Rodyn was officially part of Moonglow now. He tread on silent feet learning the area. He kept returning to the edge of what was known as Mamattuk Coppice. It reminded him of home.
He settled beneath a tree on his back tongue lolling out as he studied the sky. It was gorgeous here. And he was pleased.
"rodyn."
the duck trailed through the heat and settled near the younger wolf. she still did not know what sialuk thought of him.
"i want to tell you that shikoba is firsthunter, but she will need a second. the young hunters, mojag and stratos and the boys who have come for a moon, akkuma and kivaluk, they will look to a man who knows good hunting."
Rodyn heard his name and rolled to his side and looked at moon woman. Moon Woman. Hello!
Rodyn smiled. I know Mojag. We hunted squirrel together before i delivered him home. And Stratos greeted me at the border, yes?
Rodyn liked listening to Moonwoman. And he loved hunting. He would have to seek out this Shikoba.
How are you?
"i am well. there is much joy in my chest. kigipigak and sakhmet have brought their children. they will stay in moonglow for a hand of time."
her eyes sparkled. "yes. that is stratos. soon they will have long legs and they will be able to leave the village to go on longer hunting. i have the want that you walk with them in some of this times, as teacher."
Rodyn listened to the joy that was in her voice, and it brought a smile to his own face. Is Kigipigak and Sahkmet your children and their mate, or found family?
Rodyn found he was curious about this pack and these people and it made his heart happy to be amongst them.
Her next words drew a small fire of pride in his chest. I'll do what I can, but Mojag, he's pretty smart. I taught him how to trick a squirrel one time, and he got it immediately. And Stratos seems much the same. But I gladly walk beside them if they like, though even I am learning.
Rodyn always felt as if he were learning something new. Sometimes he knew what was coming, other times not so much.
found-family. she enjoyed the sound of it. "kigipigak's people speak words that are like my own. our villages are not the same, but they are like one another. he and i are kinsmen. his sons are nuak to me." her voice was bright as she spoke. it was clear that she held much adoring for the natigvik wolves.
"this is good. moonglow is known as place of hunters. in the long snow, we will go to the place of cold plants again, and hunt caribou."
Rodyn considered all of them his found family, so it made sense to use the word for it. He had done what his actual family had wanted him to do, find his own place, that was not in his father's hollow where his father's wife and the other females, and males that his father chose to let the lines linger were in.
What does Nuak mean?
Rodyn studied the area, but he held his ears erect to listen. He liked the strange words that rolled off everyone's tongues. He may not know very much, but he was willing to learn.
Excitement beat in Rodyn's chest. I've never hunted one of them, but i've always wanted too. I'll do my best.
"nuak is 'the sons of my brother.'" kukutux grinned. "i will teach you our words. the wolves who live in this village all come to speak the same sounds."
it was also their way.
she thought of sialuk.
"have you made a path to winterglade, where our sister makes her hearth?"
Rodyn tried out the name Nuak. It was hard to pronounce, but it was soft sounding, a bit like the moon woman herself. The sons of my brother. I probably have a few Nuak out there, though i'll never meet them.
He shifted and stretched, then settled back down.
I haven't. I've met Sialuk, and a strange little beast dog named T.K. And I've met Themis and her son, and her mate, though i don't know their names. I hunted with the little pup, taught him how to walk silent. I gifted a fawn to T.K., T.K. Was starving and i couldn't let that happen. Little strange dog beast, but sweet. Scared very scared. I met a coyote named Darcy and a lone wolf i call a friend. Though he seems to be a bit troubled.
Rodyn quickly summed up his adventures since he had met Moon woman how many days ago now. He had met so many, and all had been a good meeting.
reyson was filled with words and with names.
kukutux blinked as he spoke. he gathered these things in the same way that she saw of secondwife, her cloudberry sister. though now she was no longer secondwife to aiolos; she was a leader in her own right.
"you are a hunter with kindness in your spirit." the duck enjoyed that he had mentioned sialuk first. "you said the word of 'dog beast.' what is this thing that you say, reyson?" curiosity shown upon her face.
Rodyn frowned his eyes going far as he remembered. It was a dog. Not a wolf, but so thin and sick looking. Ran really fast, faster than any wolf i know. But not made like wolves, but looks a bit like. Small, strange coloring. Didn't like to be touched, and very skittish at first. High energy and smelled funny. Not like forest or loam. No. Something else.
Rodyn grew quiet as he thought of all them. Sialuk was first because he met her first. And she was important to moon woman.
kukutux thought back upon the faces of her past, but was not certain she had met a dog. she carefully listened to the things described by rodyn.
"do you think this dog had sickness in them?" she was silent after that. moonglow extended healing and dried meat to many. perhaps they would set a sentinel to watch for this creature.
Rodyn hadn't met a dog either, until T.K. But he had known about them. His mother had told him of them, there had been one found in their forest years ago. They had healed it, and it had run away again, never to be seen again. His father said a bear probably got it, but he didn't ask and never went looking. It had been long before he had been born anyway, when his father was a little kinder to strangers at the borders.
Rodyn shook his head. No, I just think they don't know how to properly take care of themselves yet. Not used to wild. Where they're from I don't know, but they clearly are used to someone else taking care. I tried to teach them to hunt, they didn't eve know you were to keep caches.
Rodyn sighed, he would have to go hunt down T.k. Soon to ease his own mind. He had adopted the dog, deciding that he would be it's protector until it didn't need him anymore. I want to keep them safe. They remind me a bit like a pup that doesn't know any better. And they're so afraid of anyone touching them. They have been hurt bad by something.
his heart was large.
kukutux was unsure of the wisdom involved in bringing such a beast so close. but she believed what he said about these things. moonwoman had little reason not to trust rodyn.
idly she wondered if they might mix their spirits with those of wolves and produce children.
"what is the position you have the want to take in moonglow, rodyn? a hunter? a seer?"
Rodyn had his mothers folly of caring too much, at least his father would say. His voice would get exasperated air on him, but it would be infused with love for Rodyn's mom and he himself.
Rodyn had no intention of bringing T.K. here as of yet. T.K. wouldn't trust it first of all, secondly they would need to learn to be a wolf.
Rodyn blinked, but thought about it. Hunter, i also definitley love to be able to watch over the pups when parents are busy.
kukutux enjoyed both suggestions from the man. "you have the enjoying to be around children, then?" so he was fit for fatherhood.
and she thought again of sialuk.
and she realized that there was a great want in her to be anânsiak. but she must be patient.
"do you know trading?" the duck asked, thinking upon another point.
A smile lit up his face, brightened his eyes. I love pups. I alwaya have. I often had my younger siblings and here I've met a few.
He loved to watch them learn, and play. He was a large pup at heart.
Trading?
He didnt know this task.
Where you offer services for something.
"yes. in the place of my birth, a trader might give sticks of dried meat for medicine. or perhaps i would give a story for smooth pieces of abalone shell."
her smile glimmered.
"if i had the wish that you became trader for moonglow, what would you take to give?"
Rodyn listened, eyes on Kukutux, albeit respectfully. He frowned in thought. Wondering what he would take for what he would give.
For pupsitting i think I'd take fur, or small game as that would also cut into my hunting. However, if the wolves didn't have this I would ask for shell, or bone for littles to gnaw on. Or a story to share
He grew quiet as he thought of his hunting. What would he trade his game for. Perhaps a choice of meat.
For my hunting, i would ask help if they want large game, a piece of the kill perhaps, dependent of course on who i am hunting for. If it is a mother with young pups and no help. I would merely ask a story and offer to train one of her children when they were older.
Would you have me trade something different? I am unused to that, but willing to learn.
He didn't know if what he said would suffice, but he felt he would enjoy it no matter what.
kukutux listened to all his words.
her eyes were filled with light. "i also give stories in trade. a story is not only words. it is teaching."
the duck shook her head. "the things you have said are good choices. they are also things to collect for a bride-price, should you want to take a wife in this village."
He shifted self-consciously and gave a bashful smile.
I haven't ever been very good at telling a story. But I do love to listen. A monet that takes you from reality, a nice reprieve.
Ears erect he listened carefully to her next words. A gift for a bride? Did he give the gift to her or her parents?
I would give those gifts to her or her family?
He liked the tradition, it sounded nice. However, he had only met one femm of eligible age here thus far. Sialuk and that meeting was a breif one. He hadn't seen her since.
do not match length lmao got carried away
"if you were hunter who wanted a wife, you would go to the ulaq of her father and say with a loud voice that you wished to marry his daughter. the whole village would hear your words. it is a time of importance for this family. if she agrees, the father and his wife and their child would sit down with you and you would offer."
"skins, meat, stories. beautiful things we do not have here in moonglow. things you made good trade for, far from this village. medicines. paints. bones for throwing."
her face was amused.
"she has last choice. final word. with her father and mother, if she agrees, will tell you what you must bring. sometimes it will take many hands of time to gather. sometimes it will be only one thing, but something which is rare. and much of it will belong to her father's hearth. you take a skilled gatherer, a medicine-maker, and someone who will give you children. but many of those things will be her own, for her to use in your home."
"you will bring what is asked back to the ulaq of her father. she will go with you to your home then, and be your wife from this moment on."
she laughed. "there are many other ways to do this thing. if you are young and she is young, your families will agree that you should live with at the home of her family for a season. you will share a roof and sleeping-place. you will learn what it is to be husband and wife. if you fight often, her family will send you back. if you get along, then when she has her twenty-four moons, she will go to be your wife in your village."
"or perhaps you are hunter who seeks to make a marriage with a woman who has proven she can give sons. she will ask for more. and you must build a suitable ulaq before she will agree, for she is sacred and already mother."
Oh bet its on lmao <3 (flips hat backwards tongue out)
Rodyn listend to her words the gently imagery it invoked. The first he had no problem with if he truly loved the femme of his choosing and for Rodyn it would be nothing less. He would have no problem crowing his love to the moon. He would want the moon to know of what he wanted and who he wanted, for she would be his heart space, his one. Though fathers could be wary and rough, especially when speaking of daughters. There was nothing quite like a daughter to her father.
He smiled at the next part.
I have already planned to save skins for little ones in winter. I will endeavor to save more. I will need to find mink, and weasel, rabbit and fox. Though for fox i would need to ask for thanks for taking his life.
It would hurt a little deep inside to take the life of a fox, his cousin brother. He had shared space with many foxes. He already made a mental check to to take the next deer skin he felled. He would need a trip to the sea for the glass buried in sand, and small bones, and pretty rocks. He would trade his hunting for medicines of healers.
He dipped his muzzle and nodded his head hard.
As she should. A femme gives up much for their men, their bodies for children, sometimes their souls to keep them safe. They should ask for the world and as males we should try and give it to them. Because they deserve it.
His father endeavored to show hos mother everyday how much he csred and he never left without telling her goodbye.
Her next question drew his gaze in surprise.
Should i not already have a Ulaq before I entertain the idea of taking a femme as a wife? She would need a place of her own from the get go? No matter if she were young or had already bore sons.
He had already begun searching beneath thr trees for a place to make a home. Though for now he stayed outside. He would need come winter a dry hearth.
I ask that you teach me how to dry the meat you have shared with me? I would like to offer that as well when or if the time comes
lmao <3
like adrastus, rodyn came alive with these questions.
but this time moonwoman did not answer at once. her jadeglow eyes looked deep into those of the man. ice-hunter had been a good wolf, once. but they had all seen how he had turned upon her sister. kukutux would not allow this to happen again.
rodyn knew the words to stay. he described how he would save the skins from his kills. "bring the best ones here. i will make them into furs for your sleeping-place." the duck smiled and was quiet again.
kukutux nodded. "sometimes the one who will be your wife will have the wish to choose where your ulaq will be. but find a home of your own. perhaps you will only add new rooms together."
there was much pleasure in kukutux. the hunter was swiftly learning. "i will teach you. bring me deer-meat or fish on a day with much sun." and he came to her as teacher.
as moonwoman.
Had Rodyn been privy to the thought that his leader had. He would have balked at the thought of cruelty to his bride. However, he was aware enough to know men hurt women all the time and men and women could change.
Moonwoman gazed deep into his eyes and though he would avert his eyes quick enough as she were his leader. He did allow her a glimpse of his honesty and his soul in a matter of terms. Long enough to show his intentions, he then turned his eyes away and downward. A show of respect.
Rodyn blinked in thought. Thank you i will watch and learn. My mother used to say we put pieces of ourselves into everything we share..
He hadn't thought of it like that. If his mate intended did not like his home the would need to find a new one.