:Okay.: 

She goes behind a tree and strips and changes, then gallops back in the direction of the basilisk. 

It still tastes utterly terrible. But she can distract herself by puzzling out how to get all the bones out and preserve more rather than less of the structural integrity of the hide. And it's easier to stand the amount of uch from slurping flesh off a bone than from just taking a great big bite. 

This takes her a few hours, but it's still well shy of dawn when she finishes. She collects the hide and the bones and heads back to the new campsite, keeping an eye out for any of the creatures Savil mentioned as human-edible. 

If her sense of smell is good enough, she might find a nest of the squirrel-creatures, asleep in the crook of a tree. 

Oh nooooo they're so little and asleep. ...She decides to keep looking. 

Eventually she startles a deer-looking animal into bolting out of a bush. 

She's faster. 

She snaps its neck and then makes her way swiftly and quietly the rest of the way back to camp. 

It's still dark with just a faint pearly glow on the horizon, and the humans are all fast asleep, but one of the white horses rises gracefully when she arrives. 

:Lucy: A voice in her mind that feels somehow different from the humans' Mindspeech, brighter and giving the impression of flashing blue light and ringing steel. :I wanted to thank you. For what you said - did - want to do, for my Chosen: 

:Whoah you're a person??? Is the other horse a person too? Sorry! I didn't mean to ignore you.:

A chuckle in her mind, bizarrely reminiscent of roasting chestnuts. :Please, it’s all right. We generally don’t talk directly to people other than our Heralds. But...: she hesitates, :well, I do a lot of things I’m not really meant to. Especially where Vanyel is concerned:

The care and love and concern she feels for Vanyel is incredibly loud in her mindvoice. 

:I like him. He's good. I want him to not have to be so sad.:

:...So do I: Large blue eyes stare into hers. :So, so badly: 

She tosses her head. :You know, what Savil said is true. He seems to like you. And it’s not often he trusts people at all, much less within a day. I don’t know what to make of it:

:Maybe it's because I told him about how I accidentally killed my mom.:

:Huh: Yfandes just seems bemused at first, then ponderously nods. :I...could see it. Sometimes he doesn't want comfort, and it's hard to know what to do. But...that might do it. Knowing that you can understand what it's like to lose something irreplaceable: She steps delicately closer, nudges her muzzle against Lucy's shoulder. :And, I'm sorry: 

:I'm not ongoingly always sad about it. I miss her but it doesn't hurt as much. But it's not okay and I won't pretend it is.: Lucy tentatively pets Yfandes' mane with a tentacle. 

Yfandes likes being petted! A lot! She prances closer and turns her head so Lucy can reach her mane more easily. 

Oooh pet pet pet. Lucy can give so many pets. Having lots of prehensile tentacles is good for that. 

:What other kinds of people are there that don't look like humans? I assume if basilisks or wyrsa were that someone would have told me...:

:No! Basilisks are, well, they barely have minds. Wyrsa are smarter, enough to be dangerous, but still only around as clever as a dog – do you have dogs in your world? Anyway, there are other races that are as smart as people. Hertasi are one, they look like this: Yfandes sends over a mental images, a lizard-like creature standing on its hind legs, obvious intelligence in its beady dark eyes. :They live with the Tayledras, Starwind and Moondance's people. Hmm. There are also dyheli: an image of a deer-like creature with a high domed forehead and front-facing eyes, :they live in the Pelagirs so we may see some. And tervardi: something that looks like a large, delicate bird, :though we probably won't see them. That's all the species I know of. There may be more I haven't: 

:Okay. I probably won't run into any you've never even heard of. I'm really glad I didn't accidentally kill a dyheli before you guys found us. Oh, and yes, we have dogs.:

The sun is just barely up now, and the humans start to stir. Moondance is the first one awake – he carefully disentangles himself from Starwind without waking him, stretches, and wanders over. :Bright the day: 

By this time, Lucy has shifted back to human form. 

:Hi! I cleaned all the bones, and I put the hide somewhere downwind. Thank you for finding me before I accidentally killed a dyheli.:

He blinks at her. :...Oh, I see, did Yfandes tell you about the dyheli?: A smile. :I am also glad that we found you. For many reasons, now: He glimpses the dead deer-creature. :Oh! Did you have a successful hunt? I did not know you were planning one: 

Nod. :Vanyel was having trouble eating so I said I would hunt something so I could re-cook the tough food in fat so it would be softer and more energy-dense. I didn't know Yfandes and Kellan were people but Yfandes came to talk to me and I wanted to know what else was people but not human-shaped so I wouldn't kill anyone by accident.:

:How good of you! Convincing our young one to eat is a neverending trial: He glances around. :Would you like to cook it now, or tonight? We will likely not break camp for another several candlemarks: 

:Now's fine. I would have done it during the night except Wilbur has our flint and steel and I didn't wanna wake anyone.:

:Oh! You needs not wait – I might relight the fire for you with my magic: He looks around. :Though we are short on firewood: 

:Oh! I can fix that!: She runs off into the trees and comes back a few minutes later with an array of fallen branches. :I assumed you guys would have some way to light a fire but I didn't know if it would be magic or more flint.: