Herbalists' Cache to tell of joys in storms

Protection. Stored within those dewclaws and tufts of caribou fur.

Had she believed it when she first saw those Saatsine dewclaws? Perhaps she had, perhaps she had not. But the safe delivery of Star Eater's pups had made her grateful to those unseen spirits that shielded the little ones from harm. She did not know how much she could trust the caribou man, but she could trust his faith.

Ice raven, white raven. Words she understood, but some things she understood not. Saatsine customs were both foreign and familiar, deriving from the nomadic way of Lanzadoii, following their neverending chase of the caribou and blessings they brought upon them. Muradoii - she had heard of the Muradoii, through nervous whispers and occasional tales drifting from here to there. Brutal slavers, she had heard, seal hunters with hearts honed for combat and bloodlust. But this was the first she had heard of the Sharadoii. Valley hunters... familiar, but also a little out of reach of her mind.

Sivaak, the Muradoii woman. Sun Eater, the Lanzadoii man. No Sharadoii... yet.

Breath curled into wisps, words settled into silence. Muradoii and Sharadoii were unfamiliar to her, and so it was now that the chieftain introduced her to their ways, quite alike yet very different from the Lanzadoii. Perhaps the talking was to pass time, perhaps to ground the mind in reality. But the knowledge that Sun Eater gave now was precious as much as it was intriguing to her.

We did not have such groups back home, she remarked. We youths left our families to find survival elsewhere. Only names, no bloodlines. A pause. Sharadoii, Muradoii, Lanzadoii. How interesting.