The Howling Hare Tale

A few months ago, my best friend, Kaster, got engaged to my other friend, Vanil. At first, they couldn’t stand each other. That was probably due to Kaster being as stubborn as a wizard, searching for a book he couldn’t find. And I know that because Vanil is a wizard, and he occasionally drags me to bookshops with him. Once, he refused to believe the bookshop didn’t have the book and looked at every book title for hours. Vanil might be stubborn about finding books, but he’d always admit his wrongs. Kaster would refuse to admit his fault, even if he was wrong, and Vanil got irritated by that.  

After a while, though, they began to take these ‘arguments’ more lightly. It became their banter. It made them grow closer. I’ll be honest, I expected them to rip each other’s skins off before becoming friends. I didn’t even think about them becoming lovers. I’m glad they became friends. What I’m not glad about, though, is the fact that I’m currently at their wedding with so many people. I might be over-exaggerating because I’m usually either alone or with no more than four people around me. Despite that, I couldn’t possibly miss my best friends’ wedding, could I?  

So now I’m staring at my reflection in the bathroom mirror to see if I look presentable after the awfully strong gust of wind that hit me on the way here. There’s still wind blowing, but it’s a bit more bearable. Thankfully, it’s not raining... yet. My hair is messier than usual. It actually looks like a hairstyle if you squint a bit. It’s not that bad, I think? My slightly pointy ears are poking out of my ‘fashionable’ hairstyle. Decent enough.  

When I’m done checking myself out because I’m so attractive that even I can’t resist myself, I leave the bathroom. A few of the guests are talking about something near one of the pine trees.  

‘I think I saw a howling hare wandering around here... I hope I just imagined it. If it starts howling, it’d be hard to stop it.' these are the words of a dwarf. The dwarf sounded genuinely freaked out. I can’t blame them. Howling hares are a pain to deal with. They’re pretty cute if you disregard that fact. I like them, personally. I had a howling hare as a pet once. It didn’t end up well since it screamed every time I was away from home, and my neighbours hated it.  

‘Can’t be. Kaster dislikes these animals. He’d never allow them in here,’ that’s Kaster’s mother. She’s a tall and lean woman. Her long golden hair is in a plait, and her elf ears are visible. Kaster would look exactly like her if he was a woman. Also, saying that he dislikes the hares is an understatement. He’s frightened by them. He refused to come over when I still had my howling hare.  

I decide to stop listening and wander off somewhere. Before I can realise what grabbed me, I see Vanil’s face before mine. His loose black hair has a single braid in it. I’m mentioning this because it’s unusual to see him with his hair loose at all.  

‘Vanil, if you wanted to scare me into thinking that someone kidnapped me, you did well,’ I hope my sarcasm is evident enough for him. He’s quite dense when it comes to sarcasm. I raise my eyebrow, ‘Is something the matter?’  

‘Uh, Ivikri, I have a question- or, or, more accurately, a favour to ask you,’ he stutters slightly, his black eyes darting slightly.  

‘Whatever does one of the two most important people at today’s event want from me?’ I ask curiously.  

‘Uh, I’ll begin from the start. Which was a few weeks ago,’ He starts fidgeting with his robe’s collar. ‘When I was strolling around the forest—I was searching for mushrooms and possibly some pinecone—I heard a rustling noise in the distance. I know that in most cases, it’d be unwise to follow the sound. And I know that’s how most horror books and films begin, but I had to!’  

‘Your reasoning is quite weak,’ I note. ‘That “I had to” could’ve gotten you mauled by a who-knows-what creature. But since you’re aware, I won’t say anything else.’  

‘Yes, thank you for that,’ he says genuinely. No sarcasm. ‘When I got closer to where I had heard the rustling sound, I looked around my surroundings. At first, I couldn’t see anything. But then I nearly stepped on a wounded animal. That wounded animal was a howling hare. Its hind leg looked broken, so I took a gander and assumed that it must’ve broken it while running from something. I got so sad when I thought of what nightmares could happen to the poor creature if I left it...’ he trails off.  

‘You took it in!’ I say reproachfully. ‘You know Kaster hates these things! He could’ve fainted if he saw one in your house.’  

‘I know, I know. But how could I have left it?!’ He looks so sad, so I decide to let him speak. ‘After I took it in, I took care of it every day. I made something similar to a small home, without the roof, in the back of our garden. I knew Kaster never went into that part of the house. Or at least I hadn’t seen him go there. So I managed to heal its wound.’  

‘And what do you need me for?’ I ask him, confused. The chatter of the people around us drowns our whispering. 

‘Well...’ He looks sheepish.  

‘Spill it out, Nil.’  

‘Two days ago, I tried to release it into the forest again. And everything went well... Until yesterday came. I was on a stroll in the forest because I got really anxious about the wedding and everything going wrong. I had to calm my nerves. But when I got back to my home, I saw Fredrick had followed me,’ he says, looking down. I noticed then that something moved under his robe, near his feet.  

‘Fredrick...? You named the howling hare Fredrick?’ I smirk.  

‘That’s not the point!’  

‘Is that Fredrick moving around your feet?’  

‘Yes... That’s what I need you for,’ he says, the wind moving his robe a bit just to reveal the hare. ‘Do you know how I can make it stay away from me before the wedding starts?’  

I consider my friend for a second. I try to remember the several posts I had read, back when I had my howling hare, about how to get it unattached from you. There are a few snippets of my memory that come together. After I collect them, I look at Vanil and say, ‘I do.’