Day 111: The Day Before

It was the last day before Gabu and Mei’s wedding. Over the past few days, the two of them had been getting increasingly nervous. It wasn’t that they still harboured any doubts over whether they wanted to get married, but a thousand tiny things still nagged at their minds. What if they got sick? What if it rained? What if something totally unexpected went wrong? It was a big day, and the pressure for it to go perfectly was just as great.

At around midmorning, after Mei had eaten breakfast and when Gabu was just starting to get up, Hikari paid them one of his frequent impromptu visits. “Hey there, Uncle Gabu and Uncle Mei,” he said.

“Hello, Hikari,” Mei said. “How are you today?”

“I’m fine. Mama and Papa said to say hi from them too. You two must be excited about tomorrow?”

“We can’t wait,” Gabu said as he stretched fully awake. “How’s Camille?”

“She’s fine too. I think she’ll be ready to start flying soon.”

“Maybe you could bring her here and we could race around the hill again?” Mei said half-teasingly.

“Come on, I haven’t done that since I was little. Anyway, I can’t stay long; I promised Mama I’d go foraging with her today.”

“You’d better not disappoint her, then,” Gabu said.

Hikari was about to leave when he turned and said, “Oh, I almost forgot, the clover field is looking nice today. You two should go and see it. Now.” With that strange remark, Hikari took off skilfully and flew back towards the forest.

“Clover field?” Gabu said, confused.

“The one on the north side of the forest? I guess we could take a look. Maybe there’s a four-leafed clover he wants us to find.”

Since they didn’t have anything better to do, Gabu and Mei set off towards the clover field. They crossed the river at the point where it was narrow and walked around the outside of the forest until the clover field was in sight.

In the distance, Mei could see three figures, two white goats and a brown wolf. That didn’t make any sense, Mei thought. There was only one other white goat in the forest. And if that wolf was Jess or Gon, where was the other of them? The three of them were standing together, looking around curiously as if they were lost or looking for something. “Who are they?” Mei asked.

“I don’t know. They haven’t seen us yet.”

As they got closer, it almost looked like... No, it couldn’t be. Could it?

“Grandma,” Mei said under his breath. He ran forward, Gabu following at his side. It really was her. And the other goat standing beside her was someone Mei had expected to see even less. It was Tapu.

“Wait, is that Boro?” Gabu said between pants of exertion. Mei looked. The wolf looked a lot older than Mei had last seen him, and it had been even longer ago that Gabu had last seen him, but it was definitely him.

Grandma, Tapu and Boro saw them at last. Grandma’s face lit up with delight at seeing Mei again. She couldn’t run, but she began walking quickly towards them. Tapu looked like he had mixed emotions, which Mei had expected. The last thing Tapu had said to him was to accuse him of choosing Gabu over the herd. It couldn’t have helped Tapu’s opinion of him when Mei proved him right by jumping into the river with Gabu. Mei couldn’t quite tell what Boro was thinking. Gabu had caused so much turmoil for the Baku Baku wolf pack, and Boro had looked up to him especially.

“Mei,” Grandma said as they embraced each other, “it’s been so long!”

“Only a couple of months,” Mei said. “I didn’t expect to see you here. What’s going on?” Grandma didn’t answer. There was more that had to be said first. Tapu and Boro had stayed a few steps away, as though unsure if they were welcome here.

Gabu smiled at Boro, who came forward slowly. “It’s really you,” he said. “Giro and the others died because of you, but they were trying to kill you, so I suppose that’s their own fault.” Gabu’s smile fell slightly. “I guess that makes you the leader of the pack now.”

“Boro...” Gabu said, “...I’m really sorry I had to leave, and for what happened. I should have been a better example for you. But look at you! You’ve grown up into a strong, healthy wolf. I’m so proud of you.” Boro smiled at that.

“Mei, Tapu would like to say something to you,” Grandma said.

Tapu stepped forward, not meeting Mei’s gaze. He looked terrified. “I’m sorry, Mei. After all those years we were friends, I guess I still thought of you as a little kid who needed looking after. When you chose a wolf over your own herd, I thought it was because you didn’t understand me or the lessons I was trying to teach you. But in the end, it was me who didn’t understand you. I’ve been a bad friend.”

What could Mei say to that? He’d long since written Tapu off as someone he’d never see eye to eye with again. But against all the odds, it sounded like he really had changed. “Tapu, come here,” Mei said neutrally. Tapu did so. It looked like he was about to cry. Mei hugged him. “It’s okay. You’re here now. Thank you.” Tapu cried into Mei’s shoulder. “I wish I’d told you two and Mii about Gabu from the start, rather than trying to hide him from you.”

“No,” Tapu said, “we wouldn’t have understood.” Tapu might not have, but Mei wasn’t so sure about Mii and Grandma. He let it go.

“What are you three doing here?” Gabu asked. “Why are you together?”

“We’re here for your wedding, of course,” Grandma said. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” She walked up to Gabu. “So you’re the wolf who makes my Mei so very happy. I’ve wanted to meet you for so long.”

“I’ve wanted to meet you too, Mei’s grandmother,” Gabu said.

“Please, call me Grandma. We’re family, after all.”

Gabu smiled and started to cry. “Thank you, Grandma.”

“I found this young pup trying to herd me back through Peri Peri Woods on my way home,” Grandma said. “As if I haven’t been making that journey myself since before any of you were alive. He said he’d been about to eat us in Para Para Fields, but you talked him out of it, Mei. Luckily, you’d warned us about him, so we soon saw eye to eye.”

“I wish you’d warned me about her,” Boro said, chuckling nervously.

“Huh,” Gabu said, “I guess it runs in the family.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Mei and Grandma said in unison.

“Nothing!”

“As I was saying,” Grandma said, “Boro and I quickly became acquaintances. It turns out having a wolf for a friend can be useful from time to time; that’s something we should have learned from you, Mei. When your sparrow friends came and told us you two were getting married, the three of us thought we’d come and surprise you.”

Gabu sighed. “Toto and Riri—of course it was them.”

“Hikari must have been in on it too,” Mei said. “I knew there was something odd about the way he wanted his parents to leave the forest so suddenly.”

“Is Mii here?” Tapu asked.

“Yes,” Mei said. “And Kuro-san.”

“Do you think we could see her?”

“Of course, I’ll just go and...” He was about to say, “warn her about you;” he didn’t like to think what Mii might say upon seeing Tapu unexpectedly. “...let her know you three are here.”

In the end, Mii was quite restrained. Tapu hadn’t wronged her directly, after all, and Mei had made it clear that he forgave Tapu. She was happy to see Grandma again too.

They took Grandma, Tapu and Boro on a tour of the Emerald Forest, introducing them to all their friends. In the evening, the six of them sat in the meadow and shared stories, laughing and crying well into the night. It was exactly what Grandma had hoped for all those weeks ago: They were one big, happy family, together at last.