Acharya smiled and shook his head, "No, of course not. One hundred and fifty Ethiopians all deciding to take a trip to L.A. at the same time would be a little hard to overlook, and time consuming. Tara stayed behind to open the way into the Whyte Plain. They will travel that way and meet us when I let her know we're ready to move."

"You left one of your own with them?" Katherine asked sounding a bit shocked.

Acharya replied, "It was part of the deal. The Matriarch is very strong. Her followers obey her without question. If I had to guess, from the things she said, I would guess she's at least a couple hundred years old. And the command she has over her people show it."

"Wait, how is that possible?" Aceso asked. "Ansuya is going to be very long lived and we know that from her heritage and bloodlines. How is it possible that there are Shape shifters that could live that long?"

Huan Li shrugged, "I'm not certain. When Ansuya and I came up with this crazy plan to seek out others of our kind, I wasn't entirely sure we would find anything, or anyone. I was afraid that we were the last Shape shifters on the planet that had survived in any real numbers. There is much knowledge that has been lost, and so much that we have to relearn. Suffice to say, I believe Acharya. I do believe that the Bultungin are as much a mystery to us as they were several months ago. The fact that they're willing to help us, for a hefty compensation mind you, speaks well of our future involvement with them. I believe we can learn a lot from them and maybe even fill in some blanks from our own past as well."

"Or they could be looking for an angle to screw us over at the first possible chance," Amanda said dryly from the back of the room.

Ansuya turned around and regarded the young healer. Amanda didn't shy away and held the older woman's gaze.

"That is a possibility," Acharya said. "However, she seemed much more interested in gaining access to our cities and the Whyte Plain above anything else. If she, 'screws us over' she knows she loses that." Amanda didn't seem convinced but she nodded and remained silent.

"Huan?" Ansuya asked, "Are we ready?"

The other Elder shrugged, "We need to speak with the Alphas of our packs and finalize our plans. Waiting any longer won't serve us. And the longer we wait, the stronger House Dukart will become. We delt a serious blow to one of the Houses, House Brandt I believe, in the battle under the Mountain. Through their own infighting, House Brandt will be pressed and House Dukart will be taking over more and more of House Brandt's territory and business. The Duces won't have much involvement with that sort of thing either, this is just vampire politics. As long as House Himura remains strong and acts as a counter balance to House Dukart, I don't think they will care if House Brandt goes the way of the dodo."

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Aceso nodded and turned around to her pack. She dismissed them and shared a look with Dutch, as the wolf and the other humans left the room.

"Thanks for not making me look like a total incompetent moron in front of another pack, Elder Huan Li, I really appreciate that," Keva spat as soon as the room was cleared of all but the Alphas and the Elders.

Ansuya arched an eyebrow, "I didn't hear anything from Elder Huan Li that made you look like anything other than an Alpha who took on an impossible assignment and performed above expectations."

"Yeah? That's what you got? I guess you missed the part of how I let Erato die." Ansuya's eyebrows raised in shock upon hearing that.

Huan Li's face flashed anger, a rare sight, "I never made any such insinuation. I feel for your loss, and we will have many more in the coming days. I will not have my words or my motives questioned because you want to continue to revel in self-pity!" Huan Li glared at the red-haired Alpha, "I am tired of your nonsense, Keva. Constantly questioning me, and seeing judgment in my every word and gesture. A true Alpha always evaluates what they have done and experienced, so they can move forward and apply what they've learned. Apply what you've learned. Be the Alpha and leader that I know you can be. Be the leader your pack deserves. Do we understand one another?"

Keva leaned against the wall, gazing at the Elder. She pushed her body forward and walked over to him. She kept her chin up, and her eyes locked on Huan Li, "I hear you Elder Huan Li. I am my pack's Alpha, and I will be the leader and Alpha they deserve. I will die for them, because one has already died for me, just like they all would die for each other. I'm sorry. I misdirected my anger at Erato's death."

Keva then did something Ansuya would never have guessed the woman would do. Keva lowered her head to Huan, "Forgive me, Elder. I will be the leader they deserve. I swear it."

Huan Li's anger dissipated quickly and compassion and pity filled his features. He softly placed his hand on the young woman's shoulder, "I, like your pack, forgave you long ago. It's up to you to forgive yourself. Don't let your hatred eat any more of you. Forgive yourself, Keva."

Keva lifted her head. Her eyes shone with an iron resolve. In that moment, Ansuya would have believed her capable of anything. She nodded.

Huan Li led the group to a table that had been pressed up against the far wall. The table was covered with a few maps, one of the greater L.A. area, a blow up of one of the sections of the city, and what looked to be blueprints of a single building.

Huan Li, swept his hand over the blueprints first. "This is Dukart Tower. It is heavily constructed to withstand earthquakes of ten point five on the Richter scale, surpassing the regulated building code of Los Angeles. Without getting into all the complex math of building codes, in a major earthquake, this Tower will be one of the last buildings standing."

"They don't want their secrets spilled out for the world to see if their building came down," Keva stated.

"Quite right," Huan responded, "the building is built at a forty-five degree angle off from north south facing, which means that there is greater protection from sunlight on two side of the building at any given time, though it does increase exposure to the two sun facing sides. I'm sure they had a good reason for this."

"We will have an opportunity to storm the building from the sun-soaked side," Aceso said.

"Possibly, but we have to assume that their security will be increased on the sun side of the building as well," Ansuya said.

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