On a day of grey skies and chilly air, a young woman walked alone into Gen-Re-Koh Forest. Her pace was halting but her head was held high, and she had a look that challenged anyone in advance who dared question her right to be there. Some of the inhabitants stared at her openly, even making loud comments about her appearance to their neighbors, but most acted as if she weren't there, even when she stared at them.
She stopped beside a tree with papery silver bark and a round opening just above her height. "Tillik?" she called.
She heard scuttling inside the tree, and a squirrel's head popped out of the hole. "Who is this calling for Tillik?" the squirrel demanded in a shrill voice.
"My name is Doe. I'm an old friend," she explained. I wanted his help finding someone."
"And you thought he'd be here?"
"I'm sorry...has he moved? I thought this was his tree."
"Tillik's been dead more seasons than I've been alive. You haven't been in this forest for a while, have you?"
"No...no, I haven't."
"All alike, your kind," the squirrel muttered. "Only come to see us when you're in need."
The woman hesitated a moment, unsure what to say next. But a blackbird watching in the next tree spoke up then with a kinder tone. "Who is it you thought Tillik could help you find, child?"
"A wolf named Loomahk."
On hearing this the squirrel laughed. "The deer goes willingly to the wolf? First I've ever heard of that."
The blackbird tsked disapprovingly and turned again to Doe. "Head east. See that tall spicenut tree on the little hill just past the creek? Loomahk's pack has a few dens around there. Walk slowly and keep calling Loomahk's name. Else the pack might decamp as soon as they catch your scent."
Thanking the bird and ignoring the still-chittering squirrel, Doe did as she'd been told. As she neared the creek things looked more and more familiar, except much smaller than she'd remembered. The hill she'd once clambered up like a rockclimber was now just a pillow of earth. But perched on top was a massive creature, all nose and teeth and muscular legs. He was bigger than she remembered, but she knew him instantly, and he knew her.
"Doe!"
The great grey wolf ran down the hill and vaulted the creek to reach the woman. She put her forehead to his, buried her hands in his fur. He touched his tongue to her face and tasted salt. He stepped back. "What is it, Doe? What's wrong?"
"I've missed you." She wiped her eyes and smiled.
"It's more than that."
She laughed. "Can you smell heartbreak on me? No wonder people feel so uncomfortable around animals. Your senses are too keen."
He looked at her expectantly. She patted him on the shoulder. "It's a long story."
"I always knew your life would be a series of long stories."
"What do you mean by that?" she demanded.
"No harm." He showed his teeth in the universal "just playing" wolf gesture. He couldn't smell heartbreak on her, he just knew her history. Loomahk had known Doe when she was a little girl with eyes too large for her face, liquid and strangely dark, so even when she was smiling you saw tears in them. That is how she got her nickname. He hardly remembered what she'd been called at birth, "Doe" suited her so well. She was a raw nerve as a child, crying suddenly and for days or becoming ecstatic with the slightest excuse. He had not thought it likely she would grow temperate with age. She hadn't.
"I'm just tired of it," Doe was saying now. "I needed to go someplace where I'd be better treated. Men have been eating up my spirit."
"I hope you don't think a wolf could--"
She clamped his mouth shut. "I'm not asking that of you, Loomahk. Can't I just stay in your den a night or two? I want a warm body next to me who won't take anything in return."
He considered it. "If it were only up to me I would say of course you can stay, as long as you need to," he said. "But I can't make any promises without consulting the pack. Wait here." He ran down the bend of the creek out of sight. Soon Doe heard a cacophony of yelps and whines. Here came about a dozen wolves, white, silver-grey, or grey with black points on ears and tail, like Loomahk. She found them too beautiful to be frightening. She was rarely frightened, though, even when she should have been.
Loomahk's pack arranged themselves in something like a straight line, which was clearly difficult for them, the ones in the back whimpering and straining their noses as far forward as they could. One by one they splashed noisily through the creek and padded up to her, not directly, but in a semi-orbit, sniffing, retreating, circling behind. Doe kept herself in a crouch with her eyes lowered and hand outstretched for all those curious noses.
A he-wolf with black-tipped ears was the first to speak once the interrogation was complete. "Why exactly do you want a human in your den, Loomahk?"
"She needs a place to stay, sir. She and I were friends when we were cubs."
"Most of us had humans as childhood playmates. But then we grew up."
"I don't smell any fear on her," a she-wolf commented. "She either has a very pure spirit or a child's mind. Either way, sir, I think she poses no threat."
"She feels entitled to be with us, that's why she shows no fear. We must not allow her that delusion."
The debate went on for very long with Doe never addressed directly. She felt smaller and smaller as the night wore on. Consensus was only reached because it grew too late to send her back out into the forest alone, and as long as she stayed one night, she might as well stay longer. "I bid you welcome, Doe," the head of the pack, the he-wolf with black-tipped ears, said at last. The matter settled, every wolf but one padded away into Gen-Re-Koh.