Young Liza was, of course, honored by the Union members' proposal. The desire to know all about Tehla and her connection to the Union was burning within her. After the meeting, Veedha showed her around the research center and introduced her to the people who worked there. She saw Kalo, Kaba's friend, and together they reminisced about the events in Babowa. He explained to her that the Union had tasked him with protecting her during her stay in the Central region, where he was originally from. So, he went there and met Kaba, by way of the judo club in the city of Bakunga. Later, he made himself out to be the best guide in the region, with the goal of leading Mutis to have him take part in the visit to Babowa. Kalo mentioned, among other things, Eric's crucial role in coordinating the Union's plan.

Liza watched the Dayli as he spoke. He seemed to be about five years older than her. He certainly looked strong, with his big, muscular hands and broad neck, but for the first time, he appeared to her as surprisingly cultured and perceptive. She then realized that this man had managed to be both the least memorable person of her trip to Bakunga and one of the key characters in the adventure.

The evening meal was usually served at the headquarters. This was also the case that day. Afterwards, Veedha and Liza headed back on a different path than the one from that morning, which passed, this time, by a long, white sand beach.

"So, there has never been a Shama domain in the region of Babowa where the four villages are located?" the young woman asked.

"Never," Veedha replied softly. "It was a decoy, intended to throw off the H Group researchers' mission. The Shamas' former camp is in another part of the Babowa territory."

"This 'H Group' seems to be your biggest enemy," she remarked.

"The Union doesn't consider anyone or anything as its enemy. It is opposed to any action deemed more harmful than beneficial to nature, such as those generally perpetrated by organizations similar to H Group," Veedha explained.

"How can you be convinced that your judgment is better than theirs?" Liza continued.

"Our judgment doesn't focus much on morality or even common sense. It is based on a science discovered in ancient Egypt, called the 'language of the stars.' Ernesto probably already told you about it. This science is known only to members of the Union. It is not an Earth science, but rather a science of all that may or may not exist. For now, remember that this science has enabled the Union to get human slavery abolished on almost the whole planet. This particularly laborious accomplishment involved the participation of several members over several centuries, the best-known being Imhotep, Jesus Christ, and Abraham Lincoln," she told her proudly.

"I'm very surprised to learn that they were in the Union," Liza said, amazed.

"They were Guides of the Daylis, with the exception of Jesus, who was a Guardian."

"Who would have thought? And it seems to me that everyone here trusts in you, Veedha. I've deduced that you are the current Guardian."

"I am the Guide of the Huris, not the Guardian, whom you will surely end up meeting."

"You'd have to be more than human to inherit Jesus's role, I suppose."

"You simply have to be THE Guardian," Veedha said, smiling.

"Why didn't the Union prevent Jesus's death? You controlled a whole army of Shamas, after all," Liza reproached her.

"Because that was the plan. We brought him back to life three days later, as planned, with medicine developed by our Huris. And then he lived on the island, where you currently find yourself."

"How did he become the Guardian?"

"The 'language of the stars' made it possible to identify Jesus Christ as the Guardian long before his birth," Veedha explained to her. "The Guide of the Huris then went to meet his mother, Mary, in order to explain to her who her son would be for humanity and for the world, and to hand over the 'vehicle of the living' to her. When Jesus was born, the three Guides of the Union went to Bethlehem to pay homage to him."

"So, the Three Wise Men were Union members?" the young woman exclaimed.

"Absolutely. Later, Jesus joined the Union and began his training in Egypt."

"Jesus's legacy for humanity is huge, I realize that," she admitted.

"The profound concept of 'love thy neighbor' came from our science, and its first implication was actually the end of all forms of xenophobia, as well as the abolition of human slavery."

"And how does Tehla fit into all this?" Liza suddenly asked.

"It is a tool of the 'language of the stars.' Several secret organizations have been looking for it for millennia, hoping to decode its science."

"Isn't Tehla 'the vehicle of the living'?"

"To understand Tehla, you need to know the 'language of the stars.' 'The vehicle of the living' is a mystery that no one has yet fully elucidated."

"Was I wrong to bring it to Babowa?"

"No. And moreover, we never would have stopped you. Our vocation is not to control the world, only to keep it running smoothly, by following the principles of our science."

"Have these principles ever led the Union to kill anyone?"

"Yes," she said, visibly distressed. "Mainly during pre-existing wars."

"So, what makes you think you are better than other occult groups who claim to kill for the good of humanity?"

"This is precisely the choice you face when joining the Union: human values according to international law or universal values according to the 'language of the stars.'"

"But I must first become a member of the Union before I will understand this science..." Liza realized.

"Suffice to say that occurrences of divergence between the two approaches are extremely rare, because most of the ideologies that international law is inspired by were developed and propagated by members of the Union. Remember that we are fighting for the betterment of life. The death of one individual does not usually resolve a crisis, unlike the birth of another. Even our traitors are left alive."

"I showed Tehla to my friend Dendu one day, in Tanganyika, which I have since regretted doing. Could this have compromised his safety?"

"The Union does not interfere in what is understood to be a normal course of events. Dendu had Tehla stolen, with the aim of selling it to his family's jewelers. But since our spies have yet to inform us of any interest by secret organizations in the young man, there is no reason to worry."

"I'm guessing my mother was a member of the Union," she suggested.

"No. She never knew of its existence."

"But why are you revealing yourself to me, her daughter? We were both in possession of the same object."

"You alone were destined to discover the Union."

"And what will happen if I refuse to join?"

"The Union will respect your choice, of course. We will also continue to watch over your physical safety, as well as Tehla's."

"So, I won't lose anything?"

"Everything will be as it was before, you have my word."

"Can I leave the Union later, if I want?"

"Affirmative. The Union just hopes you will never turn against it."

"If I do, what will happen to me?" Liza asked, worried.

"Rest assured that we will find the best way to handle the situation, taking your well-being into account."

"Like you do with all your traitors?"

"Exactly. The last traitor we discovered is currently free in all his movements. Unbeknownst to him, he is being used to throw off H Group's operations in Babowa. We communicate false information to them through him, such as the existence of a stone of Babowa in the region. So that he never suspects anything, his dual function is known only to the Guides and the College. His only knowledge about the Union is worthless, unusable by anyone. Being part of the organization is a real calling, not simply a fact of circumstance."

"That's a feeling I've had since I arrived here," Liza confessed. "No one ends up on this island by chance. And even growing up, I've always felt that it is very noble to serve others."

"I was very shocked by your mother's passing," Veedha said sadly. "Unfortunately, the Union only has the ability to bring the dead back to life when it conforms to the laws of our science. She was destined to be a great mother, in order to be able to raise you. She would have given Tehla to you personally before you left for Tanzania, if that tragic accident had not suddenly taken her away. The Union will honor her always," she promised Liza.

"That's nice, Veedha. I don't know what to say... Part of me died with her."

"Above all, be worthy of her!"

"I'll try!"

The young woman quickly got used to the sight of the wild animals that inhabited the island. Invisible shadows accompanied them the whole way to Veedha's residence. From her room, Liza reassured her father and her brothers that her stay was progressing nicely. She slept little that night, but very peacefully.

The next morning, she had breakfast with the Guide of the Huris.

"Is it possible to permanently eradicate evil on Earth?" the young woman asked.

"Evil is indispensable," Veedha began. "It goes hand in hand with good. One allows the other to be, and vice versa. But perhaps your question is whether certain events associated with evil, such as armed conflict, could go away. In that case, I would say that they can be substantially reduced or transformed, but this will have the effect of generating or aggravating other kinds of events associated with evil," she continued.

"So, violence will always find a way to be useful?"

"Certainly. Besides, it isn't a human invention."

"Yesterday, I recognized certain people among the members of the College. They are well-known personalities."

"Yes, several major institutions around the world are supported by the Union, without their knowledge. Our activities couldn't possibly be accomplished within this island's capacities, and neither could our methods."

"I've noticed that your technologies are far superior to what the rest of the world is familiar with. This house, for example, is more sophisticated than a spaceship, despite looking like a mountain cabin," Liza said, amused.

"According to our science, everything is a technology. Nature, life, the universe... Our challenges are therefore essentially technological, too. You'd be shocked to know the destructive capacity of a single Shama equipped with our weapons, or the huge amount of electricity generated from the island's flora, using our technologies," Veedha explained to her.

"That's a power that calls for an enormous sense of responsibility."

"The Union is, in fact, a natural counterweight to the secret organizations that want to control the world and consider themselves above human rights. And if the Union were ever to become corrupt, other entities would take its place: nature wants it to be so."

"Do you really need such a great capacity for destruction?"

"Absolutely. It's true that there is much virtue in choosing to defend the weak, especially when we can defeat the strong, but we are neither the good guys nor the bad guys, Liza. Our role is to make sure, in complete neutrality, that the natural balance between order and chaos is maintained. This requires all possible means."

"Yet you intend to play the hero in my country, by neutralizing the rebellions in order to end the massacres of innocent civilians."

"That is to accelerate the adoption of technologies that do not use polluting minerals, the exploitation of which accounts for these pseudo-rebellions. When the global demand for those minerals collapses, the interest in financing these wars will wane, and so will the massacres of civilian populations. Without our intervention, this deadly mining development, disguised as war, will long continue to be profitable in the eyes of the electronics component manufacturers who benefit from it, but also disastrous for the future of the planet. The current balance in this situation is clearly tilting in favor of chaos. The Union has been preparing an action plan for twenty years now. This will make it possible, as an alternative, to guarantee better social development in the region. Your country's economic development depends on conditions that are difficult to bring together in the short term, but not impossible."

Liza spent her entire stay on the island in the company of Veedha, who answered all her concerns and became her confidante. The young woman assimilated perfectly the knowledge transmitted to her by the Union's scholar during the ten days of lessons. The impartiality of the secret organization's role seemed clearer to Liza with time. The island was probably the perfect example of this. Wild and hostile, yet rewarding every moment for the people who lived there.

It was with full conviction that Liza made the decision to join the Union. The College granted her a few days of vacation, as well, in her country before confirming her membership in the secret organization. Her precise role would not be determined until the end of the several-month-long training she was about to begin. All the truth about the Shamas had been revealed to her, of course, but a web of mysteries still shrouded her good luck charm, Tehla. The object was a tool of the science of the Union, a discipline she first had to learn. Thus, she had to be patient.

In the end, it turned out that her father had been right in thinking that the mysterious object was linked to the legend of the leopard-men. He was, however, mistaken about the true nature of this connection, which he believed to be due to the fact that his late wife was from Babowa, a territory known for having been home to the domain of the Shamas.

Liza remembered the envelope where she had found Tehla. The message inside it had actually been addressed to her.

The young woman bid farewell to the inhabitants of the island and returned to Congo, before flying to another location led by a woman: New Zealand. There, Liza would enroll in the Institute of Marine Research and receive a scholarship that would allow her to study the Union's curriculum.