Moonspear suvaluk ⦕

it would be more weeks before kukutux truly knew.

she contented herself with the work to be done among the ulax, calling instructions to children and hunters alike.

she spent her days with her wife and her husband.

today kukutux decided she would not only glance with curiosity at the mountain. she would go there again. she slung several pelts around her shoulders: a fine wrap of soft doeskin, the vibrant summer fur of a fox, a fine and silken ermine robe. moonwoman carried a second bundle, the skin of brother otter, which sheds water easily. inside, sticks of cured venison, curls of sage and dried blackberry, mushrooms, and a smaller fur-wrapped packet of mysterious herbs for soaking in the hot springs upon the mountain, for both muscles and tea.

the duck put down her things and only looked for a moment at the long wild mountains and the ridgelines her feet still knew. the last time she had been here, an ostrega-man threatened to take this place for himself. she had defended sialuk's claim then and she would again.

moonwoman and smiled brightly to catch scents at the border, and ones familiar! kukutux tilted back her head and called for whoever might hear.

grabby hands at shiny new threads

Moonspear’s grand expanse was completely opposite Teekon’s coast, but Njord knew it would serve him well to learn the lay of the land quickly. There were dense conifers and small woodland streams. Shattered basalt piles bordered pockmarks from an old event – but Njord had no idea what. Old growth made up many acres of the mountain’s base… but there were plenty of young plants which thrived, as well.

The seafarer worried, however, about how he would feed his family without the coast. He was no mountain man… a least, not yet. Seasalt and sand still coated his pelt. The red-tail was decidedly an outlander in these forests.

Njord was studying a strange new plant when he heard a howl. The familiar habit of greeting visitors at the border put his legs into motion, though they were still fatigued from their journey.

He came across a white woman who carried many things. Furs and parcels slung across her back. Njord had never seen anything like it… the closest image was of Erzulie’s medicine stores – piles of moss and herb. Long ribbons of kelp.

Njord realized he recognized her, though he did not know if his presence would evoke anything in their guest. “Kukutux?” he asked. The auspicious pink stone she had traded – it had led him to Meerkat.

yay! i was hoping! <3

"i greet you, man-who-sings," kukutux greeted. 

"i have brought things for moonspear," she explained to njord. the scent of salt and sea-earth was still heavy upon him. she wondered why he was here, and with meerkat.

"some are for sialuk. other things are for those who live on her mountain." now her eyes did question.

last time they had spoken, she had given him words and a talisman for love.

it was good to see him close.

Njord couldn’t help but smile when it became evident the moon-colored woman recognized him. He trotted forth to share scent and inspect all the wonderous goods she carried. A rhythmic wave of his red tail telegraphed his curiosity and pleasant mood.

“Yer daughter, tha spirit-talker,” he remembered. When Sialuk had last visited Sapphique Njord had managed to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. How small the world was!

“Sialuk ‘as granted my family an’ I a place here,” he said, voice filled with gratuity. “Tae set down roots an’ help restore this land. My mate, Meerkat, an’ our son, Stingray, arrived only a few days ago. I believe ye ken my wife…?” If Meerkat was dear friends with sialuk, then it was probable that she was close with her mother, Kukutux, too.

Njord dipped one shoulder, as an offer to help carry the many things.

kukutux watched as njord gathered the things she had brought.

"sialuk is strong. i have much delight in my heart that she has given life to the old mountain."

it was, after all, the place of her birth.

"i have happiness also, that you are here with meerkat and your children." her voice rang gently, solemn; she met his eyes with a soft look. "i have the thinking of meerkat as being part of my hearth also." another daughter.

He would help her carry the many gifts to her daughter’s ulaq.

“Ah’ve never lived or traveled so far inland,” Njord said. He was a coastal man… an acolyte of the sea and her islands. “But I look forward tae ken Moonspear as Sialuk does.” His eyes grew thoughtful. Appreciative. Meerkat and her friend would show him what it meant to be a wolf of the mountains. After all, hadn’t his ancestors once ruled a glacier in the Taiga?

Moonspear and Moonglow were intrinsically connected, and it appeared Njord’s presumptions were correct. Meerkat was like family to Kukutux. “Ah’m glad,” the man hummed. “Ah ken it t’was that pink stone ye gave me which opened my heart tae recognize love when it showed itself.” What a good memory! “We are expectin’ our second litter,” he added proudly.

Then his smile turned melancholic. “Tha last weeks ‘av not been easy on our family.” The complications with Sapphique's Roja. Swordfish! He hadn’t even admitted Sobo’s death to his wife yet. “Meerkat could use support an’ love from ye. It’s good she’s surrounded by her kin.” And maybe Njord needed that feeling, too.

njord gathered many things, kukutux the others. "and i have not lived beside the sea for many moons. this place, it has become the hearth of my heart."

she would follow as he led, wrapping the items in a bundle she carried deftly across pale shoulders. she smiled to think of meerkat and njord, here so close, bringing forth new children upon the mountain. "i have the hope that i will meet them, one day." the pink stone. "it was your thinking on this stone which brought you to meerkat."

kukutux followed where the moonspear man walked, though she found her way easily across paths she had always known.

"what has happened, njord?" and then a warm look; "my daughter vaire has chosen a man of the sea to be her husband. he has the name of rhaegal."

Yay! I was hoping you would reply!

what has happened, njord?

The complex look on the man’s face telegraphed it was not an easy subject for him to talk about.

He spared Kukutux the political nuances of his falling out with Chacal and the rest of the Roja. The toll that it took on Meerkat.

“A bear attacked Sapphique,” he explained to the moonwoman in a low voice. “Tha pack’s Jade was killed.” Sobo. His child. Njord concealed this, too. "The others..." his voiced tailed. What fate called the rest? For Erzulie. For Mireille?

“We fled with our son, Stingray… but couldnae find our other son, Swordfish. ‘E ‘ad been mauled by tha same monster weeks prior. His tracks led away from Dragoncrest… we ‘ope he is out there, somewhere. Alive.”

“She calls for ‘im every morning,” Njord added, the gentle roll of his brogue became flat and sobered.

But then, Kukutux’s information was like a spark in the night. “Rhaegal!” Njord exclaimed. “My brother’s boy. My nephew. He was livin’ in Sapphique, but I ‘ad not seen ‘im since before tha bear…” There was a sense of relief to know that, perhaps, the Sveijarn had heard his kin’s call. “Ah’m so glad…” that he lives. “An’ he is engaged!” Fresh relief flowed through the redtail.

a bear.

death.

the duck's ears trembled as she listened to njord tell his terrible story.

a son, lost to the land.

joy still. "now our families are connected through a kinship tie of marriage," kukutux said softly, despite the fact she considered meerkat a daughter.

her eyes were gentle toward the man of the sea. "i think you will find peace between our villages, njord. we will ask the spirits to bring swordfish home to your hearth."

Mind if I fade here? :)

A warm feeling touched Njord's heart. A new extension of their family... Slowly, the Sveijarn-Corten's roots found their place among the new ground.

"Ah thank ye, Kukutux," the man said sincerely. Swordfish... would their boy ever return home? It brought the seafarer peace of mind to know that they had allies in the fight they all called 'life.'

Njord slipped into silence, thoughtful. 

Then, Sialuk's ulaq came into view. Njord placed the things he carried beside the entrance of the den.

"Yer daughter will be glad tae see ye," he smiled.

Then, with a dip of his maw the seafarer departed, heart a bit lighter.