Tala smiled again, finding her spirits were much lifted by just a few bites of food in her stomach, and the proper realization that she was in a new land. ”I suppose it was more of the staring part.” She said, it was almost teasing though she still had the patent awkwardness that most of her social interactions outside of her clan had. ”Not a fan of false courtesy myself. Nor am I any good at it.” She added. ”What’s the point in not meaning what you say?” She gave a little shrug to mark her point, though under all her layers the movement only caused a little rustle of the reindeer pelts on her shoulders.
She let her eyes wander up to look at the man head on again. He seemed like an awfully depressed individual. Tala hated offering sympathy, she wasn’t good at it at all, and so it wasn’t the route she would pick. Still, her clan placed high value on reciprocity, and the man had given her a meal, and she kind of felt guilty for not being a compassionate person. Clearly the sister must be on his mind. ”Where I come from, we each carve a bead out of the shed antlers of our reindeer whenever a clan member dies, and save it in a little wooden box.” She had her own such box buried in the bottom of her pack, ”On the longest day of the year we braid the beads into our hair and spend the day storytelling of those we lost.” Her words sounded out of place again, it was clear enough that she wasn’t used to discussing anything even remotely emotional with a stranger. The longest day’s event was not solemn in any way, and was indeed quite celebratory. ”Are there traditions here, to honor those you lose?” She asked, somewhat hesitantly. It was probably pretty clear that she was well outside of her wheelhouse, but she was trying her best.
Tala
there's a world that was meant for us to see
