Day 60: Visiting Friends

Gabu and Mei left early the next day to arrive at the eastern forest in good time. Mei couldn’t help but remember the last time he and Gabu had made this trip and the awkward silence of their journey back. This time would be different; they were just going to visit friends, after all.

“What exactly happened at the philosophy group yesterday?” Gabu asked as they walked.

“Takkan was teaching us about something called normativity. It’s...it’s got something to do with the word ‘should’. As in, ‘You should be nice to people.’ That would be normative. But something descriptive like ‘You are always nice to people’ doesn’t count as normative because there’s no ‘should’ in there.”

“That doesn’t sound so complicated,” Gabu said.

“The complicated bit was that Takkan wanted us to prove that certain things are actually normative. The idea is that if something isn’t normative, you have no reason or obligation to do it, so you need to prove that something is normative if you want other people to take it seriously.”

“What kind of things?”

“Well, one of the first things he wanted us to prove was that we have a reason to look after our own wellbeing, that we’d be making a mistake if we suddenly decided to starve ourselves for no good reason.” Mei regretted the example as soon as he said it; he couldn’t help but imagine Gabu stubbornly refusing to eat any meat and suffering the consequences of that decision. He carried on talking regardless. “It’s the sort of thing that most people would take for granted, but Takkan wanted a convincing argument about why that’s the case. Darrel got close enough to an answer that Takkan praised him for it, but he wasn’t completely satisfied even with that. By the time they started talking about other kinds of obligation, like treating other people nicely, I couldn’t really follow any of the discussion.”

“It sounds to me like you understand the basics, at least. That’s more than I would have managed. Do you think you would understand more if you went back next time?”

“They’ll probably move on to talking about something else next time, but maybe.” The previous night, Mei had been sure he didn’t want to go back next Philosophy Day, but he was starting to reconsider.

Gabu, as if reading Mei’s mind, said, “You shouldn’t go if you don’t want to, but it might be worth giving it another try, just to be sure. For Takkan and the others, I’m pretty sure philosophy is just something they enjoy thinking and talking about, but you really care about this stuff. It actually matters to you. To us, I mean.”

“I’ll give it one or two more tries,” Mei decided. “Thanks, Gabu.”

They walked for a few more minutes in silence.

“You know,” Mei said, “I think Takkan missed the point of what he was talking about.”

“Hmm?”

“Everyone was so preoccupied with using logic and arguments to prove that we should care about stuff, but those things aren’t the reason we actually care about things. If I were to show you a flawless argument that proves you shouldn’t care about whether or not you eat meat, what would you do?”

“I would still care,” Gabu said. “That isn’t something I can just choose not to do.”

“Exactly,” Mei said. “We don’t care about things because of reasons; we have reasons because we care about things. And since you can’t convince people to care about things using logic, you’ve got to treat caring as a starting point and build from that, taking into consideration the things each individual person cares about.”

“What things do you care about?” Gabu asked.

“Aside from the obvious answers like you, my friends and my family...” Mei thought for a while, “...I care about treating people kindly and fairly, and not making things harder for them for no good reason. That should be my starting point for deciding how I should act in any given scenario. For instance, when I think about Takkan’s rolling boulder problem, treating people fairly would mean not basing my decision on who the people were—unless they were someone I care more about than being fair, I suppose. Treating people kindly...that means I should be kind to as many people as possible while still being fair. So the best decision for me, given the things I care about, would be to redirect the boulder. But another person, who cares about different things to me, might end up with a different answer. Takkan was right about that much, at least: If no one can agree on what the objectively correct things to care about are, then there probably isn’t a single right or wrong answer.”

It was only when Mei stopped talking that he noticed Gabu was smiling at him adoringly. “I’m so, so proud of you, Mei,” Gabu said. “But please, explain all of that more slowly so I can understand it.”

Mei laughed and started his explanation from the beginning, making sure Gabu understood every part.

As they approached the eastern forest, Mei found himself hesitating instinctively at the knowledge that two wolves lived and hunted within those trees. While Gabu was also a wolf, he was a wolf whom Mei knew and was friends with and who filled his heart with joy—a nonexistent category for most goats—whereas Jess and Gon were still in the default category of “wolf that might eat you.”

Gabu showed no such hesitation. He walked up to the edge of the forest and let out a howl. “Jess! Gon!” A moment later, there came an answering, wordless howl from deep inside the forest. “They’ll be here soon,” Gabu said to Mei.

Mei hadn’t heard Gabu howl to another wolf since before they’d run away together. It was a dominating, imposing sound that carried for miles, much unlike the polite bleat of one goat to another in a field. No species but wolves, except perhaps bears, could ever risk announcing their presence so brashly for fear of attracting predators. In the case of wolves, of course, there were no other predators that would dare attack them, a fact that tended to give them an air of careless confidence as they strode through their territory.

In the months they’d known each other, Gabu had tried to subdue his more wolfish instincts when he was around Mei, and that included more than just not eating him. Now, even in the slight roughness that had slipped into Gabu’s voice following his howl, Mei was reminded of just how much more Gabu had in common with Jess and Gon than with him.

“Great,” Mei said. “I can’t wait to see them.”

A few minutes later, the two wolves came rustling through the trees to greet them. The fact that they made no attempt to be quiet reassured Mei, who now felt silly for being so apprehensive earlier.

“I didn’t think we’d be seeing you again so soon,” Jess said. “Not that I’m complaining. What brings you all the way out here?”

“Just a social visit,” Gabu said. “Mei had sort of a rough time at the philosophy group, but he’s feeling better about it now.”

Mei didn’t mind that Gabu was speaking on his behalf, but he hoped he wouldn’t have to recount yesterday’s events again so soon. He decided to change the subject. “It’s a pleasure to see you again. How are you finding the eastern forest?”

“It’s pleasant enough, no shortage of prey,” Gon said. “Quite a few deer, but it seems wasteful to kill something so large when it’s just the two of us eating.”

Gabu moaned longingly. “I haven’t had a deer for months for the same reason. That, and I’m friends with half of them.”

Mei felt that he’d rather they’d talked about his experience of Philosophy Day than this. He was just about to change the subject again when he was struck by an idea. Could he suggest such a thing, though? He decided to put his new theory to the test. Was it kind? No less than any alternative; more so, perhaps. Was it fair? Certainly. Having made up his mind, Mei said to Gabu, “You don’t know any of the deer in this forest, do you?”

Gabu looked to Mei in slight surprise. “Um, no. Only Greta, Darrel and Leo.”

“So why don’t the three of you go and hunt one today? If you haven’t eaten already, that is,” he said as an afterthought to Jess and Gon.

“Not a bad idea,” Gon said. “We haven’t eaten since the night before last.”

Gabu blinked at Mei in confusion. “Are you sure you’d be okay with that, Mei?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? After all, if all three of you can fill your stomachs by only eating one animal between you, isn’t that better than each of you killing more than one?”

“When you put it like that, yes, I suppose it is. Much better, in fact,” Gabu said, although he still seemed uncertain.

“Lighten up, Gabu,” Jess said playfully. “Just picture a nice, juicy deer between your jaws. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

Gabu’s stomach rumbled in answer. “All right, let’s do it.” He turned to Mei. “I can’t imagine you’ll want to come with us. Will you be okay on your own?”

“Of course,” Mei said. “I’ll stay near the forest edge and forage for berries. I could do with a snack myself.”

As the three wolves slunk into the trees in search of their meal, Mei stood and wondered whether he’d done the right thing.

In the end, Mei didn’t find any berries, but he did encounter a patch of clovers (no four-leafed ones, he was disappointed to find) near where they’d arrived, which he feasted on happily until the wolves returned.

When they did return, the first thing Mei heard was a boisterous exchange as they talked about their successful hunt. “...to teach me that thing you did with your teeth,” Mei could hear Jess or Gon saying in the distance.

“Eh, it’s no big deal,” Gabu replied. “Just something my father taught me.”

“He was a good hunter, then?” one of the other wolves—Mei was pretty sure it was Jess—said.

“By the moon’s claws, no one could beat him,” Gabu said. Both the expression he used and the slight growl in his voice as he talked were completely unfamiliar to Mei. “Although I bet you could’ve given him a run for his meal, Jess, with the way you outflanked that doe.”

“Gabu,” Mei called out to let them know he was there.

Gabu came bounding towards him, Jess and Gon not far behind. “Mei! Thanks for suggesting we go on a hunt today. It went great.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Mei said, which was mostly true.

“Jess and Gon are some of the best hunters I’ve ever seen. They know all these techniques I’ve never even heard of.” The wolfish growl was still there, very slightly.

“We should do this again sometime,” Gon said. “There’s a lot we can learn from each other.”

Jess glanced at the sky. “You two had better be leaving soon if you want to get back before nightfall. Sorry we didn’t get to spend much time with you, Mei.”

“That’s all right,” Mei said. “We’ll come back and visit again when we get the chance.”

“Either that, or we could come to you,” Jess said. “In any case, see you on Theatre Day.”

“See you on Theatre Day,” Mei echoed, and he and Gabu set off.

Gabu didn’t share too many details of the hunt with Mei, which Mei was thankful for, but it was still an enjoyable topic of conversation as they walked back to the Emerald Forest. They arrived just as the sun was setting ahead of them, casting Moonrise Hill in a silhouette surrounded by golden light.