galana had gone.
they would continue their looking. her heart ached deeply and the moonwoman's face was marked with grief.
but she gathered her sons all the same. "it is time for you to learn the ways of long hunting." only four moons they had, and yet in two more they would be able to walk the caribou trails.
she would not let her sons be without the practices of her home. "sivullik will be your teacher, as will all of us. taataa and the star hunter, and inutsuk. you may also learn from those in villages moontide and moonspear."
mostly just a cameo. <3
his sister is missing and guilt grips him tight and refuses to depart as kivaluk blames himself.
he spent too much time worrying about himself, he fears. too much time with sorcha. too much time ...well, in whatever feelings that had begun to blossom
for sorcha that he could no longer pretend away.
it hangs heavy on his shoulders as he looks to his brothers; followed by the spiderling worry that maybe there was something inherently wrong with him that made his blood family leave him.
a curse, perhaps.
still, he tries not to focus on his own inner grievances too much because he'd been assigned a task: to help teach his brothers the long hunt.
he does not speak to them, having nothing to add.
Massaraq arrived and nodded at the declaration. He was growing into his paws, and although he was still smaller than he would be full grown he was starting to feel a little bit more confident in his steps. When Kivaluk arrived he was silent and Massaraq was not sure what to make of that. He looked around and recognized that once more Galana was missing. He did not know why his sister had disappeared - whether it was the danger that adults promised lurked out in forbidden corners of the world, or was it something he had done?
The young wolf had not known his sister long, but he had known her all his life. She had played with him, and even if the memories would fade and dull with age in that moment they were sharp and present in a way that only served to emphasize her absence. But he did not ask where she was, as if by invoking the truth of her presence would make it real.
There was a sadness deeply written in Arrluk at the missing of his sister. If anything, it made him seek the presence of
@Ajei more, now that Galana was gone. All his sisters had left the home which they were born, making villages of their own- Sialuk, Samani, Vairë... He saw them, he could visit them and wonders if one day he might see the rest that had come and gone before he and his brothers.
Mother spoke now of the long hunt- the herds. Arrluk had practiced fishing with his father and talked the scented paths of he and Kivaluk. Soon, he would follow them after the herds. She spoke of visiting the other lands. Internally, Arrluk was reluctant. He feared returning to Moonglow and others being gone. He was happy and content here, but knew it was good to expand his knowledge and skills.
With a murmur, he asked,
Do you think Galana is there? With the other Moon tribes?
Surely, mother-hen
@Kassuq would be fretting endlessly. Maybe, even, now that she was older, she had gone looking for Sakhmet. Arrluk had not forgotten his second mother and knew Kukutux and Kivaluk had not either.
Kassuq had driven himself to tears.
When the boy showed up to his mother’s summons, he was breathing hard, splattered with mud and riddled with sticks. Bruises bloomed beneath his white fur where rocks had fallen against him while trying to climb into the Spine.
He had been stopped by his own conscious screaming at him to quit before he died in the process.
His eyes were red rimmed, his entire body language spelling defeat, the morose sadness plaguing his body. One eye looked to his bold colored brother when he spoke, and Kassuq swallowed.
Maybe.
He mumbled, before drooping more.
But…they’d..they’d tell us, right?
a grave edge of sorrow marked this meeting.
"we have not stopped looking for galana," moonwoman addressed her sons.
how sweet the heart of those who loved their sister!
"now you must learn to make your own paths from the village, to hunt and to search. you must learn the shape of a foot on the mud or in the snow. you must know when rain will come and when the rivers flow harshest. i have searched for many in my years, and i found others. but first i learned the ways of hunting and tracking. that is what sivullik will help you to do."
her voice, quiet but encouraging, her eyes moving between them all, including silent kivaluk.
Excuse any typos. I'm high.
Their mother ensured her sons, that the adults endlessly search for Galana. They would not stop. Though Arrluk would come to learn (as we know he will need it), that his mother would tell him in his deepest sorrows, one must search but also remain living.
Kukutux spoke of all what they needed to learn to help in the search. They needed to learn to hunt. Learn to track. In the rains and in the snows, when the floods washed away foot tracks, to know even what the tracks were.
Kivaluk, their
sivullik, would teach them how to find their sister. And Arrluk would not stop until he had.
I will follow you.
Massaraq took in the information rapt with attention. No one had lost hope of finding her. He felt that was important. All the secrets of the world seemed open to him in that moment. He could not change that his sister had gone missing but if he could aid in searching for her perhaps that would ease the restlessness in his paws from doing nothing. He nodded his head and turned to Kivaluk their Sivulik and shuffled closer so that he could begin to follow - see what he saw, smell what he smelled, and walk where he walked.
<3 shall we fade here w the assumption kivaluk took the boys off? <3
they would search.
and her heart thrummed with a deep ache, to have galana and sakhmet no more.
arrluk addressed firsthunter. massaraq joined them. kukutux breathed a sigh and sat back upon her haunches.
the ways of the village would go on.
Massaraq followed, diligent and intent, but novice. He knew well how to run and play but each step felt new as he did his best to learn.
works for me!