Honeyed Pasture ◊

elk charm was being followed.
the life of a sharadoii woman was defined by men. a passive patriarchy, if she would be allowed to call it so. men hunted the glacier, and sometimes they crossed it to run with the lanzadoii caribou hunters for a time. but their wives did not follow, and certainly not their daughters.
sharadoii women were far too fair for the muddy eyes of those wild men.
their deep green valley with its sure-footed sheep and the wooden-homes; yes. it was where she had stayed, waiting to help the women butcher what the men brought back on return.
but there was no father here, no mother. no wooden-home. only elk charm in the open air and a stranger behind her. blood bear had acted like that — once. more than once.
she walked faster, blood pounding in her ears.