Neve walked back into the leopard village with red linen under one arm, a container of salt under the other and the mark of an unknown person sitting warm around his neck.
Everyone looked at him.
That part was now familiar to him. What he wasn't expecting was how different the look felt this time. Not the suspicious sideways glances from before. Not the step-back-and-avoid energy of his first days here. These were curious looks. Interested ones. Eyes moving from his face to the linen to the mark on his neck and back again.
The women nearby stared openly. One of them nudged the other and whispered something in their ear. A young man carrying his cub slowed down so much that he nearly stopped.
Neve had spent his first days here looking at the ground.
He looked up now.
He smiled at a woman who was frowning at him from near the fire.
Her face went red immediately and she looked away.
'Oh,' he thought. 'That's useful.'
