3. Chapter 3

Rangerkitty

and Tygra entered the kitchen to find Snarf busying himself with the griddle.

Looking at the mess on the counter, it was obvious he had been at work for some

time now.

“Snarf,

everything okay?” Tygra inquired.

He jumped at

the unexpected voice behind him and grabbed the stool he was perched upon to

avoid falling off. Steadying himself he turned around to see who had come into

his kitchen. Seeing the two tigers, he grinned and wiped his brow. “Good

morning, ready for some pancakes?”

Rangerkitty

blinked in obvious delight. “Wow! What a wonderful surprise! What’s the

occasion?”

Snarf

shrugged and turned. “Why don’t we just say it’s in honour of the first

snowfall?”

They nodded

and inhaled the delicious smells of buttermilk and citrus. Snarf had also made

fresh burble fruit juice, and the rinds of the fruit still remained on one of

the counters. As Snarf poured fresh batter onto the grill, RK and Tygra helped

clean off the counters to save him when it came time to tidy up.

“I can’t believe

Galina hasn’t woken up yet, pancakes are her absolute favourite.” Rangerkitty

mused.

“Oh she was

here already.” Snarf informed her, not turning away from what he was doing.

“She and Bengali already left for the spaceport.”

The tigress

turned suddenly, confused, “The spaceport? Why would they go there?”

Startled,

Snarf cringed, wondering if he had given something away. Feeling her eyes on

the back of him, he tried to act nonchalant and flipped the flapjacks over to

brown the other side.

“Er, they

didn’t say.”

Rangerkitty

looked at Tygra. “Are they going away together? I thought they were going to

spend time with us this weekend at the mountain lodge.”

He shook his

head. “I have no idea. I thought so too, but perhaps they ran off on a last

minute romantic getaway.”

Her shoulders

slumped slightly, the smile faded from her face. “I thought that’s what this

weekend was going to be. I was really looking forward to this.”

Tygra crossed

the kitchen to his red haired fiancé. “My love, we are still going to have an

amazing time, even if it’s just you and me. We don’t know what’s happening yet,

so please don’t let this get you down and destroy your good mood.” He kissed

her forehead as Snarf announced that breakfast was ready. Rangerkitty smiled at

her handsome tiger and followed him to the breakfast table, carrying the

pitcher of fresh burble juice with them.

Galina was

excitedly bouncing on her heels beside Bengali anxious to see the Sh’iar couple

exit through the gate. There were a lot

of passengers disembarking from the shuttle that had arrived from Tymperia.

“Where are

they? They couldn’t have possibly missed

the flight!” She wailed curling her

fingers through her mane.

Ben

chuckled. “I highly doubt it…Argo is not

one to let anyone down.” He suddenly

pointed to a huge recognizable figure towering above everyone with an equally

statuesque she-cat. “And speaking of the

devil isn’t that them coming over there?”

Gali looked

to where he pointed and sure enough there were the Sh’iar couple strolling

towards them. She had to stifle a laugh

seeing how overdressed they were for the weather on Third Earth. The Tiglon waved at the white tigers; he

stopped apparently whispering something to Crys which made her smile.

“ARGO and

CRYSTALANDRA!” Galina gleefully shouted

rushing over to them. “You made

it!” She hugged Crys, grinned up at

Argo, and then crossed her arms critically inspecting the pair up and

down. They were wearing heavily

insulated hooded parkas, thick gloves, scarves, and boots; from their attire

they were ready for the deepest Arctic snow!

“Um, I think

you may have overdone it a bit with the winter accessories.” Galina said with a gleam in her eyes.

“Aren’t you a

tad bit under dressed?” Crys countered

eyeing the tigress; she loosened the scarf from around her throat so she could

speak. “It’s freezing outside and your

midriff is bare? Are you nuts?”

“Oh the

weather is perfect!” She sighed

happily. “And besides I’m used to this!”

“I can see

that.” Argo chuckled removing his gloves

to shake Ben’s hand. “Hey Bengali it’s

good to see you! I take it Galina here

is keeping you on your toes.”

Ben grinned

grasping the huge hybrid’s hand. “I

suppose you could say that. How was your

trip?”

“Cramped!” Argo complained. “I wish they would make the shuttle seats a

tad bigger to accommodate someone like me.”

“There is a

simple solution for that.” Crys

replied. “Stop bulking up.” And she kissed him on the cheek ignoring his

playful scowl.

Galina

laughed, “No Crys please don’t discourage him from bodybuilding I beg of

you!” The thought of the Tiglon losing

his fine muscular physique didn’t sit well with the white tigress at all—oh no!

“Where’s your

luggage?” Bengali asked changing the

topic of the conversation. “Don’t tell

me that’s all you brought with you? Just these bags you are carrying?”

“If we need

anything we’ll get it at the Berbil village.”

Argo informed the pair while following them out of the space port

towards the awaiting car. “If I had

encouraged Crys to pack more we wouldn’t have made it on time and you know how

women are when it comes to packing, they want to bring everything including the

kitchen sink.”

The she-cat

stuck her tongue out at her mate. “Males! I swear you have no patience whatsoever!”

Galina nodded

in agreement. “You get no argument from

me there. I agree wholeheartedly with you…You know it’s really great to see you

both again.”

“It’s

wonderful seeing you too…” Crys stopped

in her tracks as she stepped outside the glass doors. Her eyes grew round as

saucers at the sight of the snow piling up on the ground. “Is that white stuff snow?”

“It sure

is!” Bengali picked up a handful of the

stuff and blew it at the she-cat making her jump back against Argo, cringing. He laughed out loud. “It’s harmless! It won’t

hurt you!”

The Tiglon

gave an involuntary shudder. “It looks

cold…I hope this mountain retreat has plenty of heating.”

“It does but

I’m rather surprised by your reactions.”

Galina tilted her head. “I mean

you Sh’iar warriors are not afraid of anything yet something as simple as snow

has you two cowering.”

“It’s not

that.” Argo answered. “As Sh’iar warriors we are tolerant of most

anything but the cold…We felines are more suited to the tropical weather—the

hotter the better.”

Crys

nodded. “Anyway can we discuss this in the

comfort of the warm car? I’m cold!”

“Sorry

guys.” Ben apologized and ushered them

inside the vehicle.

“Tygra and

Rangerkitty have no idea that we are here do they?” The Tiglon inquired squeezing into the back

seat.

“None at

all!” Galina giggled. “Boy will they be surprised to see you!”

Argo took

hold of Crys’ hand giving it a loving squeeze; his nose was pressed up against

the window watching the white scenery flash by as they headed towards the mighty

Cat’s Liar.

“How much

snow normally falls during this time of year?”

He asked the white tiger couple; Bengali turned slightly in his seat to

address the Tiglon. “This is just a

slight dusting which can get anywhere to as much as 4 cm of snow. Up at the mountain cabin where we will be

staying it’s not uncommon to see 25cm of snow on the ground.”

Crys couldn’t

help but shudder at the thought of being surrounded by all that snow, “That

much huh?”

“Oh come on

Crystalandra I guarantee you…you’ll have fun!

There is so much to do in the snow.”

Galina gushed. “You just wait and

see.”

“If you say

so…” The hybrid lioness didn’t sound

convinced; Argo raised her hand to his lips kissing it. “I’ll make certain you enjoy yourself.” He assured her with a mischievous curve of

his lips. “Think of this as our official

honeymoon.”

“Okay…” Crys giggled.

“I believe I can do that.”

“Excellent, keep

that positive frame of mind because we are going to have the time of our

lives.”

“Yes, all

right!” The she-cat agreed snuggling

close to her comfortably warm Tiglon and joined him, staring out the window

with child-like wonder at the snow-scape.