Kigipigak had carried the hide of the
white caribou up to the hollows, where he'd tried to work upon it the way he had seen
@Kukutux do with other skins, but he was not skilled. He did not want to damage it too greatly in case she could not repair it, or work with it.
After the attempt there, he carried it to the eastern-most camp of the Moonglow wolves, wondering if she would be there. The white hide was draped across his shoulders in an ungainly way, while the raw skin touched his coat and bled in to it; he made quite a sight as he journeyed, and would certainly need to wash himself after.
As he came to one of the more established
ulax he called out to the moon-woman. It was possible that she was at the camp in the valley or within neither — perhaps even back at the glacier village, but Kigipigak only thought of this now as he dropped the skin from his back.
each day there were more skins.
now the secondhunter brought another.
he and shikoba worked well together, kukutux thought. she rose from the endless scraping of another skin. "kiggavik." she saw the heft of the pale burden he set against the snow. it seeped a tendril of blood. she saw how the scarlet covered him, how proud he seemed.
"what is this that you have brought?" she approached, jadestone eyes alight.
Kigipigak was breathing heavily, his breath a dragon plume. He smiled the weighted smile of someone who has worked hard, and looked pleased as he stared at the skin. When Kukutux emerged he saw how her eyes grew.
There was a caribou as pale as the snow!
He sounded like a boy retelling this story, bursting at the seams. It sounded like a tall tale even as he spoke it, but the proof lay there for her.
I tracked it, and with Lane's help, we brought it down. I thought...
Here he was not so much out of breath as he was bashful, though it looked the same. If the skin can be saved, I would like for Lane to have it.
she hoped that kigipigak would never cease how he spoke of the hunt. "a holy being," she breathed reverently and with pleasure.
kukutux observed how his features became unsure in a sweetened way. he spoke lane's name, and she held back her reaction. the duck knew better than to mention the plateau in this moment. but now she knew that the duskfire woman had searched for her kinsman there.
she did not at once answer. moonwoman stepped to unfurl the white skin where it lay. and as she searched it for the rot that reeked inside the sick caribou, she thought of another time. another pelt. another snowhunter. another gift.
there was nothing bad here. she looked up at kigipigak. "for a simple caribou pelt, it is nine days to cure. for a sacred hide, it will be twelve."
he knew what it was to wait. their people were born to patience.
"what did lane think of the snow caribou?" kukutux inquired.
As the moon-woman inspected the hide Kigipigak became antsy. He did not want to sit and be useless, or watch, he wanted to participate; but he knew this was not a job he would excell at. She knew how to do this, he did not. He would be patient - but in the moment, he was eager.
When asked about Lane, Kigipigak laughed and said, She was reminded of a time before, when we first met. She said, maybe it was a ghost! Or perhaps I was; there was a snow storm, and I did not know it was her that I guided to safety.
It was a strong memory for Lane, but not for Kigipigak.
We both watched it. It was very strange, the way it tried to drink but didn't really try. It looked very hungry and would not eat.
A slight frown; but he was amused still, and it shone from him.
tag for ref!
it was quite an omen, to have had a first meeting that was not remembered as so.
it meant that kigipigak had carried with him his first mindfulness of lane before he had known her name.
"what will you say when you give lane this gift?" kukutux asked, her voice intrigued.
she did not think that the winterhawk would put such faith in what she believed of dreams. his description of the sickness provoked a
tsk from her tongue.
"then we are giving these ones mercy to kill them."
she gestured that he should carry the white fur to her
ulaq. it was in the middle of several others and her cloudberry sister
@Lótë lay within, healing from the bear's attack. she crouched outside and showed him long strips of frozen caribou fat, lying half-buried in the snow.
"eat. it will fill your belly for when you hunt again."
Kigipigak agreed with her assessment.
These caribou were very sick and they were suffering, so they should be dispatched. It was a point in the conversation that reminded him of Samani and the tale he had told her; this eased some of the glee from him, but soon enough Kigipigak was moving the skin and too distracted to worry.
He saw the strips of fat and gratefully took them upon his tongue. Rather than eat all of them he separated a few and left them in range of Lote, in case she was hungry also.
What should I say?
Kigipigak asked. He had not thought about it. He meant only to bring the finished skin to her and be away again, as their time at the glacier might be at an end in those twelve days.
he asked for guidance.
kukutux let a lump of fat melt upon her own tongue.
"what do you want to say with this gift? is it only one for a companion? or do you mean another thing, kigipigak?"
he had never been ready to take a wife. moonwoman would find surprise if he intended the white hide to be a bride-price. and yet she would not know until he spoke again.
she looked down fondly at the caribou hair.
Her immediate question was something Kigipigak had not considered. He did not like the idea of this as a bride-price, and stopped eating. Turning more serious than before, as if he were again wounded and laying in an ulaq, or heart-sick all over again.
I do not mean anything by it.
He expressed too quickly, sharply. Looking now at the skin and thinking hard about it. Perhaps he should not have been so quick to give this gift.
I called her Apiruk.
He had named her; given her something of the north, as a jest. Had he meant something by that as well? Kigipigak did not know. He did not want to think about the future in this way and yet, with Kukutux' question, he felt compelled.
I only want to thank her for her work. She is a good hunter, wise about the land, and easy to work with.
she shook her head at how kigipigak became a knife. "then say only this. you see her skill and you wish to honor it."
he had already given her a name in their tongue. he had not even done this for sakhmet that kukutux could remember.
she paused. his ways were different. they were both of the north. but their rites and traditions were not the same. "it is good to have names between companions. they say that you hunt well together."
and still she wondered.
He listened, and relaxed.
It was a gift from one hunter to another. Nothing more than that. In this moment Kigipigak did not even think of Sakhmet; he saw this as wholly removed from the girl who had gone missing.
If Lane were issumatar in a Tartok village, he might think otherwise. So far as Kigipigak knew she was only a ranger; a mother too, he had learned, but that made her more akin to Kukutux or Lote.
In my village there is a tradition between warriors, or hunters, to unite them.
What he spoke of now could've been marriage, for it was one type of unification that placed this close relationship above all others, and it was for life. Those that work together well and often have a blood-letting. They mark one-another and share the blood, which makes them aokatti.
He did not realize just yet that Lane was one of two leaders in this village or that Duskfire was closer to Tartok than to Moonglow in nature.
I have always wondered if I would one day have an aokatti.
Kigipigak mused more to himself, wondering. He was not close enough to Apiruk for such a thing to make sense, but he brought it up now. He did this to highlight the great chasm between their people - his, Kukutux', and Duskfire.
aokatti.
she felt that he had said this word before. kigipigak went on to explain it. she too saw it as the bond between a man and a woman. but she understood that aokatti was not only shared in such a pairing.
maybe he meant to say that lane would be a favoured hunter to him. this was more understandable. it bode well for their continued visits to the glacier.
"maybe you will. how many hands of time until you know one is right to be aokatti?" she inquired, thumping her tail against the beaten snowy ground.
Her question had him break his concentration and shrug. He took more of the fatty meat and thought to himself as he ate it.
From what I know of it from elders of my village, it is something that both must be willing to do. It is a rite shared by long-time warriors who fight side by side.
He is frowning again, but thoughtful rather than agitated.
I could ask Lane if she has interest when I bring the finished skin. In that time maybe I will know for sure.
It would give them all time to work together. Bringing down many sick caribou was a battle within itself, he thought.
If she was willing to do it, then it would make us blood-bound. It.. It is a life committment. If at any time she needed help I would be expected to go to her.
It would put her above Moonglow, above Kukutux.
kukutux still felt that aokatti had the sound of a marital bond. she could think of no other way to parse it. and so when kigipigak went on, and spoke of waiting to see if lane might be this blood-binding, kukutux nodded. she tried not to brighten so much, not when the man had not wanted the hide to say more than this.
"i will make your gift beautiful. and it will be useful. lane is a wolf who enjoys things that have a purpose." she winked at him. it was a good offering, and it would have been so in any way he meant it.
twelve days.
Kigipigak was glad that the skin would have a use. That Kukutux had the skill and the patience to make it a beautiful thing. He did not linger long after their conversation ended.
The blood that had drawn across his back during the carrying of the skin, which now stained him and grew tacky as it dried, needed to be washed from his coat. As he bid Kukutux farewell and gave his thanks, he passed a smile to Lote, and then departed to hunt for somewhere to wash.
Twelve days. Much could happen in such a time. If Kigipigak could come away from this with an aokatti he would be very happy.