p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"I was eager to get back home. Under normal circumstances, I enjoyed the night, but tonight it felt different. I attributed it to the dream. I always felt uneasy after such a dream, and the fact that it had returned after an absence of several months increased my anxiety./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"The wolf dream had plagued me since I was very little. The first time I had the dream, I'd woken screaming and crying uncontrollably, convinced that the wolves would come after me. They hadn't surrounded me as they had in my most recent dream, just shadowed me, their eyes gleaming slightly in the dark, their riders simply staring at me as though I were a sumptuous feast. It had taken hours for Father to calm me enough for me to return to sleep, and even then, he'd stayed by my side – I had always woken to find him still there, protecting me from my own mind. I later wondered if he himself had ever slept./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"The sky was an inky black before we arrived at the house. To the right I saw a white smudge slowly approaching us, becoming clearer and clearer the closer it came until I recognized the form of my friend Krysta./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;""What happened, child?" she inquired, her voice slow and controlled. She did not scold, simply asked. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;""I was just going for a walk. I had stopped to rest, and I suppose I must have fallen asleep; Father woke me from my usual nightmare."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;""It is good that he found you when he did, then."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;""Yes, I am glad he did." I wrapped my arms loosely around the base of Krysta's neck. "Is your leg feeling better?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;""It is still a bit stiff, but not quite so much as it was. It will not keep me awake." Krysta nickered, then addressed my father. "Are you roaming tonight, Beorn?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"He nodded. "Would you like to join me, daughter?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"I smiled. If he had not asked, I would have. "Of course, Father."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"I had seen him change too many times to count; it was as normal to me as the cycles of the moon and stars and the changing of the seasons. Had I not known my father's bear shape, I would have been too terrified to move, it was as familiar to me as my own mind. I clambered onto his back, grabbing onto fistfuls of his thick black fur to pull myself up. "Are you sure you're alright, Krysta?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"Krysta smiled in the way unicorns smile. I cannot truly explain, but something about her eyes changes when she does. It is subtle, but I always notice. "You do not need to worry, dear. I will be fine."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"I smiled and gave her a wave as Father loped away. I always loved going with him when he wandered during the night. Most nights there were few or no words, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that we were together./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"We had been out for perhaps an hour when I whispered., "Father, I'm scared. These dreams, these nightmares . . . they keep coming back. What could it mean? em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Does/em it mean anything? I just want them to go away."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"Father let out a series of short grunts./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;""Yes, I did say that they were just dreams. It's just odd that I keep having them, and for so long."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"Silence, then another grunt./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;""I suppose . . . but how can you be so – "/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"Father stopped abruptly and was silent. I listened, wondering what could have made him stop. As a bear, his hearing was much better than mine, so I was uncertain what his ears might have picked up that mine didn't./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"Suddenly, he roared with such ferocity that I thought I might go deaf from hearing it. I had never heard such a sound come from him before. What was going on? He shook his entire body, causing me to fall off; I had covered my ears in a futile attempt to protect them from the sound of his roar. I fell hard on my right shoulder. "Father?" My voice was heightened in fear. "Father, what's going on?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"He spoke to me in another series of grunts and growls./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;""Go home? But why?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"He nudged me on my shoulder, possibly harder than he'd intended, knocking onto my back again with another growl. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Just do as I say,/em he was telling me./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"I wanted to stay with him, but ultimately, I decided it was best to do just that. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me back to the house. As I ran, I heard the sound of another animal, not my father. It was a howl, followed by two, three, four others. I couldn't help but notice that they sounded exactly like the wolves from my nightmares. I wasn't going to stop to see if they looked like them, too./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"The wolf dream had plagued me since I was very little. The first time I had the dream, I'd woken screaming and crying uncontrollably, convinced that the wolves would come after me. They hadn't surrounded me as they had in my most recent dream, just shadowed me, their eyes gleaming slightly in the dark, their riders simply staring at me as though I were a sumptuous feast. It had taken hours for Father to calm me enough for me to return to sleep, and even then, he'd stayed by my side – I had always woken to find him still there, protecting me from my own mind. I later wondered if he himself had ever slept./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"The sky was an inky black before we arrived at the house. To the right I saw a white smudge slowly approaching us, becoming clearer and clearer the closer it came until I recognized the form of my friend Krysta./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;""What happened, child?" she inquired, her voice slow and controlled. She did not scold, simply asked. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;""I was just going for a walk. I had stopped to rest, and I suppose I must have fallen asleep; Father woke me from my usual nightmare."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;""It is good that he found you when he did, then."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;""Yes, I am glad he did." I wrapped my arms loosely around the base of Krysta's neck. "Is your leg feeling better?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;""It is still a bit stiff, but not quite so much as it was. It will not keep me awake." Krysta nickered, then addressed my father. "Are you roaming tonight, Beorn?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"He nodded. "Would you like to join me, daughter?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"I smiled. If he had not asked, I would have. "Of course, Father."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"I had seen him change too many times to count; it was as normal to me as the cycles of the moon and stars and the changing of the seasons. Had I not known my father's bear shape, I would have been too terrified to move, it was as familiar to me as my own mind. I clambered onto his back, grabbing onto fistfuls of his thick black fur to pull myself up. "Are you sure you're alright, Krysta?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"Krysta smiled in the way unicorns smile. I cannot truly explain, but something about her eyes changes when she does. It is subtle, but I always notice. "You do not need to worry, dear. I will be fine."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"I smiled and gave her a wave as Father loped away. I always loved going with him when he wandered during the night. Most nights there were few or no words, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that we were together./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"We had been out for perhaps an hour when I whispered., "Father, I'm scared. These dreams, these nightmares . . . they keep coming back. What could it mean? em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Does/em it mean anything? I just want them to go away."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"Father let out a series of short grunts./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;""Yes, I did say that they were just dreams. It's just odd that I keep having them, and for so long."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"Silence, then another grunt./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;""I suppose . . . but how can you be so – "/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"Father stopped abruptly and was silent. I listened, wondering what could have made him stop. As a bear, his hearing was much better than mine, so I was uncertain what his ears might have picked up that mine didn't./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"Suddenly, he roared with such ferocity that I thought I might go deaf from hearing it. I had never heard such a sound come from him before. What was going on? He shook his entire body, causing me to fall off; I had covered my ears in a futile attempt to protect them from the sound of his roar. I fell hard on my right shoulder. "Father?" My voice was heightened in fear. "Father, what's going on?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"He spoke to me in another series of grunts and growls./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;""Go home? But why?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"He nudged me on my shoulder, possibly harder than he'd intended, knocking onto my back again with another growl. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Just do as I say,/em he was telling me./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',serif;"I wanted to stay with him, but ultimately, I decided it was best to do just that. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me back to the house. As I ran, I heard the sound of another animal, not my father. It was a howl, followed by two, three, four others. I couldn't help but notice that they sounded exactly like the wolves from my nightmares. I wasn't going to stop to see if they looked like them, too./span/p