Wheeling Gull Isle sapinngik ╬

"@Aiolos," she said, looking around them at wherever the sea-chief had spirited them after her arrival.

she set her crown now against his redgold shoulder; she breathed the scent of him, and of them, and felt warm upon her shoulders the sun he had described. but kukutux had not forgotten the determined reason she had come, and drew back to seek the eyes that had only ever seen her with adoration.

"who will bear your children this year?"

After their time of getting acquainted along the borders of the sand bar, Aiolos had walked with Kukutux along the beachside of the island. They'd stop at the lavender xin, which had hundreds of the purple flowers here in this field wi lth just beyond in the beach and open ocean.

Settled into a sit, he is close to the side of Kukutux who sits next to him now, crown to his gingered shoulder. Well I know someone I would love too... He muses, amber eyes set out over the open ocean and clear sky as he does so.

I just need to know if she wants to take that same step with me. He turns to her then, fiery eyes seeking her own of spring earth.

the purple flowers stirred, and kukutux breathed them in gratefully, their deep fragrance against the salt of the water that lay around the island, as if it were the soft blue folds of some exotic hide. she had not realized she was holding herself so still and flanks unmoving until aiolos spoke, until she knew he spoke of her.

jadestone eyes met the firebloom of his own, though where flames might snap and take, the redsun's gaze was the color of embers moved to passion. "yes, ah," kukutux stumbled, a beam unfolding across her lips. in the next, however, her features had smoothed, leaving behind only a vague air of melancholy as if it were silt upon a bank. "she — has customs that must be seen in the eyes of the one who will choose her for this," the duck began, fixing moonglow in her mind, for she must.

"in my village, now, we have sivullik. he is firsthunter. he has the name of @Adrastus. firsthunter chooses the hunt, but he also chooses a man for moonwoman if she has no children. sivullik is also the first of her choosing. but," and she swept on, ears sweeping back as she hoped aiolos would not be dissuaded, "i think that this year, he will take a wife. and i have told to him that he does not need to do this thing for me, to give his spirit so that children might be born."

"he has respect for me. i — come to moonglow, ivitâk," kukutux urged, setting her lips against the roundness of aiolos' shoulder. "say to him that you have the want to be my choosing." she did not speak of how it would make a kinship tie between yuelong and moonglow, for she was only filled with the look of him, the worry that the redsun would not want to leave his island only to make a bid for his hearth in the sight of sivullik.

The woman at his side was fixated a time, entranced. He hoped her journey here could and would be everything she hoped it would. That this place, this island and with him at her side would help ease the heartache she may have felt from so many lost by her. Aiolos too felt such loss and Yuelong so very quickly had become so very silent. Kukutux would breathe new life into it, he knew, but her support was needed elsewhere.

There was a hesitance there, for a moment, which caused the ginger ears of the man to fold downward. She then spoke of customs, of the necessities which needed done in order for her to be more or less given away. Kukutux had always been a woman of tradition and Aiolos had been one of understanding to strict traditions as well. Aiolos knew having the woman at his side as his own would not be an easy feat to behold. He had no intention of relenting, either.

I will go to your sivullik, then and speak with him. He spoke with a certainty, unliking that this man, firsthunter, had command over who his moonwomen would bed with. The idea of another man coming along and taking Kukutux from him, when he was so close... His muscles tensed, twitching under the delicate kiss at his shoulder. He looks to her then, ember eyes burning for her. I'll do anything needed done, should it bring me closer to you.

aiolos accepted. her breath stirred the redsun fur with relief. she did not see a reason why adrastus would refuse this, seeing as how all things looked as if he and the cloudberry painter would marry before the season's end.

she was wisewoman to moonglow. but her children could bear the sea inside their souls. kukutux wondered if aiolos would come to her, or she to him; the thought filled her with anticipation, and at the end of this sensation, melancholy that a sea should remain between them

daughter. it is just as well. he is angajukkâk in yuelong. you must be taqqiq here.

the duck nuzzled into him further, willing the gentle warmth of his embrace and the steadiness of his voice to while away the temptation that she experienced: to stay. to remain.

"when i first saw your face, i did not — i did not know this would be between us, one day."

Their is a warm breath of relief in his flaming furs which brings a small smile to his face, in knowing at times she stood on edge in the same manner which he felt he walked on pins and needles.

He'd press into her, sooth her, his small front teeth preening the hairs at her neck and under jawline. Snow melting into flame. Would she stay? He would wonder it as she pondered it. After the destruction of Moonspear and the Glen her pack was so new yet still. Whilst his own, simmering quietly away it felt with the sorrow of a life now past. He willed the pack's survival but also wanted what was best for Maegi's and Mou's pups, for now the possibility of his own...

I could have never even dreamed it. He admitted in a low whisper, nosing along her ear and then lifting his head up, looking beyond the purple earth and out to the sea. Especially of course, given my raising. I've known many strong women, many wise and proud. But none quite like you. He had met many a woman as Sea. Unchanging, fierce, stubborn. But Kukutux was much as she was named, of Moon. Your guiding in dark times, strong of heart, nurturing... She was always there but can phase with the times and do as neccessary to preserver. A light in the darkness. He pauses, tilting his chin up and to the heavens. Above, the moon was paled out in the blue sky, but still there, always there. Like Mother Moon.

aiolos had soft words for her, the sort of thing that might come from stories. she remembered how she had first met him, with sialuk and her brother not yet born, the pair of them tucked into the curve of their mother's hips. how he had spoken kindly to her, how he had not acted in the hard and possessive way of men. and how he had maintained his tone for her through these years, until by now kukutux had become used to it.

mother moon. "then you are sikinik. sun man. and when your face makes a smile, we say aya! sikinaagiksuk! the sun is shining.'"

grandmother. it is right that my heart should feel this way?

you have done your mourning. blackfox sleeps in sedna's arms.

she was dizzied; raimo's face swept to her mind, and with that the hurt that he had left her for a woman of the sea, and had returned only to tell her this.

aiolos. they stood enshrined in lavender, and kukutux felt some place within herself begin to mend.

Another name. Kukutux had different ones, some he knew, some he did not. Either way he enjoyed the way the strange words rolled off her tongue, seemingly even more complicated then Hua's native language was. Redsun and then Ivitâk she had called him this day though he knew not know the meaning. Now Sikinik, Sun Man, which she explains. And as she does so, he cannot help the smile to come and he shakes himself out playfully like a peacock might have when displaying its color, he of russet, ginger and mahogany furs. Sikinik it is then.

Her mind seeps to the husband she had lost so suddenly and horribly. Her heart flutters at thought of the equally dark wolf she fell into in order to smother her sorrows. All the while Aiolos looks to Kukutux, eyes and heart only for her now.For him, Ruo had been gone far too long. He would pick up whatever pieces of Kukutux remained from such losses and hold them close and dear.

despite tooteega's words, kukutux did not feel encouraged in her regard of aiolos. perhaps she felt too deeply and the blackfox felt her heart turn? would he send an arrow for the heart of the redsun? but he had not been so in life. why would he change now that death separated them?

trust yourself.

the duck took a breath, catching it, for now sun man looked at her with such emotion that kukutux felt consumed by them, by him. dread, now, that adrastus would say no to the leader of yuelong, and that she would remain without children this year. but she must trust now, she must trust sivullik and that the redsun would speak well on his own behalf.

kukutux kissed aiolos again, tasting salt upon her own mouth.

Fade out??

But another kiss, pulling him in and under her spell like a siren out at Sea. He responds with a soft growl, his tail thumping on the grass and sand below him. His foreleg reaching, to pull her closer against him to that he might feel the thumping of her heart against his own.

It would be left to the two great Goddess what would become of such a union. Aiolos own selfish desire of wanting someone away from their island instead of taking one who may join them and replenish their ranks. To now decide, would he be a good leader or would he be a good father. The thought of Kukutux ever leaving Moonglow did not cross his mind.