Firefly Glen [PHE] and you're just in reach

edge of Kvarsheim camp

on the trip here, she had cried once or twice. emotions that she could not explain. maybe realizing that her mother nor dusty rose would be here to witness all of this. at least, she reminded herself, she would have her sisters. that meant more than the world twice over.

she had collected as much as she could along the way. things to distract herself and give her hope. when they had come to the large gathering and their camp had been decided, she had set her things up. some plants, some bones.

petal had every intention of trading as much as she could. as learning each bit of knowledge even if it ran her ragged.

she thought she had seen someone walking by. perhaps leaving one of their own camps to go towards another gathering. regardless she was here, with her trinkets laid out, prepared to gather attention. a youthful bark escaping her.

there had been many here before the seal hunter went into the forest; there were more now, faces wreathed in grinning, laughter abounding between the camps.
his own five raced from the crowds to greet their father; he heard overjoyed tell of what they had seen already, to whom they had spoken.
and as he came up the path being quickly worn into the grass, they separated, leaving him beside a camp and a young girl with sundry goods laid out for trade.
"i greet you," chakliux said in the sunshine way, then grinned as he held out his wrap of seal fat and dried meat from the same creature. "what do you have? and who is your village? i am chakliux, first warrior to moontide."

the man who greeted her was a pillar of snow. tall and strong. pale as winter and marked by time in odd ways. for a moment her tail had gone between her ankles.

only for fear to be forgotten when he displayed a rich fat she had never smelled before. followed by a dry meat. she had not realized that maybe she had been correct in how to trade.

i am petal and this is camp kvarsheim. she had been very careful to not call it her village. i have gathered up plants along the walk from the far valley to here, if you have a healer or gardener. there are bones too. she felt oh-so-very grown up in this moment. it inspired a small sense of pride within her.

the fatty meat inspired a bit of sly behavior too. the shine of a survivalist in her determined gaze.

if i do not have what you want, i promise i can find it.

"petal of kvarsheim. i have seal fat and meat, and the bones of one flipper-foot," he told the girl, unrolling the rough skin to show her. many other moon wolves knew the way of curing, but chakliux did not mind so much.
he looked down at her things, making a great show of inspecting each item. "what will you take for this bundle of green?" he asked, inquiring after the foliage he did not know as wild ginseng. "and this little skull, will you accept meat for it?"
the herbs were for marina's thought, the bones tiny things to please tullik, he decided, not thinking she would show now that it had been some days. he pictured his mountainwife hunting in the high cliffs and smiled wistfully. "you promise? what if i wanted purple coneflower from the seaside?" chakliux teased in a good-natured way.

she admired all of it so greatly. she nearly forgot herself and her own items. the bones were so odd! she knew she must have all of it, even if she must trade away all her trinkets for it.

i will take any pieces of the seal bone you can spare and the meat for both. i can add this too... she moved to grab a patch of what looked like simple grass but — goosegrass. your healer can pack wounds with it. a show of good faith to add this on if he was willing to part with bones.

as for his question. she is determined, even if foolishly so. for any meat, i will find any thing. a promise is a promise. even if she was beginning to wonder if others understood that as well as she and her sisters did.

chakliux made the trade as gravely as he would have with any seasoned man, but his eyes shone in delight. he offered the seal-paw entire and several strips of the meat, most of it. he held back the last, and the fat.
admiring what he had gotten for the seal's offering, he took the plant and then reached back for a juddering chunk of seal fat, marbled and half-melting.
he set it in a twist of leaves beside the flesh and the bones. "petal of kvarsheim. you have made a good trade today. consider that trader-power only comes to those lucky enough to understand."
he thought of rodyn, raiyuk, taggak; he thought of himself, he who had never understood the path of trading.

all of the bones became hers —

she examined each one at once. as if she had the eye of jeweler, but they would never be for auction. this collection of bones would forever be hers.

i would like to trade with you again, she decided with a warmth that might have seemed more earnest now. before everyone goes back to their own homes. after great beasts had fell and been broken down.

she knew this man would have more bones or meat that she'd want.

"we will trade again. perhaps after the hunt i will have something more." a smile given, he stepped back. "good day, trader of kvarsheim." 
offering a wave of his tail, chakliux intended to depart, happy with his things. he did not think to stay, but paused in case she wished to speak. their meet boded well for moontide and kvarsheim, he felt. @Rodyn would be informed when he returned to their camp of kvarsheim's warmth to exchange.

if he looked back, he might see the disappointment she felt at having to let him go. yet she tried to reason with herself. that she would see and trade with him again was good enough.

she too would tell everyone all about the hunting trader of moontide. especially her sisters who might be first to witness the shine of the seal bones.