All the old folks of the Northen '8 Houses and 1 Tower' Village overlooking the great-green sea of pines and claiming for their own a considerable chunk of bright blue sky, all swear that if it wasn't for the revered old Bear spirit guardian that overlooks and safeguards since times unknown, their small but dearly loved village would be at least half in size. And all unanimously agree that '4 Houses and 1/2 a Tower' sounds pretty bad for any Village name.

But it is not as they think.... actually, not at all. Nobody dares to ask the mountain Bear after all, those old folks are a timid and scared bunch, always has been.

But this girl.... hmm.. this girl is of another kind. She's been getting raised eyebrows and hushed voices all her life. Bold, daring, untamed the folks always would say and scorn their faces under their bushy moustaches, both men and women.

Taking the long road up the mountain was not a challenge for her, an adventure maybe. She walked tirelessly and when the sun was reigning high, she made it on the mountain slope. Her presence did not go unnoticed, after all she defiantly wore her bright red dress, the one that never gets ignored.

And then the unthinkable happened, unthinkable according to the villagers that is. The revered old Bear spirit guardian, the one that is not to be disturbed, enraged or ever even seen by eyes not of his kind, yes that Bear overlooking and safeguarding since times untold, moved out of the shadows where it likes to rest and sniffed the girl, greeting her to his place.

She took a breath and swallowed deep down thoughts of running back when she was shadowed by the humongously big Bear but then she slowly but firmly lift her tiny hands to gently touch the Bear's snout.

Silence.

Sun rests above them.

Eyes looking intensely at each other's soul.

There was an ancient bond tying those two, to be "re-"discovered, and it took them a bit but now nothing could stop these unending and mind exploding reactions multiplying within them. At first a sparkle, now an explosion, a moment after a star explodes within their hearts and they instantly know.

They know they go back together a long time and share more than a daring spirit. They know they finally meet, again.

"They say you keep us and the mountain safe" she dares shyly to speak.

"No, not them. Not the mountain. Just you." He answers back.

Bear hugs,

Hidden Eloise

xxx