Streaks of pure, white breath circled the air as Ashe walked toward the tall boulder, longing to go on the long forbidden runs now that she was leader. The snow crunched crisply under her feet, leaving marks that looked purposely etched. Ashe sighed and looked around the forest. No one was watching. She could climb the boulder and quickly have a glance of fresh sky, maybe hunt a bird or two. She searched for staring eyes but fond none. Looking intensely at the smooth surface, she leaped on the stone, making a muffled thump. Lifting her feet carefully, she scanned the blue sky for any movement. She saw a flash of mixed brown that circled around a pine, chirping gleefully at the sight of worms. Digging her fingers in her bow, she took a glistening arrow from her quiver and aimed the bird. With a flash of steel, it was dead. Pleased with her kill she took the bird and yanked the arrow out of it. "Nice kill" Ashe whipped around and saw a tall, slender man standing below her shadow. She couldn't recognized his face and was tensing her legs to run away. "Wait! Please don't go!" he pleaded. Ashe stopped and glanced at him. He had chocolaty brown hair and hazel sharp eyes that had a glint of curiosity in them. "What do you want?" she growled.

"I-I want to know what it's like." He said sheepishly. Ashe eyed him smugly, but then quickly pulled a formal face. "Know what?"

"You know, what it is like being in a tribe, what you do to your prey, what's your name, are you-"he just stopped himself saying are you single? Ashe glared at him, turned away from the sun. "I don't answer questions from a stranger-"

"By the way, the name's Dart" he interrupted, leaving her full of anger. Tensing her legs once again, she heard a frustrated yell. "Ashe! Stay away from that barbarian!" Ashe quickly glanced down, noticing that Dart was gone. Frustrated and dazed, she slid of the boulder and walked with her brother.

Kinjou glared at her the way to the village. "What were you thinking, talking to an outsider?"

"He talked to me first!" she said, her eyes still cloudy with daze. Kinjou ruffled her hair. "You're still leader of the tribe, and you still have common sense, noogie tree." He said affectingly. Ashe's eyes were still unfocused, and her brother had to kick her to get her attention. "Now, get up there like a leader." He pointed sternly to the bamboo house on the steep hill. "But I hate it there! It's so hot and smelly." She said. "And I have to give orders to tribe members with so-called problems" Kinjou gave her a glare and she hurried up the path, casting an angered look at him.

Ashe studied the frost on the window glancing at her visitor once in a while. She sighed at the endless chatting, touching her glistening bow. "And then-"the visitor wept mournfully "Glinta got hit by the avalanche, I tried to help her, but Enguin held me back, forcing me-" Ashe burst out of the chair, her eyes wild with stun. The visitor sat on the floor. "Please forgive me"

"You let Glinta die?" she yelled. Her eyes burst into tears. "How could you. She's my only sister, and she's my only scrap of mother! How could you!" she buried her face in her hands, letting her hood droop over her head. Kinjou burst in the door frame, his eyes fixed on the visitor. "What did you-"

"I'm sorry! Please, I didn't know she would get this upset" the visitor pleaded. Kinjou's eyes softened at the sight of Ashe. "Ashe I'm really sorry." He touched her back. "Everyone dies, and has their chance to live." Ashe looked through her fingers, staring at Kinjou like he was a god. "It's okay" he said. Ashe was about to believe that when a sharp spear crashed out of the window.