Periwinkle's Arc

Chapter 17 of 17

The lion walked the recovered ones home each morning. But he could go only one way at a time. Two men rose one dawn whose glow had faded. One lived north, past the frozen stream. The other lived south, where the pines grew thick. The lion could not split himself. He led the northern man home and returned by midday. The southern man waited by the fire, strong and restless. That night four new souls arrived. The beds filled again. Periwinkle stood in the crowded room and knew one guardian was not enough. She went out to the snow and prayed the way she had before. "You have given so much," she said to the empty trees. "But those who are ready cannot all wait for one guide." No winged woman came. Instead, from the dark between the pines, a gray shape stepped into the oven light. A wolf. His coat was thick and pale, his ears tipped with brown. He moved without hurry, the same calm gait the lion had. He stopped beside the door and looked at the sleeping travelers. Then he looked at Periwinkle, steady and unafraid. The lion rose from the threshold. The two beasts stood nose to nose in the doorway. Periwinkle held her breath. Neither growled. The lion lowered his great head. The wolf pressed his shoulder against the lion's mane. Then the wolf lay down across the far side of the door, filling the space the lion could not. "You came to walk the other way," Periwinkle said. The wolf thumped his tail once against the snow. At the next dawn, two sleepers rose without their glow. The southern man reached for the door. The wolf stood and walked out ahead of him, south into the thick pines. At the same moment the lion led a woman north across the frozen stream. Periwinkle watched the two guardians vanish in opposite directions. For the first time, no one who was ready had to wait. By midday both returned alone and lay again in the doorway, one on each side. That night the horse and the big bear brought five new souls. The next morning the lion took three one way and the wolf took two the other. The beds emptied as fast as they filled. Some mornings, faster. Periwinkle set fresh loaves on the open straw for whoever came next. She stood in the doorway between her two guardians and looked at the room that no longer overflowed. The house could hold. The lost could rest, and then go home in either direction. But the wolf and the lion guided only those who reached the house. Far in the forest, the horse and the bear still found more each night than two guardians could ever carry back. The refuge worked now. The forest beyond it was still full of the lost, and Periwinkle had no bakery there.