Day 57: First Day Back

As Mei found out the following morning, a few things had changed while he’d been away, Jess and Gon’s arrival being one such example.

“With you gone, I was feeling lonely all the time,” Gabu had told him. “There were plenty of other animals who were willing to spend time with me, but it wasn’t the same as being with you. I realised that what I was missing was someone who really understood me, like you do. The only other people I’ve felt like that with are other wolves, but obviously I couldn’t go back to my pack. It’s not as if they understand me anyway.

“Eventually, I remembered Jess, and I started to wonder what had happened to him. He was so understanding when he found out about us, after he tried to eat you, that is. I asked Toto and Riri to search the nearby forests to see if anyone had heard of a lone wolf with scars on his body. It took them a few weeks, but they eventually found him and Gon in a forest not far north of here.

“I couldn’t believe it when I found out that Gon was still alive, and Jess had been reunited with him. It’s just like what happened with us! I invited both of them to visit the Emerald Forest, so long as they only hunted in the forest east of here—that’s where they’re staying. Everyone was quite anxious at first about them being here, but everything was fine once they got to know them.”

The other big change was to the structure of the meetings. Everyone in the group had wanted different things out of them, so they eventually decided to split the group up into several smaller groups, each focused on one thing and meeting on separate days. Takkan ran two of these groups: the theatre group and the philosophy group.

The theatre group was currently working on the musical, which they called One Stormy Night, and had been working on it for many weeks now. Gabu was originally going to play himself, but they couldn’t find anyone to play Mei. When Jess and Gon arrived, it had been Gabu’s idea for them to take over the two leading roles.

When they planned the rehearsal for the full moon’s night, no one had considered the possibility that Mei might be hurrying back to see the full moon with Gabu. Gabu had wanted to keep the entire musical secret from Mei until the first full moon after he got back, when they would unveil it as a surprise for him. It was a nice thought, but Mei doubted Gabu would have succeeded in keeping it a secret from him for long, not when the whole forest knew about it.

Gabu didn’t know much about what happened in Takkan’s philosophy group, since he didn’t go to that one. Of their close friends, only Greta, Darrel and Leo attended that group regularly.

The other major group was run by Tanya, the hedgehog, and was called “Anything Day.” As the name suggested, Anything Day could consist of absolutely anything the group members felt like doing. The most common activities included games, discussions, telling stories, mourning lost friends, or just spending the day relaxing together. It was the most popular group by far, and almost everyone attended it.

Those three main groups were arranged over a repeating, five-day period, which went: Theatre Day, Philosophy Day, a free day, Anything Day, followed by another free day before it looped back to Theatre Day. Most of the time, no groups met up on free days. The only exceptions were Greta’s “Forest Affairs” meetings and Gabu’s Story Telling Day, which took place less often and always on one of the two free days.

Forest Affairs was what Greta had originally intended the meetings to be: a chance for everyone in the forest (who was interested enough to come) to discuss important issues. Greta only called these meetings when something came up that required everyone’s attention, like Jess and Gon’s arrival or organising yesterday’s rehearsal of One Stormy Night.

Gabu held a Story Telling Day every so often, whenever a new group of animals wanted to hear Gabu and Mei’s story for themselves. Gabu, so he claimed, had become quite good at telling the story by himself, although he was looking forward to doing it with Mei again.

Today, Gabu told Mei, was the second of the two free days, which meant tomorrow would be Theatre Day.

“So,” Gabu said when he’d finished explaining everything to Mei, “what do you want to do today?”

“We should probably go and see how Mii and Kuro-san are settling in,” Mei said.

“Oh, right. I forgot your friends were visiting. There was so much going on last night that I barely got a chance to talk to them.”

“They’ve been looking forward to meeting you properly. That’s why they came here.”

“They came all this way just to see me? You must have said some really good things about me,” Gabu said.

“Everything about you is good, Gabu.” Mei knew that was an overstatement, and he could see from Gabu’s face that he knew it too, but they weren’t going to start arguing about it now.

They made their way across the meadow and into the forest. To Mei’s surprise, the squirrels and birds in the trees did not shy away from the wolf walking so close to them like he was accustomed to. On the contrary, they chittered excitedly and called their friends over to see the goat and the wolf walking together through the forest. A few animals even called out Gabu and Mei’s names. Whenever this happened, Gabu would turn and smile at whoever had called out, but didn’t stop to talk.

“When did we get this famous?” Mei asked.

“Hmm?” Gabu was distracted smiling to one of his admirers. “Oh, everyone in the forest knows about us now. Did you see how many people there were at the play last night? And that was only the rehearsal.”

“How do they know you’re not here to hunt? Is it just because I’m with you?”

“I’ve only been hunting at night ever since you left on your trip. It’s actually easier for everyone that way, since they know if they see me during the day that I won’t hurt them.”

“Don’t you get tired during the day if you’ve been out hunting all night?”

“Sometimes, but it’s worth it to not have to worry about people running away from me when I’m trying to talk to them.”

As they walked, the sounds of small animals recognising and chattering excitedly about them followed them everywhere they went. They searched the forest for Mii and Kuro-san for several more minutes, but couldn’t find them.

“Where did they say they were sleeping, again?” Gabu asked.

“I don’t think they told us,” Mei said. “We could find Greta. She usually knows where everyone is.”

Gabu grinned conspiratorially. “I’ve got a better idea. Watch this.” He looked up at the crowd of birds and squirrels gathered in the trees above their heads. “Excuse me, we’re looking for the two other goats who arrived in the forest last night. If anyone finds them, can you ask them to come and talk to us here?”

Immediately, about half of the animals scampered or flew off in all directions to do as Gabu had asked.

“Okay, now you’re showing off,” Mei said.

“Maybe a little bit,” Gabu said, and both of them giggled.

It wasn’t long before Mii came running through the trees towards them, Kuro-san following close behind her. She slowed down when she saw Gabu, but pressed forward regardless.

“Mei, what’s going on?” she asked frantically. “A squirrel told us you wanted to talk to us urgently. What happened?”

“Oh,” Gabu said ashamedly and looked up into the trees. “I didn’t say it was urgent.” The squirrels and birds mostly ignored him, more focused on the two newcomers.

“Sorry about that,” Mei said to the two of them. “Gabu was showing off how popular he is now. We just wanted to ask how your first night in the Emerald Forest has been.”

“No need to apologise,” Kuro-san said. “I’m glad everything’s all right. Our first night in the forest was lovely. A very kind deer called Greta-sama showed us around and made sure we were comfortable.”

“Greta-sama?” Gabu said confusedly.

“Oh, that’s just something goats from my herd do to show respect when saying someone’s name. ‘-Sama’ is a suffix we use for respected elders. There’s also ‘-san’, ‘-kun’ and ‘-chan’, depending on your relationship with the person.”

“Oh, so that’s why you’re ‘Kuro-san,’” Gabu said.

Kuro-san smiled awkwardly. “You don’t have to call me that if you don’t want to. ‘Kuro’ is fine.”

Gabu looked questioningly at Mei, clearly unsure how to respond to this politely.

“I like ‘Kuro-san,’” Mii said. “It has a nice ring to it.”

“Thank you, Mii-san,” Kuro-san said. “Would you like me to call you ‘Gabu-san?’” he asked the wolf.

“Just ‘Gabu’ is fine,” Gabu said.

There was a long silence after that. Not a tense one, thankfully, but still awkward with no one knowing what to say.

“So, Gabu, you and Mei are boyfriends, huh?” Mii said.

“That’s right. I love him more than anything else in the world,” Gabu said. He licked Mei’s face affectionately.

“I love you too, Gabu,” Mei said. He pushed his face into the wolf’s chest, enjoying his warmth. When he looked back at the other two goats, Kuro-san was looking away, as if it would have been impolite for him to watch. Mei wasn’t quite sure what to make of this.

“I’m sorry I doubted that at first,” Mii said. “I mean, it was clear from the start that Mei loved you, the way he defended his friendship with you in front of the entire herd, but I didn’t believe that a wolf could love a goat as anything other than food.”

“That’s the way everyone reacts at first,” Gabu said. “Was it hearing our story that changed your mind?”

“No, actually, it was before then. When I saw the two of you jumping into that river together—which was an incredibly stupid thing to do, by the way—I realised I’d been wrong. If you’d really wanted to eat Mei, you’d have done it then. Instead, you risked your life to be with him. If I’d known at the time that you’d survived the waterfall, I would’ve made the other goats change their minds about you and take you back right away.”

Mei laughed at the idea of Mii telling the entire herd what to do. If anyone could have persuaded them to give Gabu a chance, it would be her.

“I’m really glad Mei had friends like you growing up,” Gabu said. “I doubt anyone from my pack wishes I was back with them.”

That reminded Mei that he still hadn’t told Gabu about meeting Boro while visiting Para Para Fields. He would tell him about that later, he decided.

“At least you’ve been able to make friends here,” Kuro-san said. “Everyone I’ve met in the Emerald Forest seems especially friendly to newcomers.”

“Not everyone was so accepting at first,” Mei said. “When I told my friends I was here with a wolf, Toto and Riri were the only ones who supported us from the beginning. They were the sparrows who carried messages between us. Actually,” he said to Gabu, “I don’t think I’ve seen Toto and Riri at all since I got back. Were they in the audience last night?”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Gabu said. “Riri laid a clutch of eggs a few days ago. It won’t be long before they hatch, and then they’ll be parents. They’re spending most of their time at the nest until then.”

“That’s amazing,” Mei said. “Toto and Riri were like a mother and father to Gabu and me when we first arrived,” he said to the others. “I’m sure they’ll be great parents once they have children of their own to look after.”

“Do you think they’d mind us visiting their nest?” Mii asked. “I’d love to see them again.”

“That’s a great idea. I’ll take you to them,” Gabu said.

Gabu led them through the forest to a sturdy-looking spruce tree beside the river. Before Mei had even noticed the nest situated high overhead in the branches, he heard a delighted chirp and Riri flew down to greet them. He could just make out Toto peering out of the nest, equally pleased to see them but clearly not willing to abandon his position guarding the eggs.

“Mei, you’re back! And your friends are here too,” Riri exclaimed.

“We arrived last night,” Mei said with a smile. “Congratulations on the eggs. I was just telling Mii and Kuro-san what amazing parents you two will be.”

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Riri-san,” Kuro-san said with a bow.

“Thank you so much,” Riri said. “Tell me about your trip.”

They spent about an hour talking and catching up on news. Toto, who could hear what was going on from up in the nest, called down from time to time to join in with the conversation.

When Riri excused herself to go and forage for berries and nuts—this was the only exercise she and Toto got while not keeping the eggs warm—Mii offered to help find food for them. The three goats and the wolf returned to the nest a short while later carrying a leaf-full of berries each, which the sparrows thanked them for profusely.

“We won’t be able to join in any group activities until the eggs hatch,” Riri said.

“And until the chicks are able to fend for themselves,” Toto added.

“But please come and visit us as often as you like. Goodness knows we need the entertainment.”

Gabu and Mei said goodbye to Kuro-san and Mii not long after leaving the sparrows to their meal, heading back to Moonrise Hill to spend the rest of the day relaxing.

As they were lying in the grass at the base of the hill, Mei told Gabu about his encounter with Boro, including, as Boro had told him, that Bari had also died in the avalanche, and Lala was now leading what remained of the pack. Gabu listened to all of this without saying much, other than that he was glad Boro was safe. Mei could only imagine how conflicted Gabu must feel about the deaths of Giro and Bari, two wolves Gabu had looked up to all his life, but who had tried to kill him and Mei shortly before they themselves died.

Feeling guilty for bringing Gabu’s mood down after an otherwise enjoyable day, Mei decided to take his mind off it. “What day is it tomorrow, again?” he asked, already knowing the answer from this morning.

“Hmm? Oh, tomorrow is Theatre Day. Takkan runs it.” As Mei had hoped, Gabu brightened up at this. “You’re going to love Theatre Day, Mei. There’s singing and dancing and all sorts of fun to be had.”

Mei smiled. “I can’t wait.”