Audra offered a soft nod and used her grip on him to support her as they made their way toward the cottage.  The wound stung with each step, but she managed it until she was inside and had taken a seat on the cot there.  The cottage had once been much nicer, a year or so ago, but Audra had mostly lived out the last year using it for shelter, not as a human would.<br/><br/>"There should be some wood over there for a fire," she pointed.  She had not yet acknowledged his assertions that she was the wolf he had shot, though there was not much point in denying that fact.  "There may be some herbs in the cupboard right there, the sort that would be good for a healing poultice, and bandages should be --Ahh-- right beneath them."  She gestured, but the pain surged for a moment and it was all she could do to keep her concentration.  Shifting had moved the arrow further outward, so removing it would not be as hazardous, but it still posed a real threat to her health.<br/><br/>Audra took in a slow breath, trying to calm her mind, before she gave a soft nod and decided it was best to offer him the truth as he tended to the wound.<br/><br/>"There are things in this world beyond the comprehension of most people.  You were not wrong about what you saw, the wolf you shot was me.  I do not favor stealing from farms, but I fear a face the sort of danger I cannot fight alone if I choose to hunt on my own...."  She moved to shrug, but thought better of the motion.  "I suppose I should have picked a farm with a less talented hunter tending to it."<br/><br/>"My people were of two spirits, the soul of a human but the heart of a wolf.  If you have hunted in these woods then you know that they were once full of wolves that rather bothered those that lived in the valley below."  A sadness filled her eyes, and a single tear slid along the apple of her cheek, but Audra lifted a hand to brush it away.  "A darkness came to these woods, and with it, a curse upon my pack.  My people.  My<i>family</i>.  The magic that allows us to transform into wolves also healed us and gave us great strength.  The darkness, this man with his own magic, he wanted one of my packmates for his bride and she refused.  So he cursed us to be vulnerable to mortal pain and mortal injury.  My packmates died, one by one, and I was left without them."<br/><br/>She was not sure he would believe her words, but perhaps it didn't matter.  "There is more to me than beauty.  If you wish to kill the beast, I do not blame you.  I am the last of my pack, so perhaps if you do, I will see them again..."