Sawtooth Spire sunlight

He moved aside, and then matched her strides as she passed over the invisible boundary denoting his land from the wilderness. Although the terms he used were new to her, the relationship of dominant-to-submissive was not, and relaxation came easily as she walked alongside him up the mountain's lower reaches. She knew how to conduct herself around those with power - having adapted to living among her own people years ago - and while she did not like being at the bottom again, Ikkuma knew sacrifices were inevitable when starting over.

Just as she knew his question was inevitable. Perhaps she had anticipatd it earlier, thinking he might require more details before accepting her among the ranks of Sagtannet - so some of what she said next sounded rehearsed.

I am a ranger first, a warrior second, and an apt hunter. Most of my life has been spent alone, but for the past few years I was living in a bay-area pack. With the season turning everyone lovesick, I was seen as a threat and driven out by the other women. There was no emotion to her tale. It did not wound her as it might have wounded others. Ikkuma had expected it to a point; except that it had not been the alpha female who had driven her out, but the others banded together. Rather than fight them Ikkuma had dispersed.

The woman glanced to the swarthy eisen as she finished her script, adding more genially:
Will I have the same problem here?