Chapter 189 - Reasonings On The War
We left the elder\'s room once they dismissed us. I was displeased with Channing in many ways currently. Firstly, he had not defended his own Beta, that was me, well and secondly, he had just accepted the proposal to increase our pack to prepare for a war with Waterwoods, which was never coming in the first place.
As we got out of the room Paul greeted us, "Have a good day, Alpha Channing, Beta Selene."
Channing flashed a quick smile to him, "You too, Paul. How are things with the elders? Are they taking the matters too seriously?"
I looked at Paul the first thing and he just chuckled, "You know it, they always take everything seriously. Especially when the public is being enraged." Paul turned to me, looking at my overcoat, which I had dusted. Despite that, some traces of the shoe thrown at me were there, "I am sorry to hear what happened near the police station."
"News sure reaches fast to the quarters, doesn\'t it?" I could help but say it that way.
Paul understood my annoyance and gave me a tight smile, "It does, especially when the guards call me as soon as they spot or hear anything unusual. That is the reason why the police station was built right in front of the quarters."
I took a deep breath, understanding who the eyes and ears of the elders were outside the room. "That is good to know," I replied to Paul.
Channing and Paul both noticed the off tone in my voice. Paul awkwardly laughed, "You must be getting late then, even I am swamped here with work." I offered him a tight smile and turned on my heels to leave there.
"See you later, Paul," Channing waved at him in a hurry before doing a short run to me.
We came down by the elevator and neither I nor Channing exchanged any words with each other. Rather, there was an awkward silence that was filling up between us. I really did not what had me so messed up and cranky, but it was just the way it was. Channing\'s presence was a little displeasing to me. I trusted him always and it wouldn\'t be wrong if I said he was the only person outside the palace whom I trusted. But his recent righteous behaviour was too righteous for me to accept.
We exited the building, and I started walking to my house near the outskirts of the village. For a long time, Channing followed me and I increased my pace every time he inched closer to me. "What?" I suddenly stopped and Channing halted with a jerk.
He raised his eyebrows, "Let me ask you the same question, What?" I stared back at him and aimlessly raised his hand before dropping them, "What is wrong with you, Selene?"
I sighed before rolling my eyes over and crossing my arms, "How can you really support that Idea Channing?"
"What Idea?" Channing was quick to ask.
I squinted at him, "Really, what idea? Channing, we both know that the village of Waterwoods is not involved in this. I cannot believe you just rolled with the thought of increasing our pack for a war which would never come."
Channing\'s lips set into a thin line, "What else would I do? Once the elders\' take their decision, they don\'t back away from it."
"You have to make them change their minds," I squeaked, "Can you for once try to tell the truth? In the morning, you gave people the benefit of doubt about the thought that I was one of the traitors like John Walter and see what that led to. The elders don\'t believe in me either, because of that. And now you know that even Waterwoods faced casualties of this Zelda thing," I quoted his ex\'s name with my two fingers, "You don\'t understand Channing, we have to get the elder\'s mind away from war, not into it."
Channing opened his mouth to speak something, but shut it again. I kept staring at him till he gave me a proper explanation and Channing looked left and right before saying, "Look, Selene, I am sorry. I know you come here to end the war and I agreed with that idea only because it was from the elders."
My face crinkled in a ridiculed expression, "So does that mean they can never be wrong?"
"Yes!" Channing was quick to reply before he held my shoulders with both his hands, "Selene, they are people of experience and Miss Madilyn has lived more than 100 years now. Do you think they will say it just like that without any thought?"
I had no reply to that statement.
Madilyn looked neutral and talked sense, but she had lived for more than 100 years. She must have seen the war better than most of the others.
"Selene, think about it," Channing said in a milder tone, "Fang might not be that way, but the people there are enraged as well. Didn\'t you hear what Bane said yesterday? They want the same war that Miss Madilyn anticipated a while back."
It was true. There really was a word of wisdom hidden in those words that elders\' said. If the situation enraged any more, the general public will get charged up and knowing Waterwoods had all population in their pack they were bound to come and try to strike. It made me wonder how Fang was handling the situation there. I am sure of some barbaric ways, but I don\'t know how the elders from Waterwoods must be able to come to the same conclusion which the elders from Winterwells had come to.
The situation, instead of loosening or solving, was just getting more and more complicated. I just hoped that solving this case helped in the dissolution of the feud rather than more increase in the war.
"Are you better now?" Channing asked me after a long pause that had come to settle in between us.
I nodded, "I think I will start with the jail first, let me go check Zelda\'s whereabouts."