NB: The song Matilda sings is called "Moth's Wings", and it is by Passion Pit. I have changed a few lyrics so that it would fit into their world.

Matilda, once the feared alpha female of a mighty pack, was sleeping.
Rabbit That Leaps Over Stream watched her openly, strangely relieved that there were no other cats around to break his attention. If he were back in the Cave of Rushing Water, his den-mates would mock him and laugh. If he were walking with the Clan cats, they would shift their paws and look at him uneasily.
They did not like it that he spent so much time with her. Yes, he was her keeper, and yes, he had to keep a close eye on the she-wolf. But Rabbit seemed to view her as an intelligent, sentient being in her own right and they drew the line there.

But try as he might, he could not stay away. There was some connection that tugged him to her, similar to the feeling he felt whenever he studied the moon in search of signs from his ancestors. It was a mixture of awe and fear, for she was something that he would never understand, if he lived for a thousand seasons. She was so fundamentally different from him and so much more powerful; it was the fascination of the unknown that kept him from simply walking away.
For he should have done so. The herbs had probably worn off some time ago, but she had yet to regain her memory of recent events. Matilda still believed, for some reason or another, that they were simply travelling together. She viewed him as a somewhat inept and helpless creature who she stayed with simply because he was useful.

Though the herbs were wearing off, it could not return knowledge she never had. Matilda didn't know where she was. Neither did Rabbit, but he pretended otherwise, or the she-wolf would leave him. And he wouldn't fool himself; if she left, there was every probability he would die.
Rabbit had lived among the Tribe of Rushing Water all his life, and had rarely left the Cave except to treat injuries in cats outside. No-one had ever taught him how to hunt or fight, because they had never imagined he would need it. The lands around him were strange and hostile. At night, the fur on the back of his neck continuously prickled and he lived in constant fear that someone was watching. If this goes on for much longer, I'll go mad.

Suddenly he jerked back. The silver beast was awakening, and Rabbit held his breath, filled with icy fear that her clouded memories had sharpened and she would kill him on the spot.
But that day was not today.
"Little kitten," she greeted him softly, climbing to her paws and flexing. "Where do we go now?"
Rabbit glanced up ahead. He wanted to find a field, some patch of open ground, somewhere where he could see the sky, and maybe the mountains. They had been heading in the right direction yesterday. But it was all too easy to get turned around in a forest.
"Straight ahead, I suppose," he mewed, and she looked at him sharply.
"You suppose, kitten?"
Rabbit could not meet her gaze. "Yes. Straight ahead."

She continued to watch him, sighed, then took the lead, her silver fur flashing as she wound her way through the trees. "Sometimes, little kitten, I do not think you know where we are any more than I do."
"I do know," he mewed hurriedly. "But I need to get to a piece of open field to check."
"You can discover our position by finding the sky?"
"The mountains, Matilda. If I can see them, I know which way to go."
Matilda's sense of smell was probably fifty times better than his own, but after being with her for a while, he had learnt some things about wolf anatomy. Firstly, he had better hearing than she did. At night, when his ears were quivering at the faint sounds of enemies in the undergrowth, Matilda heard nothing. Though their night vision was roughly identical, and her peripheral scope superior, the wolf was also near-sighted and struggled to make out objects from very far away. So she had no real choice but to trust his guidance. But Rabbit was painfully aware that once she could see the mountains for herself they would part ways.

Suddenly a sound reached his ears, one of the most beautiful and haunting sounds he had ever heard. It was pure and strong, like the flowing water in a stream, and throbbed like a second heartbeat. It rippled through his fur like a lonely breeze and made the fur of his shoulders stand on end.
Matilda had stopped some way ahead of him, and was howling into the rising sun as though greeting it. Rabbit stopped too, and sat down, curling his tail around his paws, his ears ringing with sound. And as he listened, he found words drifting from her voice, though in his heart he knew she was not speaking his language at all.

Dear friend, as you know,
Your flowers are withering
Your mother's gone missing
Your leaves have drifted away.
But the clouds are clearing up
And I've come rabbiting
Burning incandescently
Like the bark of a burning tree.

You're just like your father
Buried deep under the water
You're resting on your laurels
And stepping on my tail.
Whose side are you on?
What side is this anyway?
Who downed your soaring cloud?
Come, lay with me on the ground.

She closed her jaws and looked at him inquiringly. "Is something the matter, little kitten?"
Rabbit realized he had been staring at her with his mouth open slightly. "N-no," he mewed hurriedly. "That-that was beautiful."
Matilda shrugged. "It was nothing compared to the howls of the storytellers in my pack, but I am glad you liked it."
"What did the song mean?"
"It means what the listener wishes it to mean. That is the law of the wolfsong. What one howls is not necessarily what others hear." She climbed to her paws again. "Do we continue?"
Rabbit nodded. "Yes. Let's go."

They travelled through the forest for some time before Rabbit spoke again. "What you sung, is that the end of it?"
Matilda tilted her head back to look at him. "No. There is another part."
"Would you mind singing the rest for me?"
She walked on a few paces, seeming to think, before lifting her head again to howl.

You come beating like moth's wings
Frantic and violently
Whipping me into a storm
Shaking me down to the core
But you've run away from me
And you left me shimmering
Like star-birds' shining wings
Spinning dizzily down on the floor.

"It's beautiful," Rabbit repeated. "When you come back to the mountains, you'll have to howl for my Tribemates."
Matilda eyed him. "No, little kitten, I do not think so."
"Why not?" he said.
"I do not think they would welcome me."
"Once they learn you can talk-"
The wolf curled her lip ever-so-slightly. "Little kitten, I have been having dreams. Powerful dreams, of my pack and I fighting our enemies and hunting our prey. And last night, I dreamed of hunting cats. I think they were cats of your Tribe, for they smelt similar." Her eyes glittered. "It was wonderful. We chased them across rock and river until they had nowhere left to run. I could taste their terror on the breeze, and heard their screams. They were trembling at my paws, because that was where your kind deserved to be." She looked at Rabbit again. "Do you truly believe your Tribe will welcome me?"

Rabbit's mouth had gone dry.
"I can smell your emotions, small one. You fear me. I am your worst nightmare. Every time your back is turned you think I am stalking you from behind. It was the same in my dreams. Your kind is full of terror, and I remember it." She smiled, showing white teeth. "And yet-that is not the only reason you are afraid. There is something…else. Something I don't remember…" She frowned thoughtfully.
Rabbit shook his head. "There is nothing…"
"Why am I travelling with you, cat?"
Rabbit hunched his shoulders and dropped his head, desperately trying to avoid meeting her eyes. Could she read minds as well as emotions?

"You will not say. Very well, I am sure I will remember eventually. And do not fear- I will let you know when that happens." She turned around and disappeared into the trees ahead of him.
Rabbit stayed where he was, every part of him shaking.
Run! Get out now. She's as good as told you you're dead. Leave, and you might survive, a voice told him sternly.
Rabbit considered this seriously. He could not look after himself. Every night the wolf hunted for them both. Her scent alone was enough to keep badgers, owls and foxes at bay.
Do you really want to go back to the Tribe, anyway? Explain to Stoneteller how you didn't have the guts to kill a mindless animal?
Rabbit thought, and thought, until finally he made a decision.
He found the wolf's trail, and padded after it.