Hoshor Plains I will always heed your call

Moonlight. It made the gathering seem curiously empty, even hearing voices and laughter and certain other things echoing to him from the various camps. Valiant did not strongly feel that he was a part of any of them — but there was one of them he wanted to be. So he paced while waited for sleep to find him or for the morning to come, determined to see out the moonwoman as soon as there was daylight to speak under.

When instead he found himself watching a pale ghost cross the plains — @Kukutux — he murmured a brief prayer to Ariadne's Sedna before making his cautious approach.

"Ma'am?" he called out, his voice soft, but still carrying on the cold winter air. He was prepared to accept dismissal, but he still asked, "Could I beg a moment from you, if you have one?"

kukutux had seen ariadne and kaluktuk return; she had not stared into moonglow camp but she knew their faces. 

and so she had moved off, toward the sapphique camp. she was curious of the salt-women, and brought a small showing of herbs in trade.

it was valiant who spoke, his eyes earnest beneath the moonglint. her lips curved to see him. "come and walk with me."

moondoe rose between them, unspoken.

The gentleness of her smile was unexpected. Valiant realized only once he saw it that he'd been waiting to court her suspicion or disapproval. But she only invited him to walk with her, apparently without reservation. Valiant began to think he'd imagined seeing her earlier.

He fell into step beside her, nose twitching as he took in the scents on her pelt. He thought he could pick out Vairë's children from the mix despite having never been formally introduced, unless that somehow happens in my current Vairë/Val thread.

"I'd like to join Moonglow to stay, once Dutch gets back to the glacier," he said without preamble. He stole a searching glance at Kukutux's face. "I know Dutch likes it there, but Moonsong's... young." Ariadne was young, was what he meant. "And at Moonglow I'd still be close to him, just like y'all are with your daughters. So if you'd give me the chance, I'd like to try and fit in in your village."

pride mingled with pleasure — with unsurety.

valiant did not name the moondoe as a reason he meant to stay. perhaps he did not mean yet to commit to this. perhaps she had not seen anything in those earlier hours.

but she was protective of the young woman; she encouraged love, yet she knew a longer time would be best for vaire to find her companion.

thus she approved of how valiant offered himself to her village.

"we will need a kingullimik in moonglow. kivaluk will be a father. his duties of hunting must be shared with one skilled while he takes his time as taataa. i will make you a part of the village when you are ready. there is a place for you there."

kukutux thought valiant would fit this role well, though it was the choice of kivaluk. to be a ranked hunter brought that man a status to match that of his wife.

especially if his wife was the one who already might have caught his striking eye.

She agreed so easily — Valiant was sure now that he'd imagined her gaze before the hunt. Guilt bit at him even as he agreed,

"I will proudly hunt for Moonglow."

He shifted his weight uneasily.

"I know that Vairë will be moonwoman after you," he said. "And that she's your daughter. And that you're the matchmaker. So if I will never be a match for her, you only need to say so. I still wish to find my place in Moonglow. But if it's possible — and if Vairë..."

He felt stupid again. None of this really mattered if Vairë was not interested. But if it was not possible, he didn't want to know whether she was interested or not.

"I don't know what's proper in this place," he said. "Things are very different where I come from."

vairë.

valiant asked for guidance. kukutux turned her eyes upon the camps, hearing the voices and accents gathered, and the dark shapes of the bison still grazing the golden grass, far off in the distance. the wind was frigid, and the snow underfoot was gathering quickly.

"among the sunshine people, a man who loves a woman comes to the hearth of her father and mother, to ask for their bride-price. this can be many things. it is to show his skill, his talent, and his loyalty. sometimes men must hunt for more than one season to gather what has been asked."

her face was soft with rosepetal memories, both her own and the ones in which she had shared. and then in the same gentleness, kukutux became solemn once more. "i have watched many men walk away from wives and children. this is after beautiful weddings and bride-price paid. vairë has seen the same."

now the knowing eyes rested up on valiant. "do not make promises to her that you do not intend to keep, spine-man. let her lead. tend her children. show each day your intent. she is not a girl leaving her home to live with a new husband. she is moondoe and yes, she will follow me. the village and its leadership will be hers. the man who wishes to pay a price will give this to her. and i will ask my own."

there was a quiet now to her words. the duck studied valiant. "so much of this is between you and she. her heart will choose, not matchmaking." her lips were a silent bow. vairë might make the choice of anaa again. that did not mean the man picked for this would be her husband. in fact, kukutux would suggest she wait to marry even if she carried children, wait until her woman's heart spoke and said this is the one for me.

Whether or not this was about Vairë, Valiant did his best to commit these things to memory. As he had suspected, parents were more involved in the process here than in either Round Valley or the spine. But he understood that it was not about control, but togetherness — and this appealed to the isbjørn on a level that existed separately from the moondoe.

He was quiet for a moment after she'd spoken, trying and failing to suppress a tiny smile. He breathed out something that was not quite a laugh, his relief palpable in the near-silent sound.

"I ain't a spine man," he told her, his voice rasping for how quietly he spoke. He swallowed against the feeling before he went on, still slow and still gentle: "I was born in the willows, just the other side of this mountain. I don't know what would've happened if I'd grown up there. Maybe I'd be different. But what happened was my family was torn apart, and I've been clinging to what I've got left ever since. I am not the one that leaves, Miss Moonwoman. Respectfully."

He didn't expect this to convince her. He could tell her anything he wanted to and still retain the ability to do exactly the opposite. But he could tell her what he meant to do, so that she would see that he was a man of his word.

"I wanna join Moonglow," he said, more firmly, now. "I wanna find my place there, even if it ain't by her side. I'll tend her children, but anyone else's, too. 'Cause no matter how it goes, I wanna stay and be part of what makes this village strong. I'll show her that. And I'll show you that, too."

He tucked his chin; his voice hadn't been loud or argumentative, but he worried it would be perceived as an argument all the same. With his ears slicked back, he continued, contrite:

"What I mean is — I'm just real grateful. For a chance to be part of a whole family again. However that looks at the end of the day."

respectfully.

he had come from this same place. he had held his memories of what was known and not changed from them. such a different talk this was from their last, where he had seemed empty of hope for a future that suddenly lay before him.

this was held in consideration, a dip of her muzzle given to acknowledge it.

valiant wished to be part of the village, part of her family, and these words did much to assuage the hurt that maia had brought, the contemplation of her own role.

he spoke with passion and with power; he showed to the eyes of moonwoman a sense of him that she had not yet seen, a depth that would only expand if fed, if given a chance to prove.

"then come and join us. you will be a spine-man all the same, valiant," she chuffed with a light grin, alluding to the broad ring of mountainwork that had long encircled moonglow.

and already he had proved much to her.

The isbjørn's ears splayed when he realized he'd made her invite him again, as if the first time hadn't been good enough for him. But she didn't seem upset and so he tried not to be, either. A sheepish smile ghosted across his muzzle, which he dipped once toward his chest in silent assent.

They were quiet as they walked, then. The moonlight felt warmer now, like rays of the sun. He walked Kukutux to the edge of the next camp, where he guessed she must have business that had nothing to do with him.

"Thank you, ma'am," he said, because neither of us could remember whether he'd said it already, and I am typing in the car so it's hard to scroll back. "Be well — I'll be around. And I'll see you on the spine when Arjun gets home."

"i will see you then, valiant." there was light in her eyes; she ducked into the next camp and was gone.

though slyly she wondered if he would go now to find vairë, and hoped this would be so.

a long courtship. a summer wedding. who her daughter chose for this year did not determine her husband.