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Later Tobal was introduced to each of the new initiates by Crow. Crow's initation had gone well and he had seen the Lord and Lady just as Tobal said he would. He was so excited and wanted to tell Tobal everything right there in front of everyone. Tobal urged him to wait till later when they were alone and could talk more quietly and respectfully. Crow agreed, but Tobal could see he was extremely excited.



He tried to speak alone with Melanie and Becca but they were so busy chatting with the others that he gave up in frustration. He wanted to know the two girls better but always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He really enjoyed the few trips they had made to sanctuary together. It seemed with all the partnering going on he was feeling lonely and left out much of the time. It didn't help that much of this was his own personal choice.




It was during the party and after the initiations that Tobal, Rafe, and Ellen got together and compared notes.




"I want to check it out myself", Rafe was telling them both.




"It's not a good time right now", Ellen said. "The snow will make it easy to track you to the location and it will no longer be secret. The ice in the pool and the coldness of the water also make it very dangerous. Tobal was lucky he was able to find warm clothes and get a torch going for warmth. He might have died from hypothermia."




"She"s right, Rafe", he said. "I was lucky to get out of there alive. I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn't gotten that fire going."




Ellen continued, "I've been keeping a patrol over that area looking for rogues every couple of days. What is interesting is there always seems to be fresh tracks in the area around the lake but I never see anyone. I am convinced they are looking for some secret location they know is there but can't find. They are looking for the location you found Tobal." She looked at him with a peircing stare. "There is something very important about that location. Are you sure you have told me everything?"




She tried to be polite, but both Tobal and Rafe knew she was serious and she knew they were withholding information from her. They looked at each other and Tobal shrugged uneasily.




"This gets weird", he said a bit lamely.




Ellen was looking at him with a let's get this over with expression. He considered and then gave in. Ellen was someone he trusted even if he didn't know her that well. He had no reason to believe she would turn him in or cause him harm. She had already been very helpful to him.





"It's all confused", he began. "It involves my uncle who used to be the Federation Officer here. He was in charge of the classified work my parents were doing. It involves Sarah's father who has a very strange shop in Old Seattle. That's not all", he said resignedly. "It also involves Crow's grandfather, a shaman named Howling Wolf from the local village and the mass murder of all the people living at the old gathering spot by the waterfall. These deaths include my own parents, Crow's parents, Sarah's mother and two brother's that she doesn't even know she has."




"Damn", Rafe whispered in stunned shock.