Big Salmon Lake with a pocket of high

unlike the man before her, Aglæca had no distinct aspirations of being in a pack, no need for companionship besides what the world offered her. she had never had the benefit of being close to someone, didn't understand that kind of companionship. her family had not wanted her, the nomads that took her in were all killed. the closest thing that she had to a close relationship had been Zephyr and Chusi, the former of which had liked her in a way she could not quite understand. but they were gone now, and the woman's world was one without the kind of Family the man spoke of. 

thus, the words the man spoke were odd. the nomads had been a group, yet individual- members came and went, and while they contributed, no lofty expectations were made. they existed, they were one, they lived in a kind of happy peace with one another. was that not enough?

"A Family rules you? You must...offer yourself, to this family?" she shrunk back from him as he did from her, yet her face did not show it, not quite understanding how this worked. the thought of offering herself, the mind and body that had always been hers, to another, unnerved her.