San, an orphan child adopted by wolves, proceeds to the bottom of the cliffs to tend to her wounded "mother", the goddess Moro, a gigantic white wolf. As San approaches, Moro stands up, revealing a gaping red bullet hole in her shoulder. San examines the wound (Moro is so large that her shoulder is at face-height), then grabs the fur around it and begins to clean the would by sucking out blood and dirt and spitting it into the river. While she's doing this, Moro begins growling, because she has spotted Ashitaka hiding nearby.
San turns away from the wound to see what Moro is growling about, and comes face to face with Ashitaka for the first time. For a long moment she stands there, stunned, her mouth full of wolf blood.
