chakliux came to the place of saltshore, and frowned. some scents had faded. he did not sense rhaegal so much.
a seeming dread took him. the seal hunter carried his fish into the bay, eyes searching for movement.
in time, chakliux called out to
@Vairë in a wondering, worried tone:
are you here?
Raising three rambunctious children was stress inducing for any young mother.
It was Samani’s death that broke her. When she learned of it, when she heard the death songs, all she could do was weep. It came in waves, small lapping things that quickly overwhelmed her and dragged her under. Little things like Oh, I should tell her of the sunsets in the bay, she would love them. Like I never returned that to her, I should someday. But she never could, she could never return what she had borrowed, because Samani was gone. There was no friendly face waiting over the next border, there was no happy voice to call her name. There was nothing. Samani was simply there, then fading, then gone.
She wept, but she tried her hardest to not let her children see it. They would never meet their aunt, they would never meet the bright woman that had steadied her in her times of grief.
Saltshore faded around her, Rhaegal here and then gone in flashes of times she was aware and not tucked deep in the dark of her mind. The noise broke across the bay and she raised her head, snapping to awareness. Chakliux was a voice she remembered, but hadn’t ever expected to hear from.
Vairë crawled to the mouth of the den and responded: yes, I am here, come to me here.
her cry was quick and instant. chakliux grabbed his fish and trotted deeper into the brine-scented terrain, following the echo of vairë's voice.
he found her alone and waved his tail, inching forward to offer the meat and then back away with healthy instinctual fear of both her teeth and those possessed by rhaegal.
"i have told the man mauruk, of moontide, that we should hunt for you during this time, vairë," chakliux said by way of explaining his nearness. she retained all her great loveliness, her doe-softness, even beneath a pallor of exhaustion.
and now that she was mother, a seal hunter man would find her even more desirable.
but chakliux had not come here for such things. "i am sorry," for her sister's death, for the voices of another sister and their mother filling the seaways with death songs.
Thank you, Chakliux.
She was quiet as he continued to speak, her eyes distant, watching the sea in the distance. How it glimmered under the sun. And she hated it, because how dare it be so bright when Samani was gone.
Eventually, Vairë would look back to Chakliux.
I have two sons and a daughter, who will never know their aunt.
Her voice broke, but she remained tearless. She had cried enough in the past several days.
I thank you for your sympathy. But I.
She swallowed.
I just wish for my sister back.
she grieved. chakliux was still. he could not bring her these things, nor samani. "your mother will be with you when the songs have ended," the seal hunter said. "or maybe i can ask for ariadne to join you."
two sons and a daughter.
"their spirits are tied to her own. their blood will not forget her." and nor would vairë.
Vairë sucked a breath through her teeth, feeling her throat trying to close around her words before she even said them.
No, no, there is no need to involve Ariadne. She..she will need to mourn herself.
Vairë was a mother now, she needed to be strong. She chewed her lip.
Salaksartok, Ipiktok, and Nasamiituuq. Their names.
Her voice was quiet, soft.
I..I will make sure they know all of who Samani was. It’s all I can do.
for a moment was he silent.
"these are strong names. good names. the spirits will be pleased."
chakliux did not know what else to say. "i will help you, doe woman," he said quietly after a time. "we will all keep her mind awake in their hearts."
he did not want to leave her here so unguarded.