped forward, "Hello Ma'am." Mary stood tall with her shoulders back. It was very much like the proud woman he had known her to be before Furaha had injured her. It was nice to see.

Mary continued, "I know this may seem very unusual, and I apologize that we are waylaying you like this, but we need your help."

The woman looked a little bored as she let her eyes sweep over the sizable group. With a distracted sigh she nodded and looked directly at Mary, "Where are you trying to get to?"

Mary smiled at the directness of the question, "To your Matriarch."

The statement hung in the air in sudden stillness. The woman had to know that she was dealing with Bultungin, even if she couldn't sense the rest of them were Shape shifters. No one spoke and Mary held the gaze of the other woman. She could see the process of thoughts that were going through the woman's mind.

After long moments she finally responded, "And why would you want to meet her? Why do you think I would help you in the first place?"

Mary didn't flinch, "We are here to ask for the help of the Bultungin. She is the person to ask. I would hope that, as cousins, you wouldn't turn us away without even a chance to petition your Matriarch. Our home was destroyed and we need help against our common enemies to bring them justice for what they've done."

The woman took in what Mary was saying. "Even if I was to join and help you, you need more than just me to meet the Matriarch."

"You are referring to the riddle of her guard?" Mary asked. The other woman nodded. Mary smiled, "we know. We aren't running off without any sort of plan. And we don't want to endanger you, or any of the others that have chosen to help us." Mary made a soft gesture to the group around her. "What we need is your aid and help. I'm not asking you to betray your people or give anything away that we didn't earn ourselves. All we're asking is that you stand with us, to give us a chance to succeed, nothing more."

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The woman looked straight at Furaha, then Safara, then to Tendai, "Who is the alpha of the group?"

Safara nodded to Furaha, Tendai didn't respond at all. Furaha stood, with back arrow straight, in the center of the group. If she was sulking no one could tell. She gazed into the other woman's eyes, "I am. My name is Furaha. And you are…?"

"Niah," The woman replied. "Why have this outsider speak for you? No alpha I know would let another speak for them."

Furaha narrowed her gaze, "I choose to travel with these people. I do not speak for the outsiders. Notice how none of our people spoke before I did."

Niah nodded, "As you say." She turned back to Mary, "If I travel with you, and if I stand with you, promise me that no harm with come to me, or mine, and I will. If you cannot guarantee that safety, we will part ways now."

Mary thought that she was walking into a trap, a trap that she couldn't avoid. They needed more female Bultungin and possibly more males as well. She had to secure Niah's aid, at any cost. If they didn't get to see the Matriarch, then nothing would matter.

Mary nodded and quietly asked the Gods that if she was walking into a trap, that the consequences weren't anything that they couldn't handle.

Niah smiled at the nod and Mary felt like she had made a huge mistake. Niah looked over the group and said, "Then I will travel with you. I assume you don't have any place in the city?"

Mary shook her head.

"Then we can go to my apartment, it's a few blocks from here. There we can have something to eat and you all can clean yourselves; it looks like you haven't had a shower in a while." Smiling, Niah led the group off down the street.

Mary couldn't shake the feeling of dread that had settled down over shoulders. What had she really agreed to? But a better question is what choice did she have? She felt a little like the way she had felt when Furaha had first invited them into her family's hut. She hoped that they were strong enough to overcome that promise, if it came to that.

* * * * *

Mary sat in what was essentially a closet. Niah's apartment was small and with all the extra people, describing the small space as cramped, would be an understatement. Niah had been a perfect host and they had all been able to clean themselves, and wash their clothes for the first time in weeks. She had prepared a small meal for the group and now, that night had fallen around them, most of the group were asleep.

Acharya had given her his vote of confidence time and time again. She knew that the riddle of the Matriarch's guard was hers to solve, no one else could. And even if they could ask Niah and the other Bultungin, they knew that they wouldn't betray their people, and giving up this kind of knowledge to outsiders seemed like a really big betrayal. No, this was her riddle to solve, and to do that she had to overcome whatever it was that was blocking her.

Mary hadn't been able to go into meditation since that night. Her legs were completely healed, and she felt no pain per se, but her legs throbbed and there was a tingling there that just wouldn't go away. Some part of her knew that it was phantom pain and tingles, that she wasn't really feeling it. Instead, it was some kind of echo, a twinge of memory and regret, that made her feel this way. And that was a constant reminder of what had happened to her. To this day she was unable to meet Furaha in the eyes.

Tara and Malikah had both spent a lot of time with her. She wasn't a coward, and she had lost fights before, but this was different. There was something about how easily her legs had been snapped in half that terrified her. And her meditation was even farther away now than it had been before that night.

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