THE SECOND TRIAL

20 FEBRUARY, SATURDAY, CONTINUED

"Alpha Kingsley!" Alpha George raised his hands as if very glad to see us, "I'm very glad to see you and your family able to grace us with your presence on our Henry's Alpha Inauguration."

"Welcome to Silver Mountain, Alpha and Luna." Henry's Mum smiled.

"Thank you all for coming to my inauguration." Henry demurred in a very un-Henry way.

Was it just me, or did this all feel very scripted? No one sent me a script. I waited to see what Dad would say.

Here's hoping Dad behaved.

The cameras made me feel uncomfortably watched. I took a tentative step back. Ben's hand caught me, at the usual place, on the small of my back, so I couldn't completely flee the scene.

"Thank you." Dad simply said.

There was a moment of silence. It was as if we were expected to say more. I guess no one sent Dad the script either.

Delta Sebastian then led us to a dark red car.

Ben pushed me forward so I had no choice but to follow. I carefully made sure I stood behind my parents though. This was all new for me, and I realized that I had no idea what was expected of me. Nothing I've read in the reports my Betas made said anything about what I was supposed to do.

Was there something I should say, or not say? I felt like an extra on a movie set who hadn't been briefed about what she was supposed to do or where she was supposed to stand on the set.

As we approached the dark red car, it vaguely reminded me of my car - but it was red, with black and chrome extra parts that made it sort of more flashy.

From the smirk on Henry's face, I knew he really liked this gift, but he had to act neutral. The whole world... or whoever had nothing better to do, was watching each pack flatter the young alpha with gifts, and it wouldn't do for Henry to actually show unbridled enthusiasm for any particular one gift.

Ki stepped forward to present our gift. He took out a small dark blue box from his jacket and handed it over to Delta Sebastian.

"If the young Alpha would be please to open this box." Ki beamed his beautiful smile.

Delta Sebastian checked the box for potential danger (because here at Silver Mountain, they took security very seriously.) And then he passed the box, unopened, to Henry.

The rest of us stood on the side and let Ki do his thing. Ki smiled, "Please."

Henry paused before opening the box and taking out the car key. I mean, with the car right smack in front of us, I'm sure that was only to be expected, but the camera man decided he just had to run forward and zoom in on it.

And then Ki magically turned into a car salesman, gesturing for Henry to step up to the car, he proceeded to show the young alpha around his new car. It was the same model as mine - yes, the one Alpha Henry had test drove when he visited our pack.

I really had to hand it to Ki to so casually drop these hints about our pack's close relationship to the live telecast audience. Alpha Henry's car came with several customized modifications - Ki showed them all off to Henry - fenders, spoilers... and the modifications were not just superficial. Ki popped open the engine to show Alpha Henry the masterpiece by a gifted team of Morning Light mechanics from MLG. (No, I've never heard of it either.)

And then Ki invited Henry into the car to have a listen to the engine, "It purrs beautifully. If it would please the Young Alpha Henry to rev the engine and listen to that throttle, very sexy."

Ki then guided Henry to complete a very tight three point turn to angle the car, praising him ever so often for the Young Alpha Henry's ability to make full use of the car's capabilities when handling it. Now the car had its boot faced to the front where Henry's parents, us, and the stationary live telecast camera were standing.

"If the young Alpha would be pleased to open the car boot." Ki gestured briefly to where the catch was so Henry could quickly pop the boot open.

"Well done, young alpha." Ki praised.

Nestled inside the boot of Henry's new car were an entire assortment of other gifts. Henry's new car boot was now a gift hamper.

Ki and Henry got out of the car. Henry walked over to the boot to take a look at what was in it.

"I've learned from my elders that it is tradition for Night Leaf to gift a sample of the local life at alpha ceremonies. It is our way of sharing with you a token of the blessings we enjoy in our beautiful and wild packlands." Ki explained, and then proceeded to introduce the wonderful things one could enjoy in Night Leaf and Morning Light.

Ki had loaded the boot with local products too, but while Beta Lucas had scavenged the woods and backyards for our local produce, Ki had shopped at local specialty stores, many of them with stores in Gate City itself. Ki highly recommended these shops to any visitor to Gate City. An afternoon exploring the local shops and cafes was one of the most delightful and enjoyable ways to sample Green Packland's local crafts, produce, and culture, all in the safety of Gate City's amazing cityscape.

When I become Alpha, I should make Ki our tourism ambassador. Not that tourism was a thing in the Green Packlands, but I felt quite sure after hearing Ki's introduction that it could become a thing.

Henry's Mum was particularly delighted by the large earthen bowl of multi-colored tulips tucked in the middle car boot. The bowl was glazed in bluish green - immediately she recognized the artist - Micheal Ark!

She was both surprised and delighted at how the tulips had already bloomed even though it was still very much winter. And forcing tulips to bloom in a work of art was such a powerful statement in itself! She was very familiar with Micheal Ark's works and all his pottery were empty. (This was Micheal Ark's signature message - for all its beauty, no matter how much anyone paid for them, his works were empty.)

Ki smiled and elaborated on how our local gardening store had skillfully coaxed the blooms early for this occasion. And he had to admit, the inspiration for this came from the Alpha Princess herself. He had been inspired by how his alpha princess handled art, turning what would have been an expensive but empty display item, such as this large bowl by Micheal Arks, into a useful and beautiful one, simply by filling it with useful everyday things.

Omo. Was he talking about my pen holder? Gah! I swear I had no idea it was collectible art. I thought it was a free pot my dad brought home with pretty colors.

"It is what's inside of us that gives purpose and meaning." Henry's mother agreed, fully moved, "What a delightful, yet deeply profound reminder!"

Unlike Henry, Alpha George's Luna had no qualms about openly expressing her delight in a particular gift, especially if it were art, because she was passionate about art and supporting artists and craftsmen. At first, I had thought that Henry's mother was being nice and helping Alpha George and Henry say appreciative things to all her guests. I thought it must have been exhausting to have to rave over every local delight their guest brought over as a gift.

But later on, I found out that she didn't. In most of the other gift presentations, she had remained silent and smiling like a proper Luna was expected to do.

She really just forgot about the Staying Calm And Neutral Rule because our art and the "natural way" we expressed and experienced it in our daily life excited her so much.

Alpha George had to balance it out - thus he was uncharacteristically quiet after that. At the end of our presentation, he concluded, "Our new alliance was certainly a move in the right direction. It is very obvious that we share many similar values and passions."

Like the value of expensive cars and art? Hahahaha.

By the way, Ki also included many of the items Beta Lucas arbitrarily, I mean, traditionally packed (now its officially a tradition), including our delicious packhouse bread. But it was "artisan bread, baked in our very own packhouse" and wrapped in white paper and string as if it were a bouquet of flowers.

We were all so impressed that it was unanimous: From now on, Ki would be in charge of all the gift giving ceremonies.

That was how we passed THE SECOND TRIAL with flying colors. It was mostly thanks to Ki, but THE THIRD TRIAL popped up just as we were leaving the Alpha Hall.

Mum was the first to notice it. We were running late.

"Oh dear. We only have 45 minutes to the Welcome reception." Mum said.

"45 minutes is loads of time." I said. But I hadn't realized that it was 45 minutes to pile into our cars and rejoin the traffic which insisted on travelling at the most leisurely pace.

We followed Beta Gerald's dark silver MPVs around the back of the new Langston. Welcome to The Langston @ Gold City.

And we parked in the secret underground carpark, stopping at the guardhouse briefly - Beta Gerald mostly. It was a tiny guardhouse for a single guard, very much like the one at The Langston @ Gate City.

Then we were all let in. Harvey appeared with three uniformed staff at heel and luggage trolleys. Our bags were quickly loaded up and Harvey ordered the warriors to follow the bell hops and bags to the service lifts before leading us to a the private lift, and up we went, to the very topmost floor.

"I thought it would be better to take the private route up." Beta Gerald explained.

To Harvey, he narrowed his eyes, "I hope you have arranged all the rooms correctly."

Harvey narrowed his eyes back at his dad, "Of course, I did."

Harvey then proceeded to hand out the key cards to prove it.

We had the whole floor. Dad and mum got the main room of the VIP suite. I got one of the rooms in their suite... Which I liked cos I didn't like having the whole suite to myself. And Mum liked because she wanted to be able to keep an eye on me.

Our betas all got their own rooms - even Ben. Beta Lucas said he didn't want to see Ben unless it's for work. Ben was a troublemaker and could be a big headache to deal with. I didn't think Beta Lucas was one to talk, not after what he did at the security point earlier today. But then Ben snapped back that he didn't want to put up with his dad's snoring anyway.

"See what I have to put up with?" Beta Lucas complained to Beta Gerald. But we were all still crammed in the lift so we all heard it.

Beta Gerald gave a side glance at Harvey and then answered mildly, "My mate says its a phase... a very long phase."

Beta Lucas shook his head, "I don't know where he gets it from!"

Beta Gerald shrugged, but he was smiling, "They're just boys. We cannot expect them to be like us."

Wait, no. They were exactly like the both of you! I looked at Ben and Harvey, their backs were to us. They had pretended not to hear their dads or know us, choosing to face the lift door until we reached our floor. (It took awhile. The Langston @ Gold City was very tall. My ears popped twice just going up in the lift.)

Once up, Harvey pointed out the rough direction of where everything was. We had a private pool attached to the Alpha's suite, but there was a larger lap pool and a gym situated past the warrior and servant quarters. Our warriors were unpacking even as we spoke. I could hear the muffled sounds of their moving in ruckus because our warriors were just noisy like that. I guess they were enjoying themselves too.

The Langston at Gold City had 4 Alpha suites that took the top 4 floors of the hotel, and offered a parorama of Gold City and private pools and gyms.

I wondered who the other 3 alphas who needed full floors were. I remembered the long line of white cars from just now... The Lorents might actually need two floors.