Ouroboros Spine it's not as if we cry a river, call it rain

hope it's okay to mark this private seeing as it was pre-arranged :)

This time, she brought only herself and her hope.

Her dreams had been stressfully vibrant when she had returned to the plateau. Sleep had finally come for her but it sucked her in so deep most nights — kicking of limbs, jerking of her head and the heavy pound of her heart — that she awoke just as tired.

Soon, she prayed, she might know rest once more. Her heart and mind might be at ease when she returned from this trip. Then, then she could begin on building the plateau proper. She could find everyone's place and build what they all needed.

There was also the chance that all of it would elude her longer.

That @Kigipigak would still need the care of @Kukutux in these lands. That he needed someone more equipped than herself. She knew she would still wish to visit him frequently even if he stayed. Although she wondered how many more six days there would be if he needed them and Kukutux declared them.

As many as they ask for.

She wondered what difference the time would make.

If he looked new in these six days.

one post for me! <333

kigipigak was ready.

he was not, her kin's-heart urged, though the duck knew it now to be her own desire to keep him close. he was still so like a boy in many ways. 

but he was not.

she had bid him rest in the brew, and then led him to the lake. bathing, until he shone as much as he would abide the water. 

kukutux looked at him with a great affection. "make a path away from moonglow now, kiggavik. go to sakhmet."

his body had mended all it would beneath her care; now the hunter must find his own energy and learn to work with the body enraptured by the cat. he wore the marks of one who had lived a story most would want him to tell again. 

the duck would only go so far along the slopes of her land to see that kigipigak's pale frame met the smaller redtone.

tilt of her crown; until tomorrow, hawk-in-snow and sun ember, she sung down to them in the words given she and kigipigak, for her people did not often say farewell, knowing that tomorrow meant many things and brought whatever the gods decided.

tomorrow; i will see your face again.

Kigipigak did not need the aid of Kukutux to walk now. They did not go as far as last time, which helped. His body had mended and he had survived his attack only by the grace of his kin. He was thankful to know her, and wished he could repay the debt he most certainly owed; some of that desire stemmed from apprehension over the next stage of his life and the fear of leaving home again, to become a husband. It was not what Kigipigak had in mind when he saw Sakhmet — but he could not speak of this either, so bashful with his uncertainty.

When he saw the warm red-black shining off of her thin silhouette, his head emptied. He was led moreso by his heart to where she waited. His scars had changed with his bathing and now sat exposed as dark flesh. The effect would no doubt fade in time but for now he looked hardened by battle, not freshly mended. There was a slight browning of his limbs that washing could not cure as a side-effect of Kukutux' brew. All in all, he looked hale, broad-shouldered and strong, like before the cat had come for him.

There was the urge within Kigipigak to speak as he came to greet Sakhmet. As his mouth opened there came the farewell-call of Kukutux, and so he paused and found himself smiling, amused by the names she has given them.

Lets go home. Kigipigak wished aloud, turning his full attention to Sakhmet in the hopes he might catch an elusive smile.

we can keep it short, have a travel thread elsewhere, or use this thread, whatever you'd like! :D

He arrived and she thought very much of the first time she had stumbled into him. How large and strong he had seemed in the woods as he had ushered her away from bones. It seemed as though he held some of that now. The strength back in him, despite the marks along his flesh.

Dark they were now. Not so bright and vibrant. It must have been something that had been applied to him. The same murk along his legs.

He truly was a mountain man, wasn't he?

Kukutux did not show, not by Kigipigak's side at least. A pale mark in the sunny distance.

The village woman simply crooned out to the young pair from a distance.

Hawk-in-snow and sun ember she called them. What an unusual pair of names. Sun and snow did not go together logically, but here they were.

"Lets go home."

She could not help the little wiggle of her tail and the way her inky lips split to expose a tiny grin. Quick to try and compose herself. Sheepish.

Please. She breathed, eager to escort him out of here and back to the plateau. No matter how long it took. There's so much to catch up on! Some light, albeit brief laughter, feeling a bit bumbling and awkward.

There it was — a bubbling energy coursing through the girl from nose to tail, catching across her cheeks, warming her eyes. She tried to hide it but Kigipigak was too intent on witnessing her glee.

It was there, hindered only by an awkward desire to remain civil rather than let the feeling manifest, but he saw enough. Sakhmet's entire being changed when she smiled. Her laughter came next, around a bundle of words, and Kigipigak began to chuckle too. It pinched at his sides but he didn't let that stop him.

Sakhmet would lead the way, telling him whatever she wanted; he could listen to her for hours. Kigipigak would have turned to look on final time over his shoulder in search of Kukutux' pale shape, but he was fully involved in whatever Sakhmet saw fit to share with him now. She was the whole world to him; soon they would be home, and their life together could begin.

Fade here, have another at Blacktail?? :D