Nura waits for me when I return to the hut. My hands have not stopped shaking since I walked away from Tarok. I push them into Nura’s fur and press them against her warm body. I can still feel my heart pounding in my ears even though I am certain it slowed long ago.
“You are lucky you do not have to worry about people lying about you. Wolves just settle things right away and be done with it. With humans, the problems just keep going and going. They are never ending! And what makes it all worse is I have not even done anything to her! Tarok never knew I existed until I was 14 and then he only noticed me because he had to.” I sigh and lean against the hut. “Why am I even talking to you? You cannot understand me.”
I toss her a hunk of meat from inside the hut before crawling into bed. I do not even care to take off my ceremonial robes. I close my eyes and try to forget the events since the sun went down.
I hear whining sometime later. I groggily get up, change from my robes to my day clothes and step outside the hut. The celebration has died down and not even stragglers are outside. I stretch up toward the sky before realizing that Nura is not on the platform.
“Nura?” I call out. There is no noise in answer so I step off the platform and go searching for her.
The first place I look is the river. We walked there last time she whined. I really do not think she will be there because we have provided her with a bowl of water. I continue calling to her as I walk along and hope she will come back to the sound of my voice. I walk next to the Sacred Glade where I found her. Again she is not there. I am about to give up when I see a bright light moving through the forest. I follow it against my better judgment.
I walk and I walk for what seems like forever, following the light deeper into the forest. The light always stays far enough away that I cannot see it clearly, but close enough I can see the light it emits. Whenever I get too far away from it, it seems to pause and wait for me to catch up before moving forward again.
Before long I hear that familiar rushing sound of water. Instead of hiding in the bushes again, I walk straight toward the pool. The woman in white sits near the edge of the pool, trailing her fingers through the water.
“I see you have come to me again, Moon Child.”
“I am just looking for my wolf.”
“Your wolf? Do you own her?”
“No, I-I am just taking care of her.”
The woman snaps and Nura walks out of the forest to lay at the woman’s side. “You are doing a fine job of it, too.”
“Why did you bring me here?”
“Why did you come here?”
“I do not know. I followed the light thinking I could find Nura.”
“Well, you have found her and you have found me. Now, I ask again: why have you come here?”
The thought that has been eating away in the back of my mind springs forward. “You said I would find happiness again, what did you mean by that?”
The woman smiles. “That will have to remain a mystery, child. What else?”
My words catch in my throat. I have a question I want to ask, but am too afraid to voice it. I pick at my fingernail nervously, trying to gather my courage.
“You will, Akari. But not in the way you think.”
I take a frantic step back. “You know what I wanted to ask?”
“I am a spirit, Moon Child. A powerful one at that. I have seen how your life is laid out and I have seen how it ends.”
“Does it… does it end badly?”
“You will know great happiness until the end of your days. Take comfort in that and not in knowing how your life will end.”
“One more thing. Am I dreaming or is this real?”
She smiles again. “This is as real as you think it is.”
I wake up the following morning still dressed in my day clothes.