Ouroboros Spine poppuk ⋋

"@Alduin."

she said his name softly, for she had brought a strip of cured meat and a collection of sun-sweet berries.

he slept, he healed. she would look at him now.

expecting the child to eat, kukutux eased herself down into the rays of sunfather outside the mouth of her ulaq, muscles sore and in an ache from the travels of last evening.

Alduin burns the entire journey back into his mind. He does know where they went or what turns they took, but he’s traumatized awake. Unable to sleep lest it’s filled with nightmares. Nightmares of Sasha, nightmares of the river — which was his own doing. 

But the second he actually gets there, he passes out like he’s never slept before. Until finally he wakes to the beautiful face of this stranger, now, not-so-stranger. She offers him food and he looks at her with a thank you shining behind tired scarlet eyes. 

He lies on his side to eat, elbow comfortably keeping him upright. She calls his name and he looks up to her expectantly. 

“Where am I?” He asks, voice rough and strained. He knows it’s her home, but he doesn’t know who these people are. He suspects it’s a pack, for he could smell many scents on the way in, but he’s still horribly clueless.

"you are inside moonglow. my daughter and i are star and moon. aiolos is sun."

a smile, and then she was passing concern back toward alduin and the odd red eyes. "what is the name that your mother has? your village?" testing to see what sedna had left for the boy to remember.

kukutux groaned lowly, nares flaring as a sharp and telling pain rushed the length of her flanks. not yet not yet, she told the little ones. "do you have pain in your body or bones, alduin?"

You are inside moonglow. My daughter and I are star and moon. Aiolos is sun.

The first sentence doesn’t confuse him. He is in a place known as Moonglow. It sounds magical, forbidden of evil to only hold everything good in the world. He does not deserve to be here. Still, the words that follow only confuse him. Sun? Moon? Stars? Maybe he was mistaken. Maybe she is a goddess and what she’s referring to is what they are. The Goddess of the moon. 

The goddess smiles sweetly to him, but it’s not without a pinch of concern. She asks him the name of his mother beast — the name of his home. He doesn’t find it a terrible idea to tell her. 

“Simmik, that’s my mother.” He says as he licks his chops. The next statement comes with equal amounts pride — the confidence and pride of being a Saint. “The Saints.” He says strongly back, but truly it takes energy from him. Sadly, Alduin does not know the extent of how popular his father and his unruly pack of bandits has become. 

Though when he meets her eyes he sees a flicker of pain in her gaze. But she’s asks him about his pain instead. “Yeah. Everywhere.” He whispers. Bloody gaze dropping to the ground before almost shyly looking back. “Are you okay?” It’s laced with his own brand of concern.

the saints.

the duck blinked, surprised by the empathy of such a young child. or perhaps only reminded, for sialuk had been so kind at this age. "i am well. but soon, i will be anaa again." she gestured to her sides, thinking nothing of her words. upon her island, the questions of young ones was answered correctly, perhaps in the form of a story.

kukutux did not know the title of the boy's mother, but that of his home stuck in her mind as if it were a burr pulled from deerhide.

"and what is the name that your father has?" moonwoman asked of alduin, settling closer.

She blinks owlishly at him, he doesn’t know why, he’s only asking if she’s okay. Maybe she doesn’t get that very much. He doesn’t know, but he knows all the wolves in his canyon care for him — care and look out for each other. 

So he nods shyly after she speaks. But she seems much more intrigued by something else. The moon woman leans in closer, blood red orbs meeting the emerald of her own intensely. I’m this moment, he looks like a pup too worn out for his age. Ruby eyes border just on the line of tense.

Then his lips part and he says his father’s name like a weapon.

“Kynareth.” 

kynareth.

yes. she had heard this name. once. twice.

the saints.

from the mouth of the blackfox.

"do you know the name of moonspear?" the duck asked quietly.

what had tooteega brought to her in the form of a blood-eyed child?

was he yet another unnatural thing?

He looks back to her before ripping a few more chunks from the food he’d been given. He’s clearing thinking, flipping through his mind to see if his father or mother had told him of them. He knows he name, but knows only that it was a pack — nothing else. 

So he nods. “Yeah. But my dad just said the name. Never told me anything about them.” 

He wonders why said pack is significant to her. He knows not of the complicated pack polities that everyone else is so familiar with.

kukutux did not expect more of the boy. "do you still have hunger?" the duck chose to brightly ask, changing their words. "it is good that i have the name of your mother and your father. now i might send out a message, that you have been found."

"then i will give you a tea that is for pain. you will sleep a long time. and you will dream." a deep slumber drove the evil spirits from the bones. "when you wake, you will have less pain. you may not even remember the feeling of it."

she forced herself upright, weaving a moment before she steadied herself. "my daughter, sialuk. we wear the same parka. she will come to know you also, for she is healer in moonglow with me."

Alduin nods a negative to her question, but doesn’t say much else as she continues with that soothing voice of hers. Speaking of sending a message out to his parents, then talk of some type of tea, lastly she adds in another name he’s unfamiliar with. One who’s apparently kin, going by the name of Sialuke. He wonders who that is momentarily, he doesn’t think he’s seen her yet. 

He puts the thoughts away of the mystery woman and nods his head to her. He would love some of that tea right about now.

the boy was silent, and looked at her with eyes the color of —kukutux was suddenly unsettled. she rose, and crept from the ulaq. "i will be back, amigigh."

the woman inched heavily down the path, soon pushing her gravid figure into a trot that carried her toward leaves drying on a low-slung boulder. in a short while she would return.

moonwoman's lips moved in prayer as she worked.

Alduin watches her with interest in his dark gaze. He doesn’t know, or even suspect, that she feels uneasy by his gaze. Perhaps Alduin is cursed. Perhaps he’s meant to suffer a life of loss and hurt. Perhaps he’s meant to bring destruction wherever he goes. Only when he’s older would everyone realize that he’s even worse than his own father. Without the charm of Kynareth and the evidence of not being able to correctly cope with loss or pain — he would end up as the devil himself.

Yet, so young, he doesn’t know this, and the young prince isn’t to terribly tainted yet. So he utters out a meek, “Okay.” as he watches her slink from the den. He would wait patiently for her to return.

when kukutux returned, it was with a mouth that carried darkness. he was a child, and so she would provide him the medicine as one. 

she gave a low noise through her carrying, standing at the threshold of the ulaq. she meant for alduin to come forward, and when he did, to drink the tea from between her lowered jaws.

this was the way of mothers, but she also wished to watch the sunstripe, to know if he would have a poor meeting with her herbs.

The pale woman would come back shortly after to drop the tea before him. It smelled wonderful! He thanked her softly and he decided that he wanted to lap it up as if he hadn’t drank anything in days. 

After, he would settle against a small spot in her den, curling around himself to relax. He would fitfully find his eyes closing despite how hard he was trying to stay awake. The dark prince would eventually drift off to a deep sleep where nightmares would plague his tired mind.