Mary's gaze was only on her for a moment, but it felt longer, then it moved away at the speed of thought, and Furaha was glad to be out from underneath Mary's sight. She gazed at the meditative, almost sleeping form of Mary. She wouldn't have guessed that the woman would be capable of such things. She slumped down heavily to the concrete balcony floor, content to watch the deeply breathing shell of Mary while she was off searching with her true consciousness.

Mary was free in ways that she had never even imagined. She didn't feel anything, and yet she felt everything all at once. She could see the city around her and she could hear the sounds of traffic and people, even at this late hour, but there was more. She could sense the dreams of those that slept. She could move through walls and underground. The world around her was nothing more than a substanceless hologram made of light and sounds, that did nothing to impede her travels. She had never felt like this before and yet she felt nothing. There was no exhilaration of being able to fly through the world, she wasn't happy, but she wasn't sad. The realization of these things must be what Nirvana was all about.

Mary moved through the city, she knew what she was looking for, she could sense them, all around them. The Bultungin that resided in the city. Their beings called out to her in a way that reminded her of her pack bond with her packmates. She could feel them most keenly of all. Acharya, and Aiman, Tara and Malikah were all sleeping, but were stirring far behind her. She could sense a deep change in Asclepius, his being was more alert than the others, almost like he was aware of what was happening with her and he was wary of the changes in his packmate.

Mary didn't bother to try to communicate with him, instead she turned her attention to those other dots of life and essence that was the Bultungin of the city. Her sight could move instantly between the various dots of life that surrounded her. The Bultungin were brighter and warmer than those of the other people around her and moving from one to the other was as easy as lifting her pinky finger.

Her gaze did have an effect on them though. She could feel that when her gaze turned to a Bultungin they would shift their awreness out towards her, like she had caught their attention from across the room and they were turning their consciousness back towards her. She didn't delve deeply into their beings; she only needed a glance to know that these were not the Matriarch she was searching for. But, if her gaze left this kind of impression on the Bultungin, the Matriarch would know, soon enough that someone was looking for her. She didn't have much time.

Her being pulled up and out, away from the city. Seeing below her, the dots of the souls that inhabited the city were like the stars in the sky, some moving, others still, and the brighter ones belying those that were Bultungin. There were a lot more than she could have imagined and certainly more than Furaha had alluded to upon their arrival. She focused on the clusters of the brighter dots.

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Moving from group to group at impossible speeds, she glanced at the Bultungin of the city. They were a proud people; of that she could sense. Her sight gave impressions, not much more than anything else.

As she moved through the city, she suddenly felt a presence focusing on her, not a wayward glance like what the other Bultungin had focused back at her, but smething much more direct and powerful. Her being was shaken by not just impressions, but words that she heard as clear as if they were spoken aloud, "Who are you looking for, girl?"

She turned her attention to the ethereal voice and before she could focus her sight on the speaker she was forced back. It was like nothing she had experienced before. She found her being thrown back across the city and slam back into her body with such speed and force that her eyes snapped open and she gasped and cried out all at once.

Furaha snapped her head up at the sudden cry and stared at Mary as the freshly awakened woman gasped and held her chest and neck as she tried to calm herself down. Furaha let the shock pass. When Mary was calm again, she asked, "What did you see?"

Mary, gazed wide eyed at the Bultungin alpha as she tried to fully grasp what had happened to her. "I saw her."

Furaha didn't need any further explanation. She knew full well just who 'she' was. And after all the time spent with these people traveling this far to see her Matriarch, she was suddenly reticent. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer for what she was about to ask, but she asked the question anyway. "Did you see her guard as well? Did you get the answers that we need?"

Mary stopped for a second and thought back to what she had seen. The Matriarch had been stronger than she could have realized and yet, she hadn't felt like she was in danger. The Matriarch was everything she would have expected and more. She just hadn't been prepared to accept the power that she wielded. She had dominated Mary's sight almost completely.

Mary didn't answer Furaha, instead she stood up and turned to open the sliding glass door back into the apartment. As she opened the door, she turned to look at Furaha who still hadn't stood up yet, "We need to wake everyone and leave, now. I know where she is. What I don't know is how long she'll stay there."

Ducking into the apartment, Mary turned on the lights, and was immediately met with groans and muffled shouts of protest. "It's time to get up, we have to leave."

Mary moved through the group in the crowded apartment and went back to Niah's bedroom. The dark-skinned woman was sleeping peacefully in a white night shift on her small bed. Mary walked over to her and gently shook her shoulder, "Niah, we have to go now."

Niah's eyes softly blinked open under her dyed blonde hair. She lifted herself up on an elbow and looked bleary eyed at her guest. "What time is it?"

Mary smiled and shrugged her shoulders as she looked at a clock hanging on the wall, "It's four thirty."

"Four thirty?" Niah looked very confused as she fell back onto her pillow, "Couldn't this wait a few more hours?"

Mary shook her head, "No, we need to leave now."

The other woman groaned and nodded as she moved to get herself to the bathroom. Before she could slide off the bed, Mary softly gripped her arm, "Niah, I know the answer to the riddle, and I need a favor from you."

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