Word Count: 3882

Everyone was seated around the courtyard in two semi-circles with the sirens on one side and the wolves on the others. The first couple of hours of course were the two sides explaining their differences, most of the sirens had already become familiar with wolves, but the new siren elder and new warriors had many questions. The wolf elders had very little information about sirens or tritons and so the whole explanation of the two species and their differences and histories were taking a while and Celie was bored out of her mind. Harper was participating in the conversation, making comments, and observations but Celie was sitting doing nothing but looking at the sky wishing she was anywhere but here. She was about to mind link Harper that she was going to go paint when a shout came from the house and one of the wolf warriors came running out, it was a young female warrior who had been assigned to watch the cameras and occasionally fly a drone around to look at areas without cameras, which the warriors weren't able to patrol.

"There's a triton coming out of the spring pool!" She shouted, pointing toward the spring.

Everyone immediately jumped to their feet and ran down the path toward the pool. Harper and Celie were right behind the warriors running to see what was going on and try to help, even though Celie knew she wouldn't be that much use, she ran anyway.

Porter and Lorelai had immediately shifted into their wolves and outpaced everyone down the path. When everyone else reached the area, they were on either side of it, growling furiously.

"No harm!" the triton shouted, holding his arms up. "No harm! I no harm!"

Everyone stared around at each other, not quite sure what to make of the situation.

"What are you doing here?" Eden asked, he was shifted enough that his hooked teeth changed his voice a little, making him sound as though he were growling.

"No harm, I talk, I talk here," the triton said. "Please, I talk."

"Why?" Celie said, poking her head around Eden's arm, shocking everyone, and causing Eden to try and push her back and shield her with his arm, which she promptly shoved off. "Why do you want to talk to us?"

"I no want die," he said. "No fight more, safe from here. I want my female safe."

Celie mind linked the others.

Harper said.

"Come with us," Matt said, glancing around. "We have questions for you."

"Yes," it replied.

The triton was still tense and seemed unsure about following them, as if it were rethinking its decision to come here.

"What's your name?" Celie asked, poking her head around Eden's arm again, giving him a little slap for trying to push her back.

"Bo," the triton replied. It seemed to relax a bit when Celie spoke to it, which made sense because she was the least threatening of the people surrounding it.

"I'm Celie," Celie smiled gently at him and beckoned it forward. "We won't hurt you if you're not a threat to us. It's alright, you can come with us, we want to hear what you have to say."

But the triton hesitated, looking around suspiciously.

There was something in Celie, something told her he would not hurt her, so she tried to step around Eden, who immediately pushed her behind him again.

"Stop it!" Celie snapped and whacked his arm as she stepped around him.

"It's alright, I promise it is," Celie said.

Then she took a slow step toward the triton and held out her hand to him, as one might hold out their hand to a scared animal and he looked down at it and gasped.

"Moon," the triton said in awe. Then his black eyes moved back up Celie and seemed to freeze on her shoulder, a pained expression came to his face.

"Yes, moon," Celie smiled and reached out her hand again and this time he reached out hesitantly and took it.

Celie smiled at him again and turned to walk slowly toward the house, Eden towered over her and kept himself right next to her, ready to attack the creature if it so much as looked at her wrong.

They made their way back to the courtyard and patio slowly, Bo stopped a few times, looking around. No doubt trying to determine if he had a way to get out of here if things went bad. He must have realized pretty quickly that he was surrounded by creatures that would have no trouble killing him. He turned several times and glanced worriedly at Porter and Lorelai who were following him in wolf form. Lorelai bared her teeth and growled a warning at him every time his eyes came to hers.

"Don't look her in the eyes," Celie told him the third time it happened. "Wolves take that as a challenge, she'll attack you if you keep doing it. And no offense, but you don't stand a chance against her, so if you want to live, stop looking her in the eye."

"No eye," Bo said.

"Right," Celie nodded, smiling. "There are a lot of people up here, they won't hurt you, but they will want to talk to you, ok?"

"Many?" Bo asked, hesitating again.

"Yes, many," Celie answered and tugged gently on his hand when he slowed. "But it's ok, they won't hurt you, unless you try to hurt one of us. No harm, right? No harm anyone."

"No harm," Bo answered.

Celie broadcast to all the Everglades pack through the mind link.

When they reached the courtyard everyone had backed up the patio near the pool and only the elders, alphas, lunas and a few guards were left.

Celie led Bo slowly to the chairs and sat down, pulling him gently to the seat beside her. Everyone else slowly took their seats and Luna Penny came toward Lorelai and Porter with robes and they shifted back into their human forms causing Bo to gasp in shock.

"Now you see what we are," Celie said to him. "Why did you come here, Bo?"

"Kul," Bo answered, causing them all to glance around confused. "Kul want harm, Kul say must harm, but only die."

"Cole?" Celie glanced around at the others. "The one with the scars?"

"Yes, Kul," Bo nodded.

"Cole sent you?" Eva asked, she, Enna, and Charo had sat across from them with Ara, Sagan, and Winter behind them.

"No send, I come," Bo said, he was obviously struggling to find the words to express himself. "I want no harm, I no die too, my female, and small one, no die."

"He has a mate and child," Celie said, eyes wide. "Is that right? You have a mate and young?"

"Yes, female, small one," Bo answered, nodding eagerly. "No die. Kul bad, say must harm all, but only die."

"Cole sent your people to fight us, but everyone he sent was killed," Elder Silas said. "You want to protect your mate and young, so you came here to speak to us?"

"Yes!" Bo answered excitedly. "Yes, I come, no harm. Female, I go far, no fight, no die."

"You came to us so you and your female can leave, and you want to make sure we won't kill you?" Enna asked.

"Yes," Bo answered.

"Why didn't you just leave?" Eden asked. "Why come here?"

"I come ask, no harm, no die, safe," Bo answered. "Kul say no leave, must fight."

"Do you mean you're asking us to protect you?" Harper asked.

"Female, small one, safe," Bo answered.

"He wants us to protect his mate and young," Charo said.

"Yes," Bo answered. "I no keep safe alone. Kul anger, harm when say back."

"So Cole is keeping them here and he's killing anyone who talks back or tries to leave," Moira said.

"How many of your kind are there with Cole?" Eva asked.

Bo struggled, obviously not sure how to answer the question.

"I'll be right back!" Celie said then jumped out of her seat and ran into the house.

Celie came back a few minutes later with a sketch pad and pencil, she drew four vertical lines with a slash line through them, then held up her hand fingers extended. She pointed to each vertical line and counted each finger, then the slash and held up all five.

"These marks stand for five, the same number of fingers on one hand," Celie explained. "How many hands?"

Bo stared at her for a second, his brows drawn together as he looked back down at the pad. They could see his mind working through the explanation and the marks on the paper. After staring at them for several seconds, he raised his hand and looked at it, then his eyes widened, and Celie knew he had it. She handed him the pencil and showed him how to hold the pencil, then make the marks on the page.

They glanced at each other as they watched him struggle with the concept of counting, Celie felt sorry for him, counting and adding couldn't be easy for him, how many years of school had it taken for her to learn to count and add? After staring at the page and looking at his own had for several minutes, he started drawing lines on the page, he drew the groups of five until he had counted out twenty-four, then he stopped and handed the pad back to Celie.

"Twenty-four," Celie told them.

"These are the warriors he has left?" Eden asked.

"Yes, like me," Bo confirmed.

Everyone was exchanging glances and Celie could tell they wanted to talk before asking him anymore questions or making any comments.

Celie mind linked everyone.

Eden turned to her sharply.

Celie rolled her eyes, before turning back to Bo.

"Are you hungry, Bo?" Celie asked.

"Hungry?" Bo asked, seemingly confused by the word.

"Do you want something to eat?" Celie asked, "Food? I have some shrimp, crab, and fish."

Bo's eyes widened and he stared at her for several seconds.

"Why don't you come with me? We'll get you something to eat while everyone talks about what you've told us." Celie said standing up.

When Bo just looked at her, she held out her hand to him again, but he hesitated, glancing nervously at Eden who was glowering at him. Celie narrowed her eyes at Eden, then slowly took Bo's hand and started leading him slowly toward the house.

After a glance at everyone else, Lorelai followed closely behind them, she wasn't leaving that creature alone with Celie, even if Eden was with them. While Lorelai had no doubt Eden could protect Celie, she just wasn't comfortable letting Celie out of her sight as long as the triton was around. He glanced back at her several times, though he was careful not to look her in the eyes, which caused Lorelai to smirk a little. So, the big bad triton was scared of little ole her, huh?

Celie led Bo to a table in the dining room and watched his eyes widen at the amount of food heaped on it.

"It might taste a little different than what you're used to, since we cook our food," Celie said, conversationally. As if having a triton over for a late lunch was totally normal, she let go of his hand to pick up a plate and hand it to him. "Hold that up, Sweetie, I'm going to put food on it. I only have one good hand so I can't hold it and put food on it at the same time."

Eden said, staring hard at Celie who pretended to ignore him as she loaded the plate Bo was holding with food.

Celie replied.

Eden retorted, causing Celie to chuckle.

Celie asked, giving Eden a look.

Eden said.

Celie scolded.

Eden said but glanced away trying to school his features.

"I'm going to give you a few veggies to go along with all that seafood, you don't have to eat it if you don't like it, but you never know until you try it," Celie said, hoping to put Bo at ease.

"Do you want a plate, Eden?" Celie asked sweetly.

"I've already eaten," Eden said sourly.

"Fine. Lorelai, would you like something?" Celie asked.

"No, thank you," Lorelai answered.

Celie got another plate and put a few items for herself on it, because she didn't want him to feel weird about eating alone. Then she led him over to the table and had him sit down and she sat in the chair next to him and started eating her food.

"Bo, are you from this area? From these waters I mean?" Celie asked politely.

"I swim here since I am small," Bo replied, following Celie's motions as she ate her food. His eyes widened the first time he got a full bite and Celie chuckled.

"Tastes different, doesn't it?" Celie said. "To make our food like that, we heat it up really high and do what we call cook it. Totally changes the flavor and texture and then we put different plants and other things on it to make it taste good."

Lorelai said through the mind link to Eden, who just scowled, his jaw clenching.

**

"Are we really going to sit here and let Celie run off with a fucking triton?" Adam burst out the second after Celie, Eden, and Lorelai were out of sight.

"Eden and Lorelai don't need any help with one triton," Matt said. "Can we get on with the real discussion because we don't have a lot of time before they come back."

"You don't really plan on trusting that thing, do you?" Reese asked incredulously.

"Listening to someone and trusting them are two different things," Harper said, annoyed. She really tried to put her feelings aside, but she still couldn't stand Reese no matter how hard she tried. As far as she was concerned, he needed to butt out.

"Harper, you don't know what you're talking about," Reese snapped. "You just need to..."

"Shut up, Reese!" Harper shouted, interrupting him. "We don't have time to argue about this right goddamn now, so just shut up! They're not going to be in there long and we have more important shit to discuss before they come back."

Luna Sophia shouted at him through the mind link, effectively shutting him up without calling him out in front of everyone else.

Reese clenched his teeth, it took every ounce of willpower he had not to lash out, but he knew from the stares he was getting from his parents that one more outburst would get him called out in front of the delegation and he couldn't have that.

"What are your thoughts on this?" Silas asked, turning to the siren elders after an unimpressed look at Reese.

"We do not know," Charo answered. "This has never happened before in the history of our species. But I don't know if that creature is capable of the level of intelligence or guile it would take to fool all of us."

"No, I don't believe so either," Moira said. "What he is telling us may or may not be accurate, but I don't think he's necessarily lying. His heart rate did not accelerate, nor did he show any other signs of deceit that we would normally see."

"Tritons could have different signs than us, certainly," Harper said. "But I doubt it, sirens don't have many, other than their body temperatures don't rise when they're lying or upset. They do have accelerated heart rates, altered breathing patterns, haptic reactions, speech pattern changes, and pupil dilation. Of course, he won't have the last two since he's barely able to speak and has no pupils...am I the only one getting freaked out by his eyes? Didn't think it would bother me that much, but just a solid black eye with no iris, pupil, or white is really unnerving. I'd like to examine them at some point to see exactly how their eyes work though."

"Really? That's what we're spending our precious time talking about?" Reese snarked.

"After this meeting you and I are going to have a conversation that you will not enjoy!" Harper spat at Reese.

"I'd appreciate it if you would not interrupt again, Alpha Reese," Miriam said, pining Reese with a hard stare.

"I apologize, Elder Miriam," Reese swallowed hard and bowed his head in respect. His irritation quickly giving way to embarrassment, the last thing he wanted to do was look like a petulant child in front of the elder council and that was exactly what he'd just done. He didn't dare glance at his parents, he knew exactly what reaction they would be having right now, and he didn't look forward to seeing them back at the condo this evening.

"I apologize as well, Elder Miriam," Harper said sincerely. "I don't normally allow people to get under my skin, but Alpha Reese seems to have a particular skill for doing just that."

"Considering your history, I'm not surprised," Miriam said with a raised brow. "Now you were saying?"

"I didn't detect any changes in his body that would indicate deceit," Harper continued. "His explanation is believable though, if he stays with Cole he's going to get killed, either by crossing Cole or because he attacked us. Coming here and pleading for mercy is his only shot at getting out of this alive."

"I agree," Ara said, unexpectedly. "Strategically it would be stupid of Cole to send him here as a spy, unless his only goal was to get his warrior killed. What would he gain from it? The risk would be too great for him to chance."

"Yes, I agree as well," Jae said. "If he is intelligent enough to learn all that he has learned, teach them, and unite them to his cause, he has to be intelligent enough to know that creature wouldn't be able to mislead us all. Bo is barely more than a juvenile, only a fool would trust him with a mission like this."

"I wonder if his story about having a female and child is true," Eva said. "If it is he has no options but to seek our protection, he also likely hopes we will ask other sirens to spare them in the future for helping us as well."

"We've theorized that they may start having mates as part of their evolution," Matt said.

"Am I the only one who noticed that he recognized the goddess mark on Celie's wrist?" Porter asked.

"What?!" All the elders cried in shock.

"Sorry, I hadn't really gotten a chance to mention that before now," Porter said, slightly embarrassed.

"Uh, yeah, sorry about that," Harper said, her own cheeks slightly pink, she'd completely forgotten about that until Porter brought it up. "He was really nervous and not sure whether he should come with us at first, then Cel just smiled and walked up to him, he saw her wrist and said 'Moon', then just took her hand and walked right up here."

The werewolf elders all exchanged looks, their eyes flying from one to another as they were clearly all mind linking about this development.

"We have much to discuss," Silas said.

"You believe the goddess has influenced these events," Enna said, watching the wolves closely.

"We believe it's certainly a possibility," Miriam replied after a moment. "What are the chances that the only two goddess marked wolves in generations just happen to stumble upon, and mate, two powerful siren warriors at exactly the same time as tritons are evolving enough to unite?"

"An unlikely coincidence," Charo agreed.