Epilogue: Summer

I remember our first meeting. In was in the very end of November, when there was a smell of waiting for the winter in the air; and our meeting smelled of fresh blood and wet Wolf's fur, and of pain – of my pain, and of his too – and of thorny snowflakes, which accumulated on my eyelashes and the ashen hair of my Wolf, forgetting to melt.

The wind doesn't throw snow in faces of those who dare to go outdoors anymore because the winter already ended. And there are no more puddles outside anymore, and no more thaw, and no more melting snow – the spring is already leaving our city, but my shoulder still hurts sometimes, when the weather is about to change; I think, it will hurt for a very long time, if not for a whole my life.

The summer has just begun. I don't' know why, but this time the autumn smelled of the winter, the winter smelled of the spring, the spring smelled of the summer, and the summer smells of the warm Tsume's skin, of flowers, which grow in the suburbs, and of city dust. When I told Tsume about it he grinned, but then agreed with me. It looks like in the autumn I waited for the winter, then for the spring, then for the summer – and the summer finally came, and each following season was better for us than the previous.

Right, Tsume?

He smiles contentedly, sitting on the windowsill. This evening he went hunting to the forest, and then his pack robbed one of the nobles. Nobody of the pack members is wounded, of course, and my Wolf is extremely pleased with himself and with his life, because he played with death once again and won.

Among other things, it's full moon today, and Tsume will go to the roof of our house, which is the tallest in the city, and he will howl at the moon, and then we will make love on the roof still warm from sun. And when he will raise his head to the sky, stars will be reflected in his eyes.

However, this summer smells of waiting for the autumn a little. It means when the summer will be over another season will begin, a season which will definitely be better for us the the previous ones.

And what do you think, Tsume?

He stretches himself and nods assent, looking at the moon, and jumps down from a window sill.

"Come on!" says he.

He looks at me, and I can already see stars in his eyes.

I understand him. When I look at this moon, I want to howl at it too.

2005-2006, winter