Sunset Valley It might've been the neighbor's kid, but I have my suspicions.

After his talk with the boy, Tulimaq moved on across the taiga. He watched the sky transition between shades of gray and nearly black, with how overcast it had become, and by the time he had traveled across the valley a cold rain had begun to fall.

He passed by something snow-covered and presumably, frozen. The smell was close enough to meat to draw his attention but there was a wrongness to it which made him wary upon approach, and when Tulimaq began to dig through the snow and the hard earth to investigate it, he saw why.

A caribou calf had fallen here. It looked to have a broken neck — but upon closer inspection, it was a thinning of the meat and sagging of the flesh, now made hard by the ice. It looked to have starved; he could see no wounds upon it.

heda's hunt with veteran had left her enlivened. days of hunting the caribou and nights of sleeping alongside them had begun to hone her muscles in a new way.
druid had gone home. while heda missed her sister, she was not ready to leave. and being the sole representative for rivenwood here brought pride to her in a way she had not felt before.
when she saw the larger wolf up ahead, examining something, heda quickened her step. he smelled slightly of moonglow, or perhaps she was only scenting the meat-curing camps upon the wind.
whatever it was, it made her comfortable enough to move forward, smelling gently at the calf. "what happened to it? doesn't smell like the others we're killing."

He turned his ears when he heard the approaching feet of something behind him, but did not look away from the calf until the voice came. Slanting a glance towards the girl, he saw the streak across her spine and thought of the bloodied ulaq he had left behind.

She appeared eager as well as talkative. The look about her reminded Tulimaq of the snow-woman and he did not immediately feel inclined to answer, only to investigate the calf further with sniffs and nudges.

It was born out of season. The caribou would not be in their birthing homes until the summer at the earliest, which made this small thing an oddity. What youthful population these hunters chased now were likely yearlings or in-betweeners, not yet old enough themselves to continue their line.

He gripped the back of its bent neck and tried to straighten it but, being firmly frozen, it took some effort and a great strain to Tulimaq's shoulders. He pried it free and as the neck unbent, there came a heavy crack. The head flattened loosely upon the snow after, chin down.

In the darkness of a nearby copse stood a young mother caribou, disoriented, and the crack drew its attention with a turn of its own head; but it did not run. Tulimaq noticed it by accident and murmured to the girl, Shh—there, the mother lingers.

it was born out of season. the explanation left heda with more questions than answers. she flinched somewhat at the crack of the neck against the ice, and then her chaotic expression flicked toward the mother caribou. heda did not experience melancholy or a sympathetic urge. she only stared at the beast, watching it as she had the others.
she had not missed the way that the large muscles had bunched over the man's shoulders. he was not like issoratuyok at all, heda decided. 
"are we going to chase her?" the rivenwood girl breathed aloud, glancing at the older wolf.

The girl was distracted.

Tulimaq had little patience for children, it was why he had been so adamant that the Anneriwok not join his savaktuk; but he had others with him who were capable of managing them, which gave the man free reign to do things he enjoyed and much preferred — leading him here, to this moment.

The girl's question earned a low grunt. His tone left something to be desired as he explained, There is no need. So long as the body remains here, she will stay close. She mourns. The sickness might be within her — she will die with or without us.

And he swung his head towards the caribou now, watching as the mother shifted with indecision. To linger where her child rested, or to run from certain doom at the teeth of the wolf — she was in her own purgatory.

the mother mourned her calf and would stay close.
heda reluctantly turned away. she sniffed long at the carcass and then looked up at the other wolf. "you're not from moonglow." his scent was like them but not interlaced as was on kukutux or the others.
heda was brazen in her youth. again she watched the man for an answer, ready to soak up whatever teachings he might eke out to her.
so far four packs had gathered in the area. she wondered if he was from a fifth.

Tulimaq's brow raised.
Astute.

Maybe she was not so ignorant. Still a child, and not a Tartok child at that, but clearly observant enough to know of the snow-wolves.

Neither are you, nunaniak. The winter scent she carried dulled the more complex notes about her coat, but Tulimaq could tell there was more to her than the airy scent of the snow-woman.

If she had questions, he held his answers close.

"what does that word mean?" heda's breath rose in an eager column of white. he spoke the same way as the moonwolves! but where kukutux' voice was kind and sweet, this man's was rough. still she was intrigued by the connection. it made her feel more comfortable with him, and already she had approached so casually.
"what are you gonna do now?" the rivenwood girl went on. she was not yet ready to let him leave.

Tulimaq could have answered in many ways - or not at all. He did not believe that one had a choice in all things, though. Whatever thought came first, or action came naturally, was the correct one.

So his answer was sharply barbed.

It is the word for a bleeding tree. A pause. You look to have been rolling in much of it.

What are you gonna do now? A pest, this one. So many questions; did this one expect every wolf to be a friend? The girl did not have an ounce of fear in her.

Tulimaq did not know how he felt about that. Neither did he have an answer, so silence was all he offered as he began to prowl after the mother. At the very least he'd keep her within his range of sight.

a bleeding tree. heda frowned, then nodded. it seemed a rather accurate recording of herself anyway. 
she peered at the man, then back toward the grieving mother. "was actually wondering if maybe you wanted to spar? i'm training. well. trying to. wanna make something of myself because —" she leaned forward in conspiracy, "— i wanna ask duskfire glacier to take me on."

He took one look at her as she spoke of sparring, and coughed a sound.

You are too small. He meant too young, but both could have applied. Tulimaq was not one to mince words.

At the same time, he was intrigued. This girl held no fear of others, and held a fascination of the frozen fawn as well as the mother who watched them. It seemed as though she was following her instincts more than most he had come across.

Tulimaq considered her request and paused in his stalking of the mother.

If I spar with you, you will be hurt. I do not hold back. Are you prepared for such a fight?

heda's features narrowed. "the alpha of duskfire was also hard on me. i can handle it." she did not like being underestimated. 
"just don't fuck me up too hard," heda grinned, flinging the swear loosely at the hunter-man. she stood back, bringing issorartuyok's words to mind. the girl widened her stance. she waited for their clash, knowing it would hurt and readying herself for that too.

I can handle it. The girl claimed. She moved as if she had been given some tutelage already, and then her gums were flapping again but Tulimaq ignored what else was shared. He would act in accordance to his nature. Having told the truth: that he was hard-hitting and would not hold back; she welcomed it, and so he acted.

Lunging immediately, aiming not for the bulk of her little body as one might expect. Tulimaq tried to snare her wrist or ankle in his teeth and would then thrash it out from under her, so that in the end she would be pushed deep in to the snow beneath him, and his win would be assured.

he wasn't kidding.
the man grabbed her leg out from under her. heda hit the snow with a gasp of shock. breath wooshed from her lungs; she lay there gulping air in surprise.
she scrabbled to her feet in the next moment, or attempted it; she swung her own teeth for his own ankle in a parody of what the tartok-man had done.

She hit the snow hard.

It surprised him that she could recover so quickly, but she did, or at least attempted to, as well as retaliation. She aimed for his leg. The same leg went up and down again, avoiding her snapping teeth, thrusting a palm against her face and forcing her down again.

He loomed over her as she squirmed. It wasn't meant to be lewd. He meant to overpower and to dominate, which is what Tulimaq had come to enjoy the most about his abrasive lifestyle. From there he could keep her pinned down for as long as he wanted, grinning down at her.

heda writhed and thrashed under the man. "hey! this isn't a spar, you fucking —" but the swear terminated in a snarl and she began to fight harder.
he was much larger and much stronger than her.
eventually heda slumped back under his shoving paw. "whatever point you wanted to make is made," she seethed up at him, her golden eyes holding the dragonfire of a far saltcliff.

She writhed, fighting the pressure of his weight and his will, and Tulimaq wanted to laugh. He did not, as he did not want to crush the fire from her spirit and being mocked would only worsen how her loss felt. He knew this well.

She stopped her fighting long enough to give him the win, and at that point he eased off of her. The look on her face was one he would think of often; for one so young, her will was iron-clad. Perhaps in time she would have the power to back that up.

He gave her distance and shook the snow from his shoulders, but otherwise seemed unphased by the one-sided spar. He did not gloat, nor attack again.

thus released, heda skittered out from under the heavy stranger and glared his way, ears splayed. in the next moment, however, she had drawn herself up with a pride pulled from her time watching the alpha male of duskfire.
heda thought herself very gracious as she gave a single stilted nod in the man's direction.
she stalked away after that, the brilliant stripe along her coat shining as blood over the snow. 

Tulimaq watched her go.

He was amused by the pompous antics. She was too young to have any power, yet paraded about as if she was issumatar, and could not even fight properly. It was a pathetic display overall.

Still, he was entertained. He would keep his eye on that one, should their paths cross again.