Disclaimer: The Mass Effect universe is the property of Bioware/Electronic Arts. No infringement of these copyrights is intended as this is a not for profit fan fiction work.

Author's Note: Term change in the story, Head/High Matriarch of a Lineage (or tribal area as we move farther away from Serrice) is now called a Potinia, or Great Matriarch. The word translates as Great Lady and comes from Linear B.

Revision History: 04/26/2015

Messonia

Almost three years had passed since Lidova had stood in front of Cybean's acropolis gates and recited the offer from the High Priestess to give a Sword of Athame to the Potiniini of that city-state in exchange for their swearing their Lineages to fulfillment of the Goddess's Prophecy for the Asari. Two years ago Matriarch Talara had brought thirty gifted matron and maiden Huntresses with her from Cybean when she had visited the High Temple of Athame to formally oath bound her Lineage to the fulfillment of the Prophecy before Matriarch Orissa.

The Huntresses of Serrice had eagerly welcomed their fellow Huntresses from Cybean. For the next several months they hosted their guests: sharing the same quarters and food, and undergoing the same strict training regimen in integrated units. The Cybean Huntresses learned skills and methods that went beyond physical and biotic training into methods of city defense as well as offensive and defensive unit operations for groups much larger than a peripolia, or eight Huntresses. The last especially was almost unknown outside of Serrice, Armali and Ulee. Elsewhere, Huntresses usually operated as a zevgos, or small team of two, or multiples of a zevgos up to a peripolia and had little experience with how to organize or be effective in larger groups.

When their training was finished for the day, the Huntresses often gathered and swapped stories of their pasts as well as tales of their respective experiences in Serrice and Cybean. Frequently groups went out into the city to enjoy all that Serrice had to offer a maiden or matron: restaurants, bars, theater, street musicians and entertainers, and establishments where one could purchase the skills of a consort for a few hours. At the end of the year, the Cybean Huntresses had returned to their northern city-state alongside thirty Huntresses from Serrice who were no longer strangers to them, but friends and in some cases lovers. Since then, similar exchanges had taken place between all four allies, and at any time Serrice was hosting almost two hundred Huntresses from the other allied city-states while a similar number from their ranks were divided between Armali, Ulee and Cybean.

Yesterday Lidova had stood in front of the gates of the acropolis of Messonia and delivered the offer of the High Priestess of Athame to the Potiniini of the city, Matriarch Jatemea of the Akoteas Lineage and Matriarch Pheella of the Morveas Lineage. Unlike the three times she had delivered the same message to Armali, Ulee and Cybean the Potiniini of Messonia had rejected the High Priestess's offer. Commander Lidova had then invited the Potiniini of Messonia or their representatives to travel under the protection of her forces to Serrice. They could visit the Shrine of Athame's Prophecy for the Asari in person and judge the truthfulness of its warning for themselves. That offer had been refused as well.

Like Serrice and Armali, Messonia was a saltwater port city built upon the shores of the Galina Sea which connected with the Ceripian Ocean by way of the Straits of Esarisha. Unfortunately however, Messonia did very little trading with Serrice. Instead, they traded primarily with the other small city-states which bordered the Galina Sea. Population wise, Messonia was smaller than Cybean, with an estimated ten thousand inhabitants living in and immediately around the city-state's acropolis. By comparison it was approximately one sixth the size of Serrice, which last Lidova had heard had just over forty thousand inhabitants living within the boundaries of the outer wall of the city-state and another thirty thousand living within the patrol boundaries.

In addition to weak trade ties, the asari of the city-state worshiped Thalassa, the Mother Goddess of All Creation, as their Matriarchal Goddess instead of the Goddess Athame. The Mother Goddess of All Creation had melded with Aykeus, the formless primordial essence that existed before anything else. From this melding, Thalassa had given birth to the Heavens and Thessia. Thalassa melded with Aykeus again and from this second melding gave birth to the Goddesses, and then finally after a third melding she gave birth to all mortal beings and animals. The Mother Goddess Thalassa did not concern herself with the specific fates of the mortal beings to which she had given birth however, which was why, while they honored her as the Mother of All Creation, the Asari of Serrice, Armali, and Ulee did not worship her as they did her children, the various Goddesses and especially her eldest child, the Goddess Athame.

Between the lack of trade and differing religious beliefs, it was not a surprise to Commander Lidova that the Potiniini of Messonia had not accepted either the High Priestess of Athame's offer or the offer to visit the Shrine of Athame's Prophecy. The Potiniini of what was now being called the Alliance of the Prophecy had obviously not expected them accept either given the increased number of mora assigned to her command: two from Serrice, the Second and Sixth; two from Armali, the Third and Fifth; one from Ulee, the Second; and two pentekostys, with one hundred and twenty eight Huntresses each, from Cybean, which was just now arranging it's Huntresses into larger units than an omada, or sixteen Huntresses.

Lidova nodded in satisfaction as she examined the latest charts her scouts had compiled and annotated of area surrounding the city-state of Messonia and its defenses. Like Cybean before it joined the Alliance and began the exchange of Huntresses, the acropolis of Messonia was relatively primitive. Thick wooden logs formed the underlying scaffolding of the wall and upper fortifications, and then heavy stone squares were used to fill in between and reinforce the wooden supports. The wall itself was only two orgyia high, or as high as two asari standing atop one another. Comparatively, the acropoli of Serrice, Armali and Ulee...and even the acropolis of the T'Soni Holdings, were more advanced, with thick stone walls as high as three or, in the case of Serrice, four orgyia tall.

She and the other Commanders also hoped, once again like Cybean before they began the Huntress exchange, that Messonia's Huntresses were unused to serving in defensive units larger than an omada or had any great amount of training in the skills necessary to defend their city walls. If they were correct in their assumption, then forcing the Messonian Huntresses into just such a defensive stance should give the Alliance forces a decided tactical advantage. The Huntresses of Serrice, Armali and Ulee were specifically trained to make large coordinated assaults on fortified positions utilizing both their biotics and bows. On the defense, Huntresses rotated constantly on barrier duty for their units, maintaining a protective barrier against both biotic and physical attacks for their unit.

Lidova and the other Commanders planned to begin their assault of the city at dawn which was now just a few hours away. The Allied forces did not have enough supplies for a protracted siege, and every hour they waited was one which gave reinforcements from outlying areas the opportunity to arrive and begin harrying their forces in hit and run attacks, making their task of subduing the city-state even more difficult. Current estimates of able Huntresses within the city-state ranged from four to six thousand, a number equal to the Alliance's forces.

Lidova would prefer it if her forces decisively outnumbered those of Messonia, however, that was not the case. Fortunately a direct comparison of numbers only told part of the story. Besides not being as well trained, the Messonian forces were also not as well equipped as the Alliance forces. Their armor was lighter and less protective and their bows were relatively primitive straight bows, not having either the range or stopping power of the compound reflex bows of the Alliance. There was another factor to consider as well, while training the Huntresses from Cybean in biotic techniques, Lidova and the other trainers had noticed that the Huntresses who were not descended from the families of the Followers of Athame were not only shorter in stature, but their biotics were also not as powerful. It was certainly not enough to make them ineffectual as Huntresses, especially with dedication to their training, but there was a noticeable difference in raw biotic ability. Like those Cybean Huntresses, the Messonian Huntresses were noticeably shorter and slighter than the majority of the Alliance forces. If the same held true, then their biotics should be less powerful and that should also hold true for their matriarchs. Overall, comparing the relative effectiveness of the Alliance forces against those of the Messonia gave the Alliance a clear advantage, despite the fact that they did not outnumber the defenders.

The corners of Lidova's dark blue lips curved downward at her last thought, she truly wished that one of the Potiniini of Messonia, either Matriarch Jatemea or Matriarch Pheella, had accepted her offer to visit the Shrine of the Prophecy for themselves. If they had only witnessed the doors that opened at the only touch of a senior Priestess of Athame and no one else, seen the bright torches within that burned without any apparent source of fuel and without giving off heat, and read the sacred words written upon the polished metal plaques which were made of a material harder than any the Asari could forge themselves. Surely the wonders of the Shrine itself would have persuaded them of the authenticity of the message written within the building and of the necessity of joining the Alliance for the future survival of not only their race, but also all of the other younger races when the Great Darkness returned from the Beyond to see if any who created and built existed in the Heavens.

The Potiniini of Messonia had not accepted either of the invitation offered to them however, and Lidova's orders regarding that possible eventuality were clear. If the city-state of Messonia would not join the Alliance of the Prophecy willingly, then they would be subjugated and forced to join whether willingly or not for the greater good. The Commander could only hope that the matriarchs would quickly recognize that they could not stand against her forces and surrender before too many died on either side.

Initiation of hostilities between Messonia and the Serrice led Alliance of the Prophecy actually began before dawn. Messengers from the Alliance forces were sent to the city in the almost complete darkness of early morning bearing missives which detailed how surrenders should be offered, and that the Temple of Thalassa within the acropolis of Messonia would be honored as a place of safety for those unable to fight: such as any pregnant asari, mothers with young children, and matriarchs entering the final phase of their life as well as those too wounded to continue fighting.

Lidova and her fellow Commanders gave the city-state nearly two hours to prepare for their attack. It meant that the walls of the acropolis would be fully defended, but that actually favored their battle plan – provided their assumptions about the Huntresses of Messonia were correct of course. If they were correct, then they should see each Huntress providing her own barrier instead of one Huntress providing a barrier for many and then cycling with another while she recovered and even ate sweet provisions made from dried fruit and fatty meat if necessary to keep up her strength. Without any time for recovery and under an almost constant barrage of attacks, the defending Huntresses should be exhausted from the battle within two to four hours. At that point they would falter, begin to make mistakes, and would become much easier targets for the Huntresses of the Alliance.

Lidova looked upward, Kurinth was currently very bright in the sky which told her that dawn was soon to come; as the sky began to lighten, the planet would fade and disappear from sight with the rising of the sun. The Commander of the Sixth Mora turned her gaze toward the city, under Kurinth's brightness she could see the numerous Huntresses arranged upon the low walls of the acropolis. She bowed her head for a moment in resignation at the inevitability of the coming conflict and said a prayer for them to Piares who would guide their spirits upon their final journey.

Lifting her head once she finished with her prayer the tall, muscular matron focused her attention on the arrangement of the Huntresses of her mora. Just as she was, they were dressed in full armor, their chest pieces and leggings augmented with protective metal plates, while helmets of both metal and hardened leather protected their crested heads and faces. The Huntresses assigned to provide defensive barriers would do their best, but it was always possible that a concerted attack upon any one of them would shatter their barrier leaving the peripolia, or group of eight huntresses they were protecting vulnerable to attack. In that case, they would depend upon their armor to protect them until they could summon their own personal barriers or the Huntress assigned to protect them could re-establish the group's barrier.

Commander Lidova's mora of a thousand and twenty-four Huntresses was divided into two lochos with her personal peripolia of Huntresses anchoring the center, Huntress Tevry Vasir, her second in command, held the end of the first lochos to her left, while Huntress Kitha Edoni, her third in command, held the end of the second lochos which was arrayed to her right. The other five mora from Serrice, Armali and Ulee as well as the two pentekostys from Cybean were deployed further around the city-state. They had secured the outlying farms the day before, now all that was left between them and the acropolis walls were several streets of shops, warehouses and homes. These would have to secure those buildings as well before they could focus their attention on the walls of the acropolis.

Lidova glanced up at the sky once again, noting that Kurinth was less bright and in the east she could now see colors upon the horizon shading from purple toward orange. She turned and nodded to the youngest of the Huntresses with her, "Send up the arrow." The maiden nodded, turned and picked up a carefully prepared arrow wrapped in cloth and dipped in tallow. This she lit from a nearby torch before notching the now flaming arrow in her bow, raising the weapon, and then with a slight biotic assist sending it in a flaming arc into the still dark sky. Lidova watched the flaming arrow for a moment and when it began its downward arc, she motioned with her arm for her Huntress to move forward toward the outlying buildings of the city-state. It was time to begin their attack.

It took the Alliance forces nearly two hours to make their way through the outlying buildings, as the Huntresses of Messonia fought a well-coordinated retreating battle toward the acropolis walls, setting up ambushes both within and around the buildings. Due to the threat they posed, the Alliance forces had to carefully enter each building to verify that it was empty or to ensure the submission of any within by either killing them or accepting their surrender. Eventually however they secured the last few buildings and were finally ready to begin their assault upon Messonia's acropolis walls, which, while they were only two orgyia tall, were four heavy grey stone blocks thick and certainly stout enough to ward off any raider attack. Unfortunately for the Messonian's the thick walls were not deterring raiders this morning.

Forcefully thrusting out a bluish-white wreathed hand, Lidova focused her will and then watched as a focused sphere of energy sailed from her toward the top of the city wall. The singularity would draw anyone and anything within a few orgyia into itself, crushing them within its effect. So far their suspicions about the biotic abilities of Messonia's Huntresses seemed to be proving true, they were not as powerful, or well trained in biotic techniques as the Huntresses of the Alliance. Their barriers, throws and pulls were respectable, and their older maidens and matrons utilized their biotics quite effectively in hand to hand combat, but Lidova had noticed that none of the defenders seemed to know how to make any type of complex biotic effect such as the singularity she had just created.

The Commander suspected that she was seeing firsthand the difference between the training she, along with the other young Huntresses of Serrice, had received from the Temple, which had carefully preserved and passed down the biotic lessons and techniques originally taught by the Elder Race Priestesses to the Followers of Athame, and training that had first been learned through instinctive use and then expanded upon by basic trial and error. She knew a wide range of biotic techniques, and knew that the Priestesses of Athame invited especially gifted maidens, matrons, and even matriarchs to return to the Temple for further training in even more advanced biotic techniques. Ceyia was one of those invited matrons, and three days out of every week she was excused from regular Huntress training so that she could attend the Temple's advanced biotic training classes.

The Huntresses of Messonia had access to none of this advanced training, and currently the Alliance forces were exploiting this weakness for all that it was worth, utilizing complex attacks which the Messonian defenders had difficulty countering for the simple fact that they did not recognize them. They were learning rapidly however, Lidova's lips twisted in wry amusement as she heard warning shouts from above. Unfortunately however, the singularity hadn't actually been the focus of her attack; it was simply a way for her to clear this portion of the wall of defenders for her Huntress's actual attack.

"Warpfire on the wall!" she ordered pointing toward the section she wanted weakened. Understanding exactly what she wanted done from their training, those Huntresses of her peripolia not assigned to barrier duty immediately began attacking the stone reinforced wall with their biotics. Bluish-white energy lashed across the surface of the stone, underneath the powerful shearing force of their combined attack the stone and wood began literally disintegrating before Lidova's eyes, the dark grey stone blocks cracking and crumbling while the wood supports bracketing the section of stone tore and splintered apart.

"Halt" the Commander called out once she felt they had sufficiently weakened the wall. Her eyes narrowing in concentration, Lidova focused her will, indigo-white energy gathering about her body. Thrusting one hand out as she shifted her weight forward, the tall Huntress directed the dark energy built up around her body at the center of the weakened area. As the biotic push slammed into the wall, the severely weakened stone and wood was destroyed in an explosion of shards and splinters, leaving a gaping crater in the acropolis wall that went almost entirely the way through it. Not all the way through however and a slight sound of dissatisfaction escaped from Lidova's dark blue lips before she focused her will for a second time and repeated the attack. The remaining stones gave way immediately, flying a short distance thought the air before falling and tumbling onto a paved path on the other side of the wall.

They had a way into the acropolis, but Lidova was not yet satisfied for the top section of the wall was still standing and would provide a place for the enemy to attack her forces as they crossed underneath. Her lips drawing back in a silent snarl, the Commander summoned her will yet again this time reaching up and pulling with her biotics as forcefully as possible at the stones still in place above the hole they had just created. They held for a moment, and then two of her Huntresses joined in with her, focusing their biotics on the upper section of wall to either side of where she was pulling upon the stones. Under their combined effort the remainder of the wall quickly gave way and the stones came tumbling down, creating a wide gap in the acropolis wall.

More alarmed shouts from the defenders greeted her action as they reacted to the breaching of their defensive wall. In the next moment, one of the stone blocks lying upon the ground lit up with biotic energy, levitated into the air, and then hurled toward Lidova. It was only reflex and hours upon hours of biotic practice that enabled the Serrice Huntress to react quickly enough to keep herself and her two companions standing next to her alive and unhurt. Almost instantaneously, a bluish-white haze sprang into existence around the muscular asari's body and the Commander thrust forward her hand in a quick snap, sending the biotic energy toward the heavy missile in a counter throw. As the fast moving globe encountered the stone just on the side of the wall nearest Lidova's group, it came to an abrupt halt as if slamming into an invisible wall and then fell to the ground. Staring warily through the opening, Lidova reminded herself not to underestimate the Messonian Huntresses again, basic pulls and throws could do quite a bit of damage when used properly...as had just been aptly demonstrated. No sooner had she thought that than an enemy Huntress, wreathed in the bluish energy of her barrier, appeared in the opening and paused to glare at them.

"Varvaros," the Huntress spat at them, calling them barbarous murderers, and with a start of surprise Lidova recognized the voice, Bazea Akoteas, the youngest daughter of Matriarch Jatemea.

Lidova frowned, "We did not want this conflict Huntress Bazea, but Thessia must be united against the Great Darkness or we will all perish. Any that surrender will not be harmed," the Commander offered with little hope that the maiden would accept.

"Great…" the maiden made a sound of anger, "The Great Darkness is just lie you've made up to justify forcing everyone to bow to Serrice…"

"No it is not," interrupted Lidova vehemently, "and if your Potinia had accepted our offer to escort her to the Shrine of the Prophecy the Matriarch would have seen the truth of it for herself."

"Lies," hissed Bazea, "you would have forced her to join your Alliance."

"No," snapped the Commander forcefully, "we would have not. She would have traveled with us under the sworn protection of the High Temple of Athame to the Shrine of the Prophecy and then been returned to Messonia safely."

Bazea Akoteas stood there for a moment longer, her glare unabated before turning and disappearing from their view. Lidova shook her head with a sigh, she had known that the maiden's anger would keep her from truly listening to her words, and could only hope that the rash young Huntress would make the choice to surrender before she was killed in the fighting.

Three hours later, as Lidova and her fellow Commanders had hoped, the defending Huntresses were beginning to falter as they became exhausted from the continuous use of their biotics without a sufficient chance to rest. Even as she observed the battle taking place around her another Messonian Huntress, completely exhausted and unable to even summon a barrier to protect herself, was surrounded by Lidova's forces, her weapons biotically pulled from her hands, and her surrender demanded. The medium blue complexioned maiden with red angular facial markings that identified her as belonging to the Akoteas Lineage stood defiantly for another moment before there was another exchange of words with Huntress Viesa Kurin who commanded the omada of thirty-two Huntresses surrounding her. The Commander could not hear what the matron was saying to the maiden, but finally the Akoteas Huntress knelt in surrender, bowing her head in submission as her shoulders slumped in her defeat. Lidova guessed that the more level-headed matron had reminded the younger asari that she could not continue to serve her Potinia in death; by surrendering, she would at least be returned to her Lineage when the battle was decided in favor of either the Alliance or Messonian forces.

At this point however, Lidova knew, the battle was all but decided in favor of the Alliance forces. The acropolis wall had been breached in multiple places and the majority of not only her forces, but also the forces of the other Commanders, were inside its walls. The Messonian forces had lost far more of their number, either through death, injury, or surrendering, than the Alliance forces, and that more than anything along with their general exhaustion of their biotics was tilting the tide of battle rapidly against the Messonian defenders.

The sound of alarmed, angry shouting drew Lidova's attention to her left where there was a large well landscaped park between several stone buildings. Her dark blue eyes widened in fear as she took in the scene, Ceyia T'Soni, her lover stood in front of her Huntresses facing down the Potinia of the Akoteas, Matriarch Jatemea whose body was intensely alight with the blue and purple hues of dark energy.

"Surrender Matriarch Jatemea," Lidova heard Ceyia shout to the Grand Matriarch of the Akoteas, "Not enough of your Huntresses remain to stop our advance, let no more of them who are sworn to your Lineage die today."

"The Akoteas will not kneel in submission to the varvaros of Serrice," the Matriarch declared confidently, her voice echoing from the surrounding buildings.

Without any more warning than that the Potinia of the Akoteas thrust her arms forward, sending a massive wave of biotic energy toward the T'Soni matron. A protesting cry left Lidova's lips as she began to sprint toward the scene even though she knew that she could not possibly get close enough to stop what was about to happen. The indigo hued energy slammed into Ceyia's barrier, and then to everyone's disbelief simply wrapped around the T'Soni matron's form and then with a thrust of Ceyia's hand was returned toward Matriarch Jatemea. The Grand Matriarch was completely unprepared for this to happen and as the dark energy slammed against the Matriarch's barriers the force of it caused them to fail. That opening was all the Alliance Huntresses needed, less than a second after four arrows sprouted from Matriarch Jatemea's body, two in her chest, one in her throat and the other cleanly through her head.

Lidova's frantic pace slowed to an abrupt halt and her dark blue eyes widened in surprise as she stared first at the unmoving body of the Potinia of the Akoteas and then turned her head to stare at her lover's still barrier sheathed form. Channel, which was the biotic skill that Ceyia had just used, allowed the user to manipulate almost any energy source directly, from dark energy to fire itself. The Priestess who had demonstrated it for her training group had stuck her hand in a torch fire and then directed the flame around her body and to her other hand where it flickered a few inches above her palm. Lidova knew that Ceyia had been learning how to channel from the Priestesses at the Temple, but had not known that the matron had become so skilled in its use that she could manipulate and redirect the sheer amount of dark energy with which the Matriarch had attacked her.

"Akoteas Huntresses," a commanding voice shouted across the park, "stand down and cease fighting. By my right as Matriarch Jatemea's successor to the title of Potinia of the Akoteas Lineage, I am declaring our surrender to the forces of the Alliance of the Prophecy." Even without any new orders, Commander Lidova's forces immediately went on the defensive, allowing any Akoteas Huntresses they had just been fighting to retreat from the conflict. As the fighting immediately around her came to a halt, Lidova moved forward toward where she had heard the voice.

There, the Commander's eyes tracked movement among the retreating defenders, Matriarch Aislea Akoteas, younger sister of Matriarch Jatemea and now apparently the Potinia of the Akoteas Lineage. As she realized that the Matriarch was headed toward the still body of her elder sister, the Commander slowed, a melancholic frown forming upon her lips, if only the Matriarch had accepted their offer…but she had not and her refusal had led to this unfortunate end. Hopefully the new Potinia of the Akoteas would be as receptive to listening to them with an open mind as she was to ending the conflict between them.

Lidova watched as Matriarch Aislea knelt next to her sister's body and then turned her gaze away as she saw the bitter grief upon the elder asari's face. Noticing that one of her Huntresses, Teilna Seus was waiting for her notice she motioned the young matron to approach. "Commander Zelina just sent word that Matriarch Pheella has also declared the surrender of the Morveas Lineage," Huntress Teilna informed her, "We have won." She glanced past the form of her commander and grimaced, the pride in her face and stance lessening at the sight of the grieving Matriarch.

Lidova nodded, feeling relieved at the news even though she knew that it heralded only a different set of difficulties and a great deal of work before they could return to Serrice. "Remain vigilant," she quietly warned the other Huntress, "the new Potinia of the Akoteas might have declared their surrender, but..."

"Mother!" the nearby grief filled cry interrupted the Commander causing her to turn away from her Huntress to look for its source. Bazea Akoteas, she immediately recognized the stricken maiden who had just thrown herself down to kneel by her mother's body. Lidova watched the maiden closely, this was exactly the situation she was concerned about, the possibility of grief and anger stirring one of the Messonians to attack despite the announced surrender.

Almost as if reading her thoughts Bazea looked up at that moment, "You!" she snarled at Lidova as she rose to her feet, her biotics coming alight around her body.

"Bazea!" Matriarch Aislea rose as well and took a step forward to intercept the maiden, "would you disobey your Potinia? Would you dishonor the Akoteas Lineage by breaking our sworn word of surrender?" The maiden actually made to step around her, "Do you deny that I am the rightful Potiniini of the Akoteas?" the Matriarch's body came alight with power and flared, forcing the young Huntress to stumble backward a few steps as it pushed against her barrier.

The dark energy around Huntress Bazea's body wisped away as quickly as it had formed at the question. "No Matriarch! You are the new Potinia," she looked down at her mother's body, "but…"

"I know," Matriarch Aislea's voice softened, "I miss her strength and wisdom as well Bazea, but we must think of our Lineage and those who follow our leadership. We can no long win this battle, do not dishonor us and bring yet more death and grief upon us with this rash action."

Finally the maiden bowed her head in obedience, "I will honor the surrender Potinia." As she lifted her head, her eyes fixed upon Lidova with no less rage and grief than before, making it clear to the tall matron that while the maiden would honor the surrender with the Alliance, she certainly would not so easily forgive them for the death of her mother.

Lidova waited until the day after the funeral for Matriarch Jatemea to approach the new Potinia of the Akoteas about the specifics of the Huntress exchange between Messonia and Serrice, Armali and Ulee. Cybean was not included in it at this time due to the amount of re-organization and training the city-state's Huntresses were currently undergoing in an effort to bring into line their forces better with the other Alliance members. A few days ago, Matriarch Aislea and Matriarch Pheella had not been pleased to hear that they would have to send one hundred of her surviving Huntresses to Serrice, nor to hear that in exchange five hundred Alliance Huntresses would remain to both bolster Messonia's defenses, but also to train the city-state's defenders. Not that the additional forces were not needed…they were, but emotions were still running high after the battle and the Matriarchs were rightfully concerned about their guest Huntresses' treatment after the majority of the Alliances forces had left Messonia.

Partially in response to their concerns and partially because this issue had already been raised and addresses by the Matriarchs of the Alliance, Lidova and the other Commanders had made a list of Messonian Huntresses they wanted included in that hundred would make neither Potinia pleased with them as it included matrons and maidens from both Lineages and every major family that owed them allegiance. The hope was that their inclusion should also make any Huntress who thought to break the truce hesitate, for the one hundred Messonian Huntresses good treatment rested upon the good treatment of those Alliance Huntresses left behind in Messonia.

"So our Huntresses will not be your guests but your hostages to guarantee the lives of those Huntresses left here and our continued honoring of the agreements made between us," observed Matriarch Pheella, her tone even but the slight narrowing of her eyes betraying her displeasure.

"For now they will be guests and hostages for both Serrice and for Messonia as loved ones were lost on both sides in the recent conflict," Lidova both acknowledged and corrected the Matriarch while keeping her tone completely respectful, "We are hopeful that after they return in five years such an arrangement will no longer be necessary."

"Indeed," Matriarch Aislea by contrast just sounded weary, "I see that Bazea is on this list. You are right that her inclusion will guarantee your Huntresses safety, but she is young and you are responsible for her mother's death." She closed her eyes for a moment and then offered, "There are others who would take her place and be as successful of a guarantee of your people's safety."

"There are," Lidova acknowledged the truth of the Matriarch's words, "but she perhaps above all of them needs to see the Temple for herself. To see that we are not varvaros, that we did not attack Messonia because we wanted your people to bow to Serrice as she has accused us, but because we must unite Thessia against the Great Darkness or none of our descendants will survive its return."

Matriarch Aislea's light blue eyes bore into Lidova's dark ones for a long moment, judging perhaps her depth of commitment to her belief before nodding, "Very well, perhaps you are correct. I will pray to Thalassa that you are and that her inclusion will not make the situation between us worsen. In any case, at least I will be with her until after the ceremony at the Temple of Athame."

Despite her aunt's attempts to help her move past her anger and grief, Bazea felt lost in them surrounded as she was by her mother's murderers. She didn't believe any of their tales of the Great Darkness as they strode in what seemed like endless miles north in their journey to Serrice. She didn't believe even as after a solid week of steady travel they finally joined what seemed like an endless stream of asari and massive carts piled high with goods pulled by teams of two or even four cervus headed toward Serrice upon a paved road four times wider than any she had ever seen before in her life. She managed to hold onto her disbelief and anger even as they passed underneath the four orgyia tall east gate of what was not even the acropolis wall of Serrice, but the outer wall of the massive city-state.

Bazea held onto her anger up until the point that they arrived at the Shrine of the Prophecy and both Matriarch Pheella and her aunt, Matriarch Aislea, were invited by the High Priestess of Athame, Matriarch Oressia, to attempt to enter the building upon their own. Matriarch Aislea contented herself with a simple push at the locked doors.

Matriarch Pheella, to Bazea's delight, was not so content to simply accept that the building was anything other than a hoax designed to mislead those easily lead by the lies of Serrice and their Temple of Athame. After seeing that the doors of the Shrine would not be opened with a simple physical push, Matriarch Pheella called upon her biotics, wreathing her form with dark energy to the point that it was difficult to look upon her and then directing all of it in a massive push against the door. Expecting to see the intricately carved doors of the oh so falsely sacred Shrine of the Prophecy destroyed by the Matriarch's attack, Bazea was instead stunned when they simply seemed to absorb the dark energy, remaining closed, whole and unharmed.

"None of us have been able to force open these doors," the High Priestess commented, apparently un-phased by the Matriarch's attack, "they seem entirely impervious to biotic energy of any type."

Matriarch Pheella stared at the High Priestess a brief moment before turning back to the doors and attempting to open them again with her biotics to the same result. The doors simply seemed to absorb the energy, pulling it into themselves instead of being affected by it. "How?" Bazea had never before heard the Potinia of the Morveas Lineage sound bewildered, but the Matriarch did now.

"I do not know," Matriarch Oressia replied, "the mysteries of the Shrine are beyond our ability to understand at this time." At this time, the words of the High Priestess caught Bazea's attention because it seemed as if the Matriarch was implying that understanding how the doors had resisted Matriarch Pheella's attack would not always be beyond them. "If you are satisfied that you cannot open them by force?" the High Priestess asked Matriarch Pheella.

The Potinia of the Morveas stared at the doors for a moment before admitting her defeat, "I am," she responded simply.

Along with the other Huntresses of Messonia selected as hostages for Serrice, Bazea watched in almost a daze as the High Priestess of Athame stepped forward and touched the doors lightly with just the fingertips of one hand. It seemed impossible that would be enough to open them given what she had just seen, but the doors swung silently open at the High Priestess's touch revealing the brightly lit interior of the Shrine.

A few minutes later, "Touch them," Bazea looked over to see the leader of the Alliance forces, "they will not burn you." She glared for a moment at Commander Lidova Saris, just to let the other asari know that she had not forgotten who was responsible for her mother's death and then tentatively reached out toward the oddly burning glass enclosed torch…only to feel nothing but coolness where she should have by all rights felt a burning heat.

"They do not burn, they have needed no fuel in all of the years since we discovered the Shrine," the Commander continued, apparently unaffected by her hostility. "None of the weapons we can make can even scratch these plaques," the tall matron continued indicating with a wave of her hand the inscribed massive metal plates inset into the walls of the building. The Commander's dark blue eyes met her own lighter ones, "We did not build this Huntress Bazea Akoteas, the Priestess of Athame Xanabr Ythos of the oldest Elder Race built it and left it for us to find along with the warning and guidance from the Goddess Athame to us." The elder Huntress's expression grew grim, "If our daughter's daughters are to survive, then we must fulfill the Goddess's prophecy, otherwise our entire race will perish as did the Elder Races."

For the first time Bazea's anger and grief over the loss of her mother was pierced by an instinctive fission of fear as she realized that the taller, muscular Huntress honestly believed what she was telling her. Believed that the Great Darkness was waiting in the Beyond to return and destroy them.