aw!
chakliux had not been present for the birth of the child borne by sialuk.
but now he sped up the rainwet slopes of the mountain, soaked and dragging half a deer-haunch along with him.
the soaked man paused, panting, at the borders; he called once for
@Sialuk and then began to enter, hefting his offering from the ground and seeking her scent.
Her ear turned forward at the call, barely audible over the falling rain. She kissed each of the faces in the den goodbye (for now), and departed. Her belly swung from side-to-side with each step, and she blinked through the raindrops that fell in her eyes. It was Chakliux who had called, and she spotted him once she reached a ledge. His gait was hindered by something in his jaws, and Sialuk peered at the approaching bright figure that was occasionally visible in the thicket of trees.
A father brings a gift,
she grinned, salivating as she spoke.
"for the mother of his children," chakliux sang back. he brought to sialuk the offering; he looked with fondness at her. "to whom am i a father now?" he asked, breathless and delighted.
to be a father, twice over! it filled his soul with beauty.
A singular word stuck out to Sialuk in the moment he sang back: "his." She chewed on it, not wishing to rush into a thought that was not true. When he spoke again, he used similar phrasing, and Sialuk chewed on that, also. She knew that Argent had wished for that title, and Elentari for mother, but she had not expected Chakliux to think of any of her children as his own. Perhaps she had misjudged him. Or perhaps she should have chosen her own words more carefully.
A single girl was born from me, Maggak. Elentari gave us a single boy, Acrux,
she said, her wording more careful, but warm. Did you bring news of Nasamik and Raiyuk?
she asked, eager to hear how they settled in Moontide.
so excited was he that chakliux did not immediately recognize what he had said, only noticing when sialuk's speaking shifted.
maggak. acrux. "the old ones blessed you both with the living spirit," he said in reverence, both to her ways and to his. "raiyuk remains in moontide. nasamik has gone away."
his lips firmed. he was not a good husband. it was better that the children of sialuk were born to her own hearth and not to his. "will you tell me of your new cubs?" he asked, eager in the new brilliance of his eyes.
"Nasamik has gone away."
Sialuk's brow furrowed, even as he asked about the children. He did not explain more of his wife's departure, and it worried the starwoman. What would have driven her away, and why had she left her child behind? She could not imagine parting ways with Maggak or Acrux. Eventually... maybe. But they were mere children, and Raiyuk was only a boy, too.
Once you have told me what happened,
she decided. If he refused, she would not withhold the descriptions of her own children, but she wished to know what had happened to Nasamik. To punctuate her point, Sialuk settled on her haunches, eyes filled with concern.
"i came to moontide. i built a new lodge. she was pleased to have me there. but one day she did not come home. her trail was not disturbed. it was not bloodied. i followed her. i searched for her."
he too, slumped to his seat, and glanced at sialuk with many things brimming in his gaze.
The way his body fell to the earth was unpleasant, and the starwoman worried for him. His wife had gone with no word. She had left a son and a husband. She wondered now if she had caused this, but Nasamik had known the bargain she made when she brought Chakliux and herself to Moonspear. In return for healing the seal hunter, Sialuk had asked only one night with Chakliux. It had been Nasamik who accepted this on his behalf, but it appeared not even her husband's life and health were enough to soothe her insecurities.
Sialuk frowned, an unpleasant emotion burrowing its way into her gut. Nasamik abandons her husband and child,
she said with a frown. The starwoman did not like this. Have you taken second wife?
she asked coyly. There had been signs that Chakliux and Tullik had been close, but she did not wish to presume without affirmation.
his scarred shoulders came up in a tight shrug. what could he do if nasamik wished to leave them both? it was the right of a seal hunter woman to do as she pleased, including divorce.
chakliux only wished she had spoken her mind before leaving.
"i have married tullik." his smile was true if brief. "i wished to keep my half of the lodge. i gave it to her in dowry. now kannoyak has gone and it is all her own." he hoped to raise children there as well, but there was time for this.
happy to continue this one or archive here!
Sialuk knew there was nothing she could do to change Nasamik's mind now that the woman was gone. Like Chakliux, the starwoman wished that the wife had spoken with her husband and young son before departing. How hurt the boy must be, not knowing the warmth of his mother any longer. How hurt Chakliux must be, not knowing what—if anything—he had done to cause her absence. She felt for Chakliux and his wayward wife, though she didn't not prompt him further on the subject.
A smile replaced the frown when Chakliux mentioned Tullik. Sialuk herself had her eye on the young woman, but it seemed that Chakliux had gotten to her first. She would reside in the lodge here on the mountain, while Chakliux and his son stayed in Moontide, it seemed.
It is good for you to have a home here, still,
she said.
Come, meet the children. They will be happy to have another to look over them.
Sialuk rose, beginning toward the
ulaq shared with Elentari, Argent, and the two children.