He had felt her presence heading his way for days, and had slept as much as possible during that time. Night and day he rested, awaiting this night when he would stay awake for as long as he could, possibly even for nights to come. He would not frighten the fragile little mind with his own harsh nightmares - not until he knew she was strongly bonded and could handle the stress of a human mind gone wild.
He only slightly feared for his own mind, as she was so young. She still had the power though, and one day might be more able-minded than he. It had been almost a lifetime since he had run across any living thing with the same affliction he had. The power of second sight, and second hearing. He knew he could help her master her ability, instead of being mastered by it.
Occasionally, Ghede had heard the rustling of other animals outside his hut, but they did not worry him. Rarely was he ever visited by anything larger than a rabbit.
He noticed as he stroked the wolf's fur that her canine teeth were unusually long for a wolf. Her coat was also worth noting, as he had never seen or even heard of a wolf with spots such as these. But no matter - she had the gift, and that's what made her stand out in his mind.
"What are you?" she demanded this time, feeling a little more confident after sleeping under his influence for nearly two suns. She had been exhausted in her journey, and sleep had completely overtaken her.
She sat squarely in front of him, tail neatly curled around her left haunch. She realized he wasn't like her, at least not in flesh and bones, and surmised that he couldn't understand her. He also sat, perched on the edge of his bed, arms resting on his knees, feet on the ground almost toe-to-toe with the pup. She suspected that he knew what was going on, and it annoyed her to no end that she didn't know a thing.
Her annoyance conveyed to him perfectly, and he just smiled at her. He wondered if she would pick up on words as easily as he could send her his emotions. "I am Ghede." he thought the words as strongly as he could, repeating a few times. After a moment, the wolf cocked her head, eyes widening. Strong instinct threatened to cause her to run away, but she was headstrong and stayed perfectly still.
She still didn't understand how he spoke to her, but hoped with all her heart that he would do it again. "I am a she-varg.." she thought to herself, wondering what she was doing in the den of such a strange and different creature. Almost instantly, the man's smile widened, showing a row of teeth. "Sheeee-vaahhh." he spoke out loud this time, heavily accented, completely missing 'Varg' - the word she had been taught meant 'wolf'.
"Shiva." he thought heavily, refining his earlier word, as he reached for an earthen jar on a shelf above his bed. He pulled the hide-and-bone plug from the mouth of it and reached his hand in carefully. The wolf watched carefully as he drew his hand back out, boney fingers clutching what she recognized as a colorful plant of some sort.
"For you." he gestured at her with the flower, and gently placed it atop her head, tucking it behind her ear. "Like me, hopefully like you, this will never die." he spoke with human tongue this time - not expecting her to understand in any language... yet.
