blowing around her. 

Or is it…? she thought.  The voice seemed so close.  To close to merely be a memory.  The soft and gentle voice seemed to be coming from all sides; almost like it was a part of the wind itself.

“Mother…?” Farah called out, her voice shaking slightly.  She didn’t want to get her hopes up, but all ready knew that was too late. 

A moment of silence met her ears and the she-wolf lowered her head again.  Until…

“I'm here, Farah.”

The she-wolf jumped to her paws.  It was impossible for her mother to actually answer her.  “Mom?!” she called out again, eagerness filling her voice.  “Where are you?”

“I never left you, my dear,” the voice said.  “I’ve been along side you the whole time.  I saw how you stood up to yourself against Orfeo.  And I’ve seen what you’ve done just minutes ago.”

Farah lowered her ears in shame.  “I can’t do it without you, Mom.  I don’t know how!”

The wind almost seemed to stop, causing the she-wolf’s eyes to tear up, thinking whatever this was had ended.  But it soon started up again, a little stronger.

“You’re not without me, Farah.  I'll always be a part of you.  Just because my physical body is no longer, does not mean I am not with you on this journey through which we call life.”

“Will… will I ever see you again, Mom?” Farah asked, almost fearing the answer she would receive.

“Yes.  I cannot tell you when, but we will see each other again,” the voice said reassuringly.  “But until that time, you must make me a promise, do you understand?”

The she-wolf nodded slowly.  Then, after there was no answer, said, “Yes Mom, anything...  You know I would do whatever you said.”

“Stay strong, my Farah.  For me, for yourself, for the future.  Stay strong.”

Tears slowly came to the light grey she-wolf’s eyes again.  She had just promised her mother the one thing she wasn’t sure she could do.  But she knew she couldn’t let her mother down.  Sighing, she looked into the sky.  “I will, Mother.  I will.”

Farah listened for the voice to say something else, but nothing happened.  The wind had stopped it, and with it, the voice of her mother.  She wasn’t sure what had just happened, but she knew she had to keep the promise she had made to her mother.

One way or another, she knew she had to keep holding on.  However hard it would be, Farah knew she had to do it.

She gazed up into the sky, silently thanking whatever had allowed her to speak to her mother one last time.  Even at her young age, she knew it was nothing short of a miracle.  One that probably had saved her from herself.

Tilting her light grey head back and shutting her teal eyes, Farah let out a howl that seemed to shake the stars themselves.  It was a song of her past, her present, and now, her future.