Brace for a long post! @ Undefined: I'm the master of long "essay" posts so don't worry about your own!

The English version of volume 2 of the light novel, which those episodes were based on, has several context points. Shortly before Holo mentions that she "can forgive the pride of a youngster," she somewhat sarcastically replies to Lawrence's statement that they'd been betrayed by saying she did not think he'd fallen to get muddy and injured. This flows into the next part of the scene where Holo's anger over being betrayed after having to appease the other wolf's pride.

When Lawrence sees the mud on her knees, he thinks that there are only a few possibilities for how Holo had to act and why. He believes the wolf challenged Holo as part of a territorial dispute. He thinks that a wisewolf would never stumble and dirty her knees. Lawrence's own thoughts do not in any way suggest something sexual and the writing bring attention to both the other wolf's pride, Holo's own pride and Holo mentions both that she acted to end the matter peacefully and that she returned to Lawrence quickly.

Holo apparently notices that Lawrence is concerned and she brushes aside what she had to do, saying "that was all well and good. I am Holo the Wisewolf. If I am made to act like a mere dog, I - I shall still not be angry." After that, Lawrence's own thoughts mention her humiliation at having to dirty her knees and act like a dog. He thinks about "any number of awful appearances that might have been forced on her." He thinks about appearances and not acts, about humiliation and not degradation. At least for Lawrence, I don't think he believed that she'd have to have sex with the other wolf.

Plus Holo mentions that she only acted the way she did because she thought it would quickly reunite her with Lawrence and that if she didn't, the whole plan to smuggle the gold might fail and she wouldn't be able to travel with Lawrence anymore. While I could see Holo being willing to do some pretty severe things to keep traveling with him, I think she would have told Lawrence what happened if she'd had to do more than humilate herself. In the first book, Lawrence fears that Holo has been victimized during her time as a prisoner, so it's not like he's unable to consider this possibility. (In that case, her unhappiness was due to embarrassment because when the rescuers came for her, she thought at first that it was Lawrence himself and apparently said things not meant for other ears!)

Given the way the scene is described and talked about, the context and how Lawrence reacts, I think what Holo had to do was BEG. I think she had to get on her knees and beg the younger upstart wolf to let her have safe passage through his woods. Even worse, she was made to beg like a dog would!

I honestly think Holo would have been clearer if she'd been made to do something sexual and also much angrier. Also, if she had mated with the wolf, why would she still talk of her fear of loneliness? Being willing to mate isn't exactly impersonal and wolves have more female-centric mating processes. The alpha female is usually the dominate one and the male will bow to her! While wolves don't actually mate for life, long-term pair bonding is pretty common. While Holo might prefer Lawrence over some upstart young wolf, she might very well have a place to go back to if she had mated with the wolf. Her continued fear of loneliness, I think, provides additonal proof.

Finally, there is no mention of her clothes being in particularly bad shape or muddy with the exception of the knees. There are only so many ways Holo could avoid that evidence of a sex act and why would the male wolf have wanted her to? The male wolf wanted to assert dominance over Holo and force her to not only accept that he was in the position of power but to beg him for permission to be in his territory and to allow her companions to go. He wasn't interested in mating, he was interested in her supplication. He wanted Holo to admit he was greater than her.

The context of the scenes can suggest the sexual interpretation but really it's strictly about pride and pride alone. Holo is a very proud wisewolf but she's willing to sacrifice her pride for Lawrence's sake. This is why she's so infuriated by the betrayal, because she willingly chose to beg like a dog for permission to be in those woods, not for herself but for Lawrence. Then she finds him injured and betrayed yet protecting her clothes! She had just humiliated herself for him and here he was cold and wet and muddy and bloody, protecting her clothes for her. (If she wasn't already in love with him, that probably tipped the scales so to speak!)

Had she truly been forced to do something more than merely beg like a dog, I think she'd have followed up her revenge on the company with a little bit of wolf beatdown. She didn't have to go back and punish the wolf because in the end, she had done only what she had to do to facilitate the smuggling and she got to stay with Lawrence. Had she done more than willingly sacrifice her pride, I think she'd have wanted a little revenge on the wolf too.

Also, there's an air of flirtiness and normality in how Holo acts when she returns to Lawrence as well as her intense anger at being betrayed by their partner in the smuggling. She's acting too normal in my opinion for there to have been more than just humilating begging. Although Holo is less sexually inhibited than the average human, she's not someone who'd treat sex under those circumstances as nothing and certainly not with an upstart wolf she didn't know and didn't life. Holo's an alpha female!

Sorry for the long post but having also at one time thought Holo might have done more than just beg, I've thought about the scene and the issue a bit. I wasn't sure initially if she just begged on her knees or did more but I'm convinced now that she only had to beg like a dog. (Imagine Holo the Wisewolf, on her knees, begging like a trained dog. Now imagine just how humiliating that would be for her and how pleasing to a prideful upstart wolf. I'm sure she was made to beg like a trained puppy and that alone. Anything more and she'd have wanted to kill the wolf too.)

Looks like I came late to the party. Anyway, since the forced-mating theory has been effectively, this has of course led me to wonder something I'd forgotten. (Totally diverting the thread, topic change go!)

So we see a second Wisewolf in the fur, or at least, we assume that he's a Wisewolf. Who exactly is he? Or rather, where did he come from? Holo apparently doesn't know him, so he isn't from Yoitsu. He also apparently hasn't heard of her, so he isn't related to anyone from Yoitsu, i.e. he isn't the son of one of her friends. That leads me to believe that there are other forests where Wisewolves live, and in fact other communities of Wisewolves. No surprise, since Diane is the bird equivalent of a Wisewolf (Wisebird?), and in volume 4 there is evidence to suggest Wisesnakes too.

Since there are so many Wise-communities out there, I wonder why (so far) we haven't seen Holo consider joining any of them. She hasn't gone back to the young wolf's territory to ask around, though that's probably because of a deep disdain, and also to move along the story. They've also traveled a significant distance from there. True, there are still 10 more uncovered volumes, so there's still plenty of time to see how things go. It certainly leaves room for more story material.

(To clarify, six volumes of the light novels have been covered in the anime. The plot of volumes 1-3 and 5 have been covered in the anime, as have others. Episode 7 of season 1, and episode 0 and other episodes in season 2 cover side-stories that Isuna-sensei wrote that were later compiled into volumes of the light novels series. I believe the non-linear stories were compiled into volume 11, with several others still not compiled but supposedly slated for novelization in what would be volume 18.)

The assumption about the two knowing each other is a general one, but I think a safe one. During the Middle Ages, communities were generally small and close-knit, so it wouldn't be unreasonable that they would know of each other at the very least. You did make me realize that since he was younger (probably by centuries, in fact), he would have been born long after Holo and her friends left Yoitsu. So you're right, it's quite likely that he may never have heard of her.

I'm using the Wise-____ as a basic template. You're right in that the name is one Holo and her friends have given themselves, but without anything else to go by, I don't know how the others refer to themselves. Diane and the giant snake probably call themselves something different, but Wisebird/-snake is just easier

New input: I got the first four Manga volumes in the mail today. However I want to read them in sequence and haven't gotten to the forest scene yet. When I do, I may have some additional info on this topic.

I genuinely hope it's the "bowing only" alternative. We'll see.

On a related topic I have a new question that also may be answered in the Manga. In the anime series, did they ever actually show or suggest that Lawrence and Holo finally did sleep together? I know that in one scene she teasingly suggested it, then said "But not now. First, I want..."

After that I watched closely but didn't notice indications. There was that time that Eve jokingly told them to "keep it down" in their room (and Holo stomped his foot), however she could have been talking about their constant loud arguing.

Any ideas? A separate thread, maybe?