A Biography of a Human

Chapter Thirty-Five:

“The New Year"

Settling into the routine of the palace was my life for the next few days after my arrival. The sight of Ulric and Gao'ao mating was still fresh in my mind after I was made to watch the whole affair. It was a while before the stunned effect of witnessing that wore off on me, but it did finally come.

A creeping part of myself started to feel like I had made some terrible mistake. The words of pragmatic Elyk came back to me, how I was putting myself in so much grave danger but at the time I was being bombarded by his dire warnings of what could be, I felt that such a thing was trifle compared to the lions and hyenas I was forced to lodge with.

If anything my sense of deep foreboding was issued by that experience with Nu and Siao. The morning after that happened, I woke up feeling like I was ushered to a state of soberness and the feeling of 'what have I done' filled me!

The whole thing, packing off and joining a harem!? What was I thinking!? I started feeling panic grow in me that somber morning after! I felt like a caged animal, like I had fallen into some trap and was only now realizing my predicament.

Walls and gates! I felt trapped, I was trapped in a cage of my own making! I felt overwhelmed and terrified, my calm was slipping away with each frenzied breath. I wanted Yosef's help but he was asleep and I could not cry out.

Remembering my training back at the monastery, I closed my eyes and focused on my panic; imagining it as a sphere writhing and pulsing like quicksilver. I focused on it and willed it to get smaller and smaller, putting all my effort into that aim.

Slowly, it shrank until it was but a pinprick of light in the black confines of my mind. Then, opening my eyes, I felt myself return to reality.

The feeling of having done something against my own interest did not go away, I would still feel it in the back recesses of my mind. There was no going back and flying into a frenzy was not going to make things easier.

For better or worse, I was here now and I was not going to be selfish! I had to protect Ulric! I had to make sure Jao, that murderer of my wolf father, Gernan, did not win in his desire for power!

Thus I spent my days keeping to myself within the walls of Gao'ao's palace complex. I knew he was out there and after that encounter with him before I wished not to run into him again! Siao and his little court of lackeys were going about like they owned the place and he no doubt was hoping for more chances to degrade me. Thus I was denying him that by keeping well within the territory of the Imperial Mate.

My duties, I took up rather quickly. I wanted to show Alpha Dowager Nu I was no sloth or amateur. Despite not having experience with the expansiveness that was the palace and all its inhabitants I knew well enough how to keep records and took it in stride. In fact, I took it up the day after I was forced to watch the awkward copulation of the Imperial couple, partly to keep my mind off that sight.

I requested the most recent log books and ledgers, and spend that whole day growing accustomed to it and it's layout. When night came, Yosef came in and lit up a lantern and set it by my heaps of paper, he did this on his own, he must have seen me start to struggle as the light became dimmer and dimmer. Also he was quite listless himself and took up any task with stride like that since it was something other than siting on the ground while I was focused on my task at hand.

Despite the books being drier than the deserts I trekked in Afika, one could really gleam a lot of information from their bland and formal entries. Gao'ao was receiving more and more bizarre concoctions listed under terms such as “Fertility medication," and there were reports about how supplies sent to Dowager Consort Jao were constantly being sent back with notes about their quality being inferior to his status.

These were the going-ons I found myself privy to and despite the initial dullness of the material it had some fascinating aspects to it once you looked beyond the names and numbers which made up the bulk of the entries. Nonetheless, it was quite a tiring task on the mind and spending the time I was on it in my first days left my head aching and wishing for slumber. My dreams ended up being filled with numbers and names because of this!

When I pulled away from that, I helped Yosef learn wolven written characters. The palace was a literary place and it was for the best he started learning. Also he needed something to do since the mid-late summer days were slow and hot. I ended up requesting from that same stern wolf lady, who I found out was named Nara, teaching books from the palace library.

The two of us had quite a bit of fun with the script lessons. I look upon those days fondly, they really took away the feeling of uncertainty that was abound in both of us in being in what could only be called the vipers den!

Though all things considered now, I think the palace might even be more dangerous than that. I felt then and there that having a patron in the form of the Imperial Mate herself and my being with Little Wolf, who was now in power, no harm could come to me.

How unaware I was of the truth of the whole affair about how Ulric reigned but did not rule. Titus called the shots, still, I was certain that Ulric could protect me if anything ever did happen.

Every time I thought of the handsome wolf ruler my stomach would come alive with fluttering sensations while imagining holding the young wolf in my arms in an embrace, protecting him and holding him close to me.

Jao was not going to stop and I vowed I would not lose him like I lost Gernan to him! I promised myself this! The whole reason of me even entering the harem to begin with was because of this and this alone, tied with the fact my heart was smitten with the now grown-up pup!

I just wished I could be with him more...

Though personal meetings were sparse and seemingly random to us, Ulric took every moment he had to invite me to his presence or outright coming to me directly at Gao'ao's compound, the latter being the more common case. This made Gao'ao quite pleased and that was the only issue: her butting in and forcing herself into our time together.

The things she would try to carry conversation with were quite cringe-inducing, resulting in a lot of awkward silence. Once she even asked if her “Imperial Spouse," had taken me upon his member yet and if I was to his liking. We were still in wonder at each other's presence that such things had not even crossed out mind and such a statement from her made us both feel very uncomfortable! This was on the third or forth day after entry into the harem so it was quite hastily coming from her.

It was just now starting to dawn upon me something was insidious with the older wolfess but I just found myself putting it off as I continued to maintain the illusion that the Imperial Mate had nothing but good intentions in her heart. There was so many signs before but they all did not feel great enough at the moment to raise too much suspicion in me.

To me, she was a wolfess who wanted her royal mate to feel happy and thus wanted me to be here to do that as well as protect him from Jao's puppet in the harem. A completely selfless she-wolf! That's what I wanted to think, that's what I wanted to believe…

It was in these days after my arrival that I finally saw good Dillian again, the trusty Ursine watcher of my little wolf. I ended up being quite taken aback when he treated me rather distantly looking me up and down rather cautiously and not speaking as he used to before as someone he could trust.

This was all so shocking I initially wondered if I mistook the wrong Ursine for Dillian since It felt so strange to me that he was not carrying on like he did when he and I last spoke. I tried to put if off as if he was having a bad day or something of that like. I did not dwell too much on this for my main focus was helping Ulric as I was told by Gao'ao.

I was blissfully unaware of the games going on and who knew what and when…

I was not used to all of this. There were subtle power-plays going on about me of which I had no idea about. The lions and the hyenas, they were brutish and clear, they made their aims and motives obvious in declamatory signs.

Dillian was in the know more than me and that was why he looked upon me coolly…

He knew what was going on. He knew of Gao'ao's desires and that of the machinations of Selene and the domineering ways of Titus and his support in the form of Nu in her Alpha Dowager seat. Me? My eyes were encased in tubes with no other object of view than that of Jao and Ulric…

Thus Dillian did not know which side I was on, for there were more than us against Jao and treated me with a cold paw.

There were more factions than I realized. Yes, some closely related, but many had differing aims and desires for outcomes. It was as if the whole wolf world was a gigantic web, convoluted and sprawling with infinite threads and spirals, twisting and turning with dark creatures in every corner ready to strike and suck the life from you!

And in the center? Little Wolf Ulric, at the mercy of everyone around him! Trapped and powerless, subject to the plans of others while he waited for whichever spider won its game first.

As for me in this whole image of webs and predatory arachnids? I was but a tick resting on the back of one these many players…

This place was worse than I could have ever imagined! Not even the worst nightmares brought on by my panic before could have matched what would become real and burst upon the stage! Blood gushing like geysers, fire and choking smoke bellowing out.

Metaphorically or real, it was the truth of the world I now found myself in, that same world that toppled mighty Gernan from everything when he stood at the forefront of the empire seemingly unchallenged by everything.

This place, this world, it was all a play upon a stage, everyone was an actor!

The cowing officials in their bulky robes...

The castrated ursines, devoid of masculinity but hiding a hidden power...

The concubines resplendent in flowery silk, each eager to gain favor…

The stuffy nobles who hide feelings of their clans being more prestigious than the upstart Kutlars…

The warriors dressed in armor like scales of a serpent ready to strike…

All putting out good appearances but which harbor souls of dark intentions underneath all the pomp and finery of appearance and manners? Which had true and goodness in them?

This world was a garden rich in blooms and showing in harmony….

But go underground and all the flowers and plants seek to strangle the other with their roots!

I was a babe in the woods here and I was totally unprepared for what I was about to get involved with! Even Elyk underestimated how brutal is could be if it reaches the boiling point! The court was at at simmer and with each passing moment its heat grew and grew and we all were like frogs being slowly boiled alive!

If I was going to make it and survive, I would have to learn to play the game and play it well!

Now before I move on with my adjustments to live within the secluded confines of the Imperial palace back halls, I should bring up a figure, who up until now, I have been neglecting in the course of my growing autobiography.

I speak none other than that of Little Wolf's maternal Uncle and Prime Beta of the Alphate itself.

Titus Wuji. Of course, I spoke about how he was absent from the funeral of my late Gernan, it did not strike me as odd then and there for I was too much within the confines of grief to even have any form of full thoughts and feelings.

The anti-human wolf was the last to be made aware of my presence in his imperial nephews harem and he was not pleased at all about it. I only was made aware of this after the fact though but he was quite disgruntled that he neither agreed to it or even knew it was happening at all and it was that which made him the most displeased.

To him I was just some little human with little consequence in his grand game of high politics, nothing more, nothing less. He probably didn't even remember what I looked like or even what my name was, I am willing to wager money on that fact personally.

In fact, when he was told he had to really think about it at first until he realized I was Gernan's human. Then came surely the memories of the humiliation he was subjected to by my just Master after he had so violently and truly frightened me when he first saw me playing in the courtyard of Gernan's manor.

No doubt recalling that made his blood boil and the fact I was brought into the palace right under his snout surely did not help in this either. Regardless, he brushed me aside as some new fancy of his hormonal imperial ward and that being a human, was just mindless and possessing a short attention span. After all, that's what he felt suited humans the best, despite the example of Jao who clearly represented to a bigoted wolf an aspect of humanity which he felt needed to be utter snuffed out and purged from our furless conduct.

Jao was the real foe to him, I was nothing in his own power-play and thus put me out of his mind as quickly as I was brought up to him again after seven years. I did not factor into his strategy and schemes whatsoever

Then again, who could've foreseen what I would eventually become…

Unsurprisingly, it wasn't long before I was summoned to the presence of the haughty human himself. It was the imposing form of Beshir who barged his way past the gate keepers of the Imperial Mate's complex by sheer force of his frame alone.

Fortunately, he did not manhandle me like I last was by the hulking ursine, and was given a stern order that Jao wished to meet me in a statement worded like it was request I could chose to accept or reject but framed in forceful way that distinctly said it was an order not to be trifled with.

Yosef was already getting ready to to join me but the Ursine's discerning eye spotted him and gave a curt affirmation of, “Alone," which left my fellow human compatriot looking at me nervously for any guidance on if he should comply with his order.

I gave a gesture that I would be fine and that he should do as we were told by Beshir and was escorted out and hovered over the entire way by the Ursine, who towered behind me, casting a shadow over me as his warm breath came over the back of my neck.

This made for quite the uncomfortable journey towards the unflatteringly-named Armpit Palace, which severed the entire palace city as an annex and was that in every sense of the word. It was cramped and bare-boned, showing the fashions and tastes of yesteryear in its decoration and architecture.

“The first Kutlar Alphas were always fond of austerity," came to mind as I found myself within the smaller palatial complex, which resembled more of a barracks than anything grand or luxurious. The sinuous pathways were weathered, some even having small holes and cracks, and the walls and roof showed some slight lack of upkeep with only the smallest essentials in repair added to the facades.

It was not long after entering the location and walking a few paces that I was ushered into Jao's modestly-sized residence, likely a great downsize to what he would have lived in when he was at the height of his power and might over Alpha Wuffrim II. Immediately, I was hit with heat and humidity like a passing though an invisible wall. I was so overwhelmed and I felt perspiration start to develop instantly upon my forehead as the door behind me shut with a deafening shrill creaking.

Sitting behind the haziness was a humble seat upon a low platform step. Now this was not odd in and of itself since hall dwellings of the well-to-do had thrones in their entry foray. What drew my attention was the green oddities, one on each side of the seat and towering almost to the armrest of the throne.

Springing from porcelain planters resting on the ground by the legs of rather plain throne were green veiny tubes looking like widening trumpets near the top-lipped brim with what looked like a singular leaf hanging over the opening of the strange flora.

Forgetting where I was and the fact I was called to Jao's presence, as he was not even in the room, I walked up and sought a closer look at these alien-looking plants.

They were growing out of masses of moss stuffed into the planter and at bases of the individual trumpets lay remains of wilting and dead trumpets sided with the starts of newborn ones which were a vibrant green.

As I drew close to look at them even more, the sweltering moisture and head was causing me to feel increasingly clammy and uncomfortable the longer I spent in the confines, which felt more like a hot spring. I could not understand how anyone could even live in such an environment!

“For a furred Chimera this must be a nightmare to live in," I distinctly remember thinking to myself as I found my place standing right in front of the strange plants.

I leaned in closer to the plants and focused on the interior of the standing vegetation, gazing down into the cavernous pits of the slender and tall fleshy green pillars pillars. The smell came first to me! A smell of death, that of rot and mulch overcame me, and it was not long before the origin of the scent was clear.

Deep within at the bottom of one the trumpets, I saw a pool of liquid, semi-translucent and looking slightly thinker than ordinary water. Looking like watered down sap or blood, if it was clear. It was not that which struck me but what was floating in said substance…

Insects, most were dead but some were still clinging to life and were struggling against the thick fluid it was stuck in! That was what the smell was…

“…Is this plant…eating…?" I found myself muttering aloud in shock at the thought of a plant able to capture and digest other living things, unaware that another presence was in the room and behind me and had heard my low whisper.

“Correct! Very perceptive! Now I can see how you managed to convince my late Imperial Master to spare your beloved Master," I jumped and at first, in my frightened state, thought that the voice was coming from the plant itself, also bearing the ability to speak as well as eat! But no, it was Jao, and spinning around I came face to face again with what I could only aptly call my ultimate nemesis.

Seeing him again made my blood boil and fit with the state of the heat around us, I felt one of my hand curl up into a fist without even so much as a thought.

“If you even try that you will be dragged out by Beshir and reduced to a bloody pulp, so I would hold off on such thoughts for the time being…" he coolly said, having clearly picked up on my body language without even so much as moving his icy eyes around in the slightest.

Still taken aback by his perception of my bearing and his threat of reprisal if I so dared take out my anger on the one that did in my master, Jao spun around and bid me with a simple, “Come," as he paced off in a flurry of his light linen gown, which was keeping him cool in this moist and hot enclosure into a backroom.

Though I found the idea of following his bidding repulsive, there was not much I could do other than do just that and follow him into where ever that blond ghoul went.

Part of me feared he might do away with me here and now since I was fully in his domain and at his mercy! Though considering the outcome for himself if he did that, it would not be wise. No doubt he would truly get it from Ulric if he tired such a thing, also Jao was not going to throw his own life away to settle scores, well, not like that at least!

I followed him into another room, one which had an entire wall of waxed paper, thus letting in a flood of defused light which fell upon long and wide tables filled and covered with countless individual pots and basins grouped together so closely it made it look like an entire unified landscape was atop the table.

Jao was standing in the center of the hallway-like room next to another human who was kneeling, bearing a tray with a silver basin above his own and which reached up next to the hips of Jao. This other human all the while looking down submissively as he acted at a living table for the icy Dowager Consort.

Jao was looking over the smaller plants with clear, loving expression in his normally stone face. He gestured me closer and as I did so a low rumbling sound grew louder, a popping and rolling noise which showed itself to be basins of boiling water further back down at the other end of the space.

That is were all the humidity came from and it gave the space an uneasy sound akin to thunder with the rolling sound of the boil of the water. I heard from palace rumors that if a servant did something he did not like when he was in a sour mood, Jao would have Beshir drag the individual to one of the pots of boiling waters and force their hand or paw into it as punishment for whatever thing had offended him.

This all arose from there being more than one odd cases of accidental burn wounds coming from servants who were abruptly discharged from serving the cold but sometimes temperamental Dowager Consort. One story involved a servant who did not sleep well the previous night and ended up dropping one of Jao's plants right before his eyes.

There were also variants on this tale with the unnamed servant being outright killed and that Jao fed the chopped up remains to his plants with devilish delight! That story, I highly doubt occurred but I do have to say it does fit with something Jao would do if he could!

These are all rumors though, but I feel that they are worth a mention considering the current account of being in his presence at that time.

Apparently I was not close enough for his liking and he gestured me to get even closer, which I was not happy about doing but not wishing to upset the villainous human, inched closer with each wave of his dainty hand until I was right by his side and honestly petrified since I was so close.

He gave off such an aura that it made my skin crawl and I also felt in awe of his presence, it was so that it left me feeling utterly disarmed and at his total mercy! I desperately wanted to leave but I could not just dart out of the place without making a ruckus and would surely get be cut down by some overzealous guard or throttled by the hulking form of that Beshir who was likely lurking around somewhere!

I shuddered at the thought of crossing paths with that Ursine brute, remembering the last time I was dragged by him to meet Jao when my late Gernan fell from favor. Just thinking about it made my shoulder hurt as if he was grabbing me right there and then.

Determined to say the first word before he got a chance himself to say something to put me in his grip, I opened my mouth and uttered out, emboldened with the seething sense of rage that was burning quietly beneath my calm demeanor, “I am glad you have a hobby Consort Dowager. I get the feeling your days of meddling in the affairs of state are over now that Siao has, well…"

I found myself shocked at the boldness of my beginnings! Alarms were going off and shouts of me wishing death upon myself rang out within my mind but I persisted on.

“...Regardless of that now, it's good you have something like this to keep your mind focused on in your retirement…" Jao did not even seemed fazed by my sharp words clad in a complementary tone of voice, though he did snap his head ever so slightly towards me so that one of his ice-filled eyes focused on me.

It was full of cold rage and insulted pride.

He coolly snickered but I could sense full-well I had gotten to him with that, “I see you have grown a sharp tongue since I last saw you. I can see your tear stained face after I entrapped you dear master in my grasp," he stopped and turned to the still-kneeling human servant, giving me a clear view.

Within the gilt bowl were little black things…

They were flies, stunned and on their backs but still alive. Jao's slender white hand moved to the side of basin and plucked in his dainty fingers a pair of gaudy tweezers, also of gold, and moved to the basin again as he began to pluck up the flies one by one.

Dropping each one into the waiting maws of his meat eating plants in a manner that was parental in a creepy way, considering the whole scene and all it entailed, “You know things can change in a flash, the wheel of Fortune can shift vastly with the slightest of actions!" he said, moving along the plant-filled table length as the tray-bearing servant shuffled forwards and backwards on his knees.

I would not be truthful if I said I did not feel a sympathy pain in my shins, imagining the strain put upon them by being a moving statue like this human was for Jao.

“Just like how you were spirited away from you backwater home by slavers to being carried through the thresholds of the Alpha Harem by Ursine Eunuchs, the will of the Heavens is strange indeed in its arbitrary movements!"

I rolled my eyes at what was clearly an attempt to intimidate me and leave me cowering in a mess on the floor like he did most others he had summoned into his icy presence which seemed to defy the sheer amount of wet heat that was in the air of this chamber.

“Jao, you may have once ruled the roost but those days are over and you know it. Any attempt to change things will just result in you falling even farther."

“True, perhaps you are right in a humble way but in another, what else do I have to live for?"

“I can't help but think you are delusional, you are completely powerless, all your allies and resources are as dried up as a lake in the desert of Afika," I retorted, boldly unflinching at what was treading shaky grounds by being so brazen.

“My, my, my! Aren't you bold today? See, you are all puffed up with your little backers!" he just laughed, quite amused with himself.

“In my homeland we have a saying. What you are doing we call, 'olla lammas,' meaning, 'to lamb.' To do nothing without the backing force of your shepherd master…"

“Maybe, Dowager Consort…but if we are to now speak in riddles, I should say you are the wolf in the sheep's pen!" the small emphasized mention of him being a Consort Dowager hit him hard, I had a sense that his inferior ranking next to his old rival Nu would be nasty jab to him and it worked, for I glanced his free hand coil into a tight fist before releasing.

“If you said that to a wolf it would be lost on him. Only us humans understand such sayings as those and others," he picked up nonchalantly as if the previous duel of words did not even occur at all. It was odd…

“What exactly does that have to do with anything?" I asked, rather annoyed with the smug casualness he was now putting on with this turn of the conversation. This tone of mine was not missed by the fellow human, fellow is not a word I would have used then, but he was still human and like me regardless now that time has passed.

“Quite the contrary, it has everything to do with everything!" Jao exclaimed dramatically as if he was some actor in a production in some grand theater. This did nothing but annoy me even more as well as flustering me in what he exactly meant.

“Images, idioms, symbols, it all has meaning and the wolves love to interpret things, then again all beings are that way…us humans included"

“You are not making any sense!" I found myself snapping at Jao whose vagueness was becoming downright enraging by this point. I wanted to throttle the slender human and scream at him to shove it already but that was not going to get me anywhere good.

“Ha ha! See? You are still a fawn, young and brash, and thinking you have the strongest horns of all the stags in the forest," he spoke, staring me down fiercely with a cold aloofness and a taint of amusement as he furthered, “You have much to learn, I just wonder if you will even be able to reach that point? Many beautiful flowers have come and gone in this…"

“One has to be a stout-hearted plant to survive the winters of this place…" this final riddle, whose meaning was still clear to me was enough. I was done! Through! Finished!

“You're an old fish, Jao! Old fish, I tell you!" I hurled at him as I stormed out of the room, overhearing his laughter at all of this. If his intent was to set me off for his own amusement he had done it and done it well. It all got under my skin and I pretty much made a fool of myself.

He was right. Thinking back on it, I clearly had a lot to learn…

I desired to be able to visit Ulric himself rather than it be him to me in which those awkward supervised visits under Gao'ao's eye were conducted. As a talent, one of my duties was to be in charge of the changing of the Alpha's garments and his bedsheets, but I was told time and time again by Gao'ao that I needed more lessons under her tutelage.

“There are other talents, you are not the only one, they can perform your duties when you are unable to," she would tell me when I asked her when I could go to the Reclining Lupine Hall, the residence of the Alpha himself.

I did not know it then but Gao'ao preferred me being by her side, though not for any fondness for myself, rather what my being brought to her own chamber…"

This was frustrating for me but I could do nothing about it other than spend the days either acting as somewhat of an attendant of the Imperial Mate. That and going over the ledgers when I received them weekly.

The Summer became Fall and the Fall into Winter. New Years was soon going to be upon us and the festivities were being prepared. The multi-year mourning period for Wuffrim was concluded, meaning this that new year of 3082 A.A the start of the third year of Eternal Concord would be the first in which real festivities would be on display rather than the previous more restrained ones that were held in the last years.

I was not present for those obviously but everyone seemed quite happy at the thought of a real New Years celebration for once. Gao'ao would go on and on about with her mother who often took a moment after court sessions to visit her daughter, boasting about how she could not wait to display brighter colored garments and jewelry when the court pays her homage during one of the days of New Years jubilation.

Her mother, I still remember when I first met her myself, it was around the transition of Summer into Fall, a month or two after I entered the harem. Gao'ao was so proud to show me off like I was some kinda object or pet, a tool would be a more fitting word now that I think about it.

The two talked as I entered the room they were in after I was summoned by Gao'ao, who I overheard give slight scold for her not visiting her sooner. I gave my greetings and got on my knees to both of them, reciting the usual bit about about this lowly human and so on. It gets very tiring, very quickly after you find yourself saying it nearly everyday.

“Look at him! How docile he is, Mother! Truly, this was a marvelous idea," she spoke as I still kept my knelling position before the two of them, her mother still dressed in the rather masculine-looking court attire, a Kaftan colored to her specific rank. She was seated in a chair placed next to her imperial daughter's throne, both lording over me as I kept my gaze down in humility.

Her mother nodded her head as her daughter spoke on, wanting to prove her statement about me “I'll show you!" she explained as she called for a basin of water to be brought and placed at her paws. “Iskander, wash your mistress's paws…" she said haughtily as I started to blush from being quite humiliated at being ordered to perform such a task. Not even Gernan bid me to do such servile tasks!

I put this behind me and inched my way to her legs. After pulling off her dainty slippers, I gently guided them into the basin. Scooping up water in my cupped hands, I began pouring the warm water over her paws and clawed digits. Her body was relaxed in full confidence in her own ability as her mother watched on at my show of the ultimate humility.

“See, Mother? See how well he responds to commands?" the she-wolf boasted as her mother responded with a, 'good human,' comment, which I will not lie, burned inside me and made me want to groan in extreme annoyance.

If that was not bad, what followed was even worse. Gao'ao patted me on the head like I was a dog who lived up to his owner's desires, “Yes he is, is he not perfect? And he has caused that Siao to fall from total favor! Ulric has not made a visit to his palace in over a month!"

Then she said something I feel she shouldn't have…

“Also, thanks to this human, Ulric is coming around more often! It's better than I could have imagined," the truth was revealed even though I, at the moment it was going on, did not have it fully dawn upon me until I found myself away from her presence. But in my mind it all came together into a revelation that was clear.

I was not here to help Little Wolf. I was here to get Ulric into her bed more often. Her whole aim was her own selfishness and desire to be favored and desired, even though Ulric did not feel anything for her. Though Gao'ao was the same, she only felt for him since he was Alpha and wanted to secure her position, which was crippled by her own lack of offspring.

My entire view of her changed from that moment on, amusing how it seemed to match the change of the seasons and the coming change of the year. I had the feeling the new year would bring to me a complete change and what I thought I was here for before was no longer what I thought it would be. I was nervous and the words of Jao rang in my head.

I found myself wondering who was the true villain in this place for now, it seemed like everyone could be in that role. Maybe even myself, I know for a fact that I am the villain in the stories of many out in the world.

The week of New Years came, in what seemed to feel like the coldest of Winter came the 12^th full moon, heralding the start of the official beginning of Spring. Paper lanterns of all colors hung in the winding causeways of the palace and on by every gate.

Distant music echoed from the far reaches of the city, far from the cloistered seclusion of the palace that I was now stationed in. Rumors abounded of Siao placing much hope on the idea that Ulric would come to his dwelling that night and when that did not come he fell into a drunken stupor. I also heard that Jao was deeply disappointed when he found out about that for Siao was called to his presence and was told something along the lines of, “Such behavior does not befit a human of the Alpha's harem!"

Now one might imagine that if Ulric did not make a visit to Siao then he must have come to me. As romantic as that sounds it did not occur, despite how some might recount the past, I am sure, about how I learned hyena sorcery and placed an enchantment upon Alpha Ulric. Such things are always entertaining for tall tales.

No, my little wolf took that night out to visit and partake in a gathering at Titus' manor. It was joked that this was the first time the old wolf bought luxury furniture and fine spices. In many ways this was a show of power to others, that he could invite and have the Alpha come to him rather than the other way around. Of course, at this gathering the young wolf was placed in prominence, but every attendee focused their gaze on Titus and followed their toasts to their Alpha with ones to the health of the great Prime Beta!

To think they accused my Gernan of wishing to usurp power and sell the wolves to the foxes! If anyone was domineering it was Titus!

After the date of the New Year followed the ceremonies of courtly greetings. First, the Imperial Alpha Ulric, holding ceremonial court in full regalia in the Hall of Howling to the Pack. The entire government was present and dressed in the highest court uniforms and there to offer congratulations to Ulric for the New Year.

The drums and bells of the grand event reverberated and were well-heard in areas of the harem, even the cries of congratulations followed by howling and howling which went on for some time. Pack unity, all wolves howl as one, the pack is eternal, the Alpha leads wolfkind. It was chilling to hear and I wondered what it would be like to sit on the Wolf Throne before such a pomp spectacle.

Being there like that would make one feel as if the whole universe revolved around you, that one was akin to the pole region of the sky, the officials like the stars which dance around you, the axis of the heavens.

Just thinking about it makes my my hair stand on end, electrifying! I thought it then, remembering the time I dared to sit upon the throne in the vacant throne chamber of the imperial retreat palace after the attempt on Gernan's life so many years prior to that moment in time. Me hanging out of the door-frame of my tiny apartment just listening to the sounds of this all.

“You should've been born a wolf…" Yosef remarked behind me, practicing his wolf vocabulary as I was taking in what had to have been a grand rite far away and forbidden from my own seclusion, for I was human.

“Humans shall not rule."

“Humans are forbidden from treading in the halls and the affairs of the pack."

That is what is said about humans in the texts wolves hold dear. But did they not also say that humans can be guides? What about the didactic of the orphaned wolf cub who was raised by his father's human slave? What about the human who took command of his Master's affairs when taken ill? Even Sarshu, who fixed the Eye of Canis, that very symbol of all wolfkind!?

Wolves may be dogmatic at times but there are ways and pathways for us to gain something, one has to be smart and clever though to be able to see the vein in which to carve out such a path, but I digress.

After this grand event came the court congratulations of the Imperial Mate. Outside the Eastern Gate of Paradise was placed her throne under a canopy of state, all her implements and possessions of her lofty status placed on tables beside it. The cusp of the bureaucracy lined up in front of the outside of the gate and waited in the mid-morning for the ritual to begin.

I was by her side when she made her way to receive their congratulatory mantras, I was one of the many attendants and carried her scarlet train as I matched the slow pace that followed the monotonous beat of drums.

Her headdress of gold scales glistened in the morning light, sending out rays which dazzled the eyes. The dangling ornaments suspended from the protruding fins which framed her ears clinked against each other like chimes.

Swaying censers, fluttering banners, waving fans, and erect standards; all pomp was present as we approached the closed gate and this high gatehouse. The drums stopped with the imperial wolfess's step.

Two large drum beats signaled the opening of the gate which slowly groaned open.

A call rang out!

“The Imperial Mate Arrives!"

“The ceremony begins!" movement again as Gao'ao paraded forwards, stepping over the painted threshold. Drums beat out in single hits while chimes and bells rang in stately fashion as the regal she-wolf progressed around the canopy of state, moving herself in front of her throne before the court underneath the open morning sky.

As she took her seat, I found myself standing right beside her and also near her lady-in-waiting, Nara. The entire time the court was bowing, not fully kneeling as Gao'ao was not the Alpha.

Another cry rang out, “Let the rite of congratulations begin!"

First a wolf came up and I recognized him immediately, it was Titus. He marched up took a low standing bow and spoke thusly, “May the new year bring you harmony and thus harmony in the harem and that this year also bring you a litter."

“Thank you, Prime Beta," Gao'ao spoke without emotion, waving him off rather coolly as if she was anxious to have him be gone. Now, the next wolf who walked up was differently handled, her ears perked up and her eyes lit up and as the wolf made the motions to bow, Gao'ao waved him to stop, “Dearest Uncle, you are my elder, since when does an elder bow to his niece?"

I knew it was Galba from that alone, he looked around awkwardly, unnerved by this contrary attention he was being given. Now I should state now that this rite was being held for the first time, as I said previously that the New Years audiences were toned down in the mourning period of Wuffrim II and this one of the Imperial Mate was outright canceled.

“Mother! Where is Mother!?" Gao'ao called out loudly to the assembled crowd which stood still like statues aside from the bobbing head of one behind the rows of wolves. “Mother! There you are! Come here, please!" the female wolf emerged from the filed rows, breaking with the whole hierarchy of this solemn rite which it adhered to.

“Oh, I am so glad to see you both."

“New Years greetings to the Imperial Mate," they both said, holding to ritual propriety as Gao'ao waved her paw. “Thank you both, I wish to give you also New Years greetings," she then snapped her claws. “Present the gift," she ordered as two came forward bearing a chest and was placed before the two wolf officials.

It was opened, showing that it contained fine fabrics and tapestries, the best of the palace workshops. This along with spices and incense, tribute from the Levant, “Take this both, it is my gift to you both for this dawning of a new year."

Both wolves, mother and uncle, looked at each other, unsure of what to even do let alone say! This was not proper for this ritual, not only did she break with equal treatment of officials giving her new years greetings and having her mother break rank to cut ahead of her superiors ahead of her but was giving a chest full of fine things!

I caught sight of Titus in the background, he was fuming! His paws were fisted and if still had his tail it would be bristling. He was clearly enraged at this over the top show of familial favoritism and the only thing keeping him from storming up here and giving Gao'ao a firm lecture on proper morals was that fact that this too would be a breach of court protocol.

He was livid! I could even see his eyes pretty much rolling back into his head and his ears were as flat as a field! I found myself raising my hand to my mouth to chuckle at this sight, for I had not seen him this seething since Gernan forced him to submit to me for forgiveness!

Nara brought her muzzle to my ear, “It's joked that Titus stuck his severed tail up his ass and seeing him now, I can agree with that!" this made me even want to laugh more but I restrained myself.

Gao'ao and her relatives spoke for some time before they excused themselves and two canine servants carried their gift behind them. Titus shot the both of them a harsh look, expressing with his gaze alone his great anger at their scion's nepotistic actions.

After this, the rest of the ceremony went according to proper etiquette and after the most important officials were presented, the lesser ranked moderate officials came up in groups as to save time and have things go more faster. This went on for sometime.

Soon the last wolves came up, the lowest of the officials that had rank to even be present to this ritual greeting. Gao'ao did not even bother speaking to them at all, just twitching a single clawed digit to bid them to go.

“I cannot believe they are letting such lowly wolves into the government," she bemoaned as a group of plain-looking wolves, who had a rather scruffy look to them and their fur, lacking things such as trained servants to comb their fur. One caught my eye for he seemed to stare at me quite a bit with his eyes. They were almost questioning in their gaze as if he wondered if I was someone who he thought I was.

I was unaware of the fact the news of my arrival in the harem was of noteworthy interests to some. Curious, I asked Gao'ao who they were from.

“Oh they are nothings, just upstarts from nothing clans with no real forebears of any worth. Simply all Omega class!" she said dismissively about the bunch that were presented to her. “One of those is the son of a butcher," she continued, her voice filling with offense at the notion of that.

“A butcher, can you imagine that!? How can a butcher's pup think he has any worth to serve as an official in the court of the Alphate! So undignified!" she spat as the group was backing away from us and the ears of the one who was looking at me oddly perked up and then flattened. He heard Gao'ao's words clearly and was insulted at them.

“He must be the butcher's pup then," I mused to myself as Gao'ao spoke up again as the next group walked in, one of the last, “Lovely, more lowborn wolves, I wonder which one of these is that son of a traitor who fancies himself a scholar?" she groaned.

It was shortly after this that the last officials gave their greetings and then all of them together shouted out a unified greeting.

“An auspicious New Year's to the Imperial Mate!"

“One hundred thousand years to her!"

“One hundred thousand years to her!"

“One hundred thousand years to her!"