Believe - Chapter 23: Last hill

They waited pressed together until it was completely dark this evening. Even though they woke up in the twilight the older travel companions stopped Imya from leaving the bushes because Odin had seen some humans on the plains and they wanted to wait until it was safe and they would not be spotted. The moon started to rise and Imya's star was there again as well when they stepped out of the hiding between the conifers and continued to walk over the open terrain of the plain. There was a tree, mostly small conifers, every now and then and in the distance, they saw the big buildings that the humans built to live in them. Imya could see the red shimmering of the fire from the distance and the memory of the warm and bright light that she experienced a while ago made the air around feel even colder. The wind also picked up and ruffled their fur. High above them a small cloud was being driven over the night sky, only visible when it passed a star or the moon. They stayed silent to not get the attention of anyone who would travel the night like they did. The world around them breathed the cold breath of winter but the wind in the few trees and the creaking of the snow under their paws and hoofs was the only sound that broke through the night.

The star seemed closer and bigger this night. Imya looked up to him every minute and it reflected in her blue eyes and made them shine like a sapphire. In her head Imya went through all her adventures.

How she had been parted from her pack and stumbled around alone, following the moon to get home. But the moon only had guided her further away from home and she had to conclude that the moon was not on her side. Then she detected the star and it guided her to the house with the saving food, more and better food she ever had tasted before. From there on she had trusted the star and followed it.

But she had been too inexperienced and naïve and got into the trap of a hunter. She thought that this strong and weird creature, that caught her, would kill and eat her but a human called preserver saved her and brought her to a warm house. There she met Mimi, her first ever friend. The cat had been a big help and for reasons that Imya did still not understand the human, that she always thought were evil, fed her and cared for her. He mended her wounds and even though it hurt at first, her leg healed enough for her to continue. If she would have had the choice back then, with the uncertainty of not knowing if she ever could get home, she would have stayed with Mimi and the human, but he threw her out and she went back to follow her only friend that was left, the star.

Then she had met her second animal friend, Red. Imya smiled when she thought about the way she met him. He still fascinated her. His cheerful character, his deep knowledge, his kind charm and his patience with her, a stranger to him, while teaching her about life and surviving much better than her father ever did. Maybe, she thought, he had only could teach her because Imya was more attentive than when her father taught her. She had to admit that she never listened to her father carefully if it was not a story that made her dream. She always loved to dream and she had been the target of mockery in the pack for her scatterbrained attitude. Now, that she thought about the change that she made herself and learned about the cold, hard and dangerous world first hand, she had to admit that she had been childish and unfair against her father. She was sure that he only meant good for her but he did not have the patience of Red and he also had had more than her to teach.

The plain was at the end and the ground slowly began to rise to a soft slope. More and more trees started to group up around and soon they formed a forest and allowed them to relax a bit more, because they were now hidden from curious eyes that would look for them from the distance.

While the others began to silently talk with each other, Imya went back to her revision of the journey she had done so far.

Liam, the male deer, which also was called a stag. Meeting him had been a shock at first but despite his size he was not dangerous or scary to her anymore. At first Imya had have a hard time to understand some of his words but by now she was used to his weird way of talking, just like she got used to the language of Red.

Like Red, Liam also had told her a story she never heard before. They told stories like the stories of the old wolfs at home but there were no wolfs in it but foxes and deer. Maybe, Imya pondered, each animal was telling the story with a different focus. She was sure that it was no coincidence that Red had stories about foxes, Liam stories about deer and the wolfs at home always talked about wolfs. Imya wondered which of the stories was right or if there was a right one at all. Maybe they were in the end nothing more than stories.

Odin had been not much different. The polecat's story naturally had polecats in it. He told a story from the eyes of a polecat. Imya started to take this thought a few times back and forth.

Stories were always told from the eyes of the species that was remembering them. Just like she and Mimi had seen the human differently, maybe the animals also just had a different experience with the same thing or they interpreted it differently? What was the real story? What was the truth? What should Imya believe in? At this moment, Imya believed in the star. The star had proven to guide her well and she believed that she was on her way home. But she never heard the story of the star before. Who was he in this world? All the others seemed to know the star well. Red, Liam, Odin, they all followed the star but Imya never got told why. She also did not ask because it seemed silly for her. Asking why they followed the star seemed to be the same as doubting it. Asking if the star really would lead her home. She knew that he would and therefore she did not need to ask but ... still she wondered if they had the same reasons as her.

"Is something bothering ya?" Red had fallen back behind the other two to get next to Imya and he nudged her into the flank to get her attention. "Ya're not tired, are ya?" she shook her head. He had pulled her out of her thoughts. It was different this night. She was not dreaming like in the past but rather she tried to sort her thoughts and memory and understand the things she accepted but never bothered to figure out in her mind. A new question surfaced behind all the questions about the story of the adult traveling partners. While the slope got steep and Imya noticed that they were moving slower but it was exhausting at every step she just voiced the question without even noticing it until her sweet voice got into her own ears. "What do humans believe in?" she asked.

Red did not answer directly and when Imya, ripped out of her thoughts and now more aware of her surrounding, turned her head to him she saw that he pondered now. "That is not so easy." He answered and laid his head to the side while he watched the pup. "Imma think they just call it 'God'. But Imma hadda not much stories about it." - "What is this god?" Imya wanted to know but Red shook his head. "Imma not an expert for da human, sure Imma not, yo!" he replied. "Ya hadda more time with da human than me, sure ya have, yo!" he continued and smirked to Imya. She nodded and went back to think about it. She should have asked Mimi. She sure would have known. But what was Mimi, a cat, believing in?

"Imma think we get very close." Red said after a while of silence between them and when Imya looked to him with a questioning face he nodded up to the sky. The star was much bigger now, nearly as big as the moon. Imya followed it with her eyes and through the tree tops it looked like the star was resting just over the top of the hill they climbed up. Next to the star the sky slowly got brighter and soon Liam and Odin joined them and they discussed where they would sleep this night. While Red went on a hunt, Imya helped them to find a place for the night. There were not vacant dens nearby but when the sky already was bright and Imya could clearly see white clouds drifting over them, Odin found a big conifer that was laying on the ground. The trunk was splintered. Imya wondered if a strong storm had the tree topple over but she did not care how it happened. The thick wall of needles and branches allowed them to crawl between the fallen tree and the steep hill and hide from any eyes. Like the last night even Liam got into the small den, that they formed by bending the branches to the side and getting a small opening in the middle of the tree. Red brought back two mice and he shared them with Imya and Odin. Liam only ate a bit of the bark that he ripped off a tree nearby. Soon they all cuddled together to warm each other and prepared for the day. Imya could hear animals, or at least it sounded like animals, walk up the hill not too far away. She could hear them breathe hard and noises that sounded like they were communicating with each other. She could not sleep for a long time and Red also seemed to have the same problem. He lay next to her with open eyes until the eyes of Imya fell shut from exhaustion and tiredness.