The new entity was back. But now he was awake, and was better able to understand her. Or perhaps what had occurred was that her intrusion had brought him to focus more on this brief interlude of his dream, so that in a sense he was less awake than he had been. Nevertheless, he knew that this one was a shaman, as he had been before he merged into the forest dream. 

She had her own dream, her own essence, and it had been strong enough to draw him out of his sleep. She had opened herself to the forest again, and as before her dream was blending with his forest dream. But now she too was awake in a way she had not been the first time, and was seeking him. So he prepared to meet her.

Dema walked on, letting the dream guide her. Presently she smelled wood smoke, and followed it to its source. It was a small campfire, and a man dressed like a hunter was squatting by it, roasting a small animal on a spit. He was a big man, with dark blond hair and beard. When she approached he looked up at her casually as if he had been expecting her, and she saw that he had dark gray eyes, and there was a friendly twinkle in them.

He stood and offered her his hand. "My name is Peter Olafsson," he said, in a rather deep, somewhat gruff voice.

She accepted the handshake and said, "Dema Culver. What are you cooking there? It smells delicious!"

"It's just a small rabbit. I couldn't welcome you into my forest without offering you sustenance, and he did not object." 

Peter took the rabbit off the fire and offered her a haunch. Dema blew on the meat to cool it, then bit through the crust and into the tender flesh. It was delicious. She hadn't realized how hungry she had become, but it made sense. She had been starving herself for days in a fruitless attempt to reduce her body mass. 

If anything, that had probably made it worse, because her body then welcomed the alternate source. But the added mass had provided no sustenance. Digestion, she realized, is a form of introduction and acceptance, at the cellular and molecular level, and through that process the rabbit meat would surrender its association with the forest, and truly become part of her body, as the accretions drawn to her forest essence had not.

Peter had taken a bite of the other haunch, then set it aside. He watched her, looking slightly bemused at her enthusiasm. Especially when she reached over and picked up the haunch he had put down, and with an exchange of glances to secure his permission, devoured it as well.