Wolf RPG - baby, it's cold outside

Set directly after https://wolf-rpg.com/showthread.php?tid=53526 @Kukutux ! Forgive the festive title xD xD

Anaa!

He only started calling for his mother once he'd seen his ladies off and was certain, most certain, they were well out of earshot. A myriad of things bubbled up in him now: excitement, anxiety, nervousness, thrill. He couldn't quite decipher one from the other, but he knew that if anyone could answer his feelings and thoughts, his mother would be the one to help.

And he had such words for her! Such thoughts to share! Stratos wondered again what his mother would make of the news he held, the news his heart was near brimming with. And how would he tell her? He tried to work out the puzzle as he made his way up the mountainside, nearing the dens the women shared.

ANAA!!

A brilliant smile danced along his face, despite the nerves that touched the corners of his thoughts.

i am so stoked LMAO <3

each year that sialuk had come of age, kukutux had asked that tooteega give grandchildren to moonglow.

now the gentle hope had moved to samani. callyope would be next. how fast the seasons moved!

ariadne had not yet spoken her want. kivaluk moved swiftly toward manhood, and she too was proud of him as she would be a son. and mojag, she wanted a gentler future for him than where he now was.

it was stratos who called to her! stratos, who strode up the path to the ulax, full of joy and if he had never been away. "iqniqa!" she cried and ran to meet him.

kukutux embraced stratos there on the trail. "it is good to see your face. come. i will give you meat. you will tell me what you have done on your journey."

he had grown older, the duck realized with a start. he held so much the face of his father and it was the ocean and snow which came together in the color of his eyes. his shoulders were strong. he looked well and carried the wild smell of the great trees.

ME TOO!! xD <3 <3 <3

His heart soared when he neared the ulax and found his anaa running towards him, dear words of welcome on her lips. How he had missed her! He hadn’t imagined how deep his heart would ache when he saw her, how much he had missed her voice, her face!

They covered the ground between each other, and he fell into her embrace.

Anaa! he said again in smiling words, and when they uncurled from each other, he noticed her eyes upon him , but thought very little on how he must have changed from when she’d seen him last. His thoughts rather settled on the food she mentioned, and the news he had yet to share.

I have such many things to say! Stratos began, I hunted much and am a greater hunter now than when I left, his face beamed with pride he did not try to conceal, I know the ways of weasels, badgers, and hares. Now, I will find others who wish to hunt bigger things, that I may learn the ways of deers, rams, and mooses, too.

He would say these things as he followed her to where he knew she kept her stores for guests, having fetched these things for visitors himself when he was just a boy. How pleased she would be with is he had learned! But how much more pleased he hoped she would be with the coy words that came out next.

I found something else too, he said, trying, at last, for proper words, Two kind, pretty girls in the southern forests. Sisters. They are very fun. I call them raven and songbird, though their names are Chicky-D and Ani. a pause, and a grin blushed over his face, and they have asked to be my wives. Both of them!

kukutux had never insisted that her daughters know the old ways of subservience, how to address men, how to make them believe that their ideas were their own.

but as stratos spoke of all his good hunting, the duck saw that away from his village he had become a man. she moved around him in attentive silence, fetching good elk meat onto a strip of bark which she served to him.

kukutux would have spoken now with congratulations, praising him for his hunting skills, but what stratos said now brought her eyes wide and shoulders sharp.

two wives! bird sisters?

"this is a very good thing," she said first to the young man. "you are a young and strong hunter. with the status of this village you will be able to provide for two wives." her green eyes were lit with pride. "and you, my son? do you want them both as their husband?"

Stratos bit into the elk meat anaa had lay before him as he watched her in turn as her eyes widened and praise spilled from her lips. Oh, hadn’t he known she would be pleased! A small rumble of a laugh accentuated the thumping wag of his tail.

They indeed were strong! And surely would be, for many seasons! With Rodyn’s engagement, and now the thought of a family of his own. He had never seriously considered girls before meeting Ani and Dee, but perhaps that had been because the only girls he’d known had only ever been his sisters, and as much as he loved them, he sure as stars wasn’t going to marry one of them.

He puffed a little at anaa’s accolades, and in the excitement of his certainty, forgot to swallow his last mouthful of meat. I do! At least, he was quite certain he did. He swallowed the little bit of elk still in his mouth. I promised I would return to them soon, once I spoke with you and had your blessing first. Perhaps they are speaking with their anaa too, would she give her approval? Stratos didn’t worry too long on that. He was certain Ani and Dee would give him glowing reviews! What must I do now? Do I bring them gifts as Rodyn did? They seem to be of a different kind of village than ours.

kukutux smiled. "how swift is your mind, kuvviak!" but she only teased her proud and gentle son. "first, i make a meeting with the anaa and taataa of these bird girls. we will share words. if they agree, then i will offer them the ways of moonglow."

and it was thus: "you will spend three turns of the moon in the village of your intended wives. you will live together. you will see if you are fit for this. at the end of three moons, i ask that they come and spend the same among our people. that they learn our ways. when the snow again comes, the three of you will decide if you wish to be married. if it is yes, then we will see what brecheliant asks for two daughters."

she was quiet now, and watched stratos' expression to see how he took this new knowledge.