Ankyra Sound i aim to die

If Blixen had been heda, he might have been embarrassed by the knowledge he lacked on how it all worked.  He knew the ranks and the names of them, and he was familiar with many of Drageda's customs, having been born and raised there.  However with Wildfire's absence during nomi's leave, he had been left with more questions than answers.  No, he says bluntly, not realizing she is trying to joke with him.

I don't want to be heda,  he admits, breaking from view to sniff at a suspicious shrub while continuing to speak (and totally oblivious to the fact that this might be considered rude).  I want to be bandrona.  He looks at her again, hoping to catch her expression — Blixen's are more exaggerated and therefore easier for him to read than someone like heda.  He's hoping if he converses with her and studies her long enough that he can catch a glimpse as to how the social game works.  

He comes across a cache — not one of the ones that Caiaphas and her gang had made (at least, not this time around) but an older one, perhaps the scrape of a coyote.  If there had once been any meat in it, it'd been scavenged (and by now it would have been rotting anyway) but he still gave it a cursory sniff.