Last Warriors

4. When Night Comes

HeDi is sleeping peacefully in his bed around midnight when he hears wolves howling outside, close to his tent.

Roar wakes up and barks at the door.

"Shhh... Sleep! They cannot come here," HeDi reassures him without opening his eyes.

But the dog whines. There is something else bothering him and HeDi understands what it is.

"Is it Yue? Is she outside?"

Roar barks as though answering yes.

HeDi stands up, takes his sword and opens the door carefully.

What he witnesses leaves him in total shock.

Yue is sitting on the floor, with a white owl on her shoulder, surrounded by wolves who are leaking her face and hauling of happiness. She is happily petting them like dogs.

"Shen... Yue?" he mutters tremulously.

"Hey! Did I wake you up? I'm sorry! It wasn't my intention..."

"Wh... What are you... doing?" HeDi asks, gaping at the scene with eyes popping out of their orbits, unable to speak clearly.

"I... I was feeling... I didn't want to be alone... Sorry..." she replies, lowering her eyes and pouting.

"It's alright, I don't mind... You can come here anytime. I am just wondering what you're doing -he asks with the door half closed for safety-. I mean, how did this happen?" he asks, pointing with his sword at the wild animals that are behaving as puppies.

"Oh... -she chuckles- I'm a Moonlighter! Creatures of the night that howl at the Moon tend to be my friends!" she simply explains.

"Right... It's totally normal to be surrounded by wolves... -he says in disbelief- Are you... Mmm... And why are you here in the middle of the night?"

"I told you, I didn't want to be alone. I wanted to be here, with my friends."

"The wolves?"

"Hey! Are you sleep-talking or are you awake? YOU are my friend! And Rock, and Roar. I missed you. My boat feels... Empty," she says patting the wild animals around her that seem captivated by her presence.

There is something weird about her, he suspected it from the beginning.

"Yue, we were together all day... We are every day..."

"And at night I... I miss you..." she shyly admits, moping.

What is he supposed to say to that? It is true he likes having her around, and he misses her overwhelming presence as soon as she leaves in the evening, but he did not think there was much he could do about it. Unless...

"Do you wanna... Come inside?"

Yue peeks up at him with a flushed look on her face that can be noticed even in the moonlight.

"No! See you tomorrow!" And runs away as though she had seen a ghost.

The wolves are left outside the tent without their whisperer and begin to growl at HeDi, who immediately secures the door and scratches his head.

He looks at Roar: "What the hell happened?"

Roar barks. He does not know either.

This was the strangest night of his life.

***

The next day goes by as typical.

Yue shows up in the morning, throwing pebbles in the creek...