GETTING BACK

Guess what? Ki didn't spend anything like two cars or a service apartment at Tegan's Pen Store. I did.

He had contracted Tegan to supply my personal stationery (complete with embossed letterheads, matching navy blue envelopes, and vellum) and commissioned my wax seal to be crafted here. If they did well, he might consider them for future contracts to supply for Bell, our FAO etc.

Okay, technically it wasn't 2 cars and an apartment, it was only POTENTIALLY so, and all still "free" because my personal stationery was one of the items covered under the very generous betrothal allowance from my Lorent Family. Ki was very pleased to have finally found a supplier of suitable exclusivity and quality for this. Tegan's historical ties to Night Forest was the cherry on top of the PR sundae. It would reflect my good relationship with my father's home pack.

Ki quite liked the idea of using Tegan's papers for the Alpha Princess, including all documents that would bear my signature/stamp/seal from the FAO. He was bouncing the idea off the other two betas over the beta mindlink as we boarded the bus.

To my surprise, the idea wasn't immediately shot down by the other two.

{I'll leave it to you, Ki.} Harvey said, {Send me the budget estimate.}

{Whatever.} Ben said, {It's not like we can't afford it.}

It almost sounded like we were loaded in this timeline.

From Tegan's, we took our chartered bus down two shops on the same street. I had forgotten about stopping at the teahouse, but Oscar hadn't. In fact, it looked like he had managed to arrange for the shop to be readied for our arrival while we were shopping at Tegan's.

The shopkeepers stood at the entrance of the completely empty teahouse with a handful of employees to bow us to our table. It was rustic and quiet. They served us a tea sampling set paired with little handmade pastries and sweets.

Ben insisted on coffee and sandwiches, but the rest of us sampled the tea and enjoyed the new experience.

Once again, I felt very thankful for all the finer useless skills Lala had honed in my previous life. The tea sets were made of glass too, so thanks to Sir Wolfgang's tutelage, I was able to make a perfect quiet clink every single time. I felt very proper, but also a little silly since most of the other wolves were just eating in whichever way they usually got food or drink into their mouths. No one noticed or cared about the perfect teacup clink.

After our tea break, Delta Felicity got down to business. She beamed and asked questions and after chatting with the teahouse owner, bought half a dozen boxes of tea leaves for souvenirs and a box of pastries for the road.

Ki ordered two dozen boxes of assorted handmade sweets to be delivered directly to the Night Leaf Alpha House by the end of the week.

I think between the two of them, we'll probably buy enough stuff to revive Night Forest's economy. All Oscar had to do was to take us to a few more shops.

Oscar however, only wanted to get us back to Night Forest. I think he had enough of us. Poor Oscar. It had been a stressful day. He had to get us back in time for dinner too. Dinner was a formal thing at Night Forest, we had to dress up and show up at the Pack house Dining Hall on time.

Even though Grandma Luna wasn't around, I imagined Uncle Louis would still be keeping tradition. It would be disrespectful to keep the Alpha Host waiting at his own dining table.

We got back by mid afternoon, and I watched from the porch as the warriors unloaded crates of wine and a couple of barrels. There were also several other bags and boxes from wherever the GAP Analysis Team had explored before we joined them.

Delta Felicity was very pleased because she got them at a good deal. Ki was very charming and scored a free bottle from her on the basis of sampling it in consideration for the upcoming High Council Meeting we would be hosting this week.

Delta Bernard was pleased too, "That was a fruitful trip."

He was probably the only wolf from Night Leaf who didn't do any shopping though, just collected data.

Ben walked me up to our family apartment and left me to get ready... It was only 3.30pm, so I had a lot of time before dinner. Strange, it wasn't like my betas to leave me with free time, but maybe Ben just wanted me out of the way so that my betas could get actual work done.

I didn't mind. It was hard coming back to Night Forest and remembering that Grandpa Alpha wasn't going to be here. I'm not sure why, but I still kept expecting to see him.

Like my first thought when I got off the bus was to go tell him about the teahouse we went to.

I wondered what he was doing or where he might be. Maybe in the garden?

It was still early, maybe we could go take a walk in the woods before dinner?

And then I'd remember that Grandpa Alpha died, and had to convince myself all over again that he really was dead. No, I didn't see him die, but I saw his body in the coffin... We buried him... And then I had to remember the feelings of that cold miserable morning all over again.

I guess I hadn't gotten over Grandpa Alpha's passing after all. It surprised me because I barely gave it a thought when I was back home, but here, his absence echoed everywhere for me.

I mulled over why he had to die so soon, and then about how even in Timeline 3, he had to be dead. Was this "how it should be"? Would it be possible to change this if I went back in time? But would he want me to change this? His tombstone had read "No regrets."

Stoopid Grandpa Alpha.

I ran a bath so that I could sulk properly.

Bell was going to die in about a hundred years with no regrets too.

Stoopid Bell.

The men in my life, with all their powers... And they could not just live to the average lifespan of a normal wolf. They even had the power of time traveling cats... Time traveling cats!

Suddenly it all clicked in place, no not my Grandpa Alpha's passing, but Bell. His new powers and the fact that he was my Original Bell from from my Original Timeline. Time traveling cats! I don't know how or when, but Bell had definitely used the cats.

Suddenly, it became quite clear to me that all the times it was said that these cat's powers should not fall into the wrong hands meant very specifically that they shouldn't fall in Bell's hands.

I got out of the tub with new found purpose. Okay, I still had a hundred years to figure out a way to keep my Luna alive. No issue. I just need to drag the truth out of him. What exactly had my Luna done now? Because he definitely did something and all magic had a cost.

Wrapping a towel while dripping a puddle on the cold bathroom floor I remembered the way the marble floors had turned black and melted under our feet at Bell's appearance. That was NOT natural - even considering the fact that Bell was the Tyger King.

I thought back very carefully, exactly when did Bell become the Original Bell? And what happened to the Bell from this timeline? He couldn't have just disappeared!

The problem of having a genius evil mastermind as your mate was that the possibilities were not just endless, they were probably also rather dire.

But I wasn't the dumb pup Sam or the silly girl Lala anymore. I wasn't going to immediately summon Bell and bring him to task (although that had been my first thought.) I wasn't going to cry and wish for someone to come scold Bell for me either. (I'm proud to report this particular option did not even surface while I thought about it.)

I was going to bid my time and pretend I hadn't noticed. Let's see what my Moon and Rose was up to.

Either that, or I was going to seriously give him a piece of my mind! I hadn't quite decided yet. All of the above was also on the cards.

Whichever way, I'm older and wiser now. Not the puppy I used to be. If Bell thought he would be able to just slip this past me with his arrogant smirking handsome face, he had another thing coming!

Getting angry with Bell gave me new energy so that I could get dressed into whatever Ki had laid out for me. Ki had also set out my new purchases on the dressing table.

I went over to look at the new fountain pens and neat stack of notebooks. Ki had also placed the hydrangea blue ink bottle out for me. Did he mean for me to use them?

Well, I did have some time... I gingerly selected the navy blue pen and carefully unwrapped it from it's box. It was the same navy as my diary. And then I carefully turned the bottle cap.

Gloria had made loading the pen look very easy. I hesitated. Well, here goes nothing. Turning the back of the pen, I loaded up the ink through the nib. And then realized I needed something to blot it on. Ki did leave a white muslin square but I couldn't wipe off ink on that! Wouldn't it stain? Tissue! I looked about and found some in the living room.

Okay.

It was really very mess free. Except for the tissue, nothing had dripped. I felt pretty excited at my initial success. Ignoring the new notebooks, I rummaged through my bag and found my diary.

I was going to journal in style now!

But reality kicked in the moment I settled down in my bed, I realized the fountain pen didn't do so well without a flat surface. I couldn't really write with my diary on my lap or pillow, and goddess forbid roll over on my back with fountain pen in hand! Also I kept needing to put the diary down to cap or uncap the pen because it required two hands to be screwed on and off. And I kept having to put the cap on and off because it was very inky and I worried about getting ink on the sheets if I put the pen on my bed uncapped.

Journaling in style also required a desk and a chair... I moved myself over to the dressing table where Ki had set up all my new writing stuff in the first place.

I also realized rather belatedly, that one could not rush a fountain pen the way we might with a ball point pen, nor press it down in the same way. Ugly handwriting was particularly stark, so I really had to slow down, breathe, and keep my lettering as even in stroke and spacing as possible.

It was like learning to write all over again. No worse, it was learning calligraphy all over again. It was laborious and exacting... Why did I think this was a good idea?

But once I started, I couldn't stop. It was somewhat addictive, painting on each stroke and watching the ink gleam and then lighten to a matt purplish blue. Like the color of hydrangeas. I found keeping my letters rounded made my handwriting look cuter.

Slowing down also gave my mind more time to reflect. I wondered why my Grandpa Alpha would give away that magic pen. If I had something as magical as that, I would sooner die than hand it over to anyone else. I really should go tell Grandpa Alpha off for carelessly giving magical treasures away. Maybe I'll drop by at his office before dinner, see if he's there... Oh, right.

Two knocks on my door signaled a welcome distraction. (I guess Wolfgang was not around to forbid disturbing a lady in her chambers. Lol.)

Ben let himself in straight after.

"Oh good." He looked mildly relieved, "You're ready to go."

What if I wasn't? Never mind disturbing a lady in her chambers, someone teach Ben not to walk in on a lady changing!

"But it's not anytime close to dinner!" I protested instead.

Ben paused, and then figured out where my confusion stemmed from, "Oh yeah, I was supposed to tell you. We are making a PR appearance at your Grandpa's grave before dinner."

Eh? What was there to PR about Grandpa's grave?

As an afterthought, he added, "You have a meeting with the GAP team after dinner too. Anyway, the details are all on your calendar."

My calendar... which was in my phone which I must have misplaced once again.

I looked around my room in a weak attempt to find it. Ben once again figured me out without explanation. He fished it out of his jacket and handed it to me.

It was with him all this while?

"How am I supposed to see my calendar if my phone's in your jacket?"

He had the decency to look sheepish, "Well, now you know. Let's go."

Wth.

Who decided to let Ben manage my schedule? Where was Harvey?

As I left the room with Ben, I worried about seeing my Grandpa Alpha's grave. I wasn't ready to see it again, but I guess it was basic respect to visit his grave now that I was at Night Forest. Maybe seeing it again would help cement the idea that he was permanently gone better. I wasn't sure I wanted that.

Well, I did want to scold him for giving away his magic pen. I imagined he would laugh and say something that would make me even more angry. Grandpa Alpha enjoyed provoking me when he was alive. I sighed very softly. It wasn't fair... I was just a dumb pup then. He didn't even wait to see me grow up! He never gave me a fighting chance to get back at him.