kukutux would remember this as a day tasting of honey, with only a mild grief bittering the edge of the moment. she called to @Saviguk with a low chuff, stepping back as she stared toward the neat ulaq that had been her home since she had come to moonspear. in this place she had brought her children to the side of earth; here she had suckled them, reared them, taught them.

the snowduck squared her shoulders, sighed. it had become too small now, for the four of them. she cast her gaze around for @Jarilo, always buoyed by the presence of her observant, quiet husband. and now to @Sialuk the young mother moved, seeking to kiss both her children sweetly before she looked a last time at the den, and then set off on a thin path that led away and up the mountain.

birds called their melodies down toward the traveling wolves; here and there she stopped to teach the cubs one name or another, but as the treeline thinned, kukutux grew thoughtful. the gamma led her little clan to the spill of wildflower-studded grasses, a small plain that spread warmly between stands of pine, trailing into deeper forest beyond. 

nosing the light-dark pair, encouraging them to dash out into the fragrant blossoms, kukutux blinked toward jarilo, wondering what he would make of her silent suggestion.