Mira's POV
The gates slam shut and the sound echoes through her bones like a death knell.
Mira stands alone in the Northern Hunting Grounds wearing nothing but thin clothes and carrying a single knife. The forest stretches endlessly in every direction. Dense trees. Rocky terrain. Shadows that move when she is not looking at them.
This is where her parents died.
She forces herself to breathe and start walking. Stopping means panic. Panic means death. Movement means survival, or at least the illusion of it.
The first day is about learning.
She tries to shift into her wolf form but the pain in her burned paws is unbearable. So she stays human and learns what humans know. How to move quietly through the forest. How to listen for sounds that mean danger. How to smell the air and understand what it is telling her.
By noon her stomach is screaming.
