An encounter on the mountain (2)

The wolf let out a frustrated yowl and whined again, before laying down next to her injured foot. As the large furry body hit the ground, she caught a whiff of fresh pine scent. It surprised her because there were no pine trees nearby.

Emma was startled slightly when she felt whiskers tickling her skin as the wolf sniffed her ankle. Then he looked back at her with a forlorn and guilty look.

For some reason Emma felt like reassuring the furry creature.

"Don't worry, it's not your fault. And it doesn't even hurt that much anymore."

She smiled reassuringly at the wolf, but then hissed in pain as her foot protested as soon as she tried move it.

Another concerned whine from the wolf.

"It's not that bad," she reassured him.

She jumped a bit as something cold and moist made contact with her ankle, but it was just the wolf's nose. A cooling sensation started spreading from the contact point and Emma felt the pain slowly dissipating from her foot.

Emma's eyes grew wide in amazement. She flexed the foot experimentally. The pain had completely dissapeared. The swelling around her ankle was going down to. She stared, completely dumbfounded, with her mouth hanging slighly open. If she didn't know better she would say it was magic! But as a medically trained person she simply couldn't believe that.

She lifted her eyes to her furry companion, looking at him questioningly. The wolf was wagging its tail and grinning at her with its tongue lolling out. He looked very pleased with himself. Had he done something to her foot?

Emma shook her head. No, that was simply not possible. Her ankle must not have been that injured, that was the only explanation that made sense.

She scrutinesed the wolf more closely. Now that she had calmed down, she realised that this probably was no wolf at all, but just a very large dog. She had just panicked and mistaken this large, adorable stray for a wild wolf. A stray dog could still be dangerous though.

"But you're not going to hurt me, are you?" she said in a low voice. "If you were, you would have done it while I was helpless on the ground, right?"

The dog gave an approving bark.

Emma was struck by how very handsome the dog looked, with a smooth, jet black coat, a long, elegant snout, and those glittering green eyes. For some reason they felt very familiar to her, but she didn't think she knew anyone with green eyes. His body was slender yet powerful, with long legs, wide paws. The very fluffy looking tail was swishing back and forth along the ground.

Suddenly feeling compelled to touch that soft-looking coat of fur, Emma reached out a hand. The dog stiffened and his eyes followed her hand as it slowly inched towards him, but he made no movement.

Gently, and very carefully, Emma patted the dog's neck. The fur felt increadily soft and silky. She ran her fingers through it once, and then again, enjoying the feel of the strands brushing between her fingers.

The dog seemed to enjoy it. He rolled over on his back, and looked up at her expectantly, his mouth open in a grin, with his tougue lolling out adorably. Emma laughed and rubbed his belly affectionately.

"You're just a big sweetheart, aren't you?"

Emma got gingerly to her feet, brushing leaves and dirt from her clothes. The morning was getting late, and she needed to get back to Auntie Sun.

She looked around the clearing again, searching for the plants she wanted.

"I don't suppose you know where I could find some wuweizi plants, do you?" she asked conversationally, turning to the big black dog.

The dog seemed to light up in excitement at the question and took off towards the edge of the clearing. Emma stood staring after it. Was it really showing her where to find the plants? Her previous comment had been a joke.

She was roused by an impatient bark from the other side of the clearing, and saw the dog's head pop up from behind a large rock. Jogging over to where the dog was waiting for her, skipping impatiently on the spot, she was amazed to see the a flurishing cluster of the very plant she was looking for.

Delighted, she gave the dog a quick scratch behind the ears as thank you and went to work. Soon she had several specimens of the plant safely stowed away in her basket.

Since her stomach had long been grumbling with hunger, she wasted no time in heading back down the trail. The dog jogged along happily, keeping close at her side the entire way down until they got close to the cottage.

There the dog sat down and would not move any further, and refused to leave the shaded forest. Not even when Emma tried enticing him with a nice meal, did he move.

Thinking that the dog probably had a home somewhere else in the village and already having spent much longer than she thought, Emma had to give up. She said goodbye to the dog and gave him a last pat on the head. Then she headed towards the cottage and her breakfast.