BY SAVY, FOR SAVY

22 February, Monday, CONTINUED

After that, Alpha Gunter excused himself, "Now that we have come to a satisfactory understanding, I will be returning to have dinner with my son."

They were still staying at our packhouse guest suites.

"Your son is very welcome to come over to join us too." Mum, ever the gracious host offered.

Alpha Gunter managed a tight smile, "Thank you, Luna. That is very kind of you, but I believe it would be better to keep our children away from each other, at least until I return with the bands."

To my Dad, Alpha Gunter said, "Rest assured. I will return with those bands."

And then the Snow Alpha turned and left, Beta Glenn at heel. Beta Lucas quickly got up to follow them out and see them back to the packhouse.

The moment they were gone, we made a beeline to the dining room where Ki had laid out everything for dinner. I was definitely not the only one who was hungry.

"Alphas and Lunas are here." Ben intoned.

The correct way to say it would be, "Alpha Kingsley, his luna, and Young Alpha Sam and her luna are here."

No, come to think of it, the REALLY REALLY correct way would be, "Alpha Kingsley and his Luna are here and Young Alpha Lorent and his Luna are here."

But when had we ever done anything correctly here?

Anyway, it was just Ki, who was setting down the last piece of silverware.

Ki nodded a bow, "Is Alpha Gunter not joining us after all?"

"Oh," Mum realized, "I'm sorry Ki. He decided not to after all."

"That's just Alpha Gunter." Dad shrugged, "He's always been a recluse."

Which was the case of the pot calling the kettle black, but I didn't bother to point it out.

Ki made a move to remove the new place setting.

"Leave it Ki." Dad decided, "Lucas will join us for dinner. I have things to discuss with him after this"

"Understood, Alpha." Ki demurred.

"Also, note that there will be no dream travelling until further notice." My Alpha Dad instructed.

My betas bowed.

"But Dad! We had plans!" I protested.

"Your plans can wait, Sam." Dad shook his head, "For your sister's sake..."

Savy and Sabre popped in just at that moment and Dad shut up.

Savy didn't seem to notice, "Just in time for dinner! I thought he'd never leave!"

"Yeah, I thought he'd never leave!" Sabre parroted. She even made the same Savy-gesture and little sigh at the end of the exclamation.

Mum pursed her lips, "Savy, please be mindful of your tone. Your little sister is learning from you."

"No, I'm not." Sabre said, "I'm learning from myself."

"We all saw you copy Savy." I said.

"I did not! Those were my own words!" Sabre said. The worst thing was how she truly believed it.

"They were not!" I argued, "No 5 year old talked like that!"

"I'm six!" Sabre snapped.

"Same difference!" I snapped back.

"Girls!" Mum stopped us there, "That's enough. Sam... You're older, please."

It's not fair, just because I was older!

And then Mum turned her attention back to Savy and Sabre because a mother's work was never done, "Alpha Gunter had his reason for visiting..."

"Yeah, he..." I started. Dad cut me off with a warning growl.

"I was going to say he's going to be your father in law." I shot Dad another pointed look.

Savy looked from me to dad. Unlike me, Savy wasn't slow, so I was sure she knew something was up. (But this was Dad's fault for being so obvious about it.)

I had to say though, this was a refreshingly new perspective for me. Usually, everyone would be trying to keep things from ME, not Savy.

Mum expertly stepped in and changed the subject, "Did you girls manage to finish studying for your exam tomorrow?"

"Yes." "No." Savy and I answered at the same time.

"Good." Mum said, and then she realized what I had answered, "Oh, Sam..."

"I didn't study either." Sabre admitted in a small voice, "Savy was doing my nails in the glass room while we listened to the grownups talk."

Wait what?

Now we were all looking at Savy.

She merely shrugged it off, "I finished revising and thought I'd spend some time with Sabre. I didn't know you were all going to be talking so loudly."

If I ever get caught evesdropping, I needed to learn lines like these. Savy even had an alibi!

Mum sighed, "Oh, Savy!"

Again a new perspective, usually it was "Oh, Sam!"

This new perspective was very interesting. I waited to see what would happen - let's see Savy explain herself out of this one now!

But Ki had just re-emerged with a tray of food and we had to take our seats.

We sat down as Ki started putting out the appetizers. Bell was sitting next to me. He was very quiet but only because he was on the mindlink... Multiple links from the looks of it, but I didn't pry because I was more interested in the food.

It looked like Ki had prepared dinner with guests, because we were about to have a full 3 course meal. I didn't mind, extra food was always welcomed, especially with Ki cooking. Tonight it was something new. It looked like shrimp on top of a bed of chopped avacado, cucumber, and lettuce. This was all topped with bright orange tobiko - the flying fish roe thing. It looked like a very fancy salad pretending to be an ice-cream sundae.

"What's this?" Dad asked.

"This is shrimp cocktail, Alpha." Ki informed us with his usual smile, "Cold water shrimp is in season now."

As was avacado and lettuce in the middle of winter (not!). Lol.

"Wow, Ki." Mum approved, "It's lovely."

"Thank you, luna." Ki smiled like a flower to the sun.

Dad looked less enthusiastic about a small glass of small shrimp and chopped green stuff, but food was food.

So we all ate it, and naturally it was delicious. It was surprisingly good. Really, even the green stuff was alright - enjoyable even.

"This is the closest thing to ice cream salad can be." I decided.

Mum and Savy laughed.

I had pretty much forgotten about everything else and was enjoying the taste of the salty bits of tobiko popping in my mouth and partying with avocado and shrimp... I suddenly understood what "a dance of flavors" tasted like. There really were such foods in the world that danced on your tongue. However, Mum was less easily distracted by food - even really good food.

"Exactly how much did you hear?" Mum asked Savy. Oh right! We were in the middle of an ultra rare "Oh Savy!" occurrence.

Savy shrugged again, and this was how Savy and I were very different, "You didn't have to worry. Lizzy and I already sorted it out."

Eh?

"Sorted what out, exactly?" I just had to know. Hahaha, now I was on the interrogation side.

"Well, we discussed it..." Savy said.

"Like discussed what exactly?" I interupted, "Like even the...the thing... about...urm..."

"We decided that River and I were too young to mate." Savy said sounding extremely disinterested for someone who was talking about her own soul mate, "I mean, I wouldn't have known he was my soulmate, except that I recognize his face from my prophetic dream. Other than that, he's like just any other guy."

"You mean any other HANDSOME guy." I teased, remembering Savy had said her human soulmate was handsome.

Savy shrugged and waved me off like I was a pesky fly, "He is good looking. It's just an observation. Bell's good looking too - it doesn't mean anything."

Wow, Savy was being so logical about it.

"Anyway, I'm not going to do anything about it. I'm still young and have things I still want to do with my life." Savy informed us, "I don't really need the mating bands, although I guess it is a good safeguard. But I don't think I'll go into heat since neither of us are of mating age yet. I have friends in school who are soul mates, and they aren't going into heat or anything. They aren't even dating or anything."

Oh, I guess that might happen if you happen to go to the same school as the guy who appears in your prophetic dream...

"But Savy, you did shift earlier than expected..." Mum worried.

But Savy already sorted all that out too, "Well, if I was particularly unlucky, Ben had already cleaned out the dungeons."

"Wait, you're going to lock yourself in the dungeons?" I asked.

Savy laughed out loud at that - as in properly cackled, "No Sam!"

Again, this was how Savy and I were different, "YOU are going to lock your collection of unmated adopted fightdogs and betas in the dungeon. I'm going to be staying over in your room with you. It's not like any of the guys could get past Sam."

"That's true." Dad looked suitably impressed.

"And its only for a night." Savy said, "It'll just be inconvenient. Lizzy said if Sam doesn't mind, she'd stay over to help out too. Anyway, its very unlikely to happen."

Savy was beginning to sound like Alpha Gunter then.

"Me too." Sabre piped in, "I'll stay and protect Savy too."

"Do you even know what you're protecting Savy from?" I challenged the little girl.

"Of course I do." And then Sabre made a face. I'm not sure how to describe it, but her mouth pressed down, and her eyes set it a determined line.

"Okay..." I instinctively backed off and turned back to Savy, "Should I tell River about this plan?"

"No need. Lizzy and I found his ign and we pm-ed him." Savy shrugged, "We've been texting."

"And he's okay with this?" I could barely believe it. I mean, have you met MY mate? Bell couldn't seem to breathe easy without having guards follow me around and report on my daily activities.

"River's human, so I don't think he has the typical wolf instincts. We've decided that he's going back home after the stone is returned, and we're both going to continue living like normal." Savy said, "This way we both have our own space to grow."

Seriously?

"Won't you miss him?" I blurted out. Even if River didn't have wolf instincts, Savy definitely would.

If Bell left to his own space to grow... I'll... I'll probably just cry all over again - and then take it out on his credit card, maybe. The last time I tried it, it wasn't entirely satisfying. Maybe I didn't charge enough to it.

Savy cackled again, but softly, "It's not like I'd never see him again. Besides, with the alliance you're building with the Snow Moon Kingdom, we'd probably meet now and then. And its not like we can't text or call. So don't you dare mess up on that alliance, Sam!"

"I won't!" I flared, and then I realized Savy was teasing me.

And then Savy added more quietly towards Mum, "And I was thinking... you know, if River happened to be in town, maybe I could meet him at Gate City for lunch or icecream sometimes too?"

Like a date? omo. I looked at Mum and Dad.

Mum's heart was melted like butter on a hot pancake, "Of course you may, sweetheart."

Dad growled. His heart wasn't made of butter, but Mum said, "I'm so proud that you're able to take this so sensibly and maturely, Savy."

"You need to bring guards." Dad growled.

I half expected Savy to protest, I know I would, going around town with a security detail would be a big drag, but Savy only shrugged, "Okay. River would probably have his personal guard around too. It's not like they'd let a Prince wander around on his own."

True that. Plus now, Dad had no reason to refuse.

"Oh, and urm, just in case you were thinking about it..." Savy added, "Could River and I not have a public betrothal like Sam's? We'd rather keep it private until we're older."

Wow. Even I was impressed... Savy had really sorted it all out. I wonder when would I ever get to such a level of sorting things out.

Dad actually made a little growl of satisfaction and nodded, "If that's what the both of you prefer. I'll discuss it with Alpha Gunter."

Savy smiled, when she smiled like that, she looked like an angel, "Thank you, Dad."

Ki served the main course. Tonight's main course was pork chop - and of course Ki had done it to perfection so that it was tender and juicy. Everyone tucked in happily. I think hearing Savy out had relieved my parents of a thousand worries. I was just happy because Mate was with me and the food was delicious... and yes, everyone was happy too. This was one of those moments when the world around me was perfect.