Watching
@Orca II and
@Seal while their parents took a few days to themselves made Towhee wonder how Caracal and Heda were doing out on the island. Perhaps she should pay them a visit when Meerkat and Njord came back from their trip. They could return the favor and keep an eye on
@Towhee Jr and
@Sable, although
@Phox would also be around, unless she dragged him along.
She’d done so much of that lately, she wasn’t keen on the idea, though she would ask him one way or the other. Towhee shaded her eyes from the morning glare to look for any sign of her brother roaming around the rendezvous site. She didn’t see him, though the clearing was pretty vast.
Maybe he was lining up at Sialuk’s
ulaq, a thought which made Towhee snort as she set down her foot. She couldn’t hear the woman’s frequent caterwauling, though she’d picked up on some of the gossip. Apparently things were going according to plan and she was taking many lovers.
Good for you, the Redhawk thought with a smirk as she lifted onto all fours and began wandering in search of Phox.
Dated June 6.
chakliux had not forgotten meerkat's instruction, and for a moment that he had left sialuk for now, he came to find the other children of moonspear. carrying a pig femur and with the scent of the rainstar wafted through his fur, chakliux found instead their grandmother.
"i greet you," he said once he had set down his offering. "i have come to — meerkat said i should visit the others while raiyuk is away."
his eyes were curious on her. she had no husband but many members of her family here, and chakliux always wondered if this was sought by others.
He left the kids for a bit—only to go grab a drink—and instead found Towhee, swiftly joined by another male he did not know with strange marks on his shoulder and face. It looked garish, Phox thought, though he didn't reveal his inward feelings on the matter. Moonspear was a strange place, and he was here for his family. No need to ruffle feathers. Not only that, but the guy reeked of the leader lady, and Phox didn't want to go ruffling those feathers either.
Howdy,
he greeted in his casual manner, I'm Phox, the fun uncle. You two know each other already?
he asked.
A large, pale figure materialized, a juicy shank of meat in his mouth. Towhee paused in her step, eyeing the pork for a second before her gaze traveled upward and over the wolf carrying it. He was brawny, with striking eyes set in a scarred face. She had seen him in passing and his scent was familiar, as were the other odors clinging to his fur.
Before she could address his greeting, Phox walked over with an introduction and a question. Towhee looked toward him and shook her head, then peered back at the stranger. He’s one of Sialuk’s lovers, that’s for damn sure, she thought with an amused twitch of her tail.
-“Ah, you must be Raiyuk’s dad?”- Towhee recalled, trying to think of the name the boy had given her. -“Chakleenex?”- she tried. -“I’m Towhee—”
Her voice cut off abruptly when she remembered something else from the day she’d met Raiyuk: his mother’s name was Nasamilk (or something like that). Towhee had dropped him off at his parents’ shared lodge that day. Were they not an official pairing? Or were they a married couple, which meant Mr Kleenex here was cheating on his wife with Sialuk while she was away at Moontide…?
no one had cut his name in so many pieces. chakliux was taken aback, but his laughter was genuine. "chak-lee-uhx," the seal hunter said slowly for the benefit of meerkat's mother. now he looked to the man.
how had he come to be missing a leg?
but this one seemed fierce. chakliux respected him at once as a hunter.
"it is good to meet you, towhee and phox." he gestured toward his offering. "i bring this to your hearth."
"Cha-kleenex?" Phox repeated in his head, though the younger man was quick to provide the correct pronunciation. Chak-lee-ux,
Phox repeated, this time out loud. Phox turned to Towhee: -Chakliux,- he decided, making a much simpler name for him in ptero than his verbal name. Phox even found it hard to pronounce, so no sense in getting all in his head about it when he could make a sign for it instead.
Phox's eyes locked onto the large bone, suddenly salivating at the sight of it. That's quite the bone,
he said, licking his chops. What did you take down for it?
No harm in getting some information about the kinds of prey that lurked nearby the mountain, after all.
She decided it was none of her business. There were a lot of cultural differences here and they were all adults. Towhee would be lying if she said she wasn’t morbidly curious—what was he even doing here, with his wife and child elsewhere?—though she pushed all thought of it aside to focus on what was in front of her face at the moment.
That included Phox’s limbs as he provided a name sign for Chakliux. Towhee nodded her acknowledgement of both the man’s title and his gift. Like her brother, she let her gaze drop to the bone. She sensed Phox saying something in her peripheral vision but she didn’t turn to look, deciding to let the two men converse for a few minutes.
But when she could get a word in edgewise, Towhee would float her idea past Phox. She didn’t mind if Chakliux overheard, it was nothing private. And better to mention it before she forgot.
a smile broke across his face as chakliux felt he was accepted, at least in some way. "i found the boar with his leg broken. i only waited." his eyes asked if the man phox would one day come with him, and then showed curiosity at their odd movements.
had he not seen this before?
sensing they would speak of other things, chakliux politely pretended he did not hear. "my son will come soon to visit moonspear again. perhaps your children and those of meerkat will join us."
Chak-lee-ux explained that it was rather easy to take down the boar with its leg already broken, and Phox made an "ahhh" sound in reply. It was their way as wolves to bring down the weaker members of whatever they were hunting, and a boar with a broken leg was unlikely to last too long on his own anyhow.
-Sable and Towhee Junior? I'll bet they'd like that. Seal and Orca, too. Remind me of your son's name again?-
Phox asked, signing so that Towhee could keep up with the conversation as well.
They spoke of the children reconvening and thought of poor Seal, weeping over her older brother. She must miss her little friend, Raiyuk too. It was good of those wolves to flock to help Moontide, though Towhee knew it was probably very hard for the young to understand it. Hopefully frequent reunions would help matters.
-“Speaking of packs on the coast,”- she said, spotting her opportunity, -“I’d like to go visit Caracal when Meerkat and Njord get back. I think I’d like to do it by myself, if that’s okay,”- she decided to say forthrightly. -“Could you watch the kiddos for me? It’ll just be for a few days.”-
She looked to Phox as she spoke, though she cast Chakliux a glance, thankful for his patience while she made these arrangements with her brother while she had the chance.
towhee junior? chakliux did not know the meaning of the second word. sable, orca, and seal — his eyes brightened with amusement, for he liked the sound of the names. "he is called raiyuk," chakliux explained.
he was eager to be off, but did not want to show his impatience. "is there more that is needed here? tell me and i will bring it to you, towhee. phox."
Chakliux must have made some indication that he wished to depart because Phox held up a toe before dismissing him. Towhee glanced his way and nodded her head to the northman.
Well?
she prompted, gaze swinging back to her brother, certain of his affirmation despite the inflection.
The two of them fell into a slightly more relaxed banter now that they were alone. Towhee voiced her earlier musings about Chakliux’s fidelity and the two of them spent a little while musing about the peculiarities of the culture in this village.
Fading with Aerinne’s blessing!