or ❝towards the open water❞

nothing remained for atka in her natal home. blood had been spilled and corruption was rooted far to deep in such little time. it was a place rich with culture, pursuit of afterlife, spiritual beings and gods, but it was heavily patriarchal. it became terrorized by her brother, ikiaq, in suit of her father's death. tarkik became as much as her name implied, a troubled and far away woman no matter how close one could stand. tarkik did not argue anything, or speak. her aunt, aqillutaq, of her mother's side was a shaman of sorts for the wolves. aqillutaq took to her nieces and nephew in tarkik's spiritual absence.

the status placed upon her with being a woman left little opportunity to defend herself. then with the death of aqillutaq who was murdered with her proclamation of prophecies of ikiaq's death, atka wasted no time turning her back. she would not witness his death as well. racked with grief, her trek began in teekon wilds as she mourned the woman who was more of a mother than her own.

shortly into her depart, her path crossed dreven's who was a behemoth of a man who she was awed and allured by. he was forbidden by her morals and beliefs, but she couldn't deny the darker pieces within her that desired him. dreven was a man who appeared shackled by the devil, no matter a cultures depiction of the evil spirit. she took him as her lover.

the pair had it's experiences with other packs, but eventually they'd settled in hljóðrfell. she took her responsibility as læknir, and he hermaðr. she soon was with his children, but lost them in the midst of chaos.

new scars on her body, and time apart from dreven had little explanation; hurt, hunted, and alone is how little atka spent weeks, months? she was reunited with him but without the life they were so excited to meet.

dreven's old ways were never something he would let go of. atka could not stand beside someone who worked at the hands of death and would never stop. she'd left him infected and heavily injured after treating his wounds to her best.

upon leaving him, atka decided to take her aunt's name, aqillutaq (new snow). snow was a fondly given name from dreven but she was no longer his; she was new. she was aqillutaq.