Blacktail Deer Plateau Ullaaq

issorartuyok. asperas mouthed the syllables, over and over, intrigued by the foreign feel of it on her tongue. head tilted once again, ears tall and attentive, she watched the stranger carefully.
then he returned the question, and the spiderling's ears fell, brow furrowed with immediate consternation. something like pain but not quite like it burst through the walls of her chest, wrapped itself round her ribcage and made its home as if it had been invited. asperas clenched her jaw and ignored the unwelcome sensation.
i don't know, she told issorartuyok of the north, and knew it to be true in the instant it passed her lips. her father, who seemed to know a great deal more about the bearberry than she herself did, seemed to give her a new title by the day. were they all her? or none of them? asperas knew only one thing with certainty. i hear. spirits. she looked to silvertip, pointedly, then to issorartuyok of the north. perhaps he would know her now.