Ballad of the Desert

Chapter 2: First Meeting

Chapter 2: First Meeting

Brother Wolf gets up with the sun, his silver fur glistening in the light. He raises his head and lets out a long howl, the sound reverberating in the sky. I follow suit and let out a long howl, raising my hands high towards the sky, like I'm embracing the sun and embracing the new day. The birds all take flight into the dancing clouds. I laugh and kick Brother Wolf, "Race ya to the banks of the Yue Ya Spring", taking off before my howls have even fallen.

In three years time, Brother Wolf is as tall as my waist. I call him (elder) Brother Wolf not because he's older than me, it's just what I decided to call him, When I rejoined the pack, he was just one year old and learning to hunt. But now he is the Leader of the wolf pack. Even though I constantly kick him when we are alone, but deep down I do respect him.

Brother Wolf sensed I was deep in thought. He bent down to drink and let out a few humphs. He sees himself as the world's most handsome, most powerful specimen – the male wolves all bow to him and the female wolves all faint at the sight of him. Except when it comes to me. I don't cow before him, which is sad for him. Perhaps he wonders why he was born in the same world as me.

To help identify the wolves, I once tried to name them numerically. Wolf 1, wolf 2, wolf 3, all the way to wolf 99 when I first arrived. But following Brother Wolf and my vast conquering strategy, I've totally lost track, with the last count I kept being wolf 19,999. And that was two years ago already. When I see a wolf and can't remember its name, I decided to give up. One day Brother Wolf and I will surely conquer all the wolves. But not having a wolf's keen sense of smell, it's hard for me to remember all the wolf faces.

Would Papa be happy or sad to know that I'm using all the knowledge he taught me to conquer the wolves. If I had learned more and understood it all earlier, maybe I could have helped him, and things might be different today.

I start humming a ditty but Brother Wolf gives me a dirty look before closing his eyes. Like I don't think he's all that, he also never thought I was pretty. Compared to the glowing fur of the female wolves, I'm likely so ugly it hurts his eyes.

I glare at him back and continue to braid my hair and hum my tune. Looking at my reflection in the water, in three years time I've transformed from Papa's ugly little girl into a pretty young lady. Perhaps I can't call myself a lady, but I know I am beautiful. I made a face at my own reflection and nod my head in satisfaction. I let out a whistle to let Brother Wolf know we can set out. He gets up and we slowly jog off.

We are on the plateau of the Ming Sa Mountains, staring down at a traveling caravan getting ready to set up camp. Thinking of my remaining little bit of salt and my tattered skirt, I crouched down and smile seductively at Brother Wolf. He's unaffected by my attempt to entrance him, looking more like he's seen a monster. He takes a few steps back and furrows his brows and frowns. He shoots me a few sneers.

I growl low and soft to him, asking him to go back first. I plan to sneak into the caravan. He stares and indicates he wants to come along. I hug his neck and he closes his eyes, enduring my embrace. Since being without Papa, there is no one to hug me. But luckily I have Brother Wolf, who allows me to hug him even if he can't hug me.

We two sneak into the caravan camp. It's a small caravan with at most 10 people. I've never seen such a small caravan, leading me to wonder what their business could be. My delay due to pondering this caused the impatient Brother Wolf to nip me in the butt. I turn in angry embarrassment and pinch his ear. He realized I was genuinely angry and cocked his head, eyes wide in confusion. I let out a resigned sigh. The great and awesome King of the Wolves is here with me skulking about, so I'll be the bigger person and let this one go. I warn him sternly not to touch my butt, or else I won't let him eat roast meat. I return to scoping out the caravan.