Lone Wolf

after the first songless night and looked at Thunderheart. How long will she sleep? he wondered. She no longer slept sitting up, but instead lay on her side. He curled up next to her and listened to the slow beating of her heart. So slow, so slow, he thought. And yet still he found profound comfort in its languid rhythm.
    ***
    There came a day when the earth began to tilt toward the sun. The darkness near the entrance of the den seemed thinner, and Faolan even detected a slight quickening in the beating of the grizzly's heart. Perhaps this lonely time is coming to an end, he thought.
    Faolan still made his forays out to hunt for the tasty snow hares and marmots. One day as the morning lengthened, he went farther from the den than he had in a long time. The day had turned very warm and great slabs of  ice began to slide down the inclines, peeling back the slope until dun-colored grasses began to poke through. It was a great day for hunting and he ignored the storm clouds gathering in the west on the horizon.
    Meanwhile, back in the den Thunderheart began to stir. It was much too early for her to leave the cold sleep, but she felt an absence, a void in the den that pushed her from her slumber.
    It was a dangerous time for a bear to be out. Winter had not made its last mark. Bears were weak, their reflexes slow despite their hunger, which was always overwhelming at the end of the cold sleep. If a bear ventured out, the first danger, aside from sudden changes in the weather, was encountering another bear who was just as hungry. Territorial markings had not been made. Tempers raged and bear fights were inevitable. Thunderheart knew this, even in her sleep-drugged state. And although she was not extremely hungry, she was terrified when she discovered that Faolan had gone. In her confusion, she forgot that she had expressly given Faolan permission to leave the den and go out to hunt.
    Thunderheart was determined to find him. But when she crawled out of the den, she gasped. A sudden blizzard had torn in from the west, turning the world white. Tracks  were covered instantly, and when she looked up, she could not even see a dim smear of the North Star's light. Still, she had to go out. She had to find the pup. She knew Faolan's scent. The blizzard could not cover it completely. If he had found prey he might have marked a small hunting ground. She was desperate to find him. Desperate and confused.
    ***
    With the blizzard blowing so ferociously it was difficult to discern what time of day or night it was. The entire world had dissolved into an impenetrable whiteness. But Faolan made his way back to the den. He was shocked to find it empty. Had Thunderheart gone deeper into the tunnels when the blizzard started? He explored briefly but he knew her scent, and there was no sign of her. He began to pace. He tried to imagine what might have happened to her or where she could have gone. He had picked up no scent on his own journey back to the den. It seemed as if she had simply vanished. She wouldn't have left me.... No, never. She would never just leave me. The very thought sent a tremor through Faolan until the hackles on his neck and every guard hair on his back stood straight up. It reminded him of something, something that had  happened long, long ago that he couldn't quite remember. She would come back, he reasoned. She had to!
    He waited all that night and into the next day. He paid no heed to the grumbles of his empty stomach. Food meant nothing to him. There was only one thing he wanted: Thunderheart. The den was too quiet. The beat of her enormous heart, even in its slow winter rhythms, was gone. He could not live without the sound. It was all he knew, all he had ever known. He stepped out of the den into the rage of the blizzard and began howling. Howling for the great grizzly. Howling for all he had ever known and loved.
    Then as he howled, an odd tremor rose through the depths of the snow, from the frozen land beneath it, from the very center of the earth. The tremblings were like faint quivers, but Faolan pressed his splayed front paw deep and these tremulous shakings became quite distinct. And then more incredibly powerful. For a moment, it felt as if the entire snowfield had shifted under his paws, and in the distance, he saw the frozen waterfall crack and suddenly gush to life.
    But in that second he thought of death. And he knew with an overpowering certainty that something terrible was happening to his beloved