Believe - Chapter 10: Released

Before Imya went to sleep the next day the human renewed the bandages on her leg again. She ate the food out of the bowl that he placed on the ground and then lay down to rest for the day. Her leg did not hurt anymore and she felt warm and safe. She dreamed about her mother again like at the previous days. Even though she felt safe here she wanted to return to her mother. The cat was nice to her and she was much less scared of the human but she missed her mother and, even if they had been very hard to her, she also missed the other wolfs and her father. She cried a bit in her sleep but she did not wake up until the evening. The human grabbed her again but Imya did not struggle this time. She still was a bit afraid of the man but her new friend Mimi told her that he only wanted to help her. He removed the bandage from her leg and caressed over it a few times. It did not hurt but tickled Imya. Then he made low noises that sounded like a bear and set her on the ground. Imya watched him picking up some items. Mimi explained her that the big one was called a coat and that humans wore it outside because they had no fur and would else feel cold.

"I think this is farewell!" Mimi said with a purr and ran her body against Imya's body. "It was nice to meet a wolf. Was a first for me." She smiled. "Make sure to not get caught in any traps again." Imya was not sure what the cat meant. "Why are you saying that? Where are you going?" "Not me." The cat groaned in disbelieve. "You will leave now. Your leg is healed and the human will bring you to the place where he found you so that you can find home." She explained and moved over to the bowls with water and meat. "If I were you, I would grab a last bite before you leave. From what you told me it is much harder to get food outside, isn't it?"

Imya followed the recommendation of the cat and moved to the bowl to eat. She ate as much as she could because if she would be brought outside she was not sure when she would find something to eat again. She did not tell Mimi that she was unsure where her home was and that she followed a start until the trap caught her. In her heart, she hoped that the start waited for her. The human waited until she satisfied her hunger and thirst and then she felt his hand in her neck and he lifted her. A last "Goodbye." Whimpered to Mimi and the silent response before the door opened and the cold air rushed around Imya. It felt freezing after three nights in the warm house. One part of her wished to be back in front of this fire where it was warm but when she tried to look back she saw something over the house. The sky was already dark but over the house her star was waiting for her and slowly moving forward. Imya did not regard the snow under her or the way they went but only looked at the star while the human walked through the snow. The white cover squeaked under his heavy steps.

Imya was carried into the forest and they went on for a while. She saw the moon moving over the sky and sometimes between the trees she saw the star. Then the human stopped and she felt snow under her paws. He put her down and released her neck. Imya first did not move and just felt the wet snow under her paws. The human grumbled and then roared and Imya winced from the sudden loud noise and jumped a few steps away. The arms of the human waved as if he wanted to attack her. At first Imya was surprised and watch the human but then he took a step forward and she got out of her freeze. She turned around and ran away with a whimper. She did not understand why the human, who had been caring and nice with her the last day, was now attacking her but after a few minutes she did not hear him anymore and she seemed to have lost him. Imya turned around and checked the surroundings. He did not follow her. She was safe from him and with this realization she also remembered that she still had to get home.

It was easy for Imya to find the star again and with the energy and power she stored up in the last days, with more food than she had the whole month before, she began to run along the way. Her body felt light and her legs did not hurt anymore. The adventure with the trap was nearly forgotten. Only the voice of the cat echoed a bit in her head while she ran around. She was more careful and attentive than before her capture. She saw one more trap and avoided it in a big bow. On the one hand, she was not hungry right now, on the other hand she knew that these things were dangerous. Mimi had told her that if the human called hunter had found her and not the human called preserver, she would have been dead by now.

The ground lifted slowly and after a while Imya noticed that she was running uphill. Maybe she found her way back to the mountain that she climbed down and that it went upwards was a sign for her to get closer to home. This thought gave her additional resolve and she ran a bit faster until her lungs hurt from the freezing air and she had to fall into a slow walk again. The moon already finished his nightly travel over the sky but her old friend, the star, still was there shining bright for her as a guide. Only slowly the sky started to lighten up and show the first signs of the day.

When Imya noticed that it got brighter the day was already just around the corner and forest began to wake up. Imya heard the chirping of a few birds that were not driven away by the cold weather and the grunt of a boar. The luck for her was that the boar was still far away but she winced when she heard it. She only had heard a boar once before and her mother had told her stories of how dangerous they were. She did not want to encounter the actual animal, even though she did not know how it looked like. Imya started to slow down and search for a place to stay for the day. It took Imya another hour and the sun already lit up the top of the trees when she found a den between two fir trees. It was dug into the ground but Imya was sure this was done long time ago because the earth here was hard as rock. She carefully sniffed if someone was inside the den. There was a strange smell in her but from what she could tell the owner, Imya could not tell which animal it was because she never smelled something like that, left the den months ago. The scent was only very faint and from the leaves and branches that were in the den no one used it for a long time. The entrance was small and she only could enter because she still was a pup. Inside it got bigger and Imya could stand and have a head space above her. It was warm and dark inside the den.

Imya pulled the fir tree branches that were at the entrance of the den outside and covered the entrance with them. This way it would block the sun a bit as well as the wind that picked up the last hour. Imya was happy about the dry leaves that lay around in the den. She pushed them to one big pile and snuggled into them. It was a soft and warm bed nearly as good as the soft towel in the house in front of the fire. With a happy sigh and a last thought about Mimi and a thanks in her heart for this human to be friendly to her she closed her eyes and fell asleep.