Sawtooth Spire sunlight

her pride returned, and mahler listened to the tone of her voice as she gave her name. ikkuma. it put him in mind of takiyok, the pack she had helped to lead once, before he, before stigmata, before diaspora. and the thought rankled him, but he focused his attentions upon the newcomer before him.
"tell me something of yourself, ikkuma," mahler invited, stepping aside so she might cross the border and find a rocky trail upward. in this season, the eisen was more welcoming to female joiners. it was not that he wished to add more children to the balance of his plate, but that a rank occupied by a woman meant one less male in sagtannet that might need the persuasion of fangs to stand down.
silently he waited, legs prepared to move alongside the fierce woman if she so chose to move into the territory.