TOO MANY COINCIDENCES

21 FEBRUARY, SUNDAY, CONTINUED

Alpha Gunter's story ended to silence as every listener in the room took a moment to process it.

"I had no idea." River said finally in a half whisper, "My mother gave up so much because of me."

"It wasn't your fault, River." Keanu tried to console him, "It was that warlock's fault."

Yeah, but River would not exist without him either.

"What is passed, is passed." Alpha Gunter concluded, "And it is best to leave it in the past."

River shook his head, "No, Dad. Now, all the more, I have to find this Fount. He ruined my mother's life!"

"River... Calm down." Wilhelm said, "I understand you're angry but..."

Rivers fists were clenched at his sides, "No you don't understand."

Now Rivers tears were flowing, "My mother had always been kind and good to everyone. He ruined her happiness!"

"I do understand!" Wilhelm yelled suddenly, "And I realize now... You're my cousin."

"I'm your what?" River stopped crying and blinked.

"When I was a very young boy, my father's sister came to our home. I remembered her. She was always smiling, and she had a very large belly and wore a bright blue stone around her neck. She told me it would not come off. She only stayed awhile, and one day she suddenly left. My dad thought she returned to her mate, since our land was constantly being attacked by rogues." Wilhelm recalled, "My mother was killed during the same raid. My dad remarried and we rebuilt after every raid, but eventually, my whole family was killed and my home was burnt to the ground. You know my story River. Now only my step sister lives... And only thanks to Alpha Sam's family from rescuing her from slavery. And I live because you took me in."

"So you are related to my son?" Alpha Gunter asked.

"I believe so, Alpha." Wilhelm answered.

"Why didn't you ever say anything about the stone?" Keanu asked. Keanu was sharp this way.

Wilhelm shook his head, "I didn't recognize it. The stone my aunt wore in my memory was larger, and a deeper color."

River nodded then, "You're right, it fades and shrinks everytime I use it."

"And Wilhelm has a step-sister in your care?" Alpha Gunter now turned to me, "I assume she is human too?"

I nodded, "We didn't know she was related to anyone. She was my uncle's slave. We caught her stealing..." I stopped there and then, it didn't seem right to say that Uncle Louis had bought a slave to steal from us. But I didn't want to make Sabre look like a thief either. I decided to just skip all the explainations, "Anyway, long story short, my mum fell in love with her and my parents adopted her. So now she's just like any other pup in our pack, just bossier."

Wilhelm looked incredibly grateful, but Alpha Gunter frowned, just a tiny bit, "Why such a coincidence?"

He turned to Wilhelm, "Your cousin is adopted by the Snow Moon Alpha, and your step-sister is adopted by the Night Leaf Alpha. Why such a coincidence?"

I laughed, "Want me to adopt you Wilhelm?"

It just didn't seem fair that Wilhelm was stuck alone as a mere soldier while his relatives got adopted by alpha families.

"Princess, do you think so too?" Alpha Gunter smiled at me, a very gentle smile. Because of my time with Ki, I automatically interpreted that Alpha Gunter was asking me very cautiously. Unfortunately, unlike Ki, Alpha Gunter did not seem to realize that I was slow and would have no idea what he meant.

"That may be the case." Keanu rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "This is too much a coincidence for any mere mortal to manipulate."

Yes, I suppose, but they hadn't met my betas. Hahaha, I'm joking... I knew what Keanu meant. My elders had spoken of it before, it was a concept widely understood by wolves - too much of a coincidence is not a coincidence at all. Either someone on earth manipulated it to be so, or someone not on earth - in which we usually meant the goddess.

Just as the moon pulls and sways the tides silently, sometimes our goddess does the same. There were wolves who spent their whole lives looking for signs.

"Its worth looking into." Alpha Gunter nodded.

"Exactly what are you looking into?" I asked.

"Few people know this, but a long time ago, I had a mate." Alpha Gunter said, "She was a blue wolf, like yourself and we ran many adventures together without even leaving home. By her power of dream travel, we would explore the world and the worlds beyond. And over time, I've come to see a pattern in the way our goddess weaves our tapestry of time. History would happen almost routinely, until suddenly certain events would coincidentally pinch together, and unravel. And we would see it all, simply because the blue wolf was the thread she used to stitch it all together."

Okay... I'm glad my betas were present. Specifically Harvey, so that someone was taking notes. This might come in handy, you know, cos I'm a blue wolf.

"What did the goddess do when your mate was alive?" I asked Alpha Gunter.

"The unification of the Black Packlands." Alpha Gunter answered.

Wow. I knew Alpha Gunter was old... but I didn't know he was THAT OLD.

Alpha Gunter's eyes misted over as he spoke, "Miranda was Alpha Aaron's daughter, and Solo's lover. She was captured by a vampire lord who had admired her unique coloring. That was the start of Alpha Aaron's war against the covens in his land. But he did not eradicate the entire coven, so his warriors were continually hunted down by the vengeful vampires who had escaped. Further complicating matters, all the covens seemed somewhat related and every skirmish only gained new enemies. In the end, Alpha Aaron realized the only way to end the war was to completely destroy all the vampires in the Black Packlands. To do this, he needed to raise an army which he did, through the forcible absorption of the other packs in his land. Miranda and Solo helped, but only because they saw it as a way to rescue the other wolves held in captivity in those covens. As Miranda liked to say, not every wolf had an alpha father as she did. And Solo... Solo was always an idealist. Always out to save the world from itself. Eventually, during one of their adventures, they found themselves in Snow Moon territory. Miranda and I were soul mates. Solo stepped out on his own accord. Miranda left the Black Forest pack to be with me. And then one unfortunate dream travel, Miranda died, I woke up, but she didn't. Solo never quite forgave me for it."

Alpha Gunter was a very good story teller. I told you, didn't I? Old wolves told the best stories.

"But isn't Uncle Solo your good friend?" River asked.

Alpha Gunter sighed. I watched the white vapor leave his parted lips and wondered what temperature a snow wolf's mouth was for his breath to be white in a heated hotel room. What's the science behind that?

"We are friends only because of Miranda's foresight. Unlike the both of us, she had always known she would leave first. All blue wolves die young. She often said this, but I never thought it would apply to her." Alpha Gunter sighed again, "She left each of us a letter with her last words. I was to always help Solo, and Solo was to not hold it against me. Perhaps she never stopped loving Solo either."

I shook my head immediately at that, "You were soul mates, they were not!"

"I believed so too, once upon a time." Alpha Gunter smiled, that brittle smile that Ki sometimes wore too, "But as I grow older, I grow dafter, and I begin to understand when the humans say that love is a choice."

I nodded then. Yeah, hanging out with too many humans can really mess with your wolf basics like that.

"Maybe its a bit of both." River suggested, "One day, I'm going to meet my soul mate, and I will choose to love her."

"River, you're not even a wolf, what makes you think you'll have a soul mate?" I laughed.

"Oh." River frowned, "Don't humans have soul mates?"

I shrugged. I wouldn't know.

Wilhelm smiled, "Not the way wolves do, River. But my late mother once said, humans were made to love."

Which was not the first time I've heard this, but it wasn't something I could reconcile with most of the humans I knew. They were not that much different from us wolves. They were weaker. They were slower. They liked to talk about equality and compassion, but they were as unequal and cruel as any wolf - sometimes worse - I guess it depends on which wolf you were comparing the human with.

"To love our wives, our children, our families, our friends, our countrymen..." Wilhelm continued, "Love is the greatest power. It is how we find our courage and strength to protect the ones we love."

"As you mother protected you, River." Alpha Gunter smiled softly at his son. He reached over and deftly lifted up the blue stone by its chain, and then drop it back into River's shirt, "Keep the stone, son. Use the power to build your kingdom and change the world. I believe in you."

Ah... yes, that would be the tender moment in which River should agree with his loving father, but River grabbed the blue stone through his shirt, "Dad, I will build my kingdom and it would be everything we talked about, but not with this."

"Why not?" Keanu asked, "River, you need this stone. You're nothing without it."

Ouch.

"What do you plan to do with the stone, River?" Wilhelm asked.

"I don't know." River figetted, "I was going to return it to it's home. BUT I hear you, I hear all of you."

River looked at me now, "What about you, Sam? What do you think I should do?"