He was as lost as ever.

There had been no sign of caribou to track or study, here. The chance to collect novel sorts of plants came and went, and there was little now to impress Raiyuk about this expanse.

Homesickness had wormed its way under his skin. Travel was all he had desired of his life: to explore, learn, and trade; and now something new tugged at his psyche. What would it be like to make camp somewhere and stay put, for a change?

Instead, he meandered until the interlaced scents of his own kind became prevalent. The winter hare he'd butchered earlier in the season had been refurbished into a small pouch, and with this he hoped to carry his various finds around the known world.

It was not long before he was found, and that was fortunate. Oftentimes Raiyuk would come upon a camp and find it deserted; he had yet to make any real connections despite his time in this place, and with this new life afforded to him.

The woman was a spectacle: clad in rich reds and golds, moving in a way that was fluid rather than forceful. She didn't dance towards him exactly, but he thought how quick and certain she was upon this mountain, and likened it to a seal-hunter in the water.

I greet you! I am Raiyuk. I come from— ah, and this is where he faltered for only a moment, because he had not done this in a very long time. Captivated as he was by present company, he was suddenly at a loss for how to explain himself. Well, nowhere, I suppose. But I am a seal hunter, and a collector of things. He presents the rabbit skin bag, next.

I wonder if the lady might like a gift? Or know of someone interested in trade. I do not have much right now, but... I am a capable man. Raiyuk grinned, and his head bowed as he took the various accoutrement from the pouch: sprigs of dried flowers; a small cluster of herbs he could not name; the spine bones of a raven which could serve as dice; lastly, a piece of raw goldstone, which itself looked like red marble striated by white like muscle.

He thought himself fairly straight-forward and the explanation plain, but the woman did not know of seals or the traditions around them, and why should she? She was a creature of the highlands at the very least. Taller things, the towering mountains, were far from the ocean and the ice—Raiyuk was not bothered by the question, and was preparing to answer when she motioned to the stone.

He moved to fetch it for her, to display it with care a little bit closer, all the while saying: We are a people of cold places, where there is ocean tide and ice, commonly. We are taught from boyhood to swim well, dive far, and chase the seals that live beneath the ice.

The stone was not much to look at for Raiyuk, who only collected it because of how odd it appeared. He thought it could be a piece of something petrified. It was a trinket to him, and held only a casual sort of value. I would give you the stone if I knew who the gift was for, he answered her, seeking information since he was a peddler of more than mere objects.

I have not been to the mountains before, I know very little about them.

She would not give her name? An odd game this had become.

Instead she offered to show him the mountain. Raiyuk was pleased to have company regardless, and thrilled now to learn something at all, so he was eager to answer, That is a fine trade! I accept. But he would not move, not to be the first to take action, as that might crowd the woman or make her uncomfortable.

He tucked his other items back in to the carrying bladder, and when he was finished and she was ready to show him around, he was content to follow.