Deepwood Weald Life is ours, we live it our way.

@Chakliux?

Ciri wandered, as she often did when her thoughts plagued her. The dark-furred Ostrega picked her way through the frosted trees of the wildwood beyond Moonglow's claim that afternoon, tracking the prints of a mink that'd made its way across the frozen snow.

A welcome distraction.

700!

for this week, chakliux scarcely left the embrace of his wives, breaking from them only to hunt or to watch over the boys resting in the lodge.
the former demand called him; chakliux left to find fatty meat for the palates of marina and tullik.
thickly painted in the welcoming, eager scents of his wives, legs splashed with saltwater from an earlier hunt in the shallows, this was how the seal hunter found ciri once more.
a small smile touched him. "oil father brings you close! soon you are to moonglow." 
but ciri knew this.

The breeze brought the scent of Chakliux before her eyes found his pallid form, and the distinct aroma of she-wolf in heat to accompany his musk made her lip curl briefly. She had returned with the approach of her own season, hopeful to commit herself to the seal-hunter and bear his young for the Springtime to come, and she was reminded once more of her sore disappointment as she straightened herself and lifted her muzzle to observe his approach.

Good day to you, seal-hunter, the swallow said in greeting. Although she wanted to be happy to see him again, her imagination ran wild over the time he'd shared with his companions and left a sourness in her mouth. Hunting?

Her own chosen prey, lost to her distraction.

"yes. my son and his hunting-brother were injured on the plains. one of our leaders too is healing from the hunt. i seek meat for my lodge and for her."
he sought meat for his wives was the truth, but chakliux saw no reason to continually remind ciri of his marriage. he wanted peace between them and perhaps affability.
the seal hunter cut ahead, finding the musky tracks once more. "he would make a fine pelt," chakliux said, wondering if ciri might hunt with him, though the man understood if she turned away and back to her own journey.

She remained silent for a long moment to consider his answer, not so sure that she believed him. Her feelings for Chakliux had been muddied since the day he'd found her in the cave. Ciri knew that with the breeding season upon them, he'd be wanting to remain close to the women he'd claimed as mates. And since he'd portrayed seal-hunter women as almost entirely reliant on their men, he was sure to be running himself ragged to ensure they were cared for.

She convinced herself that he was telling the truth, however, for although the Moontide wolf had dashed her hopes by revealing his true self, he had been nothing but honest with her. So Ciri chose to believe him with a thin smile to curve her maw, and offered a lazy sweep of her raven tail.

This exchange did not have to be an awkward one.

He seemed to detect the scent of her chosen prey, and passed comment on the worth of its pelt. Her lips parted in a grin then, and she loped forward to resume the hunt. It is not his pelt I seek, she quipped with a beat of laughter, her tail flagging; this was her prize, and she was determined to claim it.

"wa-how, perhaps you make a trade with me then?" chakliux suggested, coming eagerly to her side as he filled his eyes with the moist trail of the mink. his own tail answered her; he breathed at the earth in long pulls and then set off again.
"i will help you hunt him. then if you do not want his fur, i will take it," the seal hunter laughed, his eyes bright with challenge and appreciation.

He was willing to join her and arrived at her flank; she eyed him, challenge in the glimmer of a yellow iris. If he helped her find the mink and succeed in claiming its life, she would of course let him to have the hide - but not so easily. Ciri was keen to keep him guessing. Perhaps I will allow this, she barked playfully, enjoying the sound of their paws move together on frozen snow. Perhaps I will not.

Ciri lashed her tail, excited to gain a hunting partner. Despite her frustration when he shared of his vibrant love life, she did not dislike Chakliux. It'd been a great disappointment to her that he could not meet her expectations, and as they moved she could not help but wonder if he shared in that regret. I wish to share its meat with the Moonwoman, she offered, certain that the seal-hunter had surely learned of village Moonsong's misfortune.

focused as he was upon the renewed sound of ciri's laughter, upon their hunting and the possibility of trade, chakliux did not immediately understand the look upon her face. 
he caught tonguetip between teeth; belatedly did his brow furrow.
"has something happened in moonglow?" was that why ciri sped so fast to the moon woman? chakliux had little investment in the spine-pack; it was where he had met nasamik and taken her to wife but it was also the place where the sun-man had injured him.
still he paused, listening.

He asked if something had occurred at Moonglow and she cooked a sable lobe in his direction, surprised that word had not reached him of their sister pack's uncertainty. I hear that her daughter of Moonsong has abandoned her village, she offered, and this was all that she could give, gone off with a man to someplace unknown, without a word.

Ciri did not know the circumstances. Ariadne, from what she'd been told, was young - and her suitor considerably older. The youth could've been easily manipulated, or perhaps her own family dynamic had proven complicated. It was unfair of her to judge this girl with knowing only one side of the story, though the sorrow she carried was meant for Kukutux.

ariadne and kigipigak had gone off? abandoned moonsong? but why? his brow furrowed, and for a moment he showed a great care for the moondaughter who had gone.
"i hope he will keep her safe, for the sake of herself and her family," the seal hunter managed at last, though his frown remained. "i knew her. she built the village in quickness. i do not know why she would not stay."

The abandonment of Moonsong was an unfortunate thing, but her heart was with Kukutux. Ciri could never understand the stubborn selfishness of daughters. She could not recall a time when she or Elke had ever troubled Nyx in such ways, and to think of the lioness made her ache. She pushed on, keen to leave the memory of her mother's face tucked away in the corner of her mind, and made no worded response to Chakliux.

Her focus returned to the hunt. The dark she-wolf eases her stride to lift her head and study the area, nose working to resume the trail.

here was good land. here was good hunting. ciri and the seal hunter tracked the mink in silence, until at length he rocked back upon his heels.
"here it seems to split. do you see where he has gone, ciri?" chakliux murmured, glancing up at the ostrega woman with a warmth he did not veil from his brightberry eyes.