Heaven Help Me

I felt just the slightest bit of embarrassment after that sneeze of mine, but there wasn’t much to do for it. What with the combination of the melting snow trickling down the sides of my nose and the barest brush of her nose against my own, well that and the utter surprise at her appearance; there had been no stopping it! But I apologized and for whatever reason that seemed to elicit a most delightful giggle from the lips of the girl who I had just effectively expectorated my sneeze upon. I pressed on to reassure her that I was just fine myself, my head tilting in the opposite direction to which hers had. I wasn’t sure what was so funny, but I simply blinked and grinned at her.

It was too late that I realized she was ready to continue on her way, just the slightest shift in her body language hinting that she would continue through the forest now that she knew everything was alright with me. But I’d already begun to speak again and it recaptured her attention, which I found to be a good thing. What good was it to nearly have a head on collision if we couldn’t at least exchange names so that we might know one another if we, well, ran into each other again? Vibrantly her tail wags, so vigorously that her hindquarters shifted back and forth with the action. Her enthusiasm was contagious, and I found my tail beginning to wave back and forth as I asked her about Amoxtli. The baffled look that crossed her face had me confused again, was it so unheard of, for a wolf to come looking at another’s homesite for his pal? Surely amongst the horde of wolves that lived here I was not the first to do such a thing.

My mouth fell agape when I realized just what she thought I’d meant by ‘mate.’ “Oh, no, I…” But I barely got out two syllables before she began giving me extensive directions to which I missed half of trying to craft an explanation for what I’d meant before. I guess I had been staring in about the right direction cause she just carried on. I regained focus as she forcefully said ‘stop,’ and I only caught the second half of her direction. Surely the confusion I felt was writ plain upon my face, for as she turned back to me and placed a paw upon my shoulder she only had to look at me for a moment to realize I hadn’t quite got what she was saying. Generously she offered to show me the way, but I just had to clear things up first, cause my gosh if she hadn’t confused the daylights outta me.

But first thing was first. When she looked back at me I hadn’t moved just yet. “About Amoxtli; ya’see I only meant he’s a friend a’mine, not a mate-mate, like it musta seemed.” I looked pointedly at her, hoping to clear up that matter once and for all. Couldn’t go around letting pretty girls think I fancied boys. What a deranged idea! The very thought tasted vile on my tongue.

Only when I knew she understood what I meant did I follow her forward. “So, does he not live here? Coulda swore he told me he lived in the forest to the north. This is Taviora, ain’t it?” Well, it was the only major forest I’d come across north of where I’d left the valley, so it had to be, didn’t it?

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