Heaven Help Me

For goodness sake, what in the world was going on with me? Leafshadow seemed as calm as could be, relaxed in the grass and enjoying her meal; meanwhile I was deteriorating into a bit of a fool before her very eyes, scratching at my chest as if it would solve whatever seemed to be ailing me. Was this even an ailment? Because as much as it made me feel a bit strange, the longer it lingered the more it felt like it was the way I was meant to feel all my life. What an incredibly peculiar effect this meadow seemed to be having on me. It had to be the meadow, didn't it?

I tried my best to distract myself from whatever it was that had overcome me, taking a bite of the raccoon before sitting up once more and looking into Leafshadow's face again. Those stunning golden orbs of hers looked back at me. It was then that I noticed the way the color seemed to gradient towards a darker hue at the pupil, not to mention the delicate flecks of dark orange that were scattered throughout the gold. How boring my eyes must have been to look back into, with their utterly plain and simple green flatness. Licking my lips, I blinked and then finally got around to asking what in the world was up with this meadow. Surely if she lived her maybe she'd seen someone else in such a state as mine and she could help me figure out the source of the problem.

The slightest twinkle of humor illuminated her eyes before she averted her gaze. Oh, I really had made a fool of myself, hadn't I? It must have been something very obvious that I was just too dense to realize. But as she began to speak my head tilted slightly to the side, my curiosity piqued. A confusing explanation was to come? My nostrils flared and my audits cupped forward, my focus entirely pinpointed upon her. And in that very position I practically froze as her explanation unfolded. Something about the fates, and matching males and females, imprinting, soul bonds and soul mates...two halves of one soul. The words seemed to rush by me while also resounding within my ears. And that's what's happening to you right now, she finished.

Always I had led a simple life - hunt for the pack, care for the pups, respect your alphas. I'd never heard of such a thing, but as the words fell from her lips I could only believe her, feeling in my very core that she spoke the truth. Something had tugged at me to leave my parents' pack last year - I'd just attributed it to a sparse year for prey. My paws had been drawn ever southward. The first wolf I'd encountered in the valley had been the son of the protector of the forest, and when I'd gone looking for him again I'd met with a young lady of woodlands who'd brought me back here and introduced the idea of my joining the pack into my mind. If that wasn't fate, I didn't know what was.

In the furor of these revelations, I was left speechless while thinking a thousand thoughts. All at once my forelegs pushed out in front of me, my body lowering to the ground and the raccoon resting against my left leg. I couldn't peel my eyes away from her, the connection between the feeling that coursed through my body and my attentiveness to every detail of her appearance finally made. "Wull, if that don't beat all." They were the only words I could seem to muster. At least she'd not turned tail and run off on me, she'd stuck around and that had to say something for all of this. It seemed a very important thing, this imprinting business, and it sure felt important too. She'd told me that it could mean matehood between two wolves, or just friendship; sometimes the extreme of others feeling cursed by it. Well, I sure didn't feel cursed, but I wasn't exactly ready to commit myself as mate to this wolf I'd only just met. I blinked, watching her and wondering about it all. "So, what now?"

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