Minty goes to Alex

After Minty had taken care of the matter and sent Boone, Beau, and the girl off to Texas, she continued with her desired plan of planting trees in the forest the following day with the kids. She had made them finish planting the last few saplings in the ditches left where the forest fire had started and then she took them back to the original location to plant trees there too.

They had worked so quickly that they had finished planting trees before the day was even over. Minty was surprised because she had planned on relaxing for the rest of that day but her relaxation was cut short when Edith suddenly approached her saying they were done.

She expected them to be fast, but they were even more efficient, not only had they planted the trees but they made new ditches for the extra saplings and evenly spaced them away from each other so as to prevent them from fighting for nutrients between themselves.

With nothing else planned for that day, Minty gave them the day off as she went to give Alex a summary report.

It was nighttime when Minty left the base, but it was morning when she walked through the portal to an undisclosed location where Alex was adding the finishing touches to the conference room that he had been building to gather up the officials who were in power for a meeting.

It was very stressful for him as there were multiple factors to consider such as accommodating the preferences and cultures of each individual, finding a meeting time that would not conflict with their schedules, creating a conference room big enough for each person as well as creating their own personal wait room before the meeting would start and so on.

He was now fantasizing about retiring while sitting in his office chair.

"The world is ending, People are on edge, Governments are in danger of collapsing, training of the new recruits," he was saying as he lifted up a different file each time from the box right next to him and read the information on it. "And the search for the Lanza Family," he read the last one with a heavy heart as he held the file in front of him tightly.

He looked to the side of him where there was a photo of a woman with white hair smiling as she was hugging him. *Sigh* "Why did you have to take 7 years to ask me to come help you? We could have avoided these troubles if you had just asked when it happened. I thought I meant more to you than this," Alex cried lowly to himself. His heart feeling restless.

*Knock, Knock, Knock.*

Alex wiped the tears away from his face as he answered, "Come in."

Minty entered the room holding a cup of coffee that she had prepared for him, she laid it out next to him and he thanked her for it. He had been considering drinking wine to get himself out of his own thoughts, but he knew that "THAT" tree would pull him in just to make him sober again. It was almost a pain at his side.

"Thank you for the drink though I believe that you are here for more than to provide me my morning coffee, how are the kids doing?" Alex asked.

"They are progressing very well and have even completed the task I had provided for them earlier than anticipated. Aside from the forest fire that occurred everything has been moving smoothly with them," Minty answered.

"The culprits as well have been relocated to Texas and provided with the funds they need to make a living," she added.

Her report was short and simple, the way she liked it.

"The main reason for me being here aside from the report I just gave you is to check on the progress of the conference room. I also hear that my sister will be accompanying you for such a special event and not John, correct?" Minty asked.

"Yes that is correct," Alex replied as he sipped some of his coffee.

"I know you are worried about her because this is such a special event and one that requires... professionalism," Alex added with a small pause at the end, "But I believe this will be a good experience for her to have, she might very well be the one hosting such events one day. Though hopefully not one that will require so many prominent leaders present."

"I am not worried," Minty crossed her arms while saying. "I am very well aware that my sister is capable of any such challenges to come."

Alex smiled, "I know you are," as he placed the coffee down. "Speaking of John, can you go and inform him to invite Ariel to the meeting in a few days? Though he should not accompany her, I have another task for him to do in mind."

"You are inviting Ariel? To the meeting?" Minty asked as she raised an eyebrow to the statement.

"Yes, I am. Not all the world leaders will be present," Alex answered. "Looking at their conflicting schedules, seeing how some have declined to join, and even taking in the fact that some are in no position to leave their countries for even a moment, a decision was made that not all the countries will have to send the leaders but simply a trusted source to represent them."

"Declined to join?" Minty said repeating only the part that had angered her. "Alex," she said in a serious tone as she placed her hands on the desk in front of her, "You know you could force them, right?"

Alex almost wished she was joking, but he knew how serious she would be if someone insulted his name, "Minty," he said in a calm and collected manner, "We are supposed to resolve conflicts, not stir them up. They made their decision to deny the call and henceforth it made me decide that not only world leaders should be invited but anyone with significant enough influence and power," Alex answered as he looked towards the picture that was beside him.

"Even with that conclusion in mind," Minty started up again, "Don't you think it is a bit much to include Ariel again?"

"She is a weapons dealer with contacts that span continents, not just countries," Alex answered. "Is she lacking in any way to qualify to be present?"

"It isn't her qualities that concern me, it's the type of person that she is. Alex." Minty replied.

"She is different from the way she was when we first met her and she hasn't caused a problem for us yet. I fail to see where the issue lies here. That is without factoring in personal feelings," Alex replied.

"Are you not doing the same?" she asked.

"Point taken," Alex smiled.

"So will you not inform John?" he asked.

"I never said that I wouldn't," Minty immediately responded back. "It's just that, I don't feel comfortable knowing that I will not be around when Ariel and Sasha are in the same room together, without me being present," Minty said.

"You worry too much about her, she is old enough to take care of herself Minty, just like she did back then," Alex responded. "Speaking of being alone together, John and Sasha are in a room together right now without-"

"What!!?" Minty exclaimed suddenly "Excuse me Alex, I have other matters to attend towards! I will pass on your message to John!" And with that said, Minty rushed out of the room.

Alex stared at his door that was left hanging open, Minty had forgotten to close it. He took a sip from his drink as he replied, "Women. They always have their priorities figured out."

****

Minty was rushing, she went from a quick walk to a jog, to simply running. She was running through the hallways. She had passed by many other servants who were trying to greet her and give their regards to her, but she paid them no mind.

"What's wrong with her?" one female servant asked.

"It must be an emergency," another female servant replied.

"I know that look," a male servant answered. "Something big has happened, something very big for her to be rushing like that."

"But what could it be?" the first female servant asked.

The man thought about telling them what it was about but then decided not to. It would do no good for him to say that she was rushing like that to check up on her sister, he also didn't want them to laugh at their superior if they knew that this was the reason why she was running.

He lightly hit her on the head in a playful way, "It doesn't concern us, if it did, we would be called upon. Now let us get back to work," he said as he continued moving forward.

"Aww," the other girl complained, "You know something, tell us!"

"Yeah tell us," her friend who was hit agreed as she touched the top of her head."

And just like that the two of them continued pestering him for the rest of the day until its end.

****

Minty was now close to losing her composure in her mind. She had already lost it to others who saw her, but to herself right now she was being calm, otherwise worse might have happened.

She had gone up and down in the building but couldn't find the room where Sasha might have been. This place was bigger than she thought it would be.

Realizing that stressing about this would get her nowhere, she took a breather and asked one of the servants which room Sasha could be in right now. After getting the information, she went back on her pursuit but this time, speed walking.

Finally reaching the room she took no bother to knock and opened the door right in front of her.