Ouroboros Spine faith, hope & trick

@Kukutux — no rush <3

Anaa's spirit had been with her throughout her travels, but she felt it even more strongly as she approached Moonglow. The warmth, the comfort, the belonging always greeted her when she returned to the spine. It calmed her heart and cleared her mind, much like the feeling of speaking with the bones or the land itself.

Mother! she called, I have come back!

She lingered on the outskirts despite knowing she would be welcome. Sialuk held much respect for the wolves who lived here, and she did not wish to cause confusion with anybody who had come after her departure.

!!

the village bloomed with life.

kukutux felt perhaps soon she might know. but she would wait until her body changed once more.

she had been going to seek nasamik or perhaps that rowdy chakliux when a sound rose! it was her sialuk!

"pukak!" sweetsnow child; the duck ran to her as if she were years younger and pulled the oldest daughter of her heart into her arms.

"my star has come back!" she called for any and all ears to hear, eyes dancing with delighted tears.

i love them. *sobs*

Just as with her village sister, Sialuk felt the months disappear between the last time she had shared space with anaa and the present moment. The raindrop let herself be enveloped in her mother's embrace, feeling the warmth, the comfort, and belonging she had always known would be here waiting for her.

I have much to tell, she said, There were many hunters, many wives, and many things to learn during my journey. But tell me of things here; I want to speak of familiar names! She wished to hear of her brother and sisters, of the sunman, Shikoba, and more. Most of all, Sialuk wanted to hear her mother's calming tones.

me too! <33

sialuk hinted at stories to come. kuktutux was pleased by this.

"samani is to marry rodyn. they are getting to know one another. callyope too has a boy she sees. vaire has asked me to find her a husband. and kausiut too has come home, where she lived many seasons with the walrus hunters. i do not know if she will stay always, but it is like she had never been away!"

"stratos has been traveling and becoming hunter. he visited home and said he had found sisters that wished to marry him! he has gone to see them now. mojag is walking the edge of becoming a man. and now we have new faces in the village."

Joy pulsed through her with each name, glad to hear so many did well for themselves. And Kausuit had returned! It seemed so many of them were here in Moonglow, together again. Her sisters sought—and some hand found—husbands, and Sialuk silently sent their spirits good will. Anaa had been busy, and Moonglow thrived even without the star beneath its banner. Sialuk had always known this deep down, but hearing it was another thing.

Many hunters and traders wanted to take me for wife, but I could not promise to stay for them. Your spirit and the mountain called to me each day I was away. This is why I return now, to find a husband and bring new life to Moonspear. It is where I will have my sons and daughters.

But mother! I learned so much. Many ways of healing, and many strange beliefs from cultures different from our own. And I helped others soothe their spirits when they were clouded. It cleared the cloud over my own spirit to help them. I taught them to sing songs for their dead and to seek their voices in the way you taught me.

kukutux listened with much interest.

sialuk meant to bring life to the mountain.

"aya!" she said at this, and sat forward, pleased and yet wary. 

but if the spirits of that place rose, sialuk would be the talker for them.

an ache she had not felt in a long while rose now, for the blackfox. and then it was gone.

"i have much pride in my heart for who you are and what you have done and who you have become, sialuk. you have a glacier strongness in you and the ones that you gave healing will remember your name."

her daughter was becoming wisewoman of her own.

Anaa's words never failed to make the raindrop swell with gratitude. It was good to hear such things from the woman who had raised her.

What of Aiolos, Lotë, and Shikoba? Sialuk asked, for she had not heard their names from her mother yet. Does Kigipigak still stay with village Moonglow? What became of Tuuluuwaq? They had been possible suitors for Sialuk, though Kigipigak had seemed less interested.

"the sun man is still here with me! lote went to make her own village but she went away with her last son. i have not seen her again."

moonwoman's face was somber and then smoothed. "shikoba was sivullik. she has become star-hunter. in her place, rodyn is first-hunter."

"kigipigak was here. the village he built with sakhmet and his sons came apart. he has left his wife and his last son here. he has not come back." her brow furrowed.

"i have not seen tuuluuwaq in many moons."

Sialuk drank in all that was said, listening to each villager's story as her mother spoke. Many had gone away, but sunman stood strong beside anaa, and this mattered much to the raindrop. She frowned at how many men had left their wives behind, and that Tuuluuwaq had gone as well. But there would be more men and women for Sialuk to dance with, she knew.

Let us walk and I will share more stories of the journey, she said, her feet finding the old paths easily.