The hillside was rocky, veined with tree roots smeared with patches of snow and frost. Jessica grunted as she clambered up the rocks, curling up on a mossy ledge. Panting and wheezing, she paused to look behind her. Winds howled. Rugged hills lined the horizon, blanketed in pines and spruces white with snow. From up here it felt as though she could see the world, but her village was nowhere to be found.

"Jess-" Snowpelt said, "Let's stop for now."

"No-let's-just-keep-going - how much farther do we have to go-" went Jess in a single breath.

She collapsed. "Fine."

Hawktooth joined them with dead marmot in his moutth, he laid it down in front of her.

Jess shook. "You want me to dress that?"

"What?" Hawktooth said.

"We can't dress that without a knife." said Jess. "We don't even have anything to light a fire."

Hawktooth looked at her with a puzzled expression. "What? Why would you - oh. Yeah. Old habits die hard. Just get used to it."

Jess squirmed. "I'm not going to eat that whole and uncooked."

"Just eat it. I mean you probably eat berries whole and uncooked, I don't get what the problem is-" Hawktooth said.

"Because a berry has berry in it-" Jess gasped with exasperation.

Then she gestured angrily at the dead marmot and said "-and that has bones and guts and blood and a bag full of dung and bile and it stinks and will make me sick-"

"Hawktooth-" Snowpelt said, "This is all very new for her. Just let her be."

Jess turned away in an indignant huff. She lay down on a bed of pillow moss.

Snowpelt looked at her for a second. She paused, then said "I know. You should carry that kill in your mouth as we move on so over time you get used to the taste. Then as you get hungrier your instincts will kick in, and you'll be comfortable eating it."

"No!" Jess said.

"The sooner you learn how to be like us the easier it'll be." Said Snowpelt. "You're one of us, you know? For now, at least."

Jess grumbled, burying her snout deeper in the moss. She wished she could cover her ears.

"You're in the heart of the forest. You wouldn't have survived that climb as a human. Think of this form as a gift to help you follow your destiny." Snowpelt said.

"I'm not one of you. I will never be one of you." Jess snarled. "And there's no such thing as destiny. Even if there was, you don't get to tell me what mine is."

"Jessica-" Snowpelt said. "Hawktooth killed it for you - oh."

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Hawktooth took Snowpelt aside. They got to the end of the ledge, to a place that was more sheltered from the wind.

"Is it just me, or do you think it's not the right time to tell her about her new name?" Hawktooth said.

"I think you're right." said Snowpelt. "Maybe later. After this whole fiasco is over."

Hawktooth looked back at her. "Yeah."

At this point neither wolf had expected Jessica's hearing to be as good as theirs. But she had heard them, and pretended not to notice. She felt like vomiting.

"You sure you don't want it?" Hawktooth said. "Next part's going to be hard! And I mean really hard! You're going to wish you had-"

"I said no!" Jess yelled.

She groaned. As she lay there, still, she became ever more conscious of her four legs and pawed feet, her long, snouted face, her pointed ears and her gaudy, hideous fur. And the fact she could smell and hear everything around her. As a wolf the world was a medley of sounds and smells far more intense than anything she experienced as a human. She could even make out several distinct flavors from the marmot's blood and fur.

But her stomach hurt, and the carcass's stench made it hurt even more. The fact it made her feel hungrier made her sick. Neither of these feelings balanced each other out. They somehow seemed to complement each other in some grotesque way. It was wrong in a way she couldn't describe.

Never mind. She was going to make it there whether or not she- what was that?

Jessica climbed further up the ledge where she found herself inexplicably drawn a bush buried under a few inches of snow. Brushing aside the snow with her paw, she saw that the base of the bush sprouted from a cluster of brown lumps that looked suspiciously like...

Potatoes? Were these potatoes?

She tugged the whole plant out of the ground, dirt and gravel sprinkling from wiry roots. She sniffed it. Then she gingerly nibbled on it-

Potatoes!

Her heart leapt with joy. What were the odds? What were the odds?

"Hawktooth! Snowpelt!" Jessica called out as she ran back down to the ledge, holding the potatoes by the leaves. "Look what I found!"

"Oh-" Snowpelt said. "How'd that even get there?"

"I have no idea but food's food." Jessica said as she took a bite.

"Well look at that." said Hawktooth. "Your first forage. You're still going to carry that carcass with you though."

"Shut up and eat, Hawktooth!" Jessica said, her mouth full of chewed potato.

Snowpelt cast Hawktooth a sidelong glance. From the faint green glow in his eyes he'd just cast a long-distance spell with his plant magic. And a pretty draining one at that.

She thought of scolding him afterwards but decided against it. Even though there were at least a dozen better potential uses for it, especially in a highly certain situation like this, it would be far more trouble than it was worth.

"You know I've never eaten one of these before but on my last raid I saw a lot of them near your village, do you eat them?" Snowpelt said. "I didn't even know they were edible."

"All the time!" Jess said. "Back home we have brown ones, yellow ones, red ones, in every shape you can think of. Best part is you can cook 'em all kinds of ways - We usually eat them boiled (boil 'em mash 'em stick 'em in a stew) but they taste alright while I'm like this."

A question began to form on Hawktooth's tongue but Jessica answered it before it came out. "Boiling is when you stick your food in hot water."

"Hot water?" Hawktooth said.

"Water can be hot!" Jessica said.

"And rain can be dry and fire can be cold." Snowpelt said.

"Don't you have anyone who can make fire?" Jessica said. "It's really nice, I always like to-"

A noise like thunder sounded out. An invisible wave of force hit them like a tsunami. The earth shook. Trees toppled, snapping and thudding. Snow tumbled over the ledge. Rocks and dirt rumbled down the hillside. Jessica looked up. Ahead was a column of snow and soil rising as a landslide approached.

"Quickly, this way!" Snowpelt said, taking off along the ledge.

Jessica and Hawktooth followed her to a cave in the side of a hill. But just before they could make it a boulder the size of a house rolled down from uphill. Hawktooth's eyes glowed, and the tree roots dangling over the cave thickened and bent, and the boulder fell harmlessly to the side.

They squeezed into the dark cave through the gap between the hillside and the boulder, pebbles battering their heads like hail on a roof.