Duskfire Glacier in spite of the uneven odds, beauty lifts from the earth

next up on WOLF: how do the wolf dancers do.

"She was everything I hope to be." One day, she hoped she would reflect the wisdom of Nanurjuk in the lines around her own eyes, careful creases eroded by time and laughter, memoirs that through every struggle, suffering, and grief, life could still be beautiful. She wished Siarut could have met her.

Nanook shifted on her toes when he answered her, not at all surprised, but feeling a sudden rush of heat for even asking. It was okay, of course, that he didn't know how, but she had hoped -

Her gaze fluttered up, and she felt the heat in her cheeks burn deeper at his request, yet different than before. Siarut seemed to be dancing through his words, and while in fights and tussles she could force herself forward with bared fangs and claws outstretched, Nanook felt like she was tiptoeing on eggshells here. The half-blood tipped her nose in acquiescence and felt her lips tug with the uncertainty in everything about this.

"Um, well, I've never taught anyone before..." but she was already moving with her words, positioning herself beneath the lights and preparing to teach him the way Nanurjak had somehow guided her once clunky steps. She shook herself before she glanced at him and flashed a smile. "It's simple, once you know what to do. Here," and she tried to show him, moving in the slow movement of a four-stepped pattern, circular and revolving as she felt the lights lead her, hitching only once when she glanced up to survey the lights and caught her eyes on him instead.

"Oops,"  She murmured and regained her step with a nervous laugh, but her skin prickled with a rush of the mistake. Maybe that was enough for now, and so she slowed and nodded for him to try. "A lot of it's in feeling the lights," she added, as her heart thundered with every word, "Letting them lead you. Watching their dance as it guides your own."