Qeya River bear tooth

he left the healer with stone crier and tried to follow @Sulukinak through the taiga. her trail was stronger in some places and imperceptible in others; he found himself circling back twice and saw how skilled she had become, disappearing silently into their newly gained territories. at last sun eater grinned widely at this despite his annoyance, and stopped to call, "come out, midnight woman. i must tell you something about my new name."

sun eater, sulukinak answered.

she moved so that she could be seen, not entirely imperceptible herself but adequate in her silence and careful movement; he had passed her by at least once in his hunt and she had been entertained.

watching his face, keeping her amusement to herself. you told kekoa. i heard.

cen is gone, and yiikas? why?

his grin was a gleaming row of charnel spikes. "because their tongues are too clumsy for lanzadoii. they understand meanings. i have burned away what they knew. i am a new way."

"the first man. t'aes." the one he did not know was anselm. "i want to know if he is blood-kin to the grey woman," whom sun eater knew as ash, not ilse. his tail flicked. "you brought a healer. you hear me, sulukinak. you listen." he spread his paws to the land around them. "what do you wish the saatsine to be?"

she doesn't have an answer. what does she care about saatsine? she doesn't know this place yet or it's people, only her uncle. she will learn.

the man t'aes, i can listen? or you could ask. why hadn't sun eater simply made his curiosity known? sulukinak watches him.

in the back of her mind sulukinak wonders what saatsine means to him, but she doesn't ask because it seems obvious: the boy.

you think they will hunt for you? caribou maybe, in time. the boy? red leaf? the shadow hoped they were stronger than to give in.

"he does not know. i think it is the same of her. i want to find out, sulukinak. i want to know before he does, before she understands." he leaned closer. "if i know this, then the boy, the man, and the woman share blood. i will keep her and the child here, and i will send the grey man out with sheep killer, to find ghelan and bring him back."

she had not answered his question. he did not put another one to her.

he did not hide his intentions from her. he had never hidden them, and sulukinak was not surprised by his admission. despite being banished from the land of the sunshine people he was fixated upon the boy, and would find a way.

sulukinak did not like this; her spine straightened a little as he spoke of finding ghelan and retrieving him. it would happen with sulukinak or without; and if she involved herself, perhaps she could temper the outcome. perhaps she could sway her uncle away from the danger he faced — because she was his blood too, even if it was not so direct.

mostly, she did not want to lose him. there was a familiarity between them now. beyond that, sulukinak felt a kinship that she had lacked with her dutch man, or with the woman kukutux, or any other — because of that familiar madness he carried. it was only a seed, but if cultivated properly perhaps it would not take so strong a hold.

not like mother.

i will find out. she answered, not letting more than a breath of silence pass between them.

her obedience mollified whatever gruffness might have lingered in sun eater. "good. may your healer do well. i am ready to follow the caribou, niece."

now she too knew the hunger of the long march. it would be good to share it.

he turned away and stalked along the cold river, thoughts consumed by moontide and the coming meet.

the others are not. she pointed out.

and i wish the healer to tell me things. to share knowledge, so i can learn. the healer boy was young and pig-headed from what she'd seen of him so far, and sulukinak held a massive doubt about his staying power. that had more to do with sun eater's own patience, though.

but soon, yes.

sulukinak wanted to roam freely, and would find any reason to do so.

"they will be," his moonweave teeth promised, a glinting grin. his shoulders rolled. "make him stay. you brought him to this land of the river. he is yours." how casually he said it! and yet she had come to know harder ways of being. he did not need to pretend with her.

"we will go. we will come back. when i came this way with my wife, we walked after the caribou through the forests of bracken. then we came out onto the taiga. we will come back to the river and make winter camps between here and the trees again," he decided, tongue stealing as if he could taste the snow, the ice, and the outside winds scouring an eager face.

despite not understanding the full implication there, sulukinak was satisfied to have done her job, and to have someone to keep her company. she gives her uncle a nod, accepting what he has said.

then, she turns to go. her mind is full of hunting; memories of her training, imaginings of what may come to pass, the recent hunt for medicine, the future hunt for the boy. for now she focuses on kekoa.

she went. he watched.

they would come to know her as his kin, and from this she would share in his respect.

he found this a fitting reward for her continued loyalty, shuffling a little as his step took him in the opposite direction, longer stride too harsh a yank on his mending flesh.