Maurr translated the message quickly. "The Xahrr ask for a meeting with us." "THOSE Xahrr?" Kahrr goggled. Maurr nodded: "Xahrr is the most powerful Red house after Kuhrr, my uncle's house, and the richest. Three generations ago they were almost exterminated by Puhrr's great grandfather, during the so called Bloody Feud, and since then they have held a low profile, politically speaking. They ask to meet me and Puhrr in the flesh in Rogue territory, since they're persons of interest and cannot leave the Rogue space. Do you think it's a trap?" JS shrugged: "It might, but I don't think so, it's too elaborate for your uncle." "The Xahrr!" Purr cried, coming in with Eve. "Greedy merchants who do nothing without a large profit!" "That's good." JS grinned. "It means the situation in the Rasharr worlds is so dire they think it's worth the risk of exposing themselves. Our plan might work if we make them our allies, Maurr." "Right on!" Maurr exclaimed. "And the Xahrr hate my uncle deadly. He was the one who cut the throats of all Xharr infants, 'an easy task when I was still a kid!' he boasted." "The Xahrr hate us," Puhrr admitted. "so they'll demand the Reds' High Matriarch would be a Xahrr, not me. They'll say I have lost touch with our Sacred Soil flying into space." "This is indeed a problem. Many would do the same objection." Kahrr nodded. "Puhrr should be the Reds' matriarch: she's one of us!" Eve stated. "Speaking of matriarchs, we have a problem." JS intervened. "We must also have a Blue High Matriarch." "And her rank must be equal either to mine or the Xahrr's." Puhrr emphasized. "As far as I know all my female relatives were executed as heretics, and so are those that haven't sworn allegiance to the GHOULs." Maurr interjected. "Your aunt Behrr!" Puhrr cried excitedly. "Aunt Behrr ..." an affectionate smile passed over Maurr's face. "Lady Behrr refused to marry one of my cousins, a guy like Nuhrr, so to speak, and was forced to become the abbess of the convent in Zosma, a bleak little world." Puhrr explained. "She's perfect, Maurr!" "It's worth trying." Maurr said, "Yet Kahrr is right: if the sacred link with our native soil is broken, our people won't accept you as a Matriarch." "Here's my plan!" JS grinned. "We'll accept the meeting with the Xahrr. Let them set the place, but we'll ask them to bring Lady Behrr. If I understand Rasharr rules, the Xahrr Lord has to go to fetch lady Behrr, right?" Maurr nodded. "Well, there he'll find us waiting for him. We'll go to Zosma and get Lady Behrr before him. If it's a trap, it will be at the meeting place, not on Zosma." "What about the Sacred Soil taboo?" Eve asked. "I'm working on it." JS replied. When they landed on Zosma there was no welcoming party, but only a few scared nuns. Aunt Behrr was happy to see them. Maurr quickly explained the situation. "Maurr, you instil life in a dry wood!" Behrr cried, "but when we leave, I'll find myself in the same situation as Puhrr's." The woman turned to JS and explained: "When they carry us here, we travel on special ships, the Mother's Gardens, where there's an area covered with Rasharr soil, so we always walk over our land. We couldn't be High Matriarchs." "These Rogues are like vampires in Transylvania!" Teopolos muttered. JS chuckled and pulled out a pair of sandals he had worked on for the whole trip. He had given an identical pair to Puhrr saying: "Put them on when we land." "My lady," JS told Lady Behrr, "as you can see in these sandals there's a layer of dirt, it's Rasharr soil. With these sandals you'll always have the Rasharr soil under your feet, literally." "This trick opens the doors of the space to Rasharr women, too!" Lady Behrr was rapt. "Females travelling into space! This will be a new era!" Puhrr cried. "How will you call these shoes, JS?" "Transylvania Shoes, what else?" JS grinned. "Now we'll wait for the Xahrr." -- Thanks!