[There’s some of that same sort of distant curiosity on her end when he follows up with that question, along with a little blip of confusion because that sure isn’t a follow up she’d been expecting. There’s a thoughtful hum as she thinks back on home, and it brings with it the barest impression of humid jungle heat.]

…Uh, fine, I guess? We were real closed off when I was growing up. Kept to ourselves and our inter-tribe bickering for the most part. Life was hard, but it was good enough for us.

[Kind of the explanation she’d always given to curious coworkers who wondered about what kind of upbringing would produce someone like her.]

Didn’t realize how simple we kept things ‘til I left. Way better tech out there to be found, but there’d started to be more of an influx of that and other cultures before I ended up here.

[Sargon’s Padishahs and Lords Ameer were always a looming threat that tended to turn a blind eye, but the influx of the Durins from Zeruertza made things a lot more complicated…]

What makes you ask?