Ouroboros Spine green leaf

After visiting with Ajei, Seal gave her friend some space.

She wandered through the village and respectfully greeted any wolf she passed by and paid her condolences.

Eventually, she found herself at the Three Sisters and found reprieve from the sun in their dappled shade.

"it is good to see your face, seal."

even as the nights of death songs went on, even with tearstained face and voice hoarsened by sorrow, kukutux still felt deep affection in her heart for the young woman.

quietly kukutux settled close to share the sun's warmth, but said no more.

The moonwoman was like a pearl against a backdrop of verdant, velvet green. “Kukutux,” Seal said in greeting, voice respectful.

“It is good to see you too.” She reached out to embrace the elder. “I’ve returned home from Brecheliant, and that’s when I heard the songs for Ajei's mother… It is sad she is gone.”

Though Seal did not know the Star Hunter well, she understood her significant role, not only within the Sunshine pack, but also as Ajei’s mother.

"my heart is sad. but she is no longer with pain, here. she is hunting now among the dancing lights."

comforted by seal's presence, she smiled wanly at the girl as their embrace parted. "what have you learned in brecheliant? i am glad to see you. tell me all you wish."

Shikoba lived a good, long life and this was something to be celebrated.

Hunting among the dancing lights… Seal looked up to one of the three sisters as her boughs swayed gently in the wind.

“Oh, I learned so much…” Seal was happy to report. “Bridget showed me a side of medicine I didnae ken existed… how tae heal the mind. Grief… sadness… anger… stress… skills an’ herbs tae help invisible wounds.” This facet of healing garnered Seal’s fascination. “Teya taught me how to map the stars and navigate with them… but she told me they change with the season, except Polaris, and so every night I watch them closely…

“When Chikadee and Kivaluk moved tae Brecheliant an’ had their children… well, it felt like the right time tae continue my journey,” she added, smiling at Moonwoman.

And then, she thought of the dancing stars the night she had met Chani in the meadow. “I think… I think the ancestors spoke tae me,” she said in a quiet voice filled with wonder.

medicine for that which could not be seen. the names and paths of the stars. kukutux marvelled quietly as seal spoke, pleased that the young woman had been so educated on her travels.

chickadee and kivaluk! she must go and visit them, soon. soon, thinking of maia's face. "so much knowledge you have gathered! maybe i will learn with you also," she joked, but she truly was openhearted to those things she still had not come to understand in her long life.

and now the spirits had spoken also to seal, and moonmother's face lit more to hear all these things, and then to hear the last, "what did they say to you?"

The idea that Seal had something to teach Kukutux made the girl laugh. As if!

“Maybe someday!” she jested, her voice full of mirth.

Then, Seal’s expression became contemplative once again. “I dinnae ken…” she mused. “I saw the stars, dancing around the moon as if… as if celebrated,” she explained as a faraway twinkle sparkled in her brown eyes. “Like a new chapter’s begun. Tellin’ me tae embrace change.”

for a moment, kukutux was silent upon this, and she did not move to speak. there was much to say, but such a moment must take its own form for seal. there was no need then to mention that the seal hunter boy had received his scars, nor that tension fed into the lands of the moon people.

these things seal would come to know, or she would not.

"there are many stories of the stars. and many of dancing."

she smiled; "the stars and the moon came to you. this is important. it says that wisdom much older than all we know shared words with you. they will guide you as you keep your heart open, seal."

It was a fantastical feeling… to think that an ancient wisdom had connected with a mere mortal like Seal.

She thought long on Moonwoman’s words.

“What does it mean?“ she asked. ”Tae keep your heart open?“

"it means that you listen with your heart. not only your ears. it means you were chosen, seal. your purpose now is to hear the spirit inside your own mind. to be careful in your decisions."

and as she grew into womanliness, kukutux knew such things would become clearer than she could make them.

Wrapping this for us! <3

Chosen.

Had a higher power actually called to her?

Could she trust her own heart and mind?

The concept was abstract, and the young woman could barely grasp it with her fingertips.

She fell into quiet contemplation besides Moonwoman until the conversation shifted to more mundane things. Then, she would continue her journey to Moontide.