6 filled with gold
He snuck in as quietly as he had snuck out, rubbing himself in dirt to get rid of her scent on him.
The next night she was there, waiting for him. Maybe she indeed was smart, finding her way through such forest wasn't easy for anyone, he knew it will be a lot harder for a child. What he didn't know was that she had torn pieces of paper along her way to create a trail, like her mother had once shown her and her sister to do when they leave home.
"Hi Zacar," she greeted rather gleefully.
"Did a butterfly bring you here?" he asked once he got closer to her. They were farther away from his city than they were from hers. This was now their meeting place.
"No I know the way," She said proudly. Not explaining how exactly she does. "You are taller than me," she pointed out. "My mother said I was tiny when I was one year old. You are not tiny." she said rather seriously with a frown on her face. It was clear that she was puzzled by him.
"My name is Zaccai," he announced correcting her initial mistake and refusing to address her confusion on his appearance. He gave a tiny lesson on how to pronounce it.
She did practice three more times before finally getting it.
"But if you are one year old, why are you talking?" She further queried, not letting it go. "Is it because you are a beast?"
"I am a werewolf," he said sternly.
"A wolf. Wooowww!" She looked genuinely impressed and still not afraid.
He had to wonder if they weren't told of the stories of old about his kind and hers. Maybe they did, and she never believed or maybe she was a little too young to understand in actuality what it all meant. Or maybe she just didn't care.
"What can you do?" she asked after a while of observing him.
"A lot, but I'm not fully formed yet."
"Can you fly?"
"I'm not a bird, but I can jump really high and far," he explained.
"Can you run very fast?"
He did, making her giggle.
"My father said you people are bad. Is that true?
So she was told. "There are bad people everywhere," He defended.
"That is true. Mr Alx in my village is a thief," She announced not caring if he knew Mr Alx or not. "He stole food from everyone. We chased him away."
"That is bad," He agreed. "Where are your parents, do they know you are always walking into places at night?"
She giggled. "My mother and my father are in the village," she stated the obvious.
"And?" he asked genuinely perplexed.
"I walk around a lot because everyone likes me, so sometimes they believe I'm somewhere but I'm not there.... I am here." she managed to explain.
He understood her, but not so much.
"Can you draw?" She asked as she gathered leaves on a spot. She revealed the items she had come along with, it was the same drawing materials from the night before.
"Sit down!" She ordered, pointing to the leaves she had managed to put together as a place for them to sit. The moonlight shinning brightly was their only source of light.
He obeyed, silently marveled that she wasn't afraid of the dark, or him. His tail wagged, he held it down.
She handed him a pencil and a paper. "Take. Draw what you like," She commanded.
He wasn't yet trained in penmanship as his hands just formed weeks ago but he held on. Firstly he drew a line that was intended to be straight but came out wobbly.
"That is fine," She encouraged him checking it out. "Do it again."
She drew what she called a wolf and said it was him. Then she drew a stick figure version of herself next to him. "This is us," she said proudly.
"We are best friends forever," she said.
He nodded in agreement.
Zaccai and Crown she titled her drawing.
"I will draw another one," She handed him the first drawing to study it, gold colored eyes shone in the dark. By the time they parted ways a little later that night, she had six different similar drawings of both of them, giving him one as a souvenir.
A little while later she brought out maize cakes her sister and mother had baked on a stove.
"I only eat meat," he said, rejecting her offer. He left out the blood part...and that the meat had to be raw.
"Ok. I will bring meat for you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? I cannot see you again."
"Why? You do no want to be my friend?"
"We are different Crown." He sounded frustrated that she didn't understand in actuality that they were not meant to even cross paths.
"How?" She asked innocently confused.
"You have a nose, it looks like mine." Pointing to hers.
"You have a mouth, it looks like mine."
"You have two ears, it doesn't look like mine, but it's fine,"
"Show me your hands." He obeyed. "It looks like mine," Bringing hers closer to prove her point.
"I don't have a tail but your tail is fine." Fine was the only adjective she knew to describe beautiful.
"Your eyes, they shine. I like it."
"Your feet! They look like a wolf's feet. But I have feet too. "My feet is small" she said sadly."
"They will change soon."
"Really? You mean mine?"
"Yes. And mine too."
Without warning, she laid her head on his chest, freezing him in place. "Your heartbeat...hmm. it beats like mine," She stayed there for a few seconds before moving away.
"We are the same. And we can be friends. Forever and ever. I will be your best friend. And I will not let anyone make you cry. Ok!" she finished, leaving no room for arguments.
"Okay." He replied smiling for the first time since their meeting.
"I have to go to my house now." She announced like a grown up.
"Ok. Bye."
"Bye bye Zaccai."
The sound of her laughter followed her as she ran home.
He let her disappear from his sight first before following her from the shadows until she was safely in her village.
This is truly an unlikely friendship and foolishly he let it so it did continue until the eve of his presentation to society.
__
She applauded him when he showed her his tail was no more, and his feet was now like hers.
His eyes were going to change to their true color the next day he explained.
They had secretly met for two weeks, played, talked and laughed under the moonlight. Along the way Zaccai had stopped fighting to find the meaning of their fated meeting. He simply enjoyed her company for what it was. A simple friendship between two children. On one night he had stepped foot into her city and she had loved it. He ran back when he heard footsteps heading their way. She had frowned because she didn't, forgetting they had different hearing abilities.
He never took that risk again and she never pressured him to.
"So you will look like me?" she asked him on that night.
He nodded.
"But will you still be a wolf?" In her eyes, a werewolf was the same as a dog and that was the truth about the source of her lack of fear as they had dogs back in Ashford.
"Yes, on the inside always. And I can change at will." he said on a happy note.
"Woow! You are beautiful!"
He accepted the compliment she so freely gave, she always left him with kind words everyday they met.
He tried to hide his sadness knowing this was going to be their last time seeing. Once he was presented and fully formed, life was going to change for him. All of his strengths and abilities would be activated. Staying close to a human would be torture as they can neither kill nor feed on them.
So on this particular night that he knew was going to be their last, he got her a gift he carefully dug out from a treasure chest he had found.
A globe of a considerable size. Trapped in it was a city made of gold, and in the middle was a tree. Whoever made it must have been skilled in his craft for the tree looked like a real one.
"This is for you," he handed it to her.
She happily accepted it as she studied it. "It's beautiful!" she exclaimed.
"Yes, it's a place filled with gold and beautiful things I think. It looks peaceful..." he said.
She handed him a drawing. It was an improved version of the ones she had drawn before but she added a new piece that could pass for a butterfly.
"Is it fine?"
"Yes it is." He said truthfully.
They were going to part ways when it happened. She packed up her items, with the globe tucked under her arm.
First there was no one around and the next they were surrounded.
"Well well well. If it isn't the newest member of our society."
