From the start

My story may sometimes be hard to hear but it is worth telling.  It's a classic story of love, betrayal, loss and persecution.  I am a Furgar.  In case you don't know what that is, we are a tribal race of canine descent.  We won our freedom from Bastog rule (they are a tribal race of feline descent) by separating the two tribes.  Then a group of adventurers brought our tribes back together so we now coexist as the twin tribe.  My childhood was normal.  Nothing special happened to me.  I'll not bore you with the details of that.  Let me get right to the interesting parts.

It was warm that day.  The sun shone down on the wolf fields.  I sat watching the breeze sway the grass.  I could feel someone watching me.  It was not an uncomfortable feeling, however.  I glanced around to see if I could find the eyes that had pinned their gaze on me.

He was trying to hide behind a bush.  His ashen fur swaying with the blades of grass.  He ducked lower when he saw me looking.  I beckoned him over and asked him to have a seat beside me.  "What are you looking at?"  He asked, trying to break the tension.

I told him I was just watching the breeze.  Then this awkward silence fell over us both.  It lasted for several minutes.  Suddenly I felt a laugh bubble up from my gut.  It burst forth for no obvious reason breaking the defining silence.  I felt better after letting the tension pass.  "Do you ever just stop and watch nature?"  I asked him.

"Um, depends on what you mean by 'nature'..." he responded.  He snickered a little with his comment.  It was cute.  He was so bad at this and I wanted to just tackle him and show him how I felt, but I restrained myself.  He was trying to hide his feelings, so I didn't want to push.

I stared out over the field again.  I felt his gaze turn back to me, but he was trying to be subtle and not show he was looking at me.  He tried to pretend he was also watching the grass grow.  I felt the grass next to my paw move.  He was moving his paw closer to mine.  I knew if I made a move, it would startle him and this moment would end.

Hours must have passed, and neither of us said anything.  Not wanting to break the moment, we sat in silence just enjoying each other's company.  I knew that if I said or did anything that it could scare him off and I was just so happy having him here, beside me.

The sun was setting.  I decided to make my move.  I slid my paw over to his.  I moved to stroke his paw lightly.  He jumped.  "I should get going..." he said, getting up.  I knew I had moved to fast.  He wasn't ready for what I had hoped for.

I knew this would not be our last encounter, but it would take time.  Until then, he would continue to watch me from the bushes and I would have to be okay with that.