THE GREAT TEACHER

24 FEBRUARY, WEDNESDAY, CONTINUED

The Great Teacher went by many names but only one title. No one knew his age, although it was largely believed that he was the same generation as Alpha Jin, because the two of them often came to loggerheads. A long time ago, Alpha Jin had also eluded to the fact that the Great Teacher was far older than he was, and could well be the original wolf, Shiro, but when the respect for the Great Teacher rose to even greater heights, Alpha Jin quickly squelched the rumors as just an expression of the Great Teacher's old, old, ever so old and venerable age. Apparently the Great Teacher was not one who enjoyed being reminded of his many years.

A snow wolf by blood line, the Great Teacher's wisdom and knowledge were as wide and deep as the sea. He was the Royal teacher and personally taught all the princes until they came of age. Unfortunately though, Fluffy and Hayao's generation did not receive such honor. The Great Teacher loved books and knowledge and would go to great lengths to collect them, but every now and then, while pursuing his love for learning, he would meet his soul mate and fall madly and deeply in love.

And then he would only love her, so completely that he would give up everything he was to be with her. The last one, if Heller understood, was a she-wolf from the plains. The Great Teacher who was living among the last of the snow wolves in the plains (he was doing research on life in the plains) had met her quite by accident.

Little is known of what the Great Teacher did in the plains really, but he went there often, for "a change of environment". In the Mountains, he was quite famous. He had a distinctive sword style which all male wolves of royal bloodline knew. He also had a very powerful sword counter skill which utilized a whip. It was said that the Great Teacher was even more skilled with a whip than a sword.

"The whip is a better teacher than a sword." He had been quoted saying.

Heller said it was quite literal, but only his students would know.

I gulped. Wait... wasn't I formally Alpha Gunter's student now?

But according to Heller and Haku, the Great Teacher never took female disciples.

He was a prolific writer and quite the authoritative figure on lycan history. He used to sign off his works as Anon, perhaps that was one of his earlier names. Heller and Haku were too young to know. They only knew him by his most recent name, Gunter Donovan.

The Great Teacher was also skilled at poetry, tea appreciation, royal etiquette, horse riding, ice magic, archery, ballroom dancing, alchemy... He was basically knowledgeable and expert at everything, except music. Heller and Haku believed so because their music lessons were always conducted by a separate music teacher.

If he was not travelling the world, the Great Teacher would be found in one of the great libraries in the Colored Mountains. There were several notable libraries, the most notable and largest being the Royal Library although the libraries in the Red Mountains put together might rival the Royal Library in terms of quantity (although not exactly quality) and Haku felt it of significance to add that the best books on healing could only be found in the library tucked in the bowels of Green Mountain.

Anyway, the point was that the Great Teacher sometimes took apprentice scribes and they would oversee the libraries in the Colored Mountains. Becoming a scribe at the Royal Library was a most honorable position only opened to the brightest minds and hearts around the Mountains.

Which was all well and good because this was exactly how I'd expect the Great Teacher of a lycan legend to play out, except that we were talking about River's Dad, right?

"Wait, does he have long silver hair, like about this long, usually up in a ponytail?" I asked, gesturing it's length, you know, just to be sure we were talking about the same guy.

Heller nodded, "He's a very typical snow wolf."

That's true, Beta Glenn had long silver hair too.

"Like his eyes are like very light purple?" I tried again to confirm that we were indeed talking about the right man, because I really needed to be sure. I mean, anyone could be running around as a Donovan - even a Tyger who once mated a vampire princess ran by that name.

"Yes. His eyes turn darker when he is angry." Haku said, and then he added as a warning, "If they turn indigo, anything he touches would freeze over and turn black."

Eh, what? That was pretty extreme.

"Yes, but even without his eyes darkening much, he could get quite cold." Heller added, but since I knew Alpha Gunter, I understood that Heller meant it in the most literal way, "Remember how we messed up and he was so angry that his entire lake house estate froze over?"

Haku laughed at the memory, "He made us remove the ice as punishment. You tried to defrost the lake and ended up boiling all the fish."

I remembered Fluffy's bloodline power. I guess it would be natural that Heller had the same.

"He truly was the Great Teacher." Heller concluded.

I don't know about Great Teacher, but I had to admit it did sound like great fun.

And by the way, that book about not teaching your students the right answers, but the right questions to ask? The anonymous journal that lycan teachers liked to quote and was probably what inspired them to being teachers themselves? Yup, it was written by this same Great Teacher.

I should get a copy and ask Alpha Gunter to autograph it or something. Hahaha.

And then I realized something else, "You say he left this afternoon?"

Heller nodded, "Yes, are you looking for him?"

I shook my head, "How long will it take for him to get back to the plains?"

Heller frowned a little, "I think he was rushing to return before the full moon. He was in such a hurry he didn't even stay for lunch."

Heller looked out of the window, but of course it was already the full moon since I was dream travelling.

"Saturday." I informed them, "The real full moon would be out this Saturday."

I knew because the calendar at home had symbols for the full moon, half moon, and no moons printed in it. Very useful for lycan households. You never knew when your daughter might go in heat because her mate accidentally showed up.

"So he only arrived today and then left again?" I asked.

Heller nodded.

"It's too bad I missed him." Haku said, "If only my morning meeting had ended in time for me to meet with you for lunch today as planned."

I ignored Haku's regrettable schedule conflict to do some internal calculations. I'm guessing Alpha Gunter would only reach home on Friday, earliest. So River would still be able to meet Flynn on Thursday night for his torture, I mean training session. Yes. I just wanted to make sure the plans I've set in motion were still going to stay in motion.

I felt a little like an accomplished plate spinner.

Now lets see, as for Mate's arm, we'll take him to the Old Healer at Night Forest and see if she had any ideas. And then if she didn't, I guess I'll ask Alpha Gunter help me find the Soul Healer named Wanda. Got it.

As for this entire Blue Rose thing, I also had a good plan - I was going to completely ignore it. It'll be very easy. All I had to do was NOT come back to the Colored Mountains ever again.

But would that mean they would never find their true king? I wondered if there were any Lycan legends that just didn't get written. Like they set up the entire thing, backstory and prophecy and all, and then just ended at Chapter 3 with "the Blue Rose decided it wasn't worth the trouble and never came back. The end."

Did I look like I cared? Well, in case I did, just to be crystal clear about it, I didn't care. Not even a little bit.

There must be a million Lycan legends just waiting to be written here, but I only had one soul mate. And I've found him. That in itself was magic.

It wasn't perfect but we were working at it, okay, I was working at it. I know it takes two to clap, but if one hand angled itself and hit the other at the right moment, it was a clap... Or a high five. But repeated high fives and clapping were arguably the same thing.

But most importantly, he was MINE and no one was going to take him from me.

After sitting around a little longer with Heller and Haku and Meredith, I thanked them politely for the tea (both the Colored Mountain styled one in the argon tea cups as well as the story they poured out on River's Dad), and then Haku said he would like to present me with a meeting gift.

At this point, he plucked out one of the white roses from a nearby vase and his hand glowed. Immediately, the white rose burst, its petals falling, but it also sprouted new red roots, budded leaves that quickly unflured, tender shoots of new branches and new heads of roses. Three on each branch. The new roses were small, only buds, but they were heavy enough for their stems to bend with their weight.

"If you plant this in good soil, the plant will find its own nutrients to continue its growth." Haku smiled, "May our friendship grow and blossom, until we meet again."

Heller narrowed his eyes, "You're not playing fair, Haku! But I will also give a gift."

I shook my head. I should have left earlier, but how was I to know the craziness would restart so quickly, "There is no need for any gift!"

"Why? But you are the Great Teacher's student, which makes you our junior. And you might become our son's mate, and even if you didn't, you would still become queen one day." Heller reasoned, "And of course, you are my saviour. You saved my only son, and my mate and daughter as well. I am indebted to you with my life, so this gift is only a little thing..."

Heller reached into his jacket and brought out a dagger in a jeweled sheath. The entire thing wasn't bigger than a butter knife, yet the magic imbued in it was indescribable.

"This is for you." Heller said, "It is a knife that will cut through anything, and it can only be contained by this sheath which can withstand any cut."

Because what true Lycan treasure should not come with its own irony?

"I can't accept this." I said. I was going to go home and never come back.

Heller pressed it into my hands, "Since you will not accept my son as thanks, then take this instead."

Urm... Okay. I guess if it were a choice between Fluffy and a dagger, I'd take the dagger.

And then I woke up.

I stared at the ceiling of my room for a few minutes, a dagger in one hand and a rose sapling in the other, and then my alarm rang.

I sat up and put my new treasures carefully on my bed. Then I turned off my alarm and plodded towards the bathroom.

On the way there, I noticed my uniform and stuff all neatly packed and ready for school. I was so good to have Ki back. (Did he actually get any rest though?)

But I felt a smile come on. It's going to be a great day! Last day of being grounded and the exams were over, so today would be the perfect day to become a cool teenager - a cool teenager who had to come straight home after school, yes, but I was going to live it up in my last few days at Winderhill High.