"You owe me a story," he instructed flatly, withholding the plate while Lucina stared hungrily up at it. "I'll give this to you when you tell me where you came from."

She was still clearly exhausted and a bit wolfish, especially in her abyssal blue eyes, and he could hear a soft whine from the back of her throat, but he held firm. One should not reward a dog for its hunger alone. When she swiped up at him, he pulled back the plate so that its tantalizing aroma hit his nostrils instead, the mesmerizing scent of freshly cooked meat making his head swim just as much as hers, and she whined audibly for a moment before sitting up like a regular person. "I... I said after breakfast."

"After breakfast, I will not have anything to barter with," he explained, lowering the food once more to tempt her. "I just want to know where you come from, not your entire story. Is that too much to ask?"

"I suppose not. Very well, then. My father is a nobleman, and I lived in... I never knew the name. Home, I suppose. It was a small town next to a small castle." She held out her hands, such tiny little paws with pretty pink nails, and to reward her good behavior he placed the plate on them. The pile of fresh rabbit steaks impressed her immensely, and she chewed gently on them like a pup before setting the plate down in her lap and attempting to eat like a human.

"Not a wolf turned person, then?"

She shook her head and from then ignored him, giving him plenty of time to observe and marvel at her. Such a fragile creature, a young orchid instead of a beastly canine, definitely old enough to have already blossomed and wilted into maturity but still youthful and free. With each bite she regained another shred of her humanity, and by the end of her meal she was adjusted completely to this inconspicuous skin. Briefly he considered just how animalistic she could become while still garbed as one of his kin, but the thought was dark and he chose to shove it into the corner of his mind, to be revisited in the isolation of the woods. He changed her bandages, pleased with the progress of her wounds, and when his work was complete she was still wide awake and seemed to be anticipating something from him.

"If you would like, I could help you outside to rest in the sun," he offered as he strapped a knife on his belt and an ax on his back. "I will stay where I can hear you, and you can call if you encounter trouble."

Absolutely brimming with eagerness, she nodded and grinned and attempted to stand with her own power, but he caught her quickly and held her up clumsily from under her arms. He had little desire to lay his hands all over her injured flesh, but she needed to be supported through the door and into the soft grass, and she giggled softly when finally he helped her sit. For a naked, lost, injured woman, she had a boundless spirit.

He left her there, and entered his sanctuary of sentinel trees to escape the undeniable stirrings to stick to his patient's side. It was something of protection, but deeper and wilder and stuck prominently in the back of his mind at all times like pitch on his shoes. Never before had he known such instinctual yet human emotions for another creature of his species, especially not a complete stranger. He evaded them in the marketplace, afraid to discuss any more than strict business. People were poachers. He had lived amongst the animals long enough to know. They were greedy and dependent and thrived only on the power of a select few. Where there was a threat, they erected their stone walls and cowered behind them, thinking themselves better of the rabbits that slipped silently beneath the earth, but one such as Priam-who knew the patterns and behaviors of a rabbit and a man based solely on their footprints-could see through their ruse. But this Lucina, this woman's skin cloaking a wolf's soul, she was different. She needed him and knew it, and did not pretend to be above his help while at the same time longing for her independence. Perhaps it had something to do with her curse, her blood; whatever she may have been, she saw the world as a beast now, as he did. They were alike. Perhaps she truly was one of his own.

"Priam!" Her scream ripped through the woods like a rusty dagger through soft flesh, and he forgot all his woodsman manners and tore through the woods as if he had never walked them before. When he arrived back home, she was crouched on her toes and her fingertips, face to face with the largest wolf he had ever seen. The beast snarled and snapped its bone-crushing jaws just in front of her nose, and her wide, fearful eyes did little to aid her image in the eyes of the animal. The bushes held two more impressively built wolves, but they seemed content to watch this alpha destroy the intruder.

He had nothing but a sharp, unexplained sensation to wrestle the beast to the ground and tear its ears off with his teeth to teach it a lesson, and he acted upon it. For all its strength, the wolf could not simply deflect the full force of a grown behemoth of a man, and the two were tangled on the ground for several murderous heartbeats, snarling and clawing and attempting to keep themselves from harm while refusing to throw the match. Priam could keep the beast pinned under his body but he could not simply wait for the wolf to grow tired of chewing on his arms, which had become bloody in the brawl, so at last he wrapped his arms around the creature's chest and hurled it with all his might back towards the woods. It yelped as it landed, and lay still for a few moments before whimpering and dragging itself into the cover of the brush once more, its companions howling a prayer for their defeated leader.

With the scuffle over and his guest saved, Priam returned his attention to Lucina and inspected her for injury, but she stood before he could kneel and grabbed his wrists. "You... You're hurt." Darting over the ragged holes in his forearms, her eyes suddenly watered and she collapsed against his chest. "You fought a wolf for me. Why?"

"I want you to be healed. You cannot be healed if you are in danger." He merely stood, confused at why it had been so easy to throw himself at a wolf but so challenging to decide what to say to this little pup. "We should go inside now. Are you hurt?"

She shook her head and gripped his shoulders as tight as her shaking hands could bear. "I will tend to your wounds. I want you to be healthy, too."

As he aided her back inside, slowly and deliberately placing each foot so that they would find sturdy ground, he noticed that the two concealed wolves had begun to creep out of their sanctuary, and were staring up at him with ears pinned to their heads and bellies dragging on the ground.