Set before the thread with Geist.
Her jaw ached when she finally arrived at the
ulaq with the large front leg of caribou. Raimos was likely not far behind, and she dropped the meal at
@Kukutux's feet.
The black man is close behind. He would not accept the carrion as a settlement of the debt. His intentions cannot be good.
She paused, glad that they had this secret way of communicating even if he was close.
I do not trust him.
Again she spoke it, and she felt it stronger this time.
I will begin to place my scent to the nearest areas, like taataa taught me. It will not keep him away, but it may keep him from claiming he owns us.
"aya, sialuk!" kukutux exclaimed as her daughter returned with much meat. it had not been fresh-killed, but this mattered not. the flesh would be life for her and for her daughter.
the mention of raimo tightened her own gaze. "he tells me he has the expectation that he will be rewarded. that we will share this place. he mentioned you and your name," kukutux said softly, tensely. a gravid pause followed. "this is a good plan. it will also be a way for taataa and the firefly village to find us. i think also we must move our ulaq, pukak." even if raimo continued to bring meat, and for that she was grateful, a time was coming that was not good for a woman without a husband.
this year it had been delayed, and now as she searched her inner heart, the sensation was absent. but it would return. they could not remain in the open. the duck flexed her broken leg with a long hiss of pain. "i want to choose a higher place, but i do not think it is possible for me to go there now."
Sialuk smiled weakly at the mention of taataa and Firefly Glen. She knew that Meerkat, her brother, and at least some survived the strange storm, but who else? Had anybody besides Norah and them survived the spear? It had sustained more damage, from what Sialuk could tell, when she could bear to glance at it. The thought of moving the ulaq exhausted her, and she was not even sure it would deter Raimo.
He will find us, even if we move,
she replied, defeat in her voice. There was also the matter of anaa's leg. Sialuk did not think it wise to try and move her now. Small steps away from the ulaq did not seem to effect the healing process, but any more and it would extend the time it took to regain strength and stability.
a sigh broke from kukutux. she said nothing, only meant to kiss sialuk's cheeks, press their foreheads together for a moment. "your anaa is not used to being so without worth. it is only until healing comes, but it is difficult." a breath; she pulled away and looked toward moonspear, silent and wounded. "but you are right. we will stay here."
a pale ear flicked. "so much has changed. now my daughter is skilled hunter, like her taataa." bittersweet smile moving to touch her mouth now.
Strength is not your only worth,
Sialuk said, pressing her forehead against her mother's. Kukutux had wisdom that Sialuk aspired to hold one day. Her healing knowledge was vast, and Sialuk had learned much from her. But there was still more to learn. She was not yet four seasons grown, and she realized with a sudden sadness that she may not be midwife to anaa this year. Not without taataa.
She smiled too at the mention of him, pulling back and sweeping her gaze across the landscape, thinking he might come to them at any moment. But if he had not yet come, would he?
How long until we...
she trailed off, uncertain how to phrase the question she could not bring herself to ask. How long until they abandoned hope for father and brother?
the tears threatened to come. kukutux knew what sialuk spoke was true, but it was not something the duck had ever accepted. to work was her lot. her responsibility. her pleasure. she did not know how to be without a purpose.
pukak's next hesitant inquiry splayed the duck's ears. she sought sialuk's eye. "in your anaa's old home, we waited for seven days if we did not find a body," she said softly, nausea plying her gut. she did not want to think of how jarilo might appear to her if his spirit left his flesh. she did not want to think of saviguk's life cut so short. seven days. two more sunrises. two more sunsets. "we do not say their names again after seven. their spirits might hear and try to find us. then they will not be able to go to the dancing lights, and will become filled with anger."
but they had called and called. firefly had called. there was no answer, and no way now to climb the new jagged edges of moonspear and try to find the blackfox and her spirited boy.
"after that, we sing the death songs, which i will teach to you. when i sat vigil for your father's brother, i sang them for nine days." nine was a sacred number. "if we had a larger village, you and i would go into the forest and sing for a moon. but we are just us. and so we must choose nine again." the moonbow spoke hurriedly, not wanting to pause and fill that silence with a sob.
after that, sialuk would have no father. after that, kukutux would have no husband. she held her breath. "taataa will come down. we must fasten this in our hearts, that he will find us." she did not say that after nine days a spirit was untethered. she did not say that if either appeared after nine days, they were only malevolent things who took the form of loved ones and roamed to seek their families, where they would feast. sialuk bore too much to know this truth.
and if there was no answer, her raindrop would come to know it all the same.
The voice of anaa had always been especially soothing to Sialuk, who drank in every word of every story and slice of wisdom that she could. Seven days. That was the length of time they would wait until they mourned their losses. That was the length of time before they knew their family had been lost. Nine days they would sing the songs of death.
He will,
she agreed. Jarilo and Saviguk would join them, and all would be well. The time between now and then marched on, and it was Sialuk's duty to keep her mother alive and well. If she could do that, she would be a good daughter.
She fell silent then, her eyes scanning the landscape for any signs of Raimo. I did not tell Raimo we were mother and daughter, but he knows. I am not sure how he might use it to bend us.
It was a thought, a suspicious one, and one she did not take kindly to. She did not like him knowing anything about them. Not without her offering.
"he knows," she repeated in confirmation. her gaze strayed across the expanse as if searching for the man who had been mentioned. "if you were ready to be married, i would believe he stayed for that purpose. to want you as a reward. you are beautiful and already skilled in many healing ways. if he stays to build this place, he may want a wife to tend his hearth. but," kukutux went on, relief filling her jadestone eyes, "you are my sweet girl, not yet to that moon. and i am grateful for it."
there left the matter of herself, though kukutux was not without a husband. yet the more great the time that jarilo did not come down, the less she could claim his protection. it was a difficult position. "i think it is time that we allow him to show that he is what he says."
not trust, yet, but something that could be become such with time. a softening. she observed her raindrop's face for a reaction; kukutux could not force sialuk to do this thing. and all would be rendered irrelevant when her husband came down from moonspear.
this time, however, the greenjade stare floated in the direction of the glacier, where the grey brother lay sleeping.
Last one from me. ^_^
Sialuk's ears turned back with modesty as her mother commended her beauty and skills. She was glad she would not be a prize sought by Raimo. She did not wish this for herself.
Anaa said that they should allow him a chance to prove himself, and Sialuk was hesitant. Exactly why, she could not put to words. She gave no verbal confirmation, but she nodded her head once. The raindrop would try.
The food settled in her stomach now, she blinked her eyes once, then twice, slower each time.
Keep watch while I sleep?
she asked. Tomorrow, she would begin to make this place theirs, and then she would search for more food with Sixsix's guidance.
<3
"always."
this time as sialuk slept, the duck would consider the days to come. her body strengthened with the prey that had been brought. the pain in her ankle had begun to bit by bit subside, even as the ache in her heart expanded into an empty silver pool.