Proto-Cluedo

To say Captain Smith was ahead of his time was an understatement. His students were diverse with a few being black, one being Bengali and another of East Asian heritage, his showed no prejudice towards the Romani that a man of his time would have and now, he had invented an Ancient Egyptian themed forerunner of the game "Cluedo." However, this forerunner of his was less than perfect. While it did have the six playing pieces, there were only four possible murder weapons and eight locations with those being a dagger, an ankh, a sceptre and a khopesh for the weapons and a sphinx, an oasis, a boat, a temple, a waterfall, a market, a tent and a tomb for the locations.

Alexander was the first to enter his master's office and when he did, the first thing he did was jump up onto the desk that Captain Smith, Miss Lombard, Mr. Cook, Miss Armstrong, Herman and Verna were playing the game at. Sniffing the game pieces, the Northern Caracal proceeded to join the game himself, by knocking Herman's from the desk and then jumping onto the floor and continuing to knock the piece about before running into Harold, who simply sniffed his caracal compeer before making his way to the people seated at the desk, tail wagging and giving everyone kisses as only a canine can.

Then entered Timothy and Colette. Upon seeing their old classmates, Herman and Verna both stood up, walked over and embraced their dear friends, all while Alexander batted Herman's playing piece to his feet.

Chuckling, Herman knelt down and gave Alexander a good scratch behind the ears. "You like this game, Alexander?" he asked.

Alexander merely meowed a response before returning to the desk, upon which he found the pieces gone. Looking back and forth in confusion, the grimalkin decided to just lie down upon the board. While Captain Smith could only sigh and shake his head, while at the same time mildly amused, Miss Lombard, Mr. Cook and Miss Armstrong all laughed and proceeded to pet the caracal.

The next thing Alexander knew, a cry could be heard coming from nearby. Bolting up, Alexander looked around with eyes wide and ears fully erect.

Turning around in his chair, Captain Smith looked out his office window. Alexander followed his master's gaze and there saw Gemma with the babies. She was rocking a crying Orion, while Emmeline cried as well.

"You need a hand there, Gemma?" asked Captain Smith, fully prepared to climb out of his office window to aid his head gardener's daughter with the crying infants.

"No, no! I'm fine, Captain Smith!" Gemma replied in a voice that she was anything but.

Before Captain Smith could even stand, Alexander leapt from the desk and out the window. Over he walked towards Gemma and the crying babes, approaching Emmeline and wondering how something so small could make so much noise. Giving the baby girl a sniff, the Northern Caracal soon found her attention on him. No longer crying, Emmeline stared at Alexander with wide, happy eyes as she petted the feline to her heart's delight. As Gemma managed to get Orion to cease his crying, she gave Alexander a smile and wondered where Roxana was before remembering. She was with the Dupont children.

"Gemma!" Miss Lombard called from the office window. "What happened?"

Gemma replied. "Orion woke up crying and then he got Emmeline crying too!"

What? Alexander could hardly believe it. Human infants cried that easily? That was most strange.

Taking a moment to scratch an itch, Alexander looked up to the sky, then over to the river, before finally turning his gaze over to the graves and Grandpa and Nana Smith. Captain Smith's brother Conan was there, Cnut by his side.

Walking over to Mr. Smith, Alexander looked at his master's younger brother, kneeling before the graves of his parents. Listening to Mr. Smith as he spoke, Alexander sat next to Cnut.

"I should have been here when you both died… If I had not been so stupid, I never would have left… On the other hand, if I had then I never would have met Zenobia and so Ian and Natasha never would have been born… I think you would have liked them, dad… and I think you would have liked Natasha, mom. I know you were well-acquainted with Ian, the first time you met him was when he started attending school here… That isn't how things should have been though. You should have met him when he was a baby, not when he was five… Honestly, Canada keeps calling me, Quebec Castle keeps calling me and now that I am here, I don't want to go back to Britain. Zenobia doesn't want to either. Just last night she told me some people are born in the wrong decade, century or millennium… After which she told me that it took coming here for the wedding for her to realize she had been born in the wrong country!" Giving a small laugh, Mr. Smith then said: "I guess we will be living here in Canada then. Hopefully Kull will allow us to live here. Lord knows Quebec Castle has enough room for one more family. The only question is what could I do to pull my weight around here? I'm a locksmith back in Britain. Sure, that might come in handy from time to time, but what exactly am I supposed to do besides that?" Sighing, he uttered: "I don't know… I just don't know… Locksmith of Quebec Castle… Good Lord…" Noticing Alexander, Mr. Smith held out a hand, which Alexander tapped with his head, rubbing his cranium against it in a friendly manner. "I wasn't here when Darius was either, though I guess I will be here for when you are, Alexander." Stroking the Northern Caracal's back, Mr. Smith uttered: "You know this was the first time I ever met Alan, Alexander? My nephew, my sixteen-year-old nephew and this is the first time I've ever met him. Truly, I have been away from home for too long."

Alexander knew not what to think of that. Quebec Castle was his home now and he could not imagine what being away from it so long might have been like.

Taking a moment to groom himself, the Northern Caracal noticed an old man standing nearby. His countenance was similar to that of both Captain and Mr. Smith and it did not take Alexander long to realize this was the spirit of Grandpa Smith. With a cane in his hand, the old man's spirit knelt down and placed a hand upon the shoulder of his son.

"Welcome home, Conan." He said. "It is good to have you back, my son."

To Alexander's surprise, Mr. Smith turned and looked around. Alas, he did not see his paterfamilias' apparition… And yet… And yet his master's brother was aware of the apparition's presence, even if he could not see his father. He had felt his hand, he had heard his voice. Alexander could not understand it. He could feel his father's hand, hear his father's voice, why then could Mr. Smith not see his father's spirit?

Why could the feline folk see spirits but not humans? It was a riddle that Alexander knew not the answer to. Had that always been the case? Had there ever been a ghost that humans could see as well as cats? Perhaps Alexander had heard of such a case and he had forgotten. Many things were spoken of at Quebec Castle.

When Darius' apparition came walking up, Alexander's ears went fully erect and his eyes went wide. The old caracal, his ears tufts drooping, stared at the younger cat before making a chirping noise and walking away towards the edge of the river.

Instinctively, Alexander followed his predecessor and there did the two caracals stand, staring across the river where their enemy Miltiades roamed, only to have become bolder. The final battle was coming, this they knew to be so.