for all akmaaksi has heard thus far, she does not know the history of mother and father. a tartok man once favored, losing esteem in matriarchal eyes for who he loved.

born in napatuqvik to a sunshine mother who had become tartok, it is the remembered scent of those trees which evokes so much in akmaaksi. after the death of a sibling she remembers only in formative memories, asivaq and kigipigak returned to the wilds to seek sanctuary in moonglow with three children.

the end of their marriage is swift. another upheaval. tautukpik grows stern and attached to his sisters, forming an anchor for them while the world changes again. nutuyikruk flees at last to find their mother. akmaaksi did not see her again and thus far this has not changed.

the next and final blow was seeing her mother ariadne brought home, silent and still. the death songs haunt her ears. her father sang them also. akmaaksi was driven into a lasting silence thereafter where she switches between remembering much about her mother, and nothing at all.