Big Salmon Lake to the fall

When it came to the lay of the land, Mordecai had really never ventured too far out into the wilds. In truth, his time in the broad swath of wilderness had not been as fruitful in exploration as he had hoped it to be. Since the day he had decided to take a venture and join Jinx, he had found himself sticking close to the pack rather than wandering too far away. But the desire to meander still remained, however blanketed and mute he had forced it to be. Perhaps it was a late mark of maturity to put the priorities of others before himself, but Mordecai really had not put a lot of thought into the reason of why. Nor did he consider that exceptions often became the rule, as he had made the exception to settle for an undetermined amount of time and in turn, found himself rewarded with tenure and rank.

But out there, none of that really mattered. “Sinaaq? That's an interesting name. It's from a northern tongue, right?” He found himself caught off guard as the darkly-coated male introduced himself. It struck him like a bolt from the blue, as a memory if nothing else. Not of this fellow, no, but the very name itself rang closely to the tongue his mother had spoken in from time to time. “I'm sorry, I can be nosy. I'm Mordecai,” he offered, with an apologetic yet dismissive shake of his head. While he wasn't one to pry about the whereabouts of anyone, the nicety of it went out the window went it came to his curiosity.

For a little while more, the two chatted before going on their separate ways.