"She stood before us, and with her came the beasts. She looked young, but her presence weighed down on us…. and all she asked for was food." - Miriam of the Western Forests.

Rachel didn't feel well. The darkness and silence around her stretched on forever, her sense of smell was gone. It reminded her of Grue's power, and she didn't like it.

It pissed her off, not being able to see or feel her dogs. She felt cold wind on her skin a mere moment before crashing into a branch, gasping as the wind was knocked out of her. She held on to it, stopping herself from falling and took a bit to recover before pulling herself up and looking around, using the branch as a vantage point.

The tree she was on was tall, surrounded by more trees. The thick brush hid the ground - not that she'd be able to see it anyway, given how dark it was. She whistled loudly.

Nothing.

If her dogs were anywhere nearby, they would have immediately started running towards her, but the forest gave no hint that anything was responding, remaining eerily silent.

She saw insects on the tree before her, but they weren't moving in patterns like they usually would under Taylor's control. It didn't matter. She gritted her teeth and made her way down through the lower branches, finally getting to the solid ground. It was… less uneasy.

Soft wind blew, rustling the leaves of trees and bushes. The night air was warm, and the wind was cool on her face. The fact that her mask was missing came to her a bit late, but it wasn't like she actually needed it. Without much of a choice, she kept going forward, towards the direction of the wind. Her stomach still hurt, but she could ignore a few bruises. At least she hadn't landed on anything vital.

Sadly, after quite a while of walking, she felt hungry. Incredibly so. She hadn't eaten in awhile, the fighting hadn't left time for that. She didn't know if the berries on some of the brush were poisonous or not, and she knew better than to eat strange berries.

Despite herself, though, she grabbed some of them, stuffing them down her pockets. Maybe she could ask someone when she met them. The wind started to carry a smell the further she went, a smell familiar to Brockton Bay - the sea.

She arrived at the seaside still hungry and tired. Water as far as she could see, all of it undrinkable, and a cave towards the direction the wind was blowing. In the distance, she could see lights in the darkness, too far away to get there without collapsing. Her stomach making angry noises, she shook her head.

Turning towards the cave, she stepped down the beach and moved towards the stony hills, walking down the shore until she arrived at the smaller entrance. Crouching down, she stepped in, finding the cave slightly cooler than the forests. Too tired to care, she found a place near a wall and leaned on it, closing her eyes.

Growls woke her up. Not those of her stomach, but more guttural, dangerous ones. Opening her eyes slightly, still exhausted but definitely more rested than last night, she saw six wolves. For one moment she thought that maybe her dogs came back, but rubbing the sleep out of her eyes snuffed that hope out.

The cave was slightly more lit now that the sun was out, a few holes in the ceiling letting sunlight in. Greyish-red fur over slight builds. They were smaller than the wolves that she was familiar with, but, that didn't make their claws and jaws any less fatal. .

Still a bit dazed from the sleep, she felt tense, avoiding any sudden movements. If she could take out the alpha, she might find a way to establish dominance or scare them away..

One of them stepped forward, growling loudly, its teeth bared at her. Despite that, they didn't attack. She didn't move.

The oldest looking wolf, the alpha with a few scars on his body, took another step forward and she got ready to fight if necessary - though she knew her chances were slim, being hungry and outnumbered. The wolf… sat down. Right in front of her and stopped growling.

The other wolves followed suit.

She blinked, getting up from the floor. The wolves' heads followed her, but they didn't attack when she moved along the wall towards the entrance again. Slowly stepping out, still keeping an eye on the wolves, she hit the back of her head on a few stones, hissing in pain. When she finally stood at the shore again, the surrounding forest now better visible under the sunlight, the wolves followed her out of the cave as well.

She could see mountains in the distance, and a thick fog even further than that. The forest seemed even larger and more intimidating in the day, and she could hear animals now, the brush moving back and forth in the wind.

That wasn't strange at all. Definitely not. She went to her knees and stuck out her hand. The wolf that started to sit first moved up and poked his nose at her hand before licking it. Wiping her hand on her clothes, she stood up again and the wolves followed every step. She could live with that, for now - this was advantageous, but it didn't solve her lack of food or freshwater.

As if reading her thoughts, the wolves moved towards the forest and one of them looked at her. She sighed, following after them slowly. The wolves didn't stop until they finally arrived at a small pond. Not having anything to lose, and still having to move towards the lights from last night, she took a sip, feeling the water soothe her throat. She continued until she was sated, but it didn't do much for the pain in her stomach. This time though, the wolves didn't react.

They kept staring at her. The soft wind blew again, this time carrying a smell through the rustling leaves that made her stomach gurgle. Something was being cooked, and the wolves reacted to it as well, turning towards it. She didn't care, moved towards the wind.

The walk was exhausting, again, and she felt her stomach aching. The wolves followed behind her, and half an hour later she wasn't much nearer the source of the smell. Sitting down next to a tree, she leaned back and tried to gather her strength. One of the wolves whined.

It wasn't smart, but it was the only one she had. Looking at the wolf, she concentrated her power on him and made him grow. He remained sitting there, as if nothing was happening, until the transformation was complete. The other wolves made noises, but didn't react much besides that. Sitting down on his back, they continued their journey, much quicker now.

It didn't take much longer with the increased speed, when they reached a place with more sparse trees and a camp she could see through the trees. The other wolves lagged behind, but the one she sat on was still going strong, and would probably do so for a bit more before her power stopped working.

At least a dozen people sat near the camp, bows and arrows slung on their backs and grilling meat over a large fire. One of the women, a bit older than the rest of the crowd, was the first to notice the large wolf.

Turning around, she smoothly unslung her bow and nocked an arrow in it. Then the woman's eyes widened, and the rest of the hunters sprang to their feet. When they saw her sitting on the wolf, the woman immediately went to her knees.

First the wolves, then the humans. Like hell.

"Need food," she ground out, raspy from hunger and thirst. The huntress turned to a young woman, maybe seventeen years old or so.

"An offering," the huntress said. "For a god, for a spirit…"

The young woman lowered her bow and went to grab some of the meat from the camp. Bitch didn't really care what they called her.

The huntress took the food and slowly shuffled towards her, giving her a large dripping chunk on a stick.

Food had never tasted this good.

She had finally finished eating when the transformation reversed, and the other wolves stepped out of the forest to join their kin when she stepped down. The hunters were all on their knees as she ate, their heads lowered.

When she made a satisfied sigh, she looked towards the wolves, slightly guilty at forgetting them and pointed towards them. "Some of it for them too."

They obliged.

"Oh great and merciful," the older huntress said. "I, Miriam, huntress of these parts, beg of you, bless our hunts."

Bitch tilted her head.

"What?"

"You bear great powers, do you not?" Miriam asked, her head lowered.

"I guess?" She'd never considered her power great. Useful, sure. Great? Eh.

"Thus, you must be a spirit, or even Tiamat herself!"

"I'm Bitch," Rachel said. Some of the hunters coughed, looking away. "I'm looking for my teammates."

"O great and merciful Bitch," Miriam began. "We of Thuban humbly welcome you to our city. If you were to wish for it, we would give it to you."

Rachel shook her head, not really understanding the whole situation. The most she could get out of this was that she was invited, and that she could have anything she wanted. Maybe they felt threatened? It's not like people would just give someone their belongings.

But with those wolves, she could defend herself now. Though it seemed like she'd need to teach them some basic commands, they had some great intuition.

"No."

She had everything she needed right now. She could look for the others on her own.

"I beg your pardon?" Miriam asked.

"Looking for people, I have no time for you," Rachel said. "Where am I?"

"You are in the kingdom of Thuban, the western forests to be exact," Miriam explained. "I can offer you a map so you know where to travel, if that is what you wish."

"Good." Rachel nodded. Miriam stepped up and gave it to her, and Rachel opened up finding nothing familiar on it. Not that it mattered. There was a lot she didn't know, like reading. "Where are we?"

The woman pointed at a tree shape left of a city shape on the map, in the left part of the forests. "The only kingdom you can reach from here without a ship would be Aziz."

"I'm looking for the others," Rachel said. "For my dogs too."

"Dogs?" Miriam asked. "Those domesticated wolves? It's not a practice that we have here, we hunt with our hands, it's more usual in the north-west."

"Then that's where I'll go."

It wasn't exactly sound logic, but at least it was a plan.

"Let us offer you tribute," Miriam said quickly. "Rations for your journey, spirit Bitch."

Rachel just nodded, still suspicious about their strange generosity.

The path was hard. The six wolves, even at top speed, couldn't get her out of the forest in days of following the same route. It was a really, really large forest. The few people she met on the more beaten roads all moved out of the way, it was easier traveling on them.

The food was enough, and whenever she ran out, she took a tip from Miriam about which berries one could eat and which she couldn't. The wolves hunted their own food most of the time.

The alpha she dubbed Benjamin. The transformation worked on him the longest.