Username: My Horse Rocks
Name: Dale
"DAY-el" Name Meaning: Living in a Valley
Gender: Male [he/him]
Draw/Write about an adventure they went on: Dale's eyes darted around. He looked down and stroked Gigi. "My friend," he murmured. "We'll be there soon."
But where was "there"? Dale certainly didn't know. He looked into the distance and made a noise like the hooting of an owl. But - nothing came back. Normally an owl would call back to him - but not this time. Not in the middle of this dark, deserted dessert. Suddenly - there was a noise. "What was that?" Dale whipped round. The noise came again. It sounded like the howling of a wolf. But how? A dessert wolf? Dale bounded forwards and sniffed the air. He scented freshly-killed meat and the smell of a wolf's den.
The sound came another time, louder now. Was he getting closer? Straining his eyes in the dark, Dale pushed through the sand, getting wearier by the moment but not giving up. If it was a wolf, perhaps Gigi knew them? He hurried forward, tripping over a rock and hurting his foot, but he swallowed the pain. "Come on, Gigi."
Gigi rubbed his head on Dale's hand comfortingly. Don't worry, he seemed to be saying. We'll be fine. We can do it.
Dale swallowed and kept on pushing through. He held on tight to Gigi's fur as he was afraid of the dark and the sun was setting. "How, Gigi?" he asked the grey-brown wolf. "How can I not worry?"
Gigi looked at him with great amber eyes. "Oh, all right," sighed Dale. And he kept on walking. Then, a great looming big black hole of darkness came right at them! "Help," Dale choked out.
Gigi stared at him and as Dale's eyes slowly adjusted to the light he saw that it was, after all, only the wolf's den they'd been looking for. "Gigi..." he murmured. "We're here."
But Gigi had already darted inside.
"Hey!" giggled Dale. "Wait for me!" His voice echoed and suddenly many wolves looked up. Dale started feeling frightened.
Gigi was making signals, so Dale followed them and went onto all fours, pricked his ears, and made wolf-ish noises (it has to be said they weren't very good ones - but oh well).
The wolves circled him and then moved for him to come in. Limp with relief, Dale pulled himself in, glancing nervously at Gigi.
They brought him to a den where he could rest. So he rested, and eventually went to sleep, though not to good dreams.
Dale awoke in the morning to find Gigi standing above him.
Gigi Standing Above HimHe looked by the pile of furs he had slept in and there was a fish. Gigi gestured for him to eat it.
Dale looked over and saw a pile of blueberries on a stone.
After thanking the wolves, Dale looked out. The sun was high in the sky and he put his foot out onto the soft, hot sand.
Smiling, he looked at his wolf friend. "I belong here," he told him. "Belong here like I never belonged anywhere before."
And he was happy.
