Ouroboros Spine arrii ⥈

backdated to june 25, the death songs for ariadne & kannoyak <3

death, again.

a daughter, again.

and the whetting rage cut itself on black anger inside kukutux, curdling her belly to gutwrenched sobs. for the last time, she held ariadne, slowly rocking as the purity of emptiness poured from her throat until the voice sank into hoarseness.

only aiolos was allowed near as kukutux laid their daughter upon soft skins inside the small dome of the death ulaq. 

her limbs shook. 

shining water girl! you died upon the lake. but there you cannot stay.

pathmaking man! you too cannot dance forever on the water.

it is time for you to leave, and kukutux fractured into another deluge of aching cries, unable to speak the words she did not want to say.

her shoulders were sharp points in the falling night.

it is time to leave this place of sorrow.

anguish, shimmering.

it is time to lift from flesh and walk to home.

do not be afraid. do not be afraid. our voices walk with you, beloved spirits.

but the rage had cracked her own to silence now on that first night.

Aiolos kept to his silence. 

Aiolos walked at the side of his mate and sat closely to her as she held their daughter for the last time. 

He would help nudge his daughter with his muzzle easily into the death ulaq, lain upon furs and circled with trinkets that she had favored. 

Where was her missing daughter? What might become of their remaining pups now that their mother was gone? 

He wouldn't speak. Couldn't, speak. 
A rage burned deep in his wife, while an overwhelming depression clung to Aiolos. When they finally left, the Sunman once more retreated to the depths of their ulaq. 

from this point forward Aiolos is going to be very recousive for while.

Despite all his worrying, Arrluk would have never expected this. Another summer. Another sister dead. 

When it had been made known, Arrluk had left the lands of Moonspear with a swiftness. He did not inform @Sialuk nor @Ajei. Perhaps he would be seen leaving in a run. If not, surely in quick time it would be known he left, given Arrluk and Ajei saw one another every day, with their little hollows next to one another by the river side. 

Arrluk found place within the gathering of those lost. A pale man he didn't know, settled by the grave of Shikoba. A death ulaq for his sister, situated by the memorial of a son long lost. 

First a child of his parents litter litter. Then a child of their second. Arrluk swallowed deeply. 

When his parents fell into mournful silence, Arrluk took the mantle of song.

Moondoe was quiet.

Her voice rose with song, but it was shallow. Bitter, as if the touch of the wind would shatter the fragile grace to it and reveal the ugly anger beneath.

Her nose pointed to the sea. 

Her mother and father grieved, Vairë would seek the vengeance owed to them through blood and steel. 

Her mind caught on the dark coat, on the hole she had torn in his face. It was an image that would not leave her.

In grief a blow was given to the delicate heart of Ajei Shikobasdaughter. Given to her by one she held dearer than all others. But she didn't turn the sword upon him, no rather she pulled it tighter into the aching. She forced the hole to gaping and let the blood run. She suffered in silence.

Moonglow was losing too many. And so young. Ajei didn't immediately follow. She was not family as that was made clear. And she could not blame them, would not.

Instead she cleaned her own home, and then Arrluks small den. Cleaning and dusting so that he had a small clean space to return. If he returned. A small cache was dug and put to the den, so he need not travel far if he would grow hungry. Then she returned home to Moonglow informing Alaric of their departure.

She didn't make herself known to the wolves of moonglow immediately. Instead she worked. Herding children, digging caches, hunting. Whatever the moonglow family found to difficult to do in their grief she did it for them if she could. Diligent, hardworking, sad. She did her best. Joining into the songs when they ran out clearly.

And at night she would settle beside her mother's death Ulaq and tell her of the day and weep.

lift yourself from bones now, beloved spirit.

please, sedna. please. tell me she breathes. tell me i am dreaming.

there is a time to wait and a time to depart.

i cannot let her depart! she will not go! look at her face beneath the water!

we sing you now to your home within the dancing lights,

your home is here! ariadne — she could not let go;

when you open your eyes, you will be at peace.

and kukutux would never know it again.

do you hear it?

a child's healthy cry, the laughter of a child.

caribou running.

ariadne, singing beside the lake.

do you hear the sound of their hooves?

do you hear the sound of her joy?

they are calling you home

i need you to return to me.

hunt us in the world of the spirits, they say

where you will never taste rot again.

go to them

stay with me.

go where the caribou lead

listen to when they come back.

we call them to the dancing lights for you, beloved spirit

the dancing lights! the lights! fires which eat my spirit.

the night of keening. 

but she did not scream. she did not weep. she did not shout aloud.

her humming was a moan that cut the hot air of the summer darkness.

the duck rocked to and fro, staring, staring.

if the tupilak came now, would i welcome her?

the silent tears tasted of bitter blood.

beloved spirit, you walk through sedna's throat.

why were you with him? why were you not here?

it is dark, but do not be afraid.

i am afraid.

we are with you.

we are left behind!

go toward the stars beyond

will i never embrace you again?

go to the light beyond

sedna, why have you done this?

do not turn back

my heart will not mend.

do not look back

my soul is dying.

we ask for healing.

i cannot ask for what will not come.

we know the green must come again.

i do not think the green will come again.

remove the winter from our bones.

it lives inside my heart, ice within a drift of snow.

we shed it as grandfather bear leaves his snow parka behind.

but a mother cannot shed her daughter.

take it from us.

i carry this pain to feel myself.

take it with you to the dancing lights.

as long as i hold it, i will not forget.

our love will warm your shoulders there.

our love will warm your shoulders there.

do you hear, beloved spirit?

it is the moon of lost feathers —

their wings bear you to the dancing lights now.

you crawl out of the sleeping place of sedna.

open your eyes and see.

your journey is almost at an end.

your journey is almost at an end.

the keening at last came upon her now, rage and sorrow in a fierce mingle which choked the duck and sent her cries spiraling into shouts of wrath.

they echoed across the spine, to the mountain, to the glen, to the sea.

i have done this.

i have killed her.

i have broken her children apart.

i have shamed her husband.

i am the reason she has died.

sedna. sedna — take me. give ariadne back to the moon people. i will go.

i will go!

but there would be no answer from the silent moon.

we will honor you as ancestors.

kannoyak. i grieve for my daughter. i do not forget that you were pathmaker and friend to moonglow village. i will not forget your kindness. i know that you will not be away from ariadne when you walk beyond sedna, and for this i am grateful.

we will not forget your names.

go now.

go now.

tavvauvusi.

something more died inside kukutux as the last song poured off into the night.