She flinches away from the touch. She still doesn't quite trust herself to not try to eat these people—especially given that the alternative seems to be broth—and doesn't want to push it with touching.

Eep! Okay! No touching!! Even if she absolutely looks like she desperately needs a hug. Poor thing. Helena will just... give her space, then. Go busy herself with camp related activities.

And the nameless ex-wolf will... "eat" this... they call this food??? Is that why humans are so frail and weak, would they be stronger and more interesting to hunt if they ate better? Is she going to have to teach these people how to hunt? Wait, they don't have claws or teeth. She supposes that'd explain it, but...

The stew is strange, and there's barely any meat in it.

... but.

There's a nice flavor to it, and there are these... pleasantly mushy things? That are not meat, but filling all the same. And other things with a nice crunch to them. It's... kind of good??

That's. Bizarre? This tastes... almost better than the boar? The boar tasted a lot worse than it used to but this is. Different? There's more?

She's. Kind of confused. She wishes she remembered more of the last time she was a human.

Well, there's enough stew to fill her up. So. Maybe that's enough? For this weak not-wolf form?? It's hard to tell at this instance, but. Well, it was at least interesting to eat, which is more than a lot of other things could say.

Soon enough, she is given a bundle of cloth by an embarrassed man with averted eyes, who then shuffles off without any kind of explanation.

She already has blankets. Why are they giving her more blankets? Are normal weak humans cold all the time? Is that why they're always bundled up in fabric and furs, even here inside this strange cloth building where it's honestly kind of toasty? She's not sure what to do with all this and she feels like she should... show teeth... to express her gratitude. Even though she doesn't feel thankful. And also now he's already gone so she has no one to show gratitude to.

You know what this is? This is too long of feeling disoriented and confused. She needs to figure out how to use words right this instant and she needs to stop spending so much time in her head about how everything's changed. Deal with it, everything's changed, maybe she could wolf back if she tried but right now she's decided she's not going to so she needs to stop comparing everything to how it was when she was a wolf and accept her new reality head-on.

She starts practising mouth sounds quietly under her breath.

Mouth sounds: are super, super tricky, actually!

There's still conversation going on outside. It's even not about her. They're discussing plans for chopping down more trees, and how many more they'll need to complete the log wall around the camp. It seems it'll just be a couple more days until they finish it; they're talking about what they'll do after that, too. Apparently they want to remove the stumps, and then... plant things? Potatoes seems to be the one they all want to get planted sooner rather than later, but other crops are also mentioned. Carrots. Turnips. Onions. Garlic, too, though that one doesn't seem to be primarily for eating. The man who was fretting about it doesn't explain his reasoning, but the other humans do all agree that is is very important and they definitely need more of it.

Paying attention to the conversation will probably be useful, too. She can try mimicking words by trying things with her lips and tongue and throat until she finds something sufficiently similar, and the strange unreliable muscle memory she seems to have is helping a bit, too.

It's tricky! But she has time to figure it out.

Now the humans are figuring out 'watches'. Which seems to be some of them stay up to make sure nothing comes after them in the night, while others get some sleep. But in an organized fashion, so that everyone does get to rest, and they always have someone watching out for them. Apparently they'd had a system before, but... something... changed? Oh. Someone got injured, and someone else needs to take over for them. But it's not clear who, yet. And it's a middle watch, which is apparently disfavored for... some reason. It's not clear yet.

She could help with that!

...but she shouldn't. She... thinks it's probably not a good idea to tell these people that she is a lot stronger than them? Especially if she lets on that she used to, um, eat them? Especially especially if she needs to partially wolf to be properly strong, she does not want to partially wolf around these people. So... she's not going to help.

The nameless, useless ex-wolf keeps practising her words.

They mostly don't seem to expect her to help tonight, anyway! Eventually they'll want her help with things, but the general opinion is that she is allowed to have this one, first night, entirely to herself.

Eventually, the humans all settle down to sleep, except for the one who is keeping watch. It is quiet and still, and if she keeps practicing her words, they might be noticed.

Yeah it's fine if they're noticed, it's already clear that she's been having trouble speaking so it's not like that betrays any information (is it?).

Well, as long as it's kept under her breath, and isn't loud enough to disturb the people around her who are trying to sleep, she's entirely free to continue her practice.

... The camp will be quiet for a while, though. The nights are long, in this land.

She will eventually take a nap, but she's used to her wolf form's crepuscular sleep schedule so she'll be back up in the morning.

By then, other people are up, too. They are bustling around, handling various morning chores. There will be more food, apparently, but there are also various people heading off to gather water and check traps and clean up the camp and whatnot. The food seems to require preparation? Involving slicing it apart with their not-claws and burning it over a fire or adding water to it or... something.

No one has come to check on her yet, but someone likely will eventually.

And when they do she will do her best at imitating the good kind of showing teeth and say, "Good morning!" in what she hopes sounds cheerful and not forced. It's a bit slurred, the "g" sounds kind of raspy and the "ng" kind of wet, but it's probably understandable.

It's someone she recognizes! Helena, apparently.

She brightens upon hearing a greeting. "Good morning! I see you're feeling... oh, uh, you. Those clothes are yours, you know, you don't have to..."

Helena waves vaguely at the woman's very naked form.

Clothes, clothes, those are... oh! "That is not wanted, I am warm," she says, and a beat later she adds a "Thank you!" She's sure that's not how you'd say what she means but she's having enough trouble remembering the words themselves and basic sentence structure, trying to sound natural will be for later.

".... It's, uh. Normal for everybody to wear clothes, even if it's warm. Did. Did you not before...? Oh, nevermind, I don't need to know, it's okay."

The woman sounds... sad? Distressed? "Are you upset?"

"Uhm. In general, no, but. I think you must have been through a lot of terrible things, and the more I learn about you the more apparent it is that you've been treated very badly. Which is upsetting. You're allowed to wear clothes."

...allowed? "I am confused," she says, slowly. "'Allowed'? I know word, but..."

Helena has absolutely no idea how to explain. She makes a despairing face, and instead decides to go with: "Do you need help putting everything on, then? If you don't... have practice??"