Day 62: Story Telling Day

Gabu spent some time the following morning explaining to Mei what Story Telling Day usually involved. He would meet with a small group of animals, usually not more than five or six, and tell the story of how the two of them had met and ended up in the Emerald Forest, finishing by answering any questions his audience might have.

A little after midday, Mei saw Greta emerge from the forest accompanied by two adult rabbits and one child. She led them to a spot not far from the base of Moonrise Hill, said a few words to them, and then returned to the forest.

Mei wanted to leave the cave to greet them, but Gabu insisted they wait until everyone had arrived. “If we introduce ourselves now, we’ll have to do it again every time someone else comes,” he explained.

The three rabbits spent the next few minutes talking amongst themselves. The child kept glancing up at the cave hopefully, not paying much attention to their parents’ conversation. At one point, the child spotted Mei peering out of the cave at them, and their face lit up. Mei smiled warmly at them and retreated back into the cave.

Greta led three more groups of animals to join the waiting rabbits. The first group was a family of about eight rats, who talked pleasantly with the rabbits when Greta had gone. Mei thought he recognised some of them from Anything Day yesterday. The second group was a pair of squirrels, and the third was a trio of shrews.

After the third group had arrived, Greta looked up at the cave and nodded, which Gabu took as their cue to go down and meet them. There were sixteen animals in total, a lot more than the five or six Gabu had told Mei to expect.

Gabu and Mei walked side by side down the hill towards the large group of waiting animals. Greta, who had stayed with the group this time, said, “May I introduce Gabu and—”

“Mei!” The rabbit child shot out of the crowd, deftly avoiding their parents’ attempts to pull them back, and ran up to Mei, hopping excitedly on the spot. “You’re Mei, aren’t you? I’ve waited soooo long to meet you. Gabu told me everything about you, how you stood up to your herd and ran away with him to live here together. You’re so cool!”

Mei didn’t know what to say. Neither did the child’s parents, who stood at the edge of the crowd with resigned, apologetic expressions. Mei got the impression this wasn’t the first time this had happened.

“Yep, that’s him,” Gabu said cheerfully. “Hello again, Hiyaku.”

The child finally stopped bouncing and settled on the ground, staring up at Mei in adoration. Mei realised they were waiting for him to say something. “Oh, uh, hello, Hiyaku. Thanks so much for your kind words. It’s a pleasure to meet you too.” He gave a smile that he hoped masked his state of bemusement.

Hiyaku tilted their head. “Are you okay?”

Mei bent down and whispered conspiratorially, “Well, to tell you the truth, I am a little nervous about meeting all these new people.”

“That’s okay,” Hiyaku whispered back. “I get nervous too sometimes. I’ll be right over there in case you get too scared.” The tiny rabbit nuzzled their head against Mei’s leg and hopped back to their parents, where they stood grinning at Mei.

Gabu was stifling a laugh. Mei glared at him. He stopped for a moment, and then erupted in giggles.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Mei, and this is Gabu. The two of us met many months ago, far past the mountain, in an abandoned barn one stormy night.” Mei launched into the story, which he had become quite practised at telling by now. Gabu, true to his word, was even more practised. When he interjected to narrate parts of the story Mei hadn’t witnessed firsthand, he described them in more detail than Mei had ever heard them in. He even did voices for the other wolves, which Mei guessed he had picked up from the theatre group.

On prior occasions, Mei had ended the story with the night the two of them had been reunited under the full moon. A quick glance at Gabu as they reached that part of the story confirmed that the wolf had been doing the same. But he remembered how proud Greta had been to have become an important part of his and Gabu’s lives, and so he kept going.

“With the two of us finally together again,” Mei said, “we began our new life in the Emerald Forest. I had made four new friends in the time we’d been separated: Toto, Riri, Sagi, and Greta.”

All eyes in the crowd shifted to Greta. A few people seemed not to have realised until now that the doe who had brought them here had played an active role in the story they were hearing.

Greta herself looked surprised that Mei had mentioned her by name. Mei tried to signal to her that she could come up and tell her side of the story if she wanted, but she seemed to prefer to let Mei tell it.

“I hadn’t told any of them that Gabu was a wolf,” Mei continued, “only that he was a friend I had become separated from. Now that we had found each other, I couldn’t keep him a secret forever, and I wouldn’t have wanted to even if I could. But how could I tell my friends that Gabu was a wolf without them reacting the same way my herd did? In the end, I told them the story of how Gabu and I met, but I left out the fact that Gabu was a wolf.”

“I think you led us to believe he was a goat from a rival herd,” Greta said from the crowd. It was clear she was still slightly displeased at having been misled, but she could laugh at it now.

“That’s right,” Mei said. “I told them the whole truth right after I finished the story, once they already understood why I acted the way I did. Once everyone had gotten over the surprise and met Gabu for themselves, all six of us became close friends.”

“The group meetings became a regular thing,” Gabu said, “and more and more people started coming. Mei had to leave for a month and a half to visit his family and friends—”

“They apologised for not standing up for me when the rest of my herd wanted to kick me out,” Mei interjected.

“Right,” Gabu said. “And in that time, the group divided up and became something bigger than just the two of us. It’s become a place where all different kinds of animals can come together and be friends, if only for a day at a time. In that way, the Emerald Forest has become the home we dreamed we would find. A place where a wolf and a goat could live together without ever being troubled.”

There was a long, appreciative silence following that, which Greta eventually filled. “Does anyone have any questions?”

Hiyaku hopped up at once. “I do! What are your favourite days?”

“That’s an easy one,” Mei said. “Anything Day.”

“I prefer Theatre Day myself,” Gabu said.

The young rabbit was still bouncing. Did they ever tire out? “Who are your best friends aside from each other?”

“That would be Mii. She’s a goat I grew up with from my herd. She’s here visiting the Emerald Forest right now, actually, along with another friend of mine. What about you, Gabu?”

Gabu thought for a while. “You know, I hate to have to choose between them, but I think Sagi would have to be my favourite person to be around other than Mei. He’s a lot of fun, once you get to know him.”

As Hiyaku opened their mouth to ask another question, their mother interrupted. “Last question now, Hiyaku. No one else has asked any yet.”

“Okay.” Hiyaku stilled in thought for just a moment. “Oh! When are the two of you going to get married?”

Both Gabu and Mei made involuntary noises of surprise. Mei knew that marriage was more common in some placed than in others. Kuro-san’s herd, for instance, always preferred to marry before raising kids. But it wasn’t something that the Sawa Sawa goat herd—or, to Mei’s knowledge, the Baku Baku wolf pack—ever did, so it hadn’t even crossed his mind as an option for him and Gabu.

Marriage was a big commitment. Bigger, perhaps, even than running away together; Mei could always have changed his mind and gone back home, and Gabu could have survived on his own like Jess and Gon had done for a while. They had told each other many times that they’d be together forever, but they’d never made a public, formal promise to that effect.

It wasn’t so much that Mei was fearful of making a commitment to Gabu; it was that he might decide he wanted that and Gabu might decide he didn’t. Worse still, Gabu might go along with it just because that’s what Mei wanted, even if it made him miserable in the future.

Everyone was looking at them. Gabu and Mei turned to look at each other inquisitively. Neither of them wanted to say what they were thinking until they were sure the other was thinking the same. Was marriage something Mei wanted? Did he think it was something Gabu wanted? The only thing Mei was certain of was that here and now, with the pressure of seventeen pairs of eyes staring at them, wasn’t the time to make a decision.

“I think that’s something we need to decide together,” Mei said, never taking his eyes from Gabu’s face.

“I think you’re right,” Gabu said back to him.

The crowd was silent. Even Hiyaku had stopped shuffling. “Any other questions?” Mei asked.

“Marriage?” Mei said the moment they were alone together.

“It’s a big decision, all right.” Gabu lay down on the floor of their cave and invited Mei to curl up with him.

Mei did so. “I haven’t really thought about it until now. Have you?”

“A little bit. I asked Toto and Riri about it while you were away. It’s more of a thing here than it is...” he gestured over the mountain.

Gabu had asked about it; did that mean what Mei thought it meant? “And what do you think of it?” he asked as neutrally as he could.

“I think...” Gabu looked at Mei warmly. “I think I want to be with you for the rest of my life.” Mei’s heart overflowed with joy. Gabu wanted to— “And we don’t need any special ceremonies to prove that to each other.” Gabu smiled as if he’d just said something romantic. Mei’s own smile became fixed, which Gabu noticed immediately. His face fell. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t, if that’s something you want.”

“No. I mean, maybe. I don’t know. I need to think on it some more.” Mei hadn’t been sure, not until Gabu had said those words. Now, he wanted it more than anything. A big, special ceremony to formalise their love for each other would be the perfect start to this new life they were building together. But Mei couldn’t force Gabu into that if it wasn’t something he wanted. This was exactly what he had been afraid of.

“Mei?”

“Promise me something, Gabu. Don’t ask me to marry you, or agree to marry me if I ask you, unless you’re absolutely, completely certain that’s what you want—for yourself, not for me.”

“Of course,” Gabu said with a grin. “Trust me, I already learned that lesson about two months ago. Is that what you were worried about?”

“Maybe a little. The truth is, I really do want to marry you. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do to celebrate our relationship.”

“In that case, it looks like I’m the one who has to think on it some more. Just give me some time.”

“You can have all the time in the world,” Mei said, and leaned into Gabu’s fur as he closed his eyes.