Day 3: One Misty Morning

The next morning, while Gabu was still asleep, Mei headed into the forest again to see his friends. Unlike the pleasant weather of the previous days, today the Emerald Forest was shrouded in mist. As he trotted through the forest, Mei didn’t see a single bird or squirrel in the trees. The sounds of small animals going about their busy lives, usually so prevalent at this time of day, seemed subdued and distant.

Gradually, Mei began to get the feeling that something was following him. He turned his head from side to side, but couldn’t catch a glimpse of anything out of the ordinary. He stopped and listened. Aside from the faint chatter of birds in the distance, the only sounds were the rustling of leaves and the creaking of ancient oak trees.

Mei was just thinking how silly he was being when, all of a sudden, crack, he heard the unmistakable sound of a twig snapping underfoot, followed by total silence. Something was stalking him.

Falling back on the instincts instilled in him over countless generations, Mei bolted off into the trees. He was certain that something was chasing him, always just out of sight, following him wherever he went. He dashed this way and that, but to no avail. He could sense whatever it was right behind him, about to—

Mei caught his leg on a low branch, sending him toppling head over hooves and landing hard on his back. All the energy left him at once, and he looked desperately for whatever creature had been chasing him. He prayed it was just Gabu playing a trick on him, but, of course, he knew it wasn’t.

Slowly, out of the all-encompassing fog slunk a white and orange furred body.

“Careful, darling. Wouldn’t want you to get hurt now, would we?” the fox said, prowling around Mei. Standing up, Mei would have been taller than the fox; as it was, the fox towered over him. Mei didn’t dare make any sudden moves, lest it prompt the fox to attack.

“Who are you?” Mei asked.

“Me? My name’s Takkan. And I am absolutely dying to know how you managed to befriend a wolf. Oh, don’t look so surprised. I don’t know how things are done where you’re from, but around here, a goat moving in with a wolf is going to raise some eyebrows. People notice, people talk, word gets around. But don’t worry, your friends haven’t found out yet. I’ve made sure of that.” The fox flashed Mei a toothy grin. Mei wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but he didn’t like the sound of it.

“You know about my friends,” Mei said. “That means you’ve been following me. You spotted Gabu and me yesterday, or the day before, didn’t you? Does anyone else know?”

“Aren’t you a smart one?” The fox drew closer, still smirking. “No, as far as I’m aware, I’m the only person to have noticed. But don’t think you can keep this a secret forever.”

Mei found the courage to stand up. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

Takkan looked up at Mei. “Fascinating. So, would you care to indulge my curiosity? You two are the most interesting thing to befall our neck of the woods in as long as I can remember. How did it happen?”

“Not here.” Mei looked back the way he had come, back out of the forest.

“Lead the way,” Takkan said.

Mei led the fox out of the trees and across the slow-moving river that wound its way through the forest, ending up in a flower-filled meadow out of earshot of anyone else. Despite the fox’s unsettling manner, Mei was secretly grateful to have someone other than Gabu with whom he could openly discuss the events of the past few months.

“Well,” he said. “It began one stormy night...”

It took Mei several minutes to recount the whole tale, from when he and Gabu had met in the abandoned barn up to how they watched the moonrise together after being reunited. Takkan listened with interest, never interrupting once. Perhaps it was only Mei’s imagination, but he thought he saw a small tear in the fox’s eye as he recounted the last few parts of the story.

“You two are truly remarkable,” Takkan said when Mei had finished. “To think that a goat and a wolf could become such inseparable friends. Dare I say more than friends?”

Mei, blushing slightly, nodded. “More than friends.”

“And, I suppose, so long as he confines himself to smaller animals—birds and squirrels—you don’t have a problem with him eating meat?”

“That’s...a difficult question for us.”

“All the more reason to ask it.”

“I... We... He does what he needs to do to survive.”

Takkan chuckled darkly. “Don’t we all?”

As it was almost midday, Mei went straight back to Moonrise Hill; he could see his friends another day. He found his wolf stretching awake just as he arrived.

“Good morning, Mei. Have you been exploring the forest again?”

“Something like that,” Mei said with a smile. “Are you ready to go hunting again?”

Gabu’s stomach rumbled in affirmation. “I suppose I ought to do that. I’ll go to the far side of the forest, like you asked me to.”

When Gabu returned, they decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing in the meadow. As they did so, Mei’s mind continued to work on a solution to his problem. How could he tell his friends about Gabu without them overreacting and refusing to hear him out? Takkan, once he’d heard the whole story, had been completely sympathetic to Gabu and Mei’s plight. But Takkan was also a carnivore; how could he persuade other herbivores to listen?