Day 28: The Second Full Moon

On the fourteenth day of Mei’s journey, the path around the mountain emerged into the foothills on the other side. Immediately, Mei recognised landmarks that he’d seen before, approaching the mountain with Gabu all those months ago.

If they’d known about this path the first time around, things would have gone very differently. The wolves would have caught up to them when they were about halfway along the path, and there would have been no avalanche to interrupt the fight. Mei didn’t know whether the outcome in that case would have been better or worse. All in all, Mei was glad things had gone the way they did, even thought it had resulted in Gabu almost dying and Mei almost getting eaten when they were finally reunited. Mei would rather go through all of that again than risk what might have happened if they’d tried to go around the mountain the long way.

By the time the sun was low in the sky, Mei had arrived at the same forest he and Gabu had spent the night in shortly before they started their ascent of the mountain. That had been where Mei had woken to find Gabu attempting to sneak back into their hiding place after a night spent hunting. What had upset Mei the most, more so than the hunting itself, was the fact that Gabu had been trying to keep his hunting secret from Mei. The ensuing argument might have become more serious if the two hadn’t been interrupted by Zack and Beach almost stumbling across them a few moments later.

Especially in the early days of their relationship, Gabu had always been anxious about what Mei thought of him hunting. The wolf had lied about his history of eating goats because he thought Mei would never want to see him again if it had turned out Gabu had eaten one of Mei’s friends or family members. Mei had known at the time, or at least strongly suspected, that Gabu was lying about not eating goats, but he went along with it because he understood the wolf’s reason for doing so.

In the first few weeks, Gabu had also had an odd tendency to act as if he didn’t eat meat at all. On one occasion, the wolf showed up with a branch full of berries clasped in his jaws, which he dropped on the ground in front of Mei.

“Take a look at these berries, Mei. I’ve spent all morning picking them. They’re delicious!” Gabu had said as he licked red stains from around his lips.

“You’re a terrible liar, Gabu,” Mei had replied, unamused. “Those are inedible. And the rabbit blood around your mouth looks nothing like berry juice.”

Now, looking back on that moment, Mei found it slightly endearing that Gabu had tried so hard to please him, even if the way he had done so had had the exact opposite effect.

As the sun set, Mei found found a suitable place to sleep from where he could see the sky. He sat there and watched as the full moon rose slowly up from behind the mountain, and he thought of Gabu, whom he knew was many miles in that direction, sitting by himself and watching the moonrise too.

No, Gabu wouldn’t be alone. Toto and Riri would be back by now, and would be watching the moonrise with him. Perhaps some of their other friends would be there too? Mei imagined Greta, Sagi, Darrel, Leo, Janice, Frank and Takkan all gathered together on Moonrise Hill, all watching the moonrise alongside Gabu.

Whatever the case may be, Mei knew that Gabu was thinking of him too, and that thought drove away the loneliness in Mei’s heart long enough for him to get to sleep.