Wolf RPG

That his mother was he was certainly news. He didn't know what to think about that, nor about this mysterious sister that was in town. Eldest? Jade? He had last hear that those two were by the coast — it was quite the puzzle, but not even that could distract him from the fleeing figure of @Chakliux. He watched the man go with an unaccountably sour feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He assured Kukutux that he was fine, but allowed himself to be poked and prodded for as long as she and the other healers saw fit. He assumed his mother would come to find him when she heard he had returned, and that Valiant perhaps would do the same. In the moment, however, he asked after @Sulukinak — had she come to the hunt? Was she well? He wondered about the others, too, but it was the dark girl that had occupied his mind most while he was away. If someone knew where she was, he asked, would they mind going to fetch her?

And if they didn't, he was content enough to lie flat in Moonglow's camp, his body still strong but his spirit quickly flagging. He had failed the seal hunter, he felt. And Chakliux was on his way back to his own family.

He shut his eyes, though sleep would not find him.

the hunts were over but the gathering persisted. she had never seen so much food! as hunters worked now at giant bodies and the women worked their magic on injured bodies.

sulukinak was weaving among the women when she caught a familiar scent caught in her nose. when she sought it out, the trail drew her to a healing camp; and then to the man dutch, who appeared to be asleep.

she perched herself nearby in her small way, but her tail was thumping quickly against the grass.

He drifted in his mind, physical pain dulled by moonwoman's strange medicines. Slowly, he shuffled his priorities back into order. It was chilling, in a way, to see how quickly things had gotten mixed up. This realignment was a cold comfort, but a comfort all the same. He let it soothe him until a familiar scent and telltale thump. thump thump. gave him something better to think about.

"Shadow girl," he in greeting, slapping a dusty paw against the ground to summon her. "I hoped I would find you in this place."

It was goo to see her face when he'd spent the past week or more worrying that she would be gone when he returned. She looked still to thin and whiplike, but no worse for wear than when he'd last seen her. His heart thawed a fraction; he was ready to set aside his own hurts in favor of sticking his nose in someone else's business.

"Are you well?" he asked her. And then, a little slyly, "Have you made any friends here?"

his invitation brought her slinking close, and she wedged against him, wanting warmth as she studied the scents gathered upon his coat. he had gone far!

kukutux. the girl only had this name. none had noticed her otherwise, except... the fur of her spine bristled and she mentions, nanuq man. big, snow man was angry with me. they hunted and i ran. her ears fanned back and sideways, but after sulukinak was back to normal. she moved to preen dutch's shoulder.

where did you go?

The panther was soothed by Sulukinak's nearness, even as he suspected she was searching for comfort herself. They investigated each other's scents, and he learned not just where she had been, but what some others had been up to as well. But she smelled only distantly of community; he was glad to hear any name pass from her lips — but most especially this one.

"She is a good woman to know," he said, and then his brow furrowed as she brought up a less than friendly encounter. His possessive nature reared its head; he could not think of another that should be allowed to reprove her. "Did this man harm you?" he asked, swallowing down murderous intent in favor of reason. He smoothed her hackles with a swipe of his tongue.

the defensive manner of dutch reminded sulukinak of her brothers. no. he... was angry, and he was right to be. the giants! they scared me and before i could help it, i was away. the hunters had to work harder.

she leaned in to him.

i... i don't want to be there, in the camp with nanuq. sulukinak did not want to go anywhere without dutch, either, and was conflicted. he has been... loud with red woman. maybe kukutux would take me? or... i go and sleep in the spiritwood and wait for my brothers. she didn't know!

The panther was not convinced of the righteousness of this nanuq's anger, but he did not press the issue just yet. He only murmured a quiet assurance: "They are fearsome opponents. If you were not ready, it is good you did not place yourself in their paths."

It was only when red woman was brought into this that he understood who she was talking about — and a fierce anger burned in him for the trader. The kind that had little to do with anything so much as it did the season that was upon them. Dutch did not want Ariadne for himself, and under duress, he might admit that Kaluktuk had at least partial right — or perhaps even a duty — to correct Sulukinak's behavior. But he was still a rival in the rut, and the panther was no more pleased with the idea of sharing space with him than Sulukinak was.

"You will stay here with me," Dutch replied, shifting enough that he might use her scruff as a pillow. "Who else came? Of our wolves."

dutch adjusted and draped over her.

she shook her head when he asked for names. then froze, remembering. i only followed because i thought you went with them, but when i saw you -- it was not you. the name of his brother never met her ears so she could not repeat it.

but there are so many from everywhere. sulukinak felt awe upon mentioning this. her home had been nearly barren, her conclave being one of mother and brothers paired, making the world so small by comparison.

many conclaves, and many who... survived. she would not mention the word of sacrifice that had been taught to her, as the memory silenced her.

Guilt ate at him. He wished he'd made an effort to say goodbye to her in particular, but the time was now passed.

"I was hunting a bad man," he replied, "One who harmed the wife of another. We spilled his blood, but I was injured. We were forced to turn back."

By Chakliux, Dutch thought stubbornly, but it did not bear saying aloud.

"The wolves here are gentle, because the land has been gentle with them," he told her, his voice a quiet rumble against the back of her neck. "This is why the outliers — those that visit senseless violence upon the innocent — must be culled. When we remove these threats, the rest of us multiply; as many as the good earth can provide for."

His nose twitched. He said, "You will be a woman, this year." What would she do? He could not imagine her married. He was not yet convinced she was fit to be around pups.

it sounded like a kiviut. many of them inhabited the north from what sulukinak could remember; her mother had dealt with many, and it was through these deals that her brothers came to be born. she did not share this, but found it... calming, thinking of dutch driving such a being away, or harming them. it was what they deserved.

he was right when he said these people were soft; to a point, she agreed. they were frightening for their number and their inherent fearlessness - able to chase these giants without a second thought. sulukinak felt out of place here. but she could survive the desperate expanse of ice and sea, and maybe that was her one difference.

when dutch spoke of her coming adulthood, her shoulders bunched. i would do as my mother did. pray to the sea, receive what is given... perhaps bear a conclave of my own. would she go all the way? pit brother against sister? open the ice and feed the weak to sedna?

she goes quiet.

The girl tensed; Dutch was in a position to know this intimately, and he pressed his chin down just a little harder for a moment, following the give of her spine as she shrank. If she wanted to make herself small, Dutch was happy enough to reinforce this.

"Is that what you want?" he asked her, reading the uncertainty in her voice. "Ariadne will bear us as many children as we need. You will not be relied on for this thing."

He thought that others still might bring life to the glacier, but that would be their choice just as much as this would be hers. Perhaps a little moreso — the panther disliked the idea of her creating a family other than the one he had invited her into. Perhaps he would feel differently when she could speak firm her desires.

ariadne might bear children, but would she send them to sedna? sulukinak did not know her enough to say. kukutux spoke of sedna with reverence herself and things in this place felt backwards. the conclave of the moonsong people - of ariadne - would exist within the shadow of the darkwater if the sacrifice was not made.

you will not be relied on for such a thing.

how odd, to think the giving of her weakness and her blood was not welcome. sulukinak grit her teeth, and closed her eyes to seem relaxed and sleepy alongside him. these were things she could not put to words! of her siblings, she was the most likely to be drowned.

yet she was here.

then i do not know.

The shift of her jaw was not consciously noted, but the panther still felt he could sense her unease and confusion. This was not unusual in the rut, he thought, but something about Sulukinak still raised the hair on the back of his neck. He did not understand her much better than she understood him.

"Perhaps you will know better when there is new life on the glacier," he suggested, likewise pretending she did not make him wary. Even in his wariness, he felt a particular kind of heartache for this girl. "We are among the sunshine people, now. They are different from my people, and I think, even moreso from yours. Do you think it's enough for now to live and learn among them? We don't need to go after bison — but I can teach you to hunt larger creatures."

the mention of hunting lessons brought a smile to her face, a softening everywhere else. sulukinak did not want to think of children any longer. what she felt must be done to earn the favor of the darkwater - no, it held no place here with these sunshine people. she would watch and she would learn.

you would teach me? maybe then i could help you against kiviut. hungry men. like the one you were chasing. they were a beast of the ice and this summerland, after all.

satisfied by this, sulukinak melted in to the grass and became a sooty puddle with dutch there. i am glad you came back. her tail thumped as she said this, drumming a quick beat.

Ah — there it was. The panther filed away this interaction, so that he might be better prepared the next time he faced her distress. Then he let his mind rest, smiling at her eagerness.

"I will teach you," he easily agreed. "We will not let these hungry men touch our women, yes?"

And although she still possessed the remarkable ability to make his hair stand on-end, she had also a way of making his weary heart glow. He would miss being on the road with Chakliux — but Chakliux was not the only one who liked having him around.

"I am glad you are here to come back to," he replied, lifting his head to puff a warm breath into the fur at her crown. "We will learn together what path will make you the happiest — and this will bring me joy as well. Anything you wish to learn, I will do my best to teach you, or to find someone who can."

there were many things she wished to learn. the hunt upon land was one, and would be valuable if she was to be of use to this conclave or another. the way the women here could find useful plants and make things of them, was another. the last was of an intimate sort of knowledge she might yet glean from ariadne, or kukutux who she was more comfortable with; the understanding of what went-on between a man and woman.

ariadne was cavalier about it. sulukinak was curious but also afraid of the nanuk man, and so she would choose to deliberate rather than ask outright.

except, maybe dutch would have answers. sulukinak was unafraid to be candid. she had never known shame and did not encounter it when she opened her mouth again to say, pairings of man and woman interests me. as calm as the open and cloudless sky, without a blemish of awkwardness. i have seen it happen, and heard it plenty.

she props herself on elbows, watching her friend's face. can that be taught? it is not like hunting - there is no chase - but it is like fighting. my brothers rarely fought but it looked the same.

The panther breathed out a soft laugh — Ha! — amused but not surprised or discomforted. "Most do find interest in this," he replied, his tail swishing in idle reminiscence. "It is easily learned. It can be like fighting, if you want it to be, but it can also be like an embrace. Man and woman join together for many reasons. In this season, it is to bring new life into the world. At other times, it might be just for fun, or to express love for one another, or to cement a partnership."

He laid his head down again; the medication made him drowsy.

"But it is a sacred act that most do not partake in lightly," he went on, struggling now to string thoughts together. "To be truly enjoyed, it requires either a great deal of trust, or a great deal of confidence."

she listened. it was much the same knowledge that ice mother had shared with her the rare moments she would speak up and ask, although dutch was warm in his telling, and more open. he said that it was sacred, and sulukinak agreed with that part and not with the rest.

my mother did not trust. she would make trades with the hungry men that the ice brought to us. this was shared with as much innocence as her questions. it did not feel wrong to sulukinak. it was how, she said, she was given her children. how her conclave came to be.

she had wanted a husband when she was my age, but that no man would look her way. that as two-spirit she watched for women on the ice, and saw none. this was of no great surprise; women often lived protected by fathers, brothers, husbands. men were the sort that roamed.

the only woman to ever heed my mother was -- beneath the ice. the spirit in the everdark. this name sulukinak could not share.

she was snared by her knowledge and did not notice the effect of dutch's medicine.

The more he heard about her past, the sadder it seemed to him.

"It is meant to be an act of joy between two wolves who care much for one another," he said quietly, a long moment after Sulukinak had finished speaking. "I will not speculate on whether or not your mother found joy in these acts. It is possible. And women may join with women, or men with other men, and find this same joy, although no children will result from these pairings. There are many different practices, and I would call very few of them wrong. But as someone very accomplished at this thing, I say to you: it is best enjoyed with trust."

He did not speak firmly, lest Sulukinak think her thoughts unwelcome, but he tried to convey his surety all the same.

"It is hard for wolves to be isolated, Sulu," he said, the subject shifting. "And it is a hard life on the ice. Frightening, sometimes. Your mother had to make choices there that she wouldn't have had to in other places. But there are many more things here than there are where you were born. And correspondingly, there are many more choices."

maybe it had not been joy between nukilik and any of the men, but there must have been joy in nukilik knowing she would have what she wanted at long last - to stand as head of her conclave, to have her children. sulukinak chose to see the joy there. for as long as she could remember, her mother had been loving in her way; it was only when her children grew too large to feed that things changed.

sulukinak considered all of this, and what dutch said. if she was given any choice it would be to see the love in her mother rather than the mania which gripped her in the end; and so too, she would revoke the same choice from nukilik. it was too painful to think of her mother making the conscious choice to drown her daughter. that was a rite, a necessity predicated by the gods of the everdark.

the girl thought, and she wallowed in the warmth and presence of dutch, and thought of all they had spoken of and all that was to come; eventually, her silence became a measured breath. a slumbering.

The girl did not answer, and Dutch did not press her to speak. They both quieted, and after a time, the panther followed Sulukinak into slumber.