Deepwood Weald [m] red flax

Sulukinak left- and Simbelmyne’s stark gaze rose to study Dutch’s face. A muscle jumped in her jaw as she clenched her teeth together to keep her ragged breaths in check.

She is strong.

Was that what made Sulukinak special? Being strong? Did that mean that she was weak and he intended to have a stronger woman for his second wife? The thought tumbled within her mind, distracting her. 

She remained very still, numb to the words that Chakliux spoke of the man and the conflict between them. For several moments, their voices were nothing to her, words jumbled together as if spoken underwater. She kept an ear turned should her name be spoken- but it wasn’t.

Chakliux’s voice eventually called her back into the conversation, and she caught the flash of magenta as his eyes searched for hers. She felt out of place and unnecessary- both in this conversation and in her place alongside Dutch. 

Chakliux mentioned driving the man out- and she silently hoped that he intended to drive his cousin out with him- but that hope turned into burning jealousy when Dutch pledged that he would seek the man out again before he left. He wanted to know the man more- but she couldn’t help but feel that it would be a last-ditch attempt at getting Sulukinak to stay with them, should he find some glaring fault within the caribou hunter. 

She thought of his hungry gaze, and felt herself flush with simmering contempt. 

Dutch looked to her, but she avoided his eye contact. She did not want to speak out of place- not in front of Chakliux. She was not of their culture, and did not understand why it seemed that fish-eaters and caribou-eaters would have such issue with one another. She knew so little; her ignorance clouded her judgement, made her feel isolated. 

The men could talk of their plans; she would not get involved. She had her own tasks to accomplish. 

”I will let you talk.” She said, her tone curt- she wanted them to keep talking for a bit, so Dutch might not follow her immediately back to the den she wished to improve. She needed some time to handle her feelings. ”I am going to work on the den. I will see you when you come back, later.” She forced herself to look at him, but was not strong enough to summon a smile. 

Would Sulukinak have been strong enough to do so? The thought made something in her gut clench. Her gaze was only gentled a shade by the faint misting of her eyes as she glanced briefly to Chakliux, gave him a slight nod, and then trotted off briskly so that she would hear no more of it.

simbelmyne was upset. chakliux did not understand. dutch did not want sulukinak in that way at all; he had always likened their relationship to one of siblings, an older brother who guided a younger sister. 
but chakliux saw pain in simbelmyne's eyes when she turned from them; the discomfort was in the tone of her voice and even how she moved away from he and dutch. and soon he and the mikiak were alone again, morning doves calling in the high glow and hawks wheeling over the long branches.
chakliux exhaled and gave dutch a long, level look. "you do not want her to go. but you will make a — you will be friendly to this cen?" he did not judge, he only wished to understand, and leaned against a tree in thought.
"his wife is alone in moontide. he leaves her often and did not stay even when she delivered." he mused. "i will go and speak to her. maybe she has more to say about him that i can bring to you."
a glance now, at the wavering branches which indicated where simbelmyne had gone.

Simbelmyne's curtness took him by surprise. His ears flew back in brief confusion. For a moment, he decided that she must be more worried about Sulukinak than he'd thought. Then he remembered Cen's eyes on her and felt bowled over by guilt and fury.

"I do not know," he admitted in a low voice, lifting his gaze to take in the seal hunter's scarred visage once more. "He has disrespected my wife. He has disrespected you."

He ground his teeth together. He didn't know if he could look past these things. Would it make any difference? Would he be betraying Sulukinak's confidence? Would he be betraying this unknown wife, who might one day sob over lost children because he had not wanted to get involved?

He dipped his head in thanks as Chakliux outlined his plans; it sounded like there would have needed to be investigations even if Sulukinak had not been involved — but Dutch still felt the warmth of the seal hunter's loyalty and support. It made Simbelmyne's absence more prominent, and he, too, looked in the direction she had gone.

"Any advice?" he asked the seasoned husband, trying for levity and landing somewhere just west of gloomy instead.

"i am not insulted," chakliux insisted, trying for a jest as well. jerking his chin, he moved back toward moontide, opposite the way simbelmyne had gone. she needed her time. the scent of cen and sulukinak lingered here, then cut away from both villages.
the seal hunter frowned, and then he said, "no caribou man can ever insult me. they are not home long enough to please their wives," and his teeth glittered with a grin that was not unlike that of a shark.
then he sobered and sighed, and nudged dutch's shoulder with his scarred muzzle. "she is not sunshine. she is not seal, your simbelmyne. and you are a seal hunter to me, mikiak. but that was before her. what does she understand of all this?"
he looked into the eyes of the panther. "go to her. listen. do not speak to — do not try to fix things, not until you have listened. see why she is upset. this is hard to see. her home was secure, and maybe now she feels it is not. and, dutch, if she is with child, she will be ah, more sensitive. but never say this to a woman, yes?"
even now the berrybright eyes flicked beyond the muscular shoulder of his favorite man, as if the beautiful and angered face of simbelmyne might appear.

The panther's lip curled tellingly at the implication of Chakliux's words. He believed that Cen's suspicion of him was a reflection of the caribou hunter's thoughts more than his own. That Cen would want Sulukinak as a second wife, or even something lesser. He took the seal hunter's words with a grain of salt — but the way that Cen had looked at Simbelmyne had not been indicative of any respect toward women. The way he'd come to collect Sulukinak like a pelt or a kill made Dutch want to race after him even now.

It was the seal hunter who held him back, even if that hadn't been his intent. The touch jarred him out of his thoughts, and he looked back at the man in quiet melancholy and rising worry. He took the advice in stride, seeing the seal hunter's wisdom and compassion in the words. But his mind circled back to a different point.

"Why should this change me?" he asked, his limited vocabulary slowing him. He gave Chakliux a moment to make corrections, but it was clear he had more to say: "Must a seal hunter have many wives?"

He had an inkling, now, of what might be bothering his wife.

a shake of his head was given. "it is not expected. it is only — done." there was no demand, only a tacit understanding that this was their way. "caribou women are not so free."
it was a simple statement, but one that showed the vastness even between he and cen's people. "they are ruled by their men. you are married, but you keep friends with seal hunters and you are not related to sulukinak. he sees you then as a threat to her — ability to be married."
married for cen's benefit; if he thought dutch wanted his cousin, then in his mind he had rescued her from a life reduced to little more than a servant.
he watched dutch, sensing his companion's anger.

It took him a moment to parse all those words. Some were not as familiar to him as others, but they click-click-clicked into place with context clues the way that new languages always did for him. Still, for clarity, he spoke next in a tongue he was more familiar with.

"When I asked her if she would have me, I asked if she could be happy — with you and your wives. To live with seal hunters." His eyes flashed downward; he was still just a little ashamed to feel so helpless without him to lean on. "Because I knew that if I started a family, I would never sleep. Not unless I knew someone else was watching while I close my eyes. One wife is enough for me to worry about — "

He laughed, almost, though he did not find this truth funny. Only uncomfortable to voice, comforting as it was to think about living so near to his brother's village.

" — but I will still be a seal hunter," he said, and when he looked at Chakliux, he felt a wild surge of energy and confidence. The kind that begged to be put to use in some way, though Dutch was at a loss as for what to do with it. "She is my wife. She will be my one and only. But our families will be stronger together. I know that she will see this, too."

He did not care about the caribou hunter or what he thought. He did not care very much what anyone else thought, either. But he could see that Simbelmyne's worries would need to be assuaged, whatever form they took.

"i know that you will." he clasped dutch then, feeling close and warm with the trust that the panther had bestowed upon him. "and i will watch over your family as you have done for mine. you do not need to do all in our ways," and then there was a true laugh, a hope to break the tension with some show of solidarity.
"it might be of help if she spent more time with tullik and marina. not only as wives or as women, but hunters. teachers. tullik comes from the same mountain and always has many jokes. marina, oh; she listens! she speaks so softly. they know the sea. we must, i think, see that simbelmyne is settled among the seal hunters as well, that she is comfortable with us."
he nudged the other's shoulder, continuing to walk. "i like this place. a man could be in his thoughts for many hours, i think."

His heart felt warm.

All of him felt warm.

The uncomfortable flush the words brought to him was fleeting, however, and he was soon enough thinking pragmatically once more. Yes, it would be important for Simbelmyne to make friends of the seal hunter women. Not just friends, but equals. Companions. Teachers.

Family.

He gave a firm little nod; he would speak with her. He would just maybe do this after he'd smoothed over whatever had come between them so suddenly.

Dutch sighed, thinking hopelessly of his lost and wayward girl. Perhaps she knew her way better than he understood. Dutch could only hope so. He wished, though, that she had been able to come to know Tullik and Marina in this way, too. The latter most especially might have been a good friend to her.

"I like it, too," Dutch agreed. For now — for he suspected there would be at least one more move before he and the seal hunters were settled together as they meant to be.