The first quarter of the year is over, it was a rough period for Artax, as he didn't let others see that.

He's a friendly and caring wolf, even if he often doesn't look like it. Artax is the type of wolf that prefers to help instead of accepting it.
I don't know what happened to him in that night, but I'm pretty sure, he had a really rough time. I'm just glad that I woke up when I saw him leaving the house. I followed right after him, it wasn't that hard as he already was crying when he left the house, I easily followed his trail of tears that dropped in the dry earth of the cold night up deep into the forest. I will be honest, if the earth wasn't so dry that night and the trail wasn't so visible I would've never found him, as it was a hidden spot in the middle of nowhere that I never visited. I kept my distance as I didn't want to bother him, after all I followed him only to make sure he was okay, but I was dumbfounded by what came shortly after...

Another wolf appeared. I remember that wolf, it was the one that was licking Artax on the picture I found some time ago in my mailbox. Artax's ears twitched and perked up as the other wolf stepped onto a branch which cracked and made a loud sound as the forest was really silent that night. I would've never expected Artax to do what came right after that. Artax growled deep and aggressive towards the wolf, but he didn't care about that. He just kept walking towards Artax visibly not afraid of him or impressed by his growling. Artax kept growling, even presenting his fangs as he pulled up his lips, but also that didn't change the determination of the Wolf. He stopped in front of Artax, just far enough to be out of his bite range. He gazed down at him with a completely calm expression, it took a while before Artax gave up the growling and dropped his lips again, noticing that the wolf wasn't afraid of him. Artax again placed his head onto the ground and began to cry, not caring about the wolf in front of him or what happened. As Artax ignored him, the other wolf stood there a little longer and kept gazing at Artax, then almost a minute later he finally walked close to Artax, but the crying wolf didn't react to him aggressively anymore, he just laid there crying. The wolf slowly moved his head down towards Artax's and poked into his muzzle with his nose.

I couldn't believe what I saw there, Artax never let someone that close to him, especially in such a mood, but I was even more surprised about how the other wolf found Artax here, did he knew the place before to meet him without anyone knowing? I didn't make sounds or anything like that, I just stood still as I was overwhelmed of being able to see all of this.

The other wolf was caring, he poked Artax into his muzzle and slowly opened his maw to lick his salty tears away.
The wolf groomed very carefully and gently along Artax cheeks up towards his eyes to clean him from the tears, but Artax just didn't stop to cry. The wolf nibbled into his ears and pawed at his head, it really seemed like he gave his best to cheer him up. Artax didn't react to anything though, He just kept crying, it felt like he had so much bottled up deep inside of him and his soul that now the barrel just overflowed.

It was at the same time heartwarming and painful to watch for me. How the wolf tried his best to cheer up Artax and how he kept crying, I stood there with a goose-bump and almost shed tears. It was just too overwhelming and too much at once to see, but I kept myself completely quiet and just kept looking.

For a moment it seemed like the wolf just gave up, but I thought wrong. Artax ignored him completely and just cried, but at some point the wolf, noticing that Artax was ignoring him, went a bit rougher with him, so he bit and pulled his ear to get his attention. That was the point where Artax finally looked up and gazed at him with wet eyes. After the wolf got Artax's attention, he pointed with his nose towards a tree and walked over to it only to laid down to the ground. Artax kept looking at him, it seemed like he was unsure on what to do for some time, but shortly after Artax stood up, his tears still dripping to the dry ground while he walked towards the tree. The wolf sit down, streched his legs to be on tummy and rolled over on his back that is slightly leant against the tree, presenting Artax his most vulvernable spots, But Artax didn't do anything, he just kept approaching until he stood on top of the wolf before he gazed down towards his face, his tears this time dripped into the fur of the wolf, Artax stood in that position for some seconds before he licked once over the nose of the wolf and laid his body on him. Artax just laid there and cried again, but this time not alone, he had someone, that was the moment when I took that picture, it was a breath-taking moment for me and I don't think I will see that ever again in my whole life.

After I took the picture I looked at them one more time and then decided to leave them alone. It felt wrong to me to watch longer than I already did. I don't know how that night finished, but I'm glad that Artax finally found someone who deeply cares about him and does that much for him. I'm also pretty sure Artax gives that back to him because I know how he's made after all. In the end I hope that now my little wolf's days won't be as rough as they were before and that now he can share his toughts with that wolf more often to free himself of the bad things that happen during his days...

Artwork ©  PinkRick once again a big thanks for bringing my descriptions and thoughts into that wonderful piece
Artax belongs to  ArtaxderWolf