MARSHMELLOWS AND STORM CLOUDS

Anyway, Beta Lucas wanted to get Dad to the Packhouse before the rain. Dad wanted to clear our meeting so that my entourage and I could leave before the rain got bad too.

"Hoo man," Beta Lucas looked outside where the warriors were waiting for their orders, "Getting caught in a storm is no joke for your bikers."

Yeah, I guess. I looked out too. None of the guys there looked particularly worried though. They were leaning on our porch railing or half straddling their bikes and chatting or adjusting their equipment or using their screens. Every now and then they would all laugh, even those who were looking at their screens would look up and join in. I did catch Neil grimacing up at the sky, but that could just be his normal face.

And then Beta Lucas frowned, "Did anyone tell them you weren't leaving yet, Sam? Why are they all still hanging around?"

"A hundred Apologies." Ki smiled, even though his only fault was being the only one of my betas present at breakfast, "I'll have them moved immediately."

Ki bowed and slide open one of the glass doors to step out. There was a bit of discussion though, partly because Neil and Jax were not afraid of Ki, not even in capcisce mode, partly because they were afraid of Ben who had issued the order for their reporting time. Actually, none of the warriors looked all that keen on leaving their post without the young scary beta's approval. I guess it was kind of weird cos normally, a pack would only have 1 beta, but now we had 3 betas, which was fine for the most part… until their instructions were contradictory.

Neil argued (quite soundly) that since Beta Ben gave the order, and was the head beta, if they followed Ki's instructions and left their post, Ben was going to have them all punished for abandoning their duties.

Jax argued that Ben was just way scarier than Ki. So if they had to be punished, they'd rather be punished by Ki. The other warriors looked apologetic but nodded.

It seemed Ben was still asleep though, at least he was uncontactable.

"Oh dear." Mum sighed a little when we overheard some of the discussion through the gap in the sliding door, "Maybe you should go help him out, Sam."

But Mum had underestimated Ki.

"This isn't contrary instructions." Ki beamed beatifically, "It's further instruction. Please move the convoy to the packhouse porch to await the Alpha Princess. Additionally, due to the change in the goddess' schedule, please wait at the Packhouse dining hall. You are also advised to have a heavy breakfast in lieu of the delayed journey ahead."

"What?" Asked Jax.

"He means we can park outside the packhouse and hang out at the dining room till it's time to go." Neil explained.

"YAS!" Jax fist pumped, "That's why Ki's the best!"

Neil waved towards the other waiting warriors, "Location change and updated orders, guys. Let's move."

And Ki was returned to us. It was quite chilly outside… Ki looked a little surprise at the gap in the door, but he quickly entered and shut is properly.

Beta Lucas was still watching the warriors move off, "Why isn't Ben dealing with this?"

"He's off duty at the moment." Ki answered simply.

Beta Lucas harumphed some dissatisfaction at his son, "Back in my time, there was no off duty for a Beta." #betalife.

"Ben's a growing boy." Mum tried to soothe it over, "He needs his sleep."

"I'm sure he does!" Beta Lucas shook his head and exclaimed loudly now, "Especially since he was probably down in the basement who-knows-doing-what on his computer again last night. Hoo boy! I don't know what he's doing half the time."

Actually, I highly doubted Beta Lucas knew what Ben was doing MOST of the time, but I kept quiet. Ben was probably going to be in trouble when he woke up as it was. I didn't know what I could say to save Ben from his father's hand, but I guess it'll be okay. The worst that could happen would be gardening chores or whatever outdoor work Beta Lucas needed done in Spring.

Oh, and Ben was coming with me to Night Forest, so if he were lucky, he might escape any consequence altogether.

"Finish your breakfast, Sam." Dad frowned as he caught sight of the rain clouds. It looks like a storm."

I pushed the last few bites of toasty smoked salmon into my mouth at one go.

"Slow down, Sam!" Mum gasped, "You'll choke!"

I shook my head, but couldn't verbally answer till I chewed (more or less) and swallowed, "It's fine, Mum. You know I have a big mouth."

I honestly did. Once, we played a game to see how many marshmallows we could stuff in our mouths and I won second place, after Jonah. Till this day, I was very proud of my personal record - 23! Actually… it's been a couple of years. I bet I could fit more now…

Dad and Beta Lucas were making a move to the door. Ki had my jacket in hand.

"Do we have marshmallows?" I decided I should be more specific, "Like standard size campfire ones?"

"Oh, Sam! Now's not the time." Mum had gotten up to see us to the door too. She adjusted some of my hair because it was long and kind of slipping off my shoulder and getting caught in the jacket Ki was holding out for me to wear.

Wait, why was I wearing a jacket? We were just going to the packhouse right?

I followed Dad out to the empty porch. Ki bowed politely as we took our leave, "Is there anything else I may do for you luna?"

"No, thank you, Ki." Mum waved him off, "Have a good day!"

"Thank you, Luna." Ki bowed again and took care to shut the sliding door firmly this time. He frowned up at the catch, "Hm… the catch might require oiling."

I decided to ignore Ki's contemplation on sliding door mechanisms and took a deep breath of… oh… it was definitely the smell of rain. I made a face.

Dad was already on the pavement. I hopped off our empty porch and crossed the quiet driveway… the warriors had all gone.

"Hey, Dad!" I took a few quick steps to catch up with him, "How many marshmallows can you hold in your mouth?"

I wondered if the packhouse kitchen had marshmallows?

Harvey joined us on the packhouse porch. He had come to the FAO to clear some paperwork early in the morning and came all the way down to greet me and walk me up to Dad's office to continue our meeting from last night. I didn't even really know what the meeting was about.

Maybe it was the debrief. If that was the case, I really had nothing to say. I had properly processed it last night with my diary. We went back in time. We messed up the timeline. We came back. I mean, what were we going to do about it? Go back and mess it up again? I was done with time traveling. From now onwards, the cats were just going to be ornamental pets.

Ben ran over from the Beta house just as we were stepping into the packhouse. I bet he overslept. Hahaha. He was still wearing his sweatshirt and when he came in, I could smell that it wasn't a clean one. Hahahaha.

Beta Lucas made a face at this son, "Are you going to Night Forest in THAT?"

Which I know was a universally hated question that parents asked their teens all through history in every timeline, but I think since Ben looked like he hadn't showered and was in a five day old pajamas, I couldn't blame Beta Lucas.

"Beta, you smell like you were sleeping in the dirty laundry hamper." Ki informed Ben.

"Shut up dog." Ben growled, "If you don't like it, come to my room and do my laundry."

I immediately started to worry that Ben didn't have any clean clothes. Let me explain, the Beta Household had many rules. One of the rules being that dirty clothes and sheets and towels all had to go INTO the dirty hamper to get washed. Mrs Beta had a laundry day once a week (I think on Tuesday, but I might be wrong because it changes once every couple of years depending on Mrs Beta's other weekly responsibilities). So once a week, Mrs Beta would come to their rooms and take out the laundry hamper and wash everything in it.

Ben was the sort of son who would leave dirty laundry everywhere except for that particular hamper. Yeah. I don't know what was wrong with his genius brain, but he just never could solve this puzzle. Like put dirty clothes in big basket in bathroom. Even a trained animal could do that - but the concept just seemed to escape Ben's grasp.

"It's almost like he's purposely taunting me." Mrs Beta had confided to Mum.

"Then he definitely is." I told her.

"Oh, Sam!" Mum shook her head at me so I went back to doing my homework. To Mrs Beta she said, "I'm sure he isn't. He's probably just preoccupied with other things…some puppies are just messier than others."

At this, Mum gave me a meaningful look. What, me? I was indignant! I opened my mouth to protest, but suddenly remembered that I hadn't put any of my clothes in the laundry basket this morning either. I shut my mouth again.

"Don't mind it, Willow." Mum continued to comfort her best friend, "Give him a few years to grow into the habit."

Mum wasn't lying. But she was wrong. Until today, Ben was unable to get anything into the laundry hamper. If he were a basketballer, and his dirty laundry was the ball… he probably wouldn't be a basketballer.

There was this one time he had to go to school wearing Lizzy's track suit. It was navy blue and most of the kids wouldn't be able to tell Ben was wearing girl clothes, but yeah… that happened. (Savy told me.)

TBH, I wasn't all that much better. I'd get dirty laundry in the hamper maybe one out of three times thanks to Mum's consistent training. But Mum didn't use any rules to make me do it. Even if I left dirty clothes all around the room, Mum would still have gotten to it and washed it eventually. Mum didn't have a laundry day either… so sometimes I couldn't wear my favorite jeans again. Mum just washed whenever the baskets were full…whenever she had the time to check… whenever she happened to come by our bedrooms…

I can't say how that worked out, but it did. Sometimes I did have to yell from my room, "MUM! I'M OUT OF SOCKS!"

But then Mum would pop into the laundry room and magic out a clean pair… although it could be Savy's. But they'd fit and when I got home from school, my sock bin in the wardrobe would be full again.

I guess Mum was kinda magic like that, even though she wasn't Ki, at least our socks were clean, matched, and I never had to wear one with holes… although I did ever wear them… but it was out of my own free choice. I had perfectly un-holely socks present for my choosing too, but I just couldn't care less.

"Why would I hold marshmallow in my mouth?" Dad frowned because I had just asked him.

I really didn't think he needed to think about it seriously, "Just for fun. Like it's a game."

I mean, even if my old Dad couldn't understand, my dapper dad probably did lots of fun and pointless games when he was young too right?

Dad shook his head, "Be careful you don't choke."

I groaned, "No one chokes on marshmallows!"

Dad raised a brow at me.

"I mean, I won't choke on marshmallows!"

No one looked in anyway convinced, but we had reached the alpha's office and nobody felt that the number of marshmallows one could hold in his mouth was more important than the consolidated report on all the time travel conducted within the last 48 hours.

It was a lot. The number on paper said 109 two-way trips, which was more than what I had guessed.

"This…" Beta Lucas started, "is just an estimate. I could call it a conservative estimate."

A while later, Wolfgang and Fluffy joined us. They were late because they had been assigned to orientate our new Special Team member, Hayao.

"AKA, boyfriend #10." Fluffy smiled. I wanted to hit him, but I only flared a little warning in his direction.

"Hm…" Dad said, which worried me at first, but then he asked, "What about the Elder Horio and the other two guests?"

"Grand Elder Horio is currently being hosted by Beta Gerald and his family. I'll be showing Gareth and Anna around later today." Wolfgang said.

Was it ironic that Wolfgang wasn't a Night Leaf wolf in the first place?

Dad nodded, "Good. Please invite them to join me for lunch."

"Understood Alpha. I'll make the arrangements." Wolfgang nodded a polite bow.

"If you have the time, please join us for lunch too." Dad said, "Elder Horio had very interesting thoughts on the Colored Mountain's socio-political evolution across the centuries."

Because Elder Horio was ancient like that.

Wolfgang bowed again, "I would be honored. Thank you for inviting me."

Poor Gareth and Anna, now they would have to sit through lunch listening to a guest panel of speakers on historical political development in the lycan society… or some other really long winded discourse that Mr Mal liked to quote in my 2nd life. I imagined Dad, Beta Lucas, Elder Horio, and Wolfgang deep in debate about really, really, really boring things like how tax affected trade and vice versa, or how certain political figures in history were right in the prediction but ahead of their time… well, you get the idea.

We went back to the consolidated report again. I suppressed a sigh and a wish that something more exciting could possibly happen instead… outside, the storm clouds looked like something that came out of the exhaust pipe of an old pick up truck on its last leg… just expanded and magnified by 300. The clouds were huge and thick and a heavy slate grey. They churned in the sky - I think the wind had picked up since we got to the packhouse. The trees outside would sway and bend at the random blast of wind.

Warlock weather, we would have called it. It happened sometimes, not that often, but sometimes. But the warlock was dead, so I'm not sure what we should call it now.

"Looks like a typhoon a brewing." Beta Lucas squinted at the window. I guess we could call it that.

Despite all this the sun was not giving up. Its glow highlighted the edges of the dark clouds.

"At least we aren't going by boat." Ben said in a rare show of optimism. Oh, wait. He was being sarcastic.