Upon learning of Kukutux' recent loss, Ciri departed from Dutch as soon as she was able. She picked her way through the frozen snow of the glen below Moonglow's claim as the afternoon sun dipped in the sky, and only waning evening light remained by the time she reached the edge of Moonwoman's home.
At once she requested the company of
@Kukutux with a low and mournful call.
mourning, and in a voice she knew.
the name came to her; kukutux drifted from the coppice and to the blackgold woman now standing once more upon the edges of moonglow.
"it is good to see your face, ciri," and her face, mellowed in its own sorrow, now filled with worry for what had affected the younger wolf so much. "has something happened?" kukutux murmured, catching the tendriling of dutch's scent on the soft pelt.
Kukutux revealed herself to her and Ciri crossed the threshold to move in closer, ducking her head with the aim of pressing her brow to the Moonwoman's pallid throat in a gesture of empathy and respect. She closed her sunshine eyes and drew in deep the smell of her warm pelt, the scent of herbs and snow woven among the tendrils.
I greet you,
she said softly, recalling how the Sunshine wolves regarded one another, and she withdrew to seek Kukutux' lovely face. Her dark ears pressed back with the weight of sorrow she felt for the Moonglow mother's great loss. No, nothing,
she said softly in response to her concern, unwilling to share her disappointment in the choice she'd made in Chakliux when the duck's heart had surely been broken, I was on my way back, and I... a wolf of Moonsong told me what has happened.
Her solemn frown deepened. I am sorry. I wish I'd been here to help.
no matter her anger or sorrow or self-blame, kukutux had indeed lost a daughter.
now ciri greeted her almost as if she had been born to moonwoman's hearth; her eyes stung with the affection of it against the pain of perhaps never seeing ariadne again.
"she chose her own path," kukutux said simply, standing aside to invite ciri closer, up along the path to the ulax.
i greet you. a smile stole a little of the anguish. "it is good to have you back. do you visit or will you stay?" either was accepted.
There was little that Kukutux had to say on the matter of her daughter's wandering paws, and Ciri did not feel it appropriate to dive deeper into a topic so sensitive. Her condolences, she hoped, woukd be enough.
She followed the Moonwolf closely, content to trail at her pallid flank. It is good to be back,
the swallow answered, hoping to sound sincere. Her plan to return and pursue courtship with Chakliux had failed before she'd even reached Moonglow's borders, but she wanted to believe that her future could still be found among the Sunshine family. I will stay, if you'll have me.
"yes, ciri. stay with us. the village is warm with much meat and eating-plants. hunting will not be so hard." there were also the other moonwolves with whom their own could hunt.
"was your journey very hard?" came the quiet ask as steps slowed, winter biting aggressively into her hips. kukutux scoffed at herself and went on.
There was warmth in the Moonwoman's welcome, and Ciri was content. She smiled to herself as she followed, glad to be back on familiar turf and be greeted as though she'd never gone.
Not really,
she said, though she supposed it had been in some ways. It'd mostly been difficult to admit that she wasn't ready for what she'd come here looking for a year prior, and disappointed to realise that Chakliux couldn't provide the way she'd hoped he would. Ciri would be fine, however. She always was. I am ready to settle, I think.
this warmly pleased the heart of the duck.
they came to the ulaq, which would be quite unchanged to the eyes of the younger woman, save for the addition of new bison furs and a hanging ram-skull.
she gathered summer-dried sage and crushed it atop slices of thick bison-meat, jellied with fat, then put this all upon birchbark and offered it to ciri.
"i am training vairë as moonwoman to follow me." kukutux settled comfortably across from ciri, pulling a pile of plush caribouskin across her haunches. "you have come back again. your heart is with moonglow. what does it now want, ciri?" came her earnest, soft question after a time.
Kukutux' ulaq was as she remembered it, and her bright eyes took in all the trinkets and decorations as her companion busied herself with meat and herbs. Ciri smiled softly to herself, noticing the fierce ram skull that she could not recall from before, though the offering of food distracted her.
She accepted it with words of gratitude and settled herself as the Moonwoman did, though lifted her gaze to look upon her at the mention of another in training. Ciri tried not to think too much on it, but could not deny the beat of concern that Kukutux may be unwell.
Focus shifted toward herself and her own wants, however, and her eyes lowered again. She thought solemnly of the seal hunter. I had hoped to return and be courted by Chakliux,
she admitted, her frown deepened. Our paths crossed before I returned to Moonglow, and we... we want very different things.
hmm! that one!
"seal hunters do not court, not in the way the sunshine people practice," moonmother explained. "he will never have only one wife, nor will he keep from lying with other women even after he is married. they accept it because they are free to do the same. he is handsome, aya! but he is not for a heart who wishes never to share. he took a wife from among us, but chased after my daughters. then he married a woman from the mountain and took her to the sea! now i am hearing he has a second."
a soft look of remembering came over the moonduck; "i say all these things. but i almost married a boy of the seal hunters. i would have learned to grow accustomed to it. he swore me as first wife," kukutux added with a sardonic arch of her brow toward ciri.
"i am glad for aiolos."
ciri would be glad for a steady man as well.
Kukutux spoke of Chakliux and Ciri's ears pricked forward with interest, though we're quick to splay. She exhaled softly through flared nostrils, disappointment clear in the sunshine hue of her eyes. The dashing of her hope was still a raw thing and she felt it as the Moonwoman provided more reason behind the seal hunter ways.
She picked at the meat she'd been provided as she listened, silent as she mulled over the uncertainty of her future. The thought was cast aside with Kukutux' announcement that she herself had once meant to wed a seal hunter boy, and there was a surprised quirk to her dark brow. Ciri had always known that Kukutux was not born of Moonspear, that she'd married into the Ostrega family, but she'd never wondered of her life before the mountain.
She had held the love of Aiolos for several years since the collapse of their family; Ciri was glad that there'd been room in her wounded heart for him. I don't know that I'll ever find a mate,
the swallow admitted, despite very much wishing to bind her soul to another. I don't know why I'd wanted it to be him.
"he does care. it shows. he just does not care in the same way."
kukutux saw how ciri brooded and did not eat. the young woman was compelling, lovely, kind, polite. such aspirations should be rewarded with the attentions of many men, vying.
it was still cold, even as the land moved toward the touch of the sun.
many things could occur.
"tomorrow, i go to finish the hides beside the lake. come with me. i will be there at first light."
She did not understand what Kukutux said of the seal hunter. From her viewpoint it looked like he was collecting women despite his assurance that this was not the case. Chakliux admitted to having selected two (three if you included the mother of his son from last Spring) as his wives, yet found pleasure in the bodies of others. Ciri felt her gut sicken once more to think of Chakliux and his ways, so was glad when the Moonwoman steered their conversation toward other things.
The lake, she said. Ciri lifted her ears, knowing she'd be glad of the distraction by putting herself to use. She very much wanted Moonglow to be her home. Partaking in the duties expected of its women woukd be a good start.
I will meet you there,
she agreed softly, and took this as conclusion. Ciri gathered herself and smiled, though there was a hint of sorrow to the curve of her lips as her sunflower gaze met that of Kukutux. She dipped her muzzle and collected what remained of the meat she'd been given, and quietly took her leave.