Ouroboros Spine Tlatehiin

Making an assumption about this.

Aaka had gone, presumably in search of Nutuyikruk. Tautukpik stayed behind to watch over Akmaaksi and felt the deepest urge to cry and to hide away in the sleeping place; but he knew he had to be strong because aaba wasn't there to watch them, and now aaka had gone away too.

He worried over his sister who was hunting for their aaba and found solace by murmuring pleas to Big Sister.

Please bring Nutu home soon, and aaba, and aaka. Please. It okay if they mad, or sad. I will listen. I will be good.

It would be a day or two before anyone came to visit the ulaq where the two children remained, and by then they were hungry and they were thirsty, and they were bundled in a heap together. But when the first body passed by the opening of the sleeping place Tautukpik would be there to greet Ariadne — unaware that it was not her that came at all.

It was a shimmering green shape, perhaps a result of extended hunger and the sorrow in Tautukpik's heart. It looked like his aaka at first; but then he saw another shape, one like the pale man with the beaver pelt he had ruined. They stood out of reach in the sunlight — and Tautukpik rushed out of the ulaq after them.

He ran right in to a real, physical body and as he collided, the shimmering green of the magic lights went out.

she caught him as he fell back from her, collapsing.

ariadne had been gone with kannoyak, and she felt the bite of her own failure, assuming that when they were not with her another had taken them over with their eye;

"tautukpik! sweet bear," and she looked now for @Nutuyikruk, eyes gaining clarity; "did your sister go after your anaa?"

and something slid along her spine.

All at once things came flowing from Tautukpik. His guilt had eaten away at him, and his trust in Big Sister was all he had left. Looking now at his grandmother the boy burst in to tears and was a puddle at her feet.

Nutu went to hunt for aaba! Aaka went to hunt for Nutu! Buh that was - sniff - that was sleeps ago! He wilted, wailing. T-two big sleeps maybe? Th-three? I'm sorry! What could he do?

Would they ever come back? Was the last conversation he'd ever have with his mother be a lie? I be good! I be good... He wept and curled in to a ball. Please come home aaka.

"you are already good, tautukpik," she assured, wondering if ariadne was searching or if she was in the forest of her heart. it was a bad thought to have, and so she nodded, and drew him out a little, extending a paw to akmaaksi.

"i will have everyone start looking now. both of you must come with me, yes? we will eat and we will wait for all the messengers to come back, hm?"

three sleeps!

why had ariadne said nothing the first hour that her daughter was gone?

but why had kukutux herself not seen it?

she held her grandson more tightly.

When he had calmed a little bit (at least enough to take a breath and not drown in his own tears) Tautukpik appeared to sink in to Kukutux' hug. He wiped his face in to her furs and cleared his throat a few times. Gotta get Akmaaksi— she was all he had left now, and he had to make sure she was awake and moving.

He drew away from Kukutux sullenly and rushed to where his sister slept, pulling at her ear, nosing at her face, giving her many kisses while gobby tears dripped from his cheeks. C'mon, gramma is here. Up, now.

As he hurried outside again he had his sister following, and together they crowded Kukutux for another hug before being led away.

can fade or go on! <3

with kigigpigak and ariadne both away, kukutux sought to distract the two children with as many rich treats as she could bring from her grandmother's larder: rosepetals rolled in honey, rich raspberries and the tart blackberries, the ever-present fat from caribou and elk and today, deer; boar's ears to chew and to keep.

and all the while she waited for her sun man and doe daughter to return, refusing to feel more than mild annoyance; not the crush of worry; not the deeper panic for her lost granddaughter. they would both be found, the duck told herself.