Chapter 160: Running With The Wolves.
Angel was exhausted but she knew she had to keep going.
The hunter team would not be far behind her and she knew these hunters would not give up easily.
She already knew that these were no Minutemen, these were Brotherhood and Free Peoples hunters, the presence of both the Avians and that giant fucking spider woman had been rather a big surprise, to say the least.
As she ran she couldn't help but find herself smiling here.
Despite being forced into a retreat this was exactly the chance she'd been hoping for in order to prove her metal and her worth to her masters as this was a chance to finally push back against the Free Peoples.
However, she did have to admit she could see why they were so effective at what they did. When they hit you they hit hard and they used highly effective, well-thought-out tactics to push you into a corner from which they could hit you from all sides.
Plus they also seemed to have put quite a lot of thought into effectively using the special skills afforded to them by their non-human allies.
Another smile crossed her lips as she realised that the spider's webbing she had stepped in had been how they'd spotted her.
The large half-tarantula woman that had dropped out of the air and saved their avian members from becoming pavement pizza must have laid a series of webbed trip lines all over the place.
Well now Angel knew what to look for in the future and she would not underestimate them a second time, when they came at her again which she knew they would, she would be ready for them.
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"How long will feathers take to regrow?" Sasha asked as they marched along out of the city in the direction they had seen the assassin leap.
"It varies but the hardest ones to regrow are flight feathers, it can take at least a week or two for them to be fully back to form," Celine said looking at her now silk-bandaged arms in a very distinct annoyance.
Ebony had done such a good job of binding their wounds and protecting the fallen that Sasha had made her the official team medic, as let's be fair there were very few creatures that could pull sterile bandages out of their ass quite literally.
"Well at least rat bastard coward assassin does not hit tail feathers, so at least I get to enjoy seeing you walk now," Sasha said trying to lighten Celine's dour mood somewhat.
Celine snorted a laugh and while he could tell it was appreciated there was still a tinge of bitterness to it, she was hurting and he could see it.
"What good is a Valkyrie without her wings? Now I am grounded and we do not have the same talents as you on the ground," she said sounding forlorn.
Sasha turned and without breaking his stride he turned and picked up a can from a nearby bin before returning to the group.
Celine looked at him curiously as he held it out for her to see while walking backwards.
"I throw you shoot," he said with a heavy note of defiance to his voice.
"But..."Celine began but Sasha held up his other hand to silence her and cut her off.
"I throw you shoot," he said again though this time it was definitely a command rather than a request.
So Celine readied her rifle and nodded at him so Sasha turned and pitched the can as hard as he could.
Thanks to his armour's power-assisted movement the can rocketed away from them at incredible speed and Celine tracked it but a second before firing at it.
"What was the point of that?' she said lowering her rifle and Sasha gestured with his hand to the road.
"You will see," he said as they continued down the road.
A little while later they came across the can laid in the middle of the road and Sasha stopped to pick it up, as he did he held it up for them all to see the perfect hole through the base of it where Celine's bullet had managed to go through can dead centre despite it spinning and moving at incredible speed.
"You see? You are not just pretty face, sexy tail feathers or pair of wings, you are trained and skilled soldier of proud Valkyrie people. Even if you are grounded like rest of us ground-pounding apes and big spider girl you are no less than any of us, you are valued and your skills are unquestioned. So lift your beak, puff out proud ample chest and march onward solider. We have mission to complete and you are part of it, wings or no," he said.
He saw a smile form on not only Celine's face but all of the Valkyries, it was obvious that his words had touched them all.
"Oh and on subject of marching onwards would you mind marching in front of me? View here has been pretty boring so far," Sasha said playfully making Celine bark a laugh before she punched his arm and made his armour ring.
"You are lucky I like you human or I may have decided to peck your eyes out," she said as she walked forwards past him but as she did he saw her flare her tail feathers out obviously knowing that it would draw his view.
"If you are going to peck out eyes then I will only have to get others to describe beauty of tail feathers to me, do you really wish me to have to ask others to look on my behalf?" Sasha said making Celine bark another laugh.
"You are encourageable you know that?" she said over her shoulder as she kept walking with Sasha's eyes now glued to the chiselled round undoubtedly fluffy buttocks or her rear end as she walked ahead of them.
"I do not think I have seen couple more made for one another in all of life," Ivan said softly to Ava making the owl girl chuckle a laugh that sounded like a soft hoot.
"Honestly I think you are right Ivan, I never would have believed it of our commander had I not seen it with my own eyes, but here she is falling in love with a human, I guess miracles are possible," the young Owl said with a wave of her bandaged wing.
After a couple of hours of walking the team decided to bunk down for the night and pick the trail back up in the morning, they were all aware that hunting in the night was nearly always a fruitless endeavour and with their arieal advantage gone they decided that erring on the side of caution would be best.
Despite being on the ground the Valkyrie's eyesight was still second to none and only a few minutes after Sasha had made the decision to look for somewhere to camp the night they'd located a suitable location.
It turned out to be an old train station that had once served as a freight yard and the place was filled with quite a few old cargo cars that were ready to journey on to parts unknown. A journey that they would never get the chance to complete.
The first thing the team did was flush out any feral Ghouls that had set up in the place as they had a tendency to like places like this, so while they formed a firing line on the outskirts of the yard at the once-whole security fence, Sasha walked forwards and pounded his metal fist on the side of one of the cars.
"Anyone home, we wish to make a reservation!" he yelled as he banged his fist on the metal.
Soon enough the telltale groaning noise of the lurking ferals made itself known between the cars.
"Ahh it seems staff is on-site," he said as he moved back to rejoin his comrades in the firing line.
"I wonder if room service is available?" Ivan said as he hoisted up his big gun and sighted in his lane between the cars.
"I doubt its star rating is high enough for that, it's definitely no Aviery Duluxe that's for sure," Celine said as she tracked a shuffling pair of feet that she could spy moving along one of the cars.
"What hell is Aviery Deluxe?" Natalia asked as she watched a pair of shuffling feet moving ahead of her.
"A luxury spar back home, it offers the finest dirt and water baths, luxurious feather oils and beak wax that money can buy and their wing and thigh massages are to die for!" Celine said as she fired off her first round striking the emerging Ghoul right through the side of the temple.
No sooner had the first shot been fired than a howl rose up and Ghouls flooded around the cars only to find themselves walking into a wall of hot lead and plasma coming the other way.
Then there was Ebony with her Tub Thumper or cunt removal cannon as it was rapidly becoming known among the group.
When she opened up in the confined space between the cars the noise was incredible and the waves of sound were almost as lethal as the hail of buckshot that the gun sent into the air.
It turned the group of Ghouls that were unfortunate enough to round the cars and into the lane ahead of her into a fine and slimy mist that coated both the ground and the walls.
Pretty soon it looked like someone had thrown a few hundred buckets of red and black paint everywhere and a few limbs lay twitching on the ground before her.
"I really like this gun," the big fluffy Arachnakai girl said twitching her pedipalps happily as the smoking barrels wound their spin down.
"And I do believe gun likes you too, never before has it found owner who could handle it, now it gets to unleash death in way nature intended," Ivan said making the large Archnakai laugh and twitch her large spinnerets happily.
"Ok now squatters have been evicted we move to far end away from fucking bad smell and set up down there," Sasha said gesturing to the group of clustered up railway cars still sitting on the tracks awaiting their collection.
"Yeah and fuck me am I glad the wind is blowing this way, don't think I could stand being upwind of this fucking mess," Celine said placing a large hand over her nostrils.
"Yes I am very glad I have filters in helmet every time we find these poor creatures, must be hard to live caked in own piss and shit day in and out, it makes me have more sympathy for Ivan after Vodka bender," Sasha said making Ivan's head snap up in outrage.
"Hey! It had been very long time since that happened, we were still young and stupid back then boss!" he said in protest making the group laugh.
"Yes and now you are just not young anymore," Natalia said as she walked past him causing him to throw a rock at the back of her helmeted head and making her armour ring like a bell.
"You are all funny fuckers, but you will see, when we find rat bastard assassin it will good ol Ivan who will put vile coward cunt in ground and you will all eat words then," he said stomping towards the railway cars in a sulk.
Sasha set up the camp so that there would be two of them to a railway car each and due to her size Ebony would have a whole car to herself.
So while the team busied themselves with setting up the camp to make it comfortable and hospitable for the night Ebony was tasked with setting up traps and trip webs to ensure that nothing could sneak up on them during the night, a task she absolutely relished.
It was rather entertaining for the group to watch the big Tarantula girl clambering all over the cars laying out near invisible but incredibly strong web lines that she connected to her own car as a central hub.
However, she did have the good grace to warn them not to walk into the lines as she had designed them to snare up anything trying to push through them and entangle them.
While Ebony was busy doing her booty dance and webbing everything up the others were setting up their bedrolls and camp amenities within the the circled railway box cars.
They had secured all the doors facing outwards so that only the ones facing into a small clear area between the cars stood open, this allowed them to use the cars themselves as a solid barrier against the world at large while Ebony filled in the gaps.
As not only did the big Archnakai girl set up an intricate series of trip lines and snare webs, but she also used her rather sizeable spinnerets to web the gaps between the cars shut, therefore creating a kind of web-fort.
Once she was done she jumped back down off the roof of one of the cars and landed in the clearing next to the campfire which Ivan and Natalia had just finished setting up and getting lit.
"You sure webs will not burn big girl?" Ivan asked with a note of caution in his voice as he glanced at the walls of webbing that now joined all the cars together.
"Should be no problems as long as you don't get drunk and decide to do some fire breather antics anywhere near it," Ebony said with a grin as she lowered herself down on her large legs before folding them up under herself and becoming a spider-loaf.
"Fire breathing is too complex for likes of Ivan, now lighting farts on fire, that is more his territory," Natalia said making both Ebony and a few of the Valkyries who had seated themselves next to the fire chuckle.
"Hey is delicate artform lighting of farts ablaze I have you know," Ivan protested and a few of the Valkyries looked at him oddly.
"How the hell did you work that out?" Ava asked.
"Well hold lighter too close to asshole and you burn asshole and also burn off all of ass hair too, then you never get to do silent but deadly behind Natalia in briefing room before running away and letting her take blame for it," Ivan said making Ebony nearly spit out the drink she had just taken from her flask as she tried to stifle a laugh.
"I fucking knew was you, only you could make smell that peels varnish off of wood!" Natalia yelled leaping up to chase Ivan around the campfire while he ran in a circle giggling like an oversized Russian schoolgirl.
Now the entire team was roaring with laughter as they watched the pair and this included Sasha and Celine who were standing in the doorway of the boxcart they had claimed as theirs for the night.
"This team might be unconventional but I'd say we have gelled very well together," Celine said with a wistful smile on her beak as she watched Ebony throw a web line in front of Ivan which snared up his legs and allowed Natalia to pounce on him.
"I agree, we are all professional soldiers here and we respect our comrades in arms, we all know talent and professionalism when we see it, it breeds trust and respect," he said as he watched Ivan scrambling to throw Natalaia off him before she managed to fart on his head in vengeance.
"It is almost like being part of a true battle flock again, everyone bringing something unique to the table and everyone's skills meshing together to form a unified whole, even our newcomer Ebony is shining under this," she said and Sasha nodded as he stepped out of his armour and then moved to join her in the doorway.
"It is learning about each other's strengths and weaknesses, then we see how best to prop each other up, we support and care for one another, regardless of what species we are," Sasha said and Celine glanced at him and nodded before a rueful smile spread over her beak.
"I'm still giving you that chance to prove yourself to me you know, you've more than earned it, but I expect the very best from my soldiers so do not expect anything less from me, I lead by example I'll have you know," she said cocking a large hip rather seductively at him before dropping down to head over to the group.
"Glad to hear it," Sasha said feeling a rather stupid and goofy smile creeping onto his lips as he dropped down himself to head over and join her.
The group spent the night swapping stories and laughing together, one of the highlights was a story that Ebony told them of the time she got that annoyed with a group of molerats that kept sneaking into her food stores and stealing her food that she improvised a molerat slingshot out of a couple of truck leaf springs and some industrial grade webbing.
The way she told it the brood mother of the molerats came sneaking cautiously into the web basket she had made and when she grabbed the large chunk of radstag meat Ebony had laid out the trap sprung.
However, it seemed that she had somewhat underestimated the kinetic properties of her webbing as when the molerat pulled the bait the slingshot fired with such force that the molerat hit a raider encampment about 700 meters away and caused a bit of a panic. Something about flying molerats and all.
But once the campfire began to die down the group decided it was time to call it a night and to retire to bed, so one after the other they began to vanish into their boxcars and that's when Sasha felt something heavy plop down on his shoulder.
"I hope sleeping isn't the highest on your list of priorities tonight human because I for one have other plans for you," a deep and rather seductive voice whispered into his ear before he was rather unceremoniously spun around and dragged towards the boxcar by a rather insistent Condor.
As Celine half dragged half carried Sasha past the rest of the group who were all heading to their own box cars they all stopped to watch the pair and he saw a series of grins breaking on the faces of the team.
"Is what you get for poking the bear or maybe should be bird boss, please try not to be too loud, I need my beauty sleep," Ivan said.
Before Sasha could say anything Celine answered.
"No promises on the loudness we Condors are proud in our pleasures," she said before saluting the rest of her own people before pulling Sasha up into the box car with one powerful arm and pulling the door closed with the other.
As Sasha turned he saw all the faces grinning at him as the door slid closed behind them and then that was it, the faces were gone and they were alone.
Sasha barely had time to turn around before he was lifted off his feet and he felt Celine rubbing her long hooked beak against his cheeks and neck.
"I will not lie to you Sasha, ever since you began your courtship dance of me I was dubious that a human be everything that I needed him to be, but your dedication and determination in your very human dance, no matter how much I tried to run from you, you didn't give up and now it is time for you to reap your reward," she said.
"Do your males really dance for you?" Sasha asked as he tried his hardest to silence the tingles running up and down his spine from the incredibly soft feathers that were tickling the sensitive flesh of his neck.
"Oh yes, males tend to have the most beautiful plumage and I must say I am very curious to see what kind of plumage your kind have for my delights," she said lowering him down to his feet again but only because she was going for the buttons of his coveralls as she used her large body to press him back into the wall of the boxcar trapping him between her body and the hardened wood.
Despite the injuries to her wings that didn't stop her fingers attacking the buttons of his coveralls with a powerful gusto and this was when Sasha decided that this was the perfect time to go on a counterattack.
Like any good Cossack Sasha was always prepared to defend himself from attack and in this vein he was always ready to meet aggression with equal aggression now that his mind had gotten over its initial shock over Celine's sudden burst of dominant passion he was ready to meet her with equal force, just as she deserved.
So silently reaching up out of Celine's eye line he quickly grabbed a handful of feathers and pulled her head down, she opened her beak to squeak out an alarm but instead found her long thin tongue being caught between Sasha's soft human lips where he pulled into his mouth.
Celine's eyes went as wide as a pair of golden dinner plates and even in the low lamplight of the boxcar Sasha could see her pupils turn into a pair of gigantic black moons as the taste and feel of his mouth hit her brain like a fluffy sledgehammer.
With her distraction complete Sasha now enacted phase two of his plan and he used her own weight and height against her.
Placing a foot behind her large taloned foot he grabbed her large waist and rotated her rapidly so now it was her pinned between him and the wall and he used all of his weight to press into her incredibly strong body.
A soft caw noise escaped Celine's throat and he saw her pupils narrow into slits again, she was back in predator mode and he felt those attacking fingers redouble their efforts to gain access to his clothing.
So just like the Cossack code dictated he too went on the attack.
Sasha began running his hands over Celine's powerful flanks looking for the clasps and buttons that held her uniform closed, all the while still locked in the most unusual but no less passionate kiss.
He could feel her beak pressing against his cheeks but it was obvious that she was being ultra careful with the sharp hooked point so that she didn't prick him with it.
He could feel the passion and desperation building with each passing second and it was Celine who managed to breach his defences first as he felt feather-covered fingers suddenly sliding over his toned stomach as her powerful hand found its way inside his clothing.
A soft caw of triumph escaped her and the pair released one another from their kiss though more so they could take a breath rather than due to any kind of need to celebrate.
"You are so smooth, even with this fluffy layer of fur that coats you, you are like nothing I have ever felt before," she purred softly as she lowered her beak to gently nibble on his shoulder as it was the only place that she could use her beak without risk of hurting him as she was able to rub the tip over the material.
"Is new for me too, your fingers are so soft and strong too and I will not lie I am very much looking forward to seeing what is hidden below beautiful tail feathers when annoying uniform is not hiding it from me," Sasha growled softly as he leaned up to press his face into Celine's feather-covered neck.
He felt the vibrations of her chuckle pass through them both like trying to hug a paint shaker.
"You seem rather taken with my tail end my daring human," she said softly.
"Can you blame me? Is beautiful crest of feathers that frames most beautiful thing on most beautiful creature I ever lay eyes upon, telling me not to look and stare is like telling starving man not to devour juicy steak that is dropped in his lap, Celine is just lucky that I have better control of self than this starving man does, or there may very well be dribble marks all around her beautiful tail end when she is not looking," Sasha said and held on as the virbations of her laughter rippled through them both again.
"You have an oddly endearing way of flattering me my oddly beautiful human, your words do you a surprising amount of justice but let us see if your actions can back up those words now shall we?" Celine said stepping back from him.
Slowly Celine reached up and finished what he had started in unbuttoning her uniform, before slowly shedding it piece by tantalising piece until she only had her underwear left to rob him of the pure feminine beauty that it hid.
Celine was a work of art, her thick feathers flowed down her powerful body like she was a woman covered in oil. They hugged every curve and showed off every line between her muscles.
As Sasha's eyes roamed upwards from her large taloned feet over her powerful and long legs onto her wide feminine hips he felt his heart slamming against his rib cage like a machine gun dry firing against an empty belt.
Those contours drew his eyes up ever higher and he found himself following the lines carved in between her solid abdominal muscles that flexed and bunched as she moved.
Ever higher his eyes crawled, savouring every single inch that passed as he found the large feminine valley of her cleavage which had this delightfully thick and fluffy little crest of cream-coloured feathers that almost formed a perfect heart between her very ample breasts.
In fact, Sasha actually found himself wondering how in the name of hell she was able to fly with those things weighing her down, he actually found himself in awe of the face that she didn't beak dive right into the ground as gravity tried its hardest to yank those beautiful feminine orbs of delight back down to the ground for land-based mammals like himself to admire.
Thats when his visual journey came to its end, finishing up on her beautiful and very regal face with its sharp lines and sensual curves, but the most striking feature were those large golden eyes of hers that were scrutinising him so very closely now.
"It seems you indeed can appreciate a noble and strong Valkyrie when you see her my handsome little mammal, but I have shown you enough for the moment, now it is my turn to see so do not keep me waiting as I am not the most patient of females as you may have already guessed, let me now see you!" Celine said reaching out and grabbing Sasha's hand before whipping him around and switching places with him in a single move.
Now the spotlight was on him so to speak and Sasha was determined not to disappoint his lady so just as slowly and sensually as she herself had only moments before he began to strip off his clothes.
With every piece that he shed, he could actually feel and indeed smell her excitement growing as there was a very distinct scent now filling the air that truly encouraged him to breathe deep of the passionate promise that it held.
He couldn't help but smile secretly to himself as he decided to strike a few poses for her as he removed various articles of his clothes. He couldn't remember actually ever feeling sexy before in his life but by the way Celine's eyes were darting about all over him and the way her long tongue kept playing over her beak gave away her truest and deepest thoughts, it seemed that she did indeed have a thing for mammal, or more specifically for one mammal.
Finally when he was down to only his boxer shorts he stopped and he could actually feel the desperate hunger in her gaze as it lingered on the bulge that had very noticeably grown in his shorts.
Celine pushed herself away from the wall and walked towards him, rolling her hips with every step that she took until she stood right before him and he had to crane his neck up to look up at her.
"It seems that the mammals were indeed hiding some beauty away in their ranks and their females planned to keep them all for themselves, but it appears that I have managed to swoop in and steal one of their trophies from them, now you will not escape my talons handsome one because a proud Condor never loses her prey once she's sunk her talons in," she said in a very deep and sultry voice as she leaned down to rub her beak against his neck again.
This time there was nothing between her hungry fingers and his bare flesh other than the coating of hair which those powerful fingers wove themselves very rapidly into.
But not to be outdone Sasha shot back by sliding his hands around Celine's waist and letting his fingers dive deep into her beautifully soft feathers just above her tail feathers.
Celine let out a soft cawing noise of approval into his ear as she felt his fingers dive deep and find her flesh hidden below.
"Mmmm you have the heart of a Condor in your chest my handsome little mammal, you see what you want and you are relentless and confident in the pursuit, you have single-handedly opened my mind towards this new world that the Free Peoples offer us and have made it a reality for me," Celine said nibbling at his ear softly.
"As have you my sweet songbird, you are like the beautiful phoenix of myth and legend, you soared glorious and beautiful through the skies above taking away the breaths of all that saw you and even when they shot you down because your beauty was too great for them to bear you rise from the ashes and march on with pride and grace in your every step," he said and out of the corner of his eye he saw Celine's beak fall open.
"Y-Y-You really think I am like the great Pheonix!?" she exclaimed turning him to face her and searching his eyes desperately as if she was looking for any sign of deception.
"Yes and no my beautiful one, yes in that you have beauty and grace of the great Pheonix but no in that I am eternally grateful that your tail feathers are not on fire as I do not wish to have burns all over my face and belly," he said.
Celine's expression froze for a moment as her brain processed exactly while the implications of what he'd just said to her were and then her beak cracked into a smile before she broke out in laughter.
She stepped forward and drew him into the tightest hug of his life, it felt like a downy sleeping bag was trying to hug him to death.
"No one has ever spoken such beautiful words to me Sasha, you truly do beautifully see the world, you don't only see the world for what it is you see it for what tries to be and that is beautiful to me," she said.
"I am sorry if my words come across as cheesy as the Americans say but simply looking at you fills my soul and heart with words that I never knew the true meaning of before I met you," he said softly into the heart-shaped ruff of cream coloured feathers on her chest.
"Never apologise for speaking your heart's truth my handsome mammal because it fills my heart with joy and hope, you have shown me that even I can be beautiful to someone and now it is time for you to see that honour has its rewards," she said before letting him go and stepping back from him again.
Slowly Celine turned around to face away from him and he saw her reach up behind herself to unclip her bra which promptly fell to the ground before her.
Next, she opened out her large tail feathers and fanned them out, she did this to hide herself from his hungry eyes as she slowly lowered her panties to the ground before stepping out of them and flicking them away with a single large talon.
Looking back at him over her shoulder Celine gave him a very coy smile before slowly bending double at the waist and lifting up her tail feathers.
The sight that greeted Sasha was even better than he had ever imagined it would be, there right in the centre of the perfect halo of almost firey gold tail feathers was Celine's rear end in all of its glory.
Her ass was a perfect heart shape and was coated with small but incredibly soft-looking Downey-like feathers that changed from a gold to a cream colour as they moved inwards towards its centre.
There nestled in the centre of all the feathery fluffiness was a small white little puckered little dime of perfect flesh.
Celine parted her feathers just enough to look back over her shoulder so that she could see his awe-struck expression and a warm but also rather sultry smile lit her beak.
"So my handsome mammal, what do you think, was it worth the wait?" she asked softly.
"I do not believe that even the Gods themselves could have carved something so beautiful, it is as perfect as its owner in every way," Sasha said trying his hardest not to lick his lips as he felt his eyes wander down the perfect crease between her round buttocks to her most hidden treasure.
There between her thighs hidden between a patch of soft pure white feathers was her womanhood and if it wasn't for her excitement dampening her feathers enough to cause them to darken then he might have missed it as so well camouflaged was it.
"I had heard whispers that you mammals were silver-tongued devils that would whisper beautiful things into your ear to get their wants and ways but I know you Sasha, you and I have fought side by side, I have seen the truth of your words and your heart screamed loud and proud in your actions, you stand tall and proud before any danger that presents itself and you almost dare it to threaten those you care about while you stand before it, so I know when you speak, the words that leave your lips are the truth and right now nothing on this Earth on the glorious blue skies above could make me happier, I made you my prey and I caught you, but now I am the one who is about to be devoured and I cannot wait for a single second more, so please my handsome mammal, show me what is to be the prey and devour me!" Celine said with both excitement and desperation fogging her breath.
When he glanced up he could have sworn that Celine's large pupils were the same perfect heart shape that her glorious ass was but still, he smiled at her before stepping forward and running his hands over the downy soft feathers that covered each of her glorious orb-like cheeks.
"I was beginning to think you would never ask my little songbird, now prepare yourself to see the truth of mammalian love and sing me the song of your heart and your joy, do not dare hide it from me, I wish to hear every verse," he said and with that, he lowered himself to his knees behind the avian woman.