"Ah, Elloreah. Mingan. You had a restful night I assume?" Alistair asked as they arrived.

In the plush chair beside the desk sat a bronze skinned woman, her green eyes heavily lidded, keen and dangerous. A second woman stood, behind her, a near mirror image, her skin lighter, her eyes a calm, placid gold.

Mingan put his arm out, catching Elloreah before she could proceed further. "Why is she here?" Mingan demanded, eyes narrowed at the at the seated woman.

"We had business with Alistair," the lighter of the two spoke up.

"Teff," Mingan nodded. "You, at least have some knowledge of healing. Is Running Deer here as well?" He liked Teff and saw her as an ally. It was her darker companion that worried him.

She gave him a tight smile. "Wanda is at home, tending our flock," she explained.

Her companion spoke up then, "I don't like to travel alone." She raised her glass. "Come, have a drink! Get relaxed before the fun starts. This promises to be quite the spectacle. There's been murmuring of a wolf coming out to play." She chuckled.

Elloreah skirted around Mingan's attempt to shield her in order to greet the two women. His hackles rose as she stepped forward to give them a courteous bow. "I am Elloreah," she introduced herself, ignoring the growing tension in the room.

Teff stepped forward and reached for Elloreah's hand. Elloreah hesitated and stared down at her own right hand, shaking her head warily. "I do not mean to offend, but I may be contagious," she admitted.

Teff only nodded and bowed. "I am called Teff. I wish we could have met under more pleasant circumstances," she turned and gestured at her seated companion. "And this is—"

"I am the Lordess most high," the dark skinned woman exclaimed, raising her glass, still seated. "The Leader of Ten Thousand, The Right Hand of God. The Lady of the Place of the Beginning of Time, The large one—"

Mingan barked a laugh. "I assume the last title refers to your ego, Tau?"

She shrugged and continued on. "I am the Strong, The Mighty, The Violent—"

"She is also a goddess of plagues and war, and might be of help to us." Alistair broke in. "Tau and Teff are fellow Luminary, goddesses who now preside over the Great Plains."

Teff laughed and gestured dismissively. "I've a modest territory of swampland, adjacent to the prairie lands really."

"We are waiting for another," Alistair said, and gestured to the courtyard. "Elloreah, if you like, I know you prefer the outdoors. My scrying pool is out there, should we need to call upon others for assistance," he said, moving to the door himself.

"I'm staying here with my whiskey," Tau laughed and grabbed at Mingan as he moved to follow after Elloreah. "Stay, drink with me, Ma'iingan."

He stiffened under the woman's touch, resisting the urge to shake free of her grasp.

"You've grown in power since the times you ventured through my lands with Isandro." She poured a glass and shoved it at him. "Ahh, how I miss that old bastard."

He took it glancing back to where Elloreah was settling onto the cobblestones, stroking a small goat. He winced, realizing there were few reasons Alistair would have an animal in his courtyard.

"Drink!" Tau exclaimed again. "The fun will start soon enough."

"Fun?" he growled. "Only you would think dealing with a plague fun."

She laughed and clinked their glasses together. "The plague is only the start, wolf-boy. I've heard there will be blood."

He slammed the glass down, not caring that the contents spilled over onto the documents on the desk. It was then that he smelled it, the unmistakable scent of death. Tau had him by the arm before he could react, her grip firm, solid as she leaned into him.

"You are to stay right here," she cooed into his ear.

He growled, The Wolf rising to the surface as he tried to place the death bringer. Teff caught his other arm, restraining him as he attempted to shrug off Tau's grasp on him. "I'm sorry, Ma'iingan. We're going to try things Alistair's way first." She shook her head. "That girl's kind..."

"She is an innocent," he growled.

Tau laughed hanging on his arm as he struggled against their iron grip. They were old goddesses both, lionesses, forbidding and strong. "She brought the plague," she told him. "She is an ill omen," Tau hissed into his ear.

"She is mine," he growled, struggling more fiercely.

It was then he heard Elloreah cry out, the dark skinned form of a man knelt before her in the courtyard. There was a splash of crimson across the front of her pale dress, the scent of blood, of death strong now. Mingan roared as The Wolf rose in him, coursing through his veins, burning as the will of the spirit lent him strength. He shrugged off the goddesses, the vast power of The Wolf coming to his aid.

"Wait," Teff called, grabbing at him, to little effect. "It's not what you think!"

The words were lost on him, on the spirit, the fear and instinct that consumed him. One of his own was in danger, threatened. The Wolf now saw through his eyes, used his form. Mingan struggled to stay present, to keep some sort of grip on the power as he rushed into the courtyard to find a large man dressed in ceremonial garb made up of grasses, white shells and paint kneeling before Elloreah.

Alistair caught hold of Mingan's shoulder, drawing on his own considerable power to reach the younger Mythic. "You're losing yourself, Mingan," he warned, "Careful."

The words fell on deaf ears as Mingan struggled against his grip, and despite his considerable power, Alistair managed to hold Mingan back as he took in the scene. Blood pooled beneath Elloreah, but he could feel that it was not hers, the life lost was that of the creature she held cradled in her arms.

She whimpered as the dark man dipped his fingers into a pot, painting lines onto her arm and whispering strange incantations. Then, the man, the god of plague, Mingan realized, looked up at them.

"It is dead," The plague-god said, matter-of-factly.

Mingan growled, barely even registering Alistair's comment.

"And the plague, Babalu-aye. What of the plague?"

"Contamination is unlikely, but cleansing and caution are the only way to know."

Elloreah seemed to deflate at the comment, her shoulders hunched, her head bowed. Mingan shook his head, fighting through The Wolf's rising power, to stay in control, to think clearly.

Alistair tightened his grip on Mingan's shoulder. "And the girl?"

"There is no healing what is dead," Babalu-aye responded.

Mingan growled, feeling the power surging, rising within him. "I would have sensed, I would have known..."

Babalu-aye's teeth flashed white against his dark complexion as he grinned at Mignan. "Look again, Wolf."

"Do what you must," Elloreah said softly, and Mingan could feel her resignation, a sad, deep, hopelessness. "My time, my life, is all borrowed."

"No," came Mingan's sharp protest and his grip on The Wolf slackened, as did Alistair's grip on him. His ears began to ring, his consciousness slipping, shoved back, into the gray darkness that he knew to be the in-between.