After we agreed to escort them to their den, I took a moment to look into my log, just in case there was something urgent.

You have been part of a Battle. As you were not part of either of the groups struggling, your EXP-Cut is greatly reduced. You gain 18.723 EXP

Skill increased You increased your skill: Blood Rune-Mastery [57/100]

When nothing jumped out to me, I focused back to my surroundings, deciding that letting myself be carried while the wolves had to run despite their injuries would send the wrong message. I had healed the worst of their wounds, but they were still far from hale.

While the wolves milled around, getting ready to leave, we just stood around, not having anything do. A couple of the wolves were giving out howls that, according to Ylva, told everyone that the situation they had called in help to resolve was no longer existent and everyone could go back to what they had been doing. I had to hide a grin at that, my subconscious wasn’t quite up regarding wolves as sapient beings, despite my exposure to Ylva and Lenore, so the thought of them essentially making a phone-tree to carry their messages was just strange.

“You smell strange.” one of the wolves, relatively large but without the aura of Power enveloping the lead-wolf, approached, sniffing at me. I was a little taken aback, especially when it pressed its nose into my crotch in an inquisitive journey to find out what it was smelling, but before I decided what to do about it, it pulled back, looking at me with questioning eyes.

“I have no idea what you consider strange.” I answered, a little unsure. We had gone a few days without bathing but I hoped it wasn’t too noticeable, thanks to my Traveller-Body. And even if it was, the others should smell just as distinctive, yet I had been picked out.

The wolf cocked its head, looking at me with disbelief, before looking at my companions.

“The big one, she smells similar but it’s not the same smell.” it told me, after sniffing into the air a little. At that, I blushed bright red, getting an idea what it might be smelling. And there was not way, neither on Mundus nor on Earth, that I would give some sniffing wolf the talk about birds and bees. I’d just be called a bitch in the end and I had no desire for that.

Luckily, any need for a response was terminated when a distinctly unfriendly growl rippled through the night. I looked towards the source and Ylva stood in front of another wolf, the second largest of their pack, her hackles raised, teeth showing and fire in her eyes. Before I could even consider what to do, Lenore left her Hallow, flapping her wings twice and landing on Ylva’s back, joining her in glaring at the other wolf.

“Leave her alone!” she cawed and thanks to our bond, I felt her outrage.

“What is it to you, bird? I just said that a fine bitch as she is should not run with the two-legs, she should lead her own pack with a good wolf at her side.” the wolf answered with a growl that was not just him talking. There was a slightly menacing tone to it and I just wanted to groan. Why were there always idiots about and why did we run into them without fail?

For a moment, I considered letting them handle it amongst themselves but I decided against it. Where would the fun be in that?

“Know your place, mutt.” I growled as I walked over, having taken out my whacking stick. If I had to whack the dog, I would rather use something made for the purpose. I noticed that the others were following me, Sigmir looking a little angry as well, possibly influenced by her connection to Ylva.

“She carries divine Blood, I would know, I put it there myself.” I continued, fixing the wolf with an angry stare, even activating my Overflow-ability and channelling a bit of Ice-Magic, just a hint to shroud myself in cold mist and make my eyes glow with an icy light.

My words had the intended impact, causing silence around us. Lenore hopped off Ylva’s back, taking her position on my whacking stick, freeing up Ylva to act, just in case there was violence.

The wolf stilled, focusing on me and I felt myself measured. I stopped next to Ylva, placing a hand on her flank, simply to show support.

“And you should know, we are family. Distant family, maybe, but we,” I gestured to Sigmir and myself, “we both hail from the same lineage as she does, going back to the Divine Trickster himself, Loki.”

I noticed that the wolf wanted to scoff but I felt something next to me, something powerful, and was barely able to control myself from jumping away from it. For just a moment, Ylva’s eyes shone with silvery light and the silhouette that had absorbed the Divine Blood back when she had crossed the first Divide manifested around her, letting out a short howl.

Looking around, all but the biggest wolf, Sigmir, Ylva and me were on their knees, prostrating before the phantom. I pushed down the many, many questions I wanted to ask, mainly what the hell was going on, but kept them to myself. A glimpse to my log showed that I had gained a buff called Call to Hunt, increasing my movement speed and the strength of my next attack. Another question for the growing pile.

“Now, are there any more questions, or can we leave?” I asked, still keeping my poker face.

“There will be no more questions. Let us run.” the biggest wolf agreed and within moments, we were off.

I was quite happy about Ylva’s buff, allowing me to keep up with the wolves without needing magic to increase my prowess. That way, I would be able to heal the injured wolves whenever we stopped, adding to our combined strength.

Luckily, we didn’t run for too long, only about an hour after we set out, the wolves started flagging, which didn’t surprise me at all. My way of healing took quite a bit out of the one healed, a cost I had only partially paid myself.

“We need to rest.” Swiftstride, the leader, barked out.

“I agree. You and the others that were injured, you still need healing.” I told him, walking up next to him and stretching my senses into his body. Luckily, the repairs I had made were holding up to the exertion and I started the slow process of repairing the flesh around it. I was limited in what I could do at once, there was a sense of resistance that grew stronger the longer I worked and the more power I poured into him. It was a curious effect, making me wonder just where the limits of my ability to heal myself and others were - would the resistance reduce with time, or would a scar remain, with the size depending on my efforts beforehand? Our group had avoided serious damage so far, so I simply didn’t know. Part of me was looking forward to find out without having one of my companions and friends permanently harmed - that way, I might be able to find out how to deal with it if it ever came up.

After doing what I could with Swiftstride, I went around again, healing one wolf after the other, as I had before. While I did that, the others pulled out some food, sharing some of it with the wolves, but there was only so much we had with us. There was a world of difference between planning to feed four people and two spirit-companions - who had their own strange rules for how much food they needed - and feeding four people, two spirit-companions and a pack of twenty wolves. Additionally, we normally counted on being able to hunt game to subsist on, which hadn’t quite worked out on the windy plains, so we would need to get fresh food in a few days. Upon questioning, we were assured that we would reach the den the next day and could get something there, we were guests after all.

I was curious what the canine equivalent of a city would look like.