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| The fairy flitted thru the meadow towards her private glade. She normally cared little about the passing seasons but noticed today the fiery colors in the trees, autumn the mortals called it. She had seen so many in her life that the first was lost in the dim shadows of her memory. Today was different than most days. A mortal creature was in her glade and it was dying. Death was a mystery to the fairy and her kind. She knew from experience that her kind could be killed, but the fact that a life could simply end with no cause was a concept she could not understand. After a bit more time, she settled by her favorite pond and began to sing. | |||||||
| The wolf hobbled thru the bushes, She had been alone for many days now. She had no concept of the passing seasons, only that her cubs had cubs of their own. She was tired, hurting and alone. Her own son had driven her from the pack at the last bright moon howl. But even if she were capable of resentment, she held none towards him. It was the way of things. After she had been pushed from the territory of the pack, each member had darted out to sniff and nuzzle her one last time. Even the omega wolf had crawled on belly to her one last time, stirring memories of past omegas doing so to her when she had been alpha female. | |||||||
| The old wolf could not hunt anymore due to pain she felt. She had known only pain the past turn of seasons. A strange scent she did not know lingered in the grass and bushes of this place but it was somehow comforting; bringing out images of spring and pups to her thoughts. She turned her head at a soft sound and was drawn to it. After a time, she passes thru a screen of bushes into a small clearing with a small pool of water. The scent was strongest here and she felt a need to lie down beside the waters and rest. | |||||||
| The fairy smiled as she kept singing. Things were going as they always had. She flew down and settled next to the wolf still singing. Lightly, she touched the resting creature and was able to know it and all things the wolf had done in its life. The fairy song shifted in tone slightly as her words reflected the things that had mattered to the wolf, the pack, her pups, her long dead mate. | |||||||
| The wolf barely heard the fairy. All she felt was safety and a warmth she had known and forgotten about a long time ago rose in her heart. Her eyes closed and her head dropped to the ground but somehow things for her changed. A weight lifted from her and she felt as if she were in her prime once more. A head poked out of the bushes nearby, followed by more. A pack of wolves romped into the clearing where she lay and at the last of them was her mate. Happiness flowed thru her as she jumped up and ran to him; nuzzling his snout and sniffing in his long missed scent. The pack turned and left the clearing, the lone wolf going with them, not bothering to look back. | |||||||
| The fairy smiled down at the still wolf; another soul on its way to whatever lay beyond this existence. She felt that she too would find out what, but for now she watched the sun set thru the trees and felt a chill in to air. This was as close to being mortal as a fairy could get, to be near a creature as it died. Death would always be the last mystery a fairy could know. But she did it willingly; she knew that as long as she lived no creature would die alone in her forest. | |||||||
| Copyright 2005 EdStargazer | |||||||
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