a cloak of pure white foxfur now swathed her slender shoulders. agrippina had somehow become a mountainous sort of noble; as her springbright eyes gazed out over the wildly proud expanse of snow emphasized by high ridges and sharp peaks, she did not know how she had come so far from the island.
a slight look of satisfaction turned agrippina's face to gold, tilted to catch the light of afternoon before sure paws began to carry her down to a lower elevation in search of prey.

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.

agrippina did not find herself alone, curiously enough. he was a tall stranger carrying oceanic ice in his wake, with odd, purposeful scars which caught the light as he moved. he carried rabbit-skin in a similar manner to her own, and she moved to intercept him on graceful red-gold legs.
here upon the mountain she had found confidence, and it was in her eyes as she set them upon the man. handsome, more than agrippina would have wanted to admit in regards to a perfect stranger. you have found northfall, came her soft revelation, domain of queen wardruna.
how had he come by these scars? who had made them?
what do you seek? her voice was shaped by careful arrangement, but agrippina's gaze was pointedly unbound.

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.

innately suspicious, this flattering man who suddenly offered gifts. she watched in solemn silence as he turned out blooms, dust-green leaves, small white bones, and -- that last, a piece of rock which looked hewn from muscle.
that, abruptly, agrippina coveted above all else, and stilled her face lest this man see. closer, he was even more striking for those scars, which did not quite fit her idea of how a hunter might appear.
a smile. she did not move to take that piece of pretty earth.
what is a seal hunter? and what do you want for it? asked the northfall woman instead, gesturing with a graceful paw toward the stone. everything had a price -- she would not be caught beholden.
but a smile played across the roman's mouth. his confidence was charming, his direct nature a refreshing interest to a woman grown lonely.

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.

raiyuk spoke of himself and from where he had come, describing places which agrippina could only imagine. he could not know that once she had been exiled to an island so small that she traveled its length twice a day -- he could not know that she hated the sea.
slowly she realized it was why the mountains appealed at all.
her eyes were thoughtful. keen. did he mean to flatter? a successful gambit then, to be offered a treasure in place of her name. i will not trade for my name, she said at last, wind rising to scuff at her shoulders, at the pelt.
then at his scars.
a little amused look came to her face. i must give you something of value in trade. so -- come with me. i will show you this mountain, for the stone. did he agree? it had become a sort of game.

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.