The True One

Chapter 41

Verity

I dangled my feet into the brook, letting the early spring water numb my toes. A twittering, joyful melody rang out as a morning bird declared itself to the valley. Across from me, I sat on my haunches, paws seeping up moisture from the cool mud lining the riverbank. We mirrored each other: wolf and woman. From our vantage points, the whole world seemed visible and endless, two parallel panoramas.

I could exist here forever.

No! Gather your wolf. Come back.

His command jarred me from my state of bliss. Such harshness didn't belong in this bucolic paradise.

Back where? We were meant for this eternal world. Nowhere else existed.

That's not true. You're in a world of your own creation, Verity, another voice spoke to me, stern but comforting too. My mother's. It may be beautiful there, but we need you here.

Please, Verity, they both pleaded with me.

Curious minnows circled my shins, kissing my ankles with their gentle, puckered mouths. I kicked my feet in the water, and they shimmied away, letting the current carry them downstream.

Don't leave us.

Sorrow seeped into their words, and into my perfect world.

There's nowhere to go, I told them. I'm everywhere.

Four weeks later...

The riverbed had dried up months ago, crags in the earth comprising an organic treasure map, dried lines of mud leading to where X marked the spot; to a place and time where there once was water and life.

I walked the path gingerly, my wounds in various stages of healing based on each's severity. My left leg was the worst of it. Surgery, stitches, occupational therapy. I'd be limping for a while. Dancing was curtailed for now and so, my creative energy was focused on songwriting and studio work. Weaving the events of the last few months into music was as therapeutic as my twice weekly trips to the physical therapist's office.

Passing over the riverbed, I climbed a small hill and paused at its crest to catch my breath. Vertical lines of reds and oranges cut across the irregular earthen formations comprising the walls of the canyon. Stretching my bad leg, I let the faint scent of sage calm me while I waited for Alek to notice my presence.

"How'd you find me?" he finally asked.

I hobbled over to him. "How do you think?"

"Flora?"

I nodded. She was our link now. Flora saw through pain and grief with greater ease than Alek or me, focusing on what could be instead of what was.

"If you didn't want me to find you, you probably shouldn't have told her where you were going."

A heavy beard all but obscured his dimples. The look suited him, but the depth of suffering in his eyes was something I wished I could unsee. "I didn't think you'd want to know."

"Why would you say that?" I joined him on a flat rock, groaning slightly as I hoisted my aching body on top of it. He winced at my pain but kept his gaze on the canyon.

"It's... all of it is..."

He couldn't seem to say it out loud, so I did the honors. "A fucking mess. I know."

A hawk cried out from across the canyon. We watched it circle and swoop at unseen prey.

"I killed Norvin," he said.