Chapter 14

Boro was lying by himself at Baku Baku Valley, reflecting on how lucky he’d been and how badly things could have gone for him yesterday if Lala hadn’t lied to the pack to get him out of trouble. After Grandma and Lala’s meeting, Grandma had told him that she and Lala had a plan to help the goats and wolves settle their differences once and for all, a prospect that seemed to Boro too good to be true, but she hadn’t yet told him what the plan entailed.

Lala, for her part, hadn’t even spoken to him since the day before. She’d told the pack in vague terms that the matter with the Elder Goat had been resolved and they shouldn’t bother Boro about his dealings with the goats. So far, Boro got the feeling that most of the pack was confused about what his involvement with the goats had actually been and whether it would be continuing, but they dutifully refrained from asking him to explain matters, which he appreciated since he was just as confused himself about what Lala wanted the pack to think.

Zack and Beach approached him. “Hey, uh, do you want to go for a walk?” Zack said.

“Sure,” Boro said.

The three of them left Baku Baku Valley and trudged aimlessly through the forest in awkward silence. It had rained the night before, and their paws left imprints in the soft ground.

“Did Lala really tell you to make friends with the goats?” Zack said after a while.

Boro looked into his friends’ eyes. He couldn’t bring himself to lie to them anymore, and it wasn’t as if he could make matters worse by telling the truth. “No,” he said.

“Why, then?” Beach said.

Boro shrugged. “It was the right thing to do. The goats deserve better than we’ve always treated them. That’s what Gabu believed, and I believe it too.”

The three friends continued walking through the forest, silent for several heartbeats.

“Have you spoken to Gabu since he had to leave?” Zack said.

Boro nodded. “I went to see him once, and Grandma always shares with me any news she gets from them.”

“Them?” Zack said.

“Gabu and Mei,” Boro said. “Mei is the goat Gabu’s, um, friends with.”

“I got the impression that it’s more than just friends,” Zack said. “Is Gabu happy?”

Boro smiled. “Yes, he is. Extremely happy.”

“Then…I’m happy for him,” Zack said, and Beach nodded in agreement.

“Look,” Boro said, “I’m really sorry for lying to both of you, but I had to do it.”

“It’s fine,” Zack said. “Do you really believe that goats and wolves can be anything but enemies? All of us, I mean, not just individual wolves and goats.”

“I don’t know,” Boro said. “Lala has a secret plan for that, apparently, but I don’t know what it is or if it’s going to work.”

“Hunting goats is too complicated now,” Beach said, “so might as well be friends, right?”

Zack gave a half-smile. “Heh, I guess so. Goats as friends… That’s going to take some getting used to.”

“In the…” Boro hesitated. “In the forest where Gabu and Mei are living now, being friends with herbivores is completely normal. It wasn’t like that when they first arrived, but they made it like that, and everyone there is so much happier now.”

“What does he eat?” Beach said.

“Oh, he still eats rabbits and mice and things like that,” Boro said, “but he only hunts at night, so no one’s scared of him during the day.”

“Sounds like a weird place,” Zack said. “I’m sorry about giving you up to the pack, by the way, but Lala would have killed us if she’d known we’d caught you and hadn’t told her about it. Or… I thought she would have done.”

“It’s okay,” Boro said. “Shall we call it even?”

“Yeah, we’re cool. Now, tell us more about how Gabu’s getting on.”

“Well, he has a kid now. Her name’s Kon-kon.”

Zack and Beach both stopped walking and turned to stare at him, more surprised than they’d been the entire rest of the conversation. “Wait, Gabu found another wolf to mate with?”

“Um, not exactly,” Boro said. “Kon-kon is a fox. He and Mei and someone else kind of adopted her last winter.”

“The more I hear about this forest…” Zack said, and shook his head. “Anyway, I’m happy for him.”

“Me too,” Beach said.

Mii’s healing visit for that day was postponed, as Grandma wanted to present her idea to the herd and give Lala a chance to present it to the wolves before Mii had any further contact with them. Grandma had told Mii her plan, and although Mii was fully on board with it, she was a little apprehensive about how the herd would react to the idea. Tapu hadn’t been at all keen on the plan, but Grandma had convinced him to trust her on it.

“Throughout all of my life,” Grandma said to the herd, “wolves have been the enemy. My own daughter was killed by wolves, and all of us have lost friends and loved ones to them. These past few months, I have tried my best to make things at least a little bit better for us, and in a few small but important ways, I believe that I have succeeded. Our children can now grow up in safety, and their mothers can live free from worry. Although the methods we have used to achieve these improvements are unorthodox, I hope you will agree that they were fully justified.”

Many goats, especially those with children, nodded in agreement.

“Now, before I discuss the purpose of this meeting, please indulge me by considering how the wolves must regard us. As far as most of them are concerned, we are nothing more than food. They think nothing of eating us, just as we think nothing of eating grass. However, this view that the wolves have of us is incorrect. We are not like grass; we are people with lives and personalities and aspirations of our own. If the wolves truly understood this, I believe they would find taking our lives more difficult.”

Mii could sense the herd trying to figure out where Grandma was going with this. Many of them gave her confused or uncertain looks.

“Through our dealings with the wolves, many of them have grown accustomed to the idea that goats are beings with whom they can communicate, if only to further their own goals. This presents us with an unprecedented opportunity to show the wolves that we exist not only for their benefit, but as people in our own right. To do this, we must do something that many of us have always thought of as unthinkable. We must treat the wolves as we wish them to treat us: with kindness and respect.

“As all of you are aware, my grandchild Mei befriended a wolf by the name of Gabu two summers ago. The greatest regret of my life is that when Mei’s friendship with Gabu became known to us, I foolishly believed that no wolf could be capable or deserving of love. My fear of wolves caused me to ignore what was in my grandchild’s heart. In the end, Mei and Gabu proved me wrong. They are now living happily together in a forest where their friendship is accepted as normal.

“I tell you this because if I do not acknowledge it, some of you may believe incorrectly that I have allowed my grandchild’s friendship with a wolf to cloud my judgement of what is realistic. While I do believe that Gabu and Mei’s friendship proves that goats and wolves need not always be enemies, I am not acting out of a desire to establish friendship between goats and wolves for its own sake. I believe that putting an end to our enmity with the wolves is the best and only way to keep ourselves safe.”

By now, many goats were visibly agitated by what Grandma was saying. Mii saw more than one group of goats exchange glances or discontented whispers. Many of them, however, continued to listen attentively as Grandma spoke.

“I am not asking you to forget the harm that the wolves have done to us, nor even to think of the wolves as our friends. But if treating the wolves with kindness and respect means that they will do the same to us, then this is worth putting aside our differences. We lose nothing whatsoever from doing this—not even our pride, as treating others with respect is never shameful.

“Our goal is to establish a complete and indefinite truce between us and the wolves, under which no wolf will be permitted to harm any goat. The leader of the Baku Baku wolf pack has agreed to facilitate this truce on the condition that we prove to her that goats and wolves can live peacefully side by side.

“To this end, we will arrange for a small number of us to meet with a small number of wolves in a neutral location. I give you my absolute guarantee that no harm will come to us. If the meeting goes well, this will be the first step towards creating a world in which none of us will ever need to fear for our lives again. The meeting will take place tomorrow night. I would like six volunteers to accompany me.”

This was the part Mii and Grandma had been most apprehensive about. Grandma had told Mii and Tapu not to volunteer until everyone else had a chance to do so, and only then if they were short on volunteers.

For a while, no one moved or spoke. Goats glanced at one another, wondering who would be the first to speak, and whether it would be to volunteer or to object to Grandma’s proposal.

At last, someone moved. Everyone turned their heads in unison to see who it was, just as Bima said, “Aiju, come back here!”

The young goat walked up to Grandma, followed close behind by her distressed mother, and confidently proclaimed, “I want to come.”

“No, Aiju,” Bima said. “It’s not safe.”

“I assure you that the wolves will do us no harm,” Grandma said calmly. She kneeled down to bring her head level with Aiju’s. “Are you sure that you want to come, Aiju? It will be perfectly safe, but it might be a little scary for you all the same.”

“I’m not scared of wolves!” Aiju said. She kicked her back legs in the air in a way that reminded Mii very strongly of Tapu.

“You remind me of my grandchild,” Grandma said, smiling fondly. “Wolves can be very dangerous if you’re not careful around them. You must always use your judgement and not take unnecessary risks.”

“So you agree that it isn’t safe for her to go?” Bima said.

“I didn’t say that,” Grandma said. “I think this would be a good opportunity for Aiju to learn more about wolves in a safe environment. Of course, I wouldn’t agree to take her with me without your permission, Bima.”

Remi stepped towards Grandma, accompanied by her daughter Yū. “Will this really make all of us safer?” she said.

“I think it is the best chance we will ever get,” Grandma said.

“Then I’ll do it,” Remi said.

Grandma smiled. “What about you, Yū?”

Yū nodded fervently.

“I know better than to doubt you, Mari,” Rōjin said, stepping forward. “Count me in.”

Aiju stared pleadingly at Bima.

“No,” Bima said. “Why should I let you put my daughter in danger?”

“Aiju will not be a child forever,” Grandma said. “If she grows up into the same kind of world that you and I grew up in, then she will be in danger every day of her life. This is our chance to build a world that will be safe for her.”

Bima looked down into her child’s eyes, held her gaze for several seconds, and then looked back up at Grandma. “Promise me that you will keep her safe.”

“I promise,” Grandma said. “No harm will come to her.”

“Then I’m coming too,” Bima said.

Mii waited, but no one else came forward. She caught Grandma’s eye, who nodded briefly. “I guess I’ll be number six, then.”

Shortly after Boro, Zack and Beach returned to Baku Baku Valley, Lala called the pack to a meeting.

“Listen up,” she said. “As you know, Boro here has been working to gain the trust of the goats and learn more about how they operate. Following the success of this plan, we’ve decided that it’s in our best interest for more of us to have connections to the goat herd.”

“But didn’t the Elder Goat discover that Boro isn’t really their friend?” Lulu said.

Lala gave a short laugh. “That stupid old goat didn’t know what she saw. I smoothed it all over and left her none the wiser.”

A few wolves grinned at the obvious stupidity of the Elder Goat not understanding what was happening right in front of her face.

“In fact,” Lala continued, “Grandma herself has been very helpful in organising a little get-together. Boro, Zack, Beach, Gururi, Lili and Lulu—the six of you and myself will be meeting up with a few of the goats tomorrow night. All you have to do is refrain from eating any of them and do what the Elder Goat tells you to do. Do you think you can manage that?”

“Hei!” Boro and the other named wolves said.

“Good,” Lala said. “Dismissed.”

After most of the wolves had gone about their business, Zack said to Boro, “I guess this has something to do with Lala’s secret plan, huh?”

“Secret plan?” Lili said.

Boro turned and saw with despair that Lili and Lulu, the two most gossip-prone wolves in the pack, had apparently been standing just close enough to hear what Zack had said.

“Whoops,” Zack said.

“Lala has a secret plan?” Lulu said.

Boro moved closer to them and lowered his voice. “Listen, you can’t tell anyone about this. I really mean it.”

“Oh, of course,” Lili said. “You can trust us.”

“No, seriously,” Boro said. “If Lala finds out that I told anyone about this, all of us will be in big trouble.”

“Really big trouble?” Lulu said hesitantly.

“Yes,” Boro said. “So no telling ‘just one person,’ or anything. Absolutely no one. Do you promise?”

Lili and Lulu glanced nervously at one another, and then nodded in unison.

“Good,” Boro said, and breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ll tell you everything afterwards, but yes, Lala has a plan. Just…go along with whatever happens tomorrow night, no matter what.”