Once upon a time in a land far away called Audelia, where animals and people lived in peace and prosperity, there was a black little wolf cub, named Hesperus.

Hesperus or Heep, preferred solidarity from big groups and his words were rare and measured. For those that didn’t know him, Heep seemed distant or maybe even a snob, but the few Audelians that knew him, knew that Heep was certainly more than meets the eye.

One day, many full moons after his birth, Heep, now a youthful wolf of 18 human years or 1 wolf year, was wandering in the Forest Of Lost Fairies, quiet as a starless night and lost deep in his thoughts. What consumed his mind, we’ll never know, but what we do know, is that he was looking for something. What, we still don’t know. What we do know, is that he found something. Was it what he was looking for though?

Up, up, on a tall tree in covered in orange coloured leaves, sat a girl in a white dress. Now please remember, that although in Audelia animals and people were friends, Heep had never before seen a human. What was she doing up there? He couldn’t see, for she was so far up from the ground, that his neck hurt from looking up. Heep wasn’t looking for something white, he wasn’t even looking for something alive, but for the first time in his life, he wanted to start a conversation, but he wasn’t practiced enough for words to come easily out of his mouth.

And thus he left.

The next day, Heep ventured again into the Forest of the Lost Fairies, looking for something again. This time, we might have an inkling what he was looking for.
He almost run to the orange clad tree hoping with every beat of his wolf heart that maybe she’d be there again today. The moment he spotted the white dress, he abruptly stopped.
Now what?

She was sitting on a lower branch this time, reading a book with a purple velvet cover. It was still too high for him to read the title, but this time he could make out her dark brown hair and the lilac ribbon weaving in and out of them, obeying the will of the wind. This time Heep felt like he could do it, he could definitely muster up the courage to talk to her, if he could just find the perfect words, vowels that would sound heavenly and consonants not too harsh-sounding to make her close her ears. But alas… He could not.

The next morning, the sun shone brighter than ever and Heep knew that he could do it, knew that he was ready to talk to her, to look her in the eyes and introduce himself. So he ran, fast like the wind and giddy with excitement and he could almost taste it, he could almost taste the words that would come out of his mouth, if only she was there, oh please, let her be on the tree for just one more day!

When he spotted the tree, he stopped. Out of breath, his fur tussled, he needed time to compose himself. He looked on the higher branches, nothing. He looked a little bit lower, still nothing. Now Heep felt uneasy and so he moved forward tentatively, slowly approaching the tree, as if the sound of his steps would scare her away. He moved closer and closer yet and then… There she was!

She was sitting on the lowest branch, dressed in white as always, with a lilac ribbon holding back her hair. She was so close, so irrevocably close, that Heep could see her blue eyes and he could also see her freckles and he could also see that she was looking directly at him, like she was waiting to be given something he didn’t know he could give.

Heep stood there for a moment, unmoving. Then another one. Then another. All the courage he had mustered was now gone, gone into those blue eyes that looked at him with such curiosity, he was afraid he’d forgotten his own name.

Heep took another shaky breath and before he even knew it, he was running back into the familiar Forest, hiding from the girl, but most importantly, hiding from himself.

The fourth day was a windy one. Heep considered not going to the tree. What good would it do? He couldn’t even open his mouth to talk to her, why bother? But somehow, he found himself wandering near it again, looking from the highest branches to the lowest, searching for any flash of white that might quieten the storm raging in his chest. No flash of white, no dark brown hair and no girl today. But instead, there was something familiar and something unfamiliar waiting for him.

On the lowest branch, the same low branch the girl was sitting on yesterday, a lilac ribbon was flapping mercilessly on the wind, with a bright white envelope attached to it. White and lilac. Two colours that never meant anything special to him, but now he could have wept with joy upon this sight.

Heep moved closer and took the envelope. When opened, the envelope revealed it was an invite. An invite to a ball held in two nights’ time. A ball full of people and animals and other creatures he didn’t know, but a ball where she had invited him to. Could he not go? But also, how could he go?

The next two days, Heep visited the tree, but nothing came out of it. She wasn’t there. As much as he waited, she never came. His eyes strained from looking for something white with a hint of lilac, only she never appeared to appease his thundering heart.

The night of the ball came and Heep found himself outside of a big manor with a huge black steel fence. Tentatively he entered, showing his invite to the butler, who granted him admission and showed him the grand ball room where everyone else was.

For a moment, Heep felt his breath leave his body, there were too many people there! What was on his mind when deciding to come here? While trying to calm his thoughts, he looked around and then a brilliant white caught his eye. Her.

He took a deep breath and moved forward. The girl was sitting with her back at him, talking animatedly to a group of girl friends. When he was inches from her, Heep took another shuddering breath. It was now or never.

He tapped the girl on the shoulder.
She turned and when she saw him, a smile tugged the corners of her mouth.

“I’m Heep”, he finally said.

Short stories have been my thing lately and here's one I'm super proud of! #Iamnewhere so hopefully this is a good enough first post! You can find me here: filming.pages! See you in my next post!

[Disclaimer: While this story is entirely mine, the photo above isn’t. It’s just the inspiration behind this tale that I found on WeHeartIt. I claim no ownership of the photo, if you know the creator, please let me know so I can properly credit them!]