Day 1: Our New Life

In the morning, Mei woke up to find Gabu still sleeping next to him. He was a little surprised by this; he’d expected Gabu to get up early to go hunting while it was still dark.

Mei remembered the first time he and Gabu had spent the night together, at the end of that fateful day on Poro Poro Hill. The two had stayed up talking long into the night and slept long into the day. Mei recalled how sleepy Gabu had been when the two finally awoke, chuckling to himself at how little Gabu had changed in that regard.

Since then, they had spent numerous nights together, but always when they were on the run from the other wolves. On one such night, Mei had woken up in the early hours of the morning to find that Gabu had vanished. It had taken him a few seconds to realise that his friend must have gone hunting, a realisation that had greatly disturbed him at the time. Even now, after everything they’d been through, Mei still disliked the thought of Gabu killing other people to survive.

One memory led to another, and soon Mei was reliving the nightmare that had followed not long after that day. He’d spent months not knowing if he’d ever see Gabu again. And when they were finally reunited...

The memories of yesterday’s events were still too fresh for Mei to want to dwell on them so soon. Banishing them from his mind, Mei settled back down next to Gabu and enjoyed the warmth of his sleeping friend’s company.

As the sun rose higher in the sky, Gabu continued to sleep. It was only when, several hours later, Gabu’s stomach gave a loud rumble that the wolf opened his eyes, stretched his legs and finally stood up.

“Good morning, Mei.”

“Good morning, Gabu. Did you sleep well?”

“Better than ever. Oh, Mei, I can’t believe you’re really here. I was so scared that when I woke up, it would turn out you were just a dream.”

Mei chuckled. “Is that why you slept in so long? It’s almost noon.”

“Is it that late already? I guess I should get something to eat.” Gabu started to lick his lips, but stopped abruptly when he remembered Mei was with him. Gabu looked questioningly and a little ashamedly at Mei, as if wondering whether he was allowed to voice his hunger in Mei’s presence.

“You should go and eat,” Mei said warmly. “Don’t wolves usually go hunting at night?”

“It varies. Back before we ran away, I was actually trying to spend more time awake during the day and asleep at night so that we could spend more time together.”

Mei hadn’t known about that. “That’s very sweet of you.”

Gabu smiled. “It’s the least I could do.” His stomach rumbled again.

“Go on,” Mei said, “get some food. I’ll be right here when you get back.”

With one last grin that looked a little too sheepish for a wolf’s face, Gabu left the cave and headed for the forest, leaving Mei alone with his thoughts once again.

Mei stepped out of the cave and into what was now the midday sun. Normally, even during the months he’d spent mourning Gabu’s absence, he would be several hours into his day by now. But if Gabu needed to sleep longer than he did, then waiting for Gabu to wake up was a small sacrifice. It meant spending more time with Gabu, after all.

Grazing on the luscious grass that surrounded the hill was a pleasant way to clear his mind and pass the time. By the time Gabu returned a few hours later, Mei was digesting a full day’s worth of grass and was looking forward to spending the remaining hours of the day with his favourite wolf in the world.

Neither of them mentioned the fact that Gabu had just been hunting. Mei tried not to think about how many people who had been alive this morning might now be dead.

He offered to show Gabu around the forest and the surrounding meadows, which he had gotten to know well in the months since Gabu’s disappearance. Neither of them was sure where Gabu had spent the intervening months, as the wolf’s memories from after the avalanche still hadn’t returned. Mei was confident he would have heard from the other animals in the forest if Gabu had been nearby, so Gabu must have found some way to survive in the mountains, or else had found himself in a different forest and gradually made his way here.

Mei showed Gabu around the various patches of woodland, meadows and clearings that comprised the Emerald Forest, as Mei had taken to calling it. He showed Gabu where the tastiest grass was and the river where the animals of the forest came to drink.

The only place Mei didn’t take Gabu was the easternmost patch of woodland, closest to the hill, in which Mei had spent most of his time while separated from Gabu. Mei had made a number of friends there, and he wasn’t sure he was ready for them to find out that “Gabu” (whom he’d told them was a lost friend) was actually a wolf.

If Gabu noticed that Mei was avoiding taking him into that part of the forest, he didn’t say anything. Exploring together brought back memories of the first few months they’d known each other, back before everything went wrong. There was nothing Mei liked more than spending time with Gabu, and it was even better without needing to worry about returning to his herd at the end of the day or being discovered by the other wolves.

By the time they returned to the hill, which they agreed to call Moonrise Hill, the sun was low in the sky and the two friends were thoroughly worn out from the day’s activities.

“Thanks for showing me the forest, Mei,” Gabu said as they settled down in the cave for the night. “Shall we do it again tomorrow?”

“I can’t think of anything I’d rather do,” Mei said with a smile. “Hey, Gabu, about what I said to you last night...”

Gabu looked confused for a moment, and then a look of shame came over his face. “Oh, Mei, I’m so sorry I responded to you the way I did. It was just a surprise. No one’s ever told me they loved me before. Not in that way.”

“Really? There was no one at Baku Baku Valley that you liked or who was interested in you?”

“Well...” Mei didn’t need to see Gabu’s face to know he was blushing, “...there was this one wolf, Lala. I think she might have liked me.”

“I remember you talking about her. Wasn’t she the wolf you gave that flower to?”

“That’s right. Thanks for helping pick that out, by the way, and for not being jealous.” Gabu was silent for a time. Mei wondered if he was remembering how jealous he’d been of Kuro-san when he’d thought Mei was spending time with the other goat instead of him. Had Gabu even realised that what he had been feeling at the time was jealousy?

“No problem,” Mei said. “I don’t think I’d realised by then that I wanted to be more than just friends with you.”

“When did you figure that out?”

“I think it was when you took me to the cave at Poro Poro Hill. You told me how whenever you felt sad or angry, seeing the moonrise from there would make everything right again. I was so touched that you cared enough to share your secret place with me.”

Gabu smiled at the fond memory. “I was so disappointed that the fog ruined our chance to see the moonrise that night. But you were right, us being together was just as good, if not better.”

“That’s for sure.” Mei looked out at the golden sunlight illuminating the beautiful forest they’d chosen to make their home. “That’s when I realised that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, Gabu. If that isn’t love, what is?”

“Putting it like that makes it sound so simple. Of course I want to spend my life with you, Mei. I’ve wanted that for...almost since we met.”

The relief that washed over Mei as he heard those words was almost as great as when they had been reunited. Almost, but not quite. Mei nestled into Gabu’s warm fur and closed his eyes, just as the final rays of the evening sun faded out of sight. Everything the two of them had been through, leaving their old lives behind, had been worth it.

“I love you, Mei.”

“I love you too, Gabu.”