The Last winter - Part Three

And yet many years later he would lie, broken on the forest-floor alone, but no longer shivering, for he had grown accustomed to the cold.
It happened upon chance that for the first time in many a year, a living being approached the spot he lay in; a small wolf pup, an orphan, rolling amongst leaf and snow. Their eyes met and in that instant a bond was constructed.


Like an arrow straight through a door to the soul, deep into the deepest of their being. A connection that would redefine their existence, one that would shape their destinies.
"Hello there" said the man, it had been an age since the last time he talked, "What is your name?"
The pup continued to stare into the eyes of the once-hero
"Ah, pleased to meet you. What is mine you ask? I no longer remember for it has been years since last it was used"
The wolf pup blinked and continued to lick the blood of his parents off his fur,
 "I see you are an orphan, with nothing in this world. I too have nothing to call mine, save this skin on my back."


And a friendship was forged on that day between man and wolf, a friendship unlike any that preceded it.
The man looked after the wolf as if it were his own, feeding and grooming it like was his son,
and in return the pup brought him dead beasts to eat, no bird would peck his skin when the wolf were near his side, and it provided him with the company he had sorely lacked for too long.
 They lived and grew like father and child, student and mentor.