That night brought no solace for Mei. Every time he managed to fall asleep he was tortured by nightmares and visions of malevolent creatures. Worst of all of these was a large shadowy figure that visited him several times throughout the night. It had round eyes that glowed in the moonlight, and two pointed protrusions on either side of its head. The eyes taunted Mei with their blank stare. The creature almost resembled a wolf, yet it moved in a strange, ghostlike way.

"G-gabu?" Mei whispered to the creature.

Though it was hard to tell for sure, Mei thought he heard a deep voice reply, "Your friend is not here, Mei," as he fell back into his uneasy slumber.

As Mei slowly gained wakefulness he realized that the form existed not in his head, but in the entrance of the cave, clear as daylight. As the cave gradually filled with the sun's rays, he saw the being for what it really was, not Gabu, nor any wolf, nor any supernatural creature.

It was an owl.

"Who are you?" demanded Mei.

"A friend," the large owl replied.

"You must be mistaken. I don't know any owl like you. How can you be my friend?"

"I have known you for quite some time, child," said the owl. "You see, nothing that happens in the Emerald Forest escapes the watch of my eyes."

The owl stepped outside, into the light of the morning, revealing its magnificent wings, and great patient eyes. Its head was pointed with two earlike horns.

"I first saw you many days ago, Mei. It was a peculiar sight indeed, a goat feebly wandering alone. You ate and slept very little. Originally surmising that you would soon collapse from exhaustion, I took you to be an easy meal – "

Mei jumped back.

"Do not worry, child," the owl assured. "You see, as the days went by, I became impressed with your resolve. You sought your friend, the wolf. Every day you neglected your own needs in favor him. You fought your body's endless call for respite. I developed a profound sympathy for your suffering, your refusal to die for the sake of another. So, I became your silent guardian, watching you from the treetops. One night, though you did not know it, you were being tracked by a hungry fox. Well, now that fox knows to never go near you. Under my watch, no predator will harm you."

Mei listened in shock. This owl had been watching him this whole time? If so, why did it only make itself known today? "But, what happened to Gabu?"

There was a pause as the owl stared at Mei with a pained look in its eyes.

"There is more to the story. After days of continued survival, you finally collapsed out of exhaustion. At that moment I assumed you had finally succumbed to heartbreak, but just moments later you sprang up. You looked different; you had an ecstatic look in your eyes I had never seen before. You dashed off in a frenzy, out of the woods and into the meadows. Calling out your friend Gabu's name triumphantly, you ran to the top of an empty hill and, just like before, fell to the ground once more."

This information was too much for Mei. "You're wrong!" he shouted. "I woke up because I heard commotion in the forest! Everybody was panicking because a wolf was nearby except me, because I knew that my friend Gabu had finally come for me! And I was right; Gabu was on top of that hill." He pointed his horns toward the owl aggressively. "Are you saying that I imagined all of that?"

Patiently, the owl replied, "When we're weary due to lack of food or sleep, our minds can play tricks on us."

"No! No! I know it was Gabu on the hill I'll tell you why. He dragged me back to the cave after that. If I was alone how could I have woken up back in the cave?"

Unfortunately, seeing the great, strong wings of the owl, Mei realized the answer to his question.

"It-it was you?"

"I could not leave you up on the hill to die," the owl said. "Using all the strength in my wings and talons, I dragged your body to the nearest safe place, which happened to be a small cave under a hill. There I left you for several hours while I went hunting – I had worked up an appetite after using so much energy to get you to safety. When I returned later that afternoon, I could hear you talking inside the cave. I decided not to enter right then, figuring to encounter a stranger at that moment would confuse you further. You seemed to think you were talking to Gabu, yet unlike before, you were distressed; you believed he would kill you and eat you after the sun went down."

Mei's eyes were tearing up at this point. "He had every right to be want to kill me," he whimpered. "I left him to die!"

"Ah, you feel guilty about going on without your friend. That is understandable. But guilt was not the only emotion you felt that night."

"Gabu was about to eat me, or I thought he was – no he was, he was licking his lips ready to kill me. He had lost his memory of the time we spent together. I was just another well-needed meal for him! I wouldn't have minded sacrificing my life for him, but to be eaten by a vicious monster in the shape of my best friend, I just couldn't take it." He clenched his hooves. I said to Gabu, 'I wish we never met one stormy night!' And then…he came back. He was once again the wolf I knew and loved. He had no recollection of trying to eat me. I was so happy; all the guilt I felt before washed away when I saw the look of understanding in his eyes. He held no grudge against me. He's so – he was so wonderful." Mei broke down in tears.

The owl placed a wing over Mei's curled-up body. "Indeed, he sounds like a delightful friend. But don't forget, Mei, that he was lucky to have a friend like you too. You could have given up many days ago, but you kept going in hope of finding him. A friendship so strong is very rare indeed."

Mei looked up. "But none of that never happened!" It all made sense now. "Gabu was never here! It was all in my mind! Our reunion in the cave, watching the full moon together, all of that was just a waking dream!" Mei dropped his head to the ground, hiding his face behind his legs. He sniffed, "When Gabu said we would always be together, he wasn't lying. Because he wasn't even there to begin with."

As Mei cried, the owl wrapped both of its wings around his matted fur, drying off his tears with their warm embrace. It didn't feel nearly as nice as being hugged by Gabu, yet it somehow felt better than nothing at all.