Running filled her time, one full hour passing by. One foot kept moving after the other, steady without pause.
Nowhere to flee. Nothing chasing. She moved - across mossy clearings, past ice-edged brooks, along high slopes then into shadowed hollows, her pale claws gripping earth like hunger, pace sharp, lungs alive, heart wild without strain.
Something shifted when she became a wolf. The shape surprised everyone who saw it.
Fast, agile, capable - all of it meant nothing now, like a flicker next to daylight. Built unlike anything she knew, this wolf moved without waiting for thought. Signals flew through muscle long before her brain caught up. Details flooded in faster than understanding could follow. Two hundred yards away, the scent of a hidden rabbit cut through the air. Half a mile off, the whisper of a hawk's wings broke the silence.
