The wolf known as Wolf tipped back his head and howled. Still, it did nothing to lessen the emptiness, the hollow, frightening feeling that consumed him like a ravenous animal and tore at his heart with merciless claws and fangs. That howl didn't come close to expressing his pain, but it was all that remained. It was the only scrap Virginia had thrown to him when she had left.

She who was the love of his life had simply walked away, leaving him holding the ring, the testimony of his devotion, forgotten in his hand. The shopkeeper had promised that the ring would guarantee Virginia would say yes. And why should he lie? Here in this land of magic, only villains lied, and the shopkeeper was no villain. Still Virginia had grown angry; she'd yelled and screamed, and then she had walked away.

Yet the shopkeeper hadn't lied. Wolf remembered the words so clearly, "No singing ring has ever received a rejection."

As Mama Wolf used to say, there's a first for everything.

"Oh, Ma," Wolf sobbed. "I wish I'd listened to you. You always said I was too much of a dreamer. Never- never amount to anything ..."

He plodded across the restaurant to a window, the ring still clutched in his hand. Below the restaurant danced a romantically beautiful waterfall and water so clear Wolf could almost see to the bottom of the riverbed. He should have been down there with her, in a gondola on the sandy bank, holding her and whispering promises of love in her creamy ears.

Instead, the rushing water seemed to mock him with harsh insults only he could hear: Loser. Failure. Criminal. Animal.

Virginia had walked away with terrible words that Wolf knew would echo in his mind until his death: "I never want to see you again!" How could she say that? How could she act so cruelly after all he'd done for her? He'd saved her countless times, braving the troll kingdom, risking his neck for an ax to cut her hair and defying the queen to stay by her side.

Yet that meant nothing to her. She wanted the mirror and nothing else. Not his attention or love. Just the cursed mirror and a doorway home.

He'd had been a fool to fall for such a selfish girl. A beautiful, clever, intelligent ... selfish girl.

With another despairing howl, the tears began to flow freely, dripping off his nose and chin and making tiny watermarks on his fine velvet suit. He noticed, but he didn't care.

"Oh, Virginia, why?"

Failure, the waterfall taunted. Washout.

"Why did you walk away when all I want to do is love you?"

Criminal. Animal.

"Don't you know how much I love you?" He slowly opened the shell casing for the ring. Maybe its cheerful melodies would drown out the waterfall and the memory of Virginia's cutting words. It turned its glowing face toward him and began to sing.

"You cannot win her,
You cannot choose her,
You are just a hopeless loser."

Wolf felt as though he'd been slapped. Even the ring, his encouraging, 7,000 Wendell singing ring, had rejected him. Well, they could get eaten by dragons for all he cared. The ring, Virginia, her father and that stupid dog who had gotten him into this mess. He didn't need them. Any of them. He'd survived quite fine on his own for all his life.

With a decisive action to put all this nonsense behind him, Wolf threw the offending ring into the river. Only fools believed in love, and he, Wolf, was much too cunning to allow himself to walk into that trap. He'd learned his lesson, yes sir, and he'd not make the same mistake again.

So why couldn't he stop crying, and why wouldn't his body stop shaking? Oh, why, Virginia? Why?

In the water below, where the foamy edge of the waterfall met the calmness of the river, something began to form. An image began to take shape, at first choppy but then more solid. A face. The queen's face. At first, Wolf thought he was hallucinating, but then the queen began to speak.

"Now do you see what I told you all along?" she asked softly. "You are nothing without me."

He whimpered and tried to look away, but the queen's commanding eyes drew his helpless attention. She rippled in the waves, making her smug smile look more like a sneer.

"Will you come back to me?" she pleaded. "Will you turn back to me now?"

Wolf sobbed and nodded. Virginia didn't want him, so nothing else was left. He felt empty. He needed something, anything to fill the void, the black hole where his heart should lay. The queen offered him a place in the universe and acceptance of his wolfish nature. Virginia had never given so much.

"Yes," he choked out. "I will serve you."

The image's smile broadened. "Good. Then follow them, but do not let them know you are there. I want frequent reports of their activities, do you understand?"

"Yes, my queen," he answered dully.

"Oh, my Wolf," she said pleasantly. "It's so good to have you back."

Then she vanished. For a moment, Wolf wondered if in his misery he'd imagined her, Virginia's most dangerous enemy. But he knew the queen's offer had been real, as real as Virginia's rejections. No mother and daughter could be more different.

Oh, yes, he'd follow them wherever their pitiful chase of the mirror took them and faithfully report back to his mistress. If necessary, he'd follow Virginia anywhere. Her aroma could lead him to the end of eternity and back, and still he'd follow. Her sweet, succulent aroma that sent all his nerve afire when he stood near her.

But why follow? To protect, or to spy? Maybe both, for the time being. Perhaps Virginia would miss him and realize that she'd made a mistake by pushing him away. Yes! Oh, huff puff, without him at her side, she'd understand how much she missed and loved him, and then, when she needed a rescue, he'd charge in and save her and she'd fall into his arms and they'd live happily ever after! Oh, yes!

But what about the queen? Oh, dear, what to do about his promise to serve the queen? Well, she wouldn't have to know about his plan. As long as he fed her some tidbits of information once in awhile, she'd be content.

Satisfied with his new course of action, Wolf wiped the tear stains from his cheeks, straightened his fine red velvet suit and marched from the restaurant in search of Virginia's trail. Their love was destiny. And destiny would be fulfilled.