THE ISLAND WOLF - EPISODE 31

Avril rolled off Dakar and they both stayed on the ground there.
“I’m sorry”, he apologized.
“Which one? For making me fall? Or for placing your hands on my bum?” she asked and he laughed.
“You guys call it a bum?”, he asked.
“Lots of name for it”, she answered.
“Uninteresting. Anyway, I’m sorry for both. Neither was intentional”, he stated.
“It’s okay. Can we start with the training now?” she asked and got on her feet.
“Yeah”, he answered and stood to his feet too. There were fragments of death, wood and leaves in both of their hair.

“Dakar, you’ve got dirt in your hair”, Avril said and tried to pick a large dry leaf from his hair. But she was not too tall to reach there without tiptoeing.
“You’ve got dirt in your hair too. And more is going to stick on you when we start training. So, stop thinking about appearance and let’s begin”, he stated firmly and she just nodded. They reached the circular patch and picked up their wooden swords again.

“Stand a few feet in front of me. Right there”, he pointed at the spot and she stood there.
“Now, when you’re about to fight with a sword, you should detect your opponent’s weakness. It could depend on various things such as height, weight, focus, stance and even breathing. You can detect if their nervous from their breath and can know if they are overconfident by their facial expression”, he spoke with a serious tone.

“Now, try to take a stance that will not make your opponent think you’re nervous or not ready”.
She held her sword firmly, and placed her right leg in front of her, and her left leg far behind. The other hand was in a fist and projected forward, like she wanted to give a punch.
.“Try attacking me with that position”, he stated and she nodded. He took his own stance and waited for her to launch at him. She yelled and swung the sword up, aiming for his chest. But he dodged and kicked her right leg, making her fall to the ground. She groaned and tried to stand up but Dakar placed his sword over her neck.

“You were too predictable. I knew you would aim for the chest because your eyes kept darting there. Also, your legs were as far from each other like north and south. Who does that? Don’t you know you can fall easily if your legs are not a bit close to each other?”

“My bad. I’m sorry”, she apologized and he withdrew the sword. She got on her feet and he began to show her how to stand and which way to sway the sword. To realize the direction the opponent’s sword was coming from and to block it. In a few hours, she already began to stop his sword and Dakar was more than grateful for that. Because, the first hour was filled with winces and yells from her after being hit by his sword.

“Can we go home now? I’m starving”, Avril stated and he nodded. They were sweaty and dirty, and really tired.
“Yeah, let’s go home. You did great. If you continue like this, you’ll be perfect in a few months”, he complimented her and she chuckled.
“I always wanted to learn how to fight, you know. Movies about action made me want to defend myself. Just in case a zombie apocalypse comes up”, she stated and he chuckled softly.
“Do you know what a zombie apocalypse is?”, she asked as they began to pack their things and head towards the mountain house.
“Yes. I experienced one in 1961. A small village somewhere around China. We were coming home from a war when we stumbled across an empty village. It was empty until they came out and tried to hurt us”, he answered.
“What did you do then? Did they turn any of you into zombies?”
“Are they insane? We were werewolves with extraordinary powers. We got rid of them permanently”, he stated.

“What do you think we should have for lunch?” Avril asked. She jumped over a fallen tree and looked back at Dakar.
“In the mood for some fish and bagels”, he said.
“All right. We’ll go fishing straight from here. I can’t go up the house and come back to fish. That’s stressful”
“Yeah, it’s always stressful for you”, Dakar chimed and Avril glared at him.

“If you were still in your big bad wolf form, I wouldn’t be complaining about movement”, she retorted.
“Yeah? I’m not sure about that”, he teased and she scoffed.
“Come here”, he said and stretched forth his arm at her.
“What?” she asked and stopped walking.
“Just come to me”, he repeated and she walked to him and took his arm. It was the arm that got burnt that day. The black lines were still on his hand, and Avril had a feeling they were permanently staying there. As soon as her hand touched his, his eyes flashed red and he closed them immediately.
“What is it? Why are you closing your eyes?” she asked and poked her index finger on his chest.
“Nothing, just thinking. Or meditating”, he lied.
“Why the sudden meditation?” she asked and he opened his eyes. They were green again.
“Do you know I can still shift into my wolf form? But I would not be as big as I used to be”, he said.
“The same way you used to do before, back at your home”, she acknowledged.
“Yeah. Do you want me to?”
She thought for a few minutes then shook her head.

“No, you might get stuck again. I’m okay with seeing the human Dakar. Come on, hurry. Those bagels aren’t going to bake themselves”
“And the fishes aren’t going to fish themselves”, he added and she laughed. They finally got to the stream in thirty more minutes. He asked Avril to wait for him there while he ran to the mountain house. She sat underneath a tree and began to play with her sword, also reminiscing all what he had thought her.

Then her mind switched to being dirty. She remembered the little accident that happened while in the forest. Dakar had placed his hands on her butt. She fel really embarrassed but managed to hide it.
“His hands were so firm”, her inner voice whispered to her.
“So?” she asked herself aloud, then rolled her eyes.
“So, that’s what Ñiraka feels every night back then”, it whispered again. She totally ignored it and continued to play around with the sword.

“Wouldn’t I do anything to be in her shoes? She turned out to be his cousin, if it was me, I would not be related to him and we could continue our—” she stopped herself from thinking the next line.
“Gosh, what am I thinking?” she spoke out loud.
“Imagine being in those firm arms every night. Such a fantasy world”, that inner voice whispered again and she covered her ears.
“I should not be thinking about things like this. Stop it, Avril! Stop!”, she yelled. She got on her feet and began to pace around the bank, whispering ‘stop it, Avril’ to herself. But after minutes of doing that, she stopped herself and said, “But I shouldn’t lie to myself. I’m secretly attracted to Dakar”. A twig broke and she gasped, covered her mouth and looked at the direction of the sound. Luckily, it was just a hawk.

A few minutes later, Dakar arrived with a duvet cover and a basket.
“We’re having a picnic?” she asked.
“Yeah. The bagels are baking already”
“So soon? How?”
“I made the dough before we left. Just had to cut and place in the fireplace oven”, he answered and began to spread the duvet close to the stream.

“I forgot to tell you to get some wood and place them for a fire”.
“To roast the fish?” she asked and he nodded.
“I can do that now” she stated and walked away. Dakar grinned as he watched her go. He finished setting the duvet and left the basket beside it. He took out the net he came with and cast it into the stream. He got enough fish and placed them in a large bowl so they couldn’t escape. Avril got back and dropped the wood. Dakar noticed how she seemed gloomy so he walked to her.

“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yeah. Just been having some weird thoughts”, she answered without looking up at his face.
“About me, right?” he asked and she darted her eyes to him immediately.
“How did you know that?” she asked and he smirked and walked closer to her.
“Maybe it’s because I’m having those very weird thoughts. About you, Avril”, he announced and her heart began to beat way faster than usual. She gulped down and moved backwards.
“I… I don’t— what do you mean?” she stuttered.
He moved closer and she moved back again.
“You are in love with me”, he said with certainty in his voice. Avril was beyond shocked. She tried her very best to hide it from him and even from herself. Yet, he found out?
“How did you find out? Because, I’m sure I didn’t show it to you” she said.
“Because I can feel emotions too”, he answered. She stared at him without words.

“And if you could read emotions too, you would have found out I fell in love with you two months ago. Even before I clawed your arm”, Dakar revealed with all sincerity in his eyes.
“You—you love me?”, she asked, unable to believe it.
“Read the handwriting on the wall, girl”, he teased and she chuckled and covered her face. He gently pulled her hands away and brought his face lower.
“You are going to kiss me”, she stated and he smirked.
“It’s too early for that, right?” he asked and moved back from her.
“No”, she stated and with a slight jump, she flung arms around him. He didn’t kiss her first, she kissed him.