Ouroboros Spine kirnmitkuk ⊟

"kiggavik!" kukutux called toward @Kigipigak.

she approached him. she offered her kinsman a piece of the dried meat she carried and put the rest down. 

"natigvik will be host-village to winter hunting?" she asked, ears bright and eyes gently teasing. she wished to see how he would respond. sakhmet was issumatar.

Kigipigak was happy to see his kin. Her jovial tone made him laugh but he nodded, Of course! Though he would ask his wife, he felt the families were growing close and there was little reason to refuse.

It is good to be here. The boys — I think they like it very much. Granted, this was a long way from home, plus there were many new faces.

he did not dissuade her. she thrilled to think of it. "i have seen them by the ulax and in the trees. mojag is with them sometimes. they form a small hunting-party."

she chuckled, radiant. "perhaps you will take mojag and stratos one day when you are here. show them good hunting beyond the village. they are ready to go a small distance."

I would happily take them to hunt! He agreed readily.

I have not yet shown my boys how to fish, as they were too young, but that is all there is back home. I watch for signs of the herds returning but I believe they have chosen to bypass us. Hopefully by winter they will indeed return — and we again can hunt. As Kigipigak explains this his tone fluctuates between pride and concern, then a mirthful hope.

Having them taste these meats while they visit is very good, too. It will give them good memories. His tail sways. Your boys — Mojag, Stratos, I would like to meet them for myself. Are they already hunting like men? Perhaps they were a little older than his own children.

she nodded. "mojag made first-kill. he is the son of sivullik. stratos was next. they became hunters together." it was a good story to tell of how boys became men. the pride for each of them blossomed proudly in her tone. 

she heard his voice.

"make a meeting with my cloudberry sister in the forest, in the village of winterglade. she is trailwalker. perhaps she has wisdom of these herds." her voice was deferential. she did not want to affect kigipigak's pride.

kukutux was warm again. "you know what i will say, winterhawk." her tones teased. "by winter hunting, ariadne and callyope will be almost ready for ugiq. it would be a good thing if they looked at the sons of natigvik. it is good for our villages, and they will already not be strangers to each other. our ways are different," she deferred once more. "but our ways share many of the same ancestors."

it was a word for sakhmet.

but he was man. and his sons would carry his name as well.

Kigipigak laughed when the woman brought up Lote.

We have seen her! I can go back and ask, though. That is smart. We crossed through the forest and found her there building a village. Our time there was short, but it was good; she has a son also! Have you met him?

No doubt Kukutux made her rounds to each of the paired-off women of her circle. It came as no surprise that she was grandmother to them all, in a way. Neither was it shocking that she brought up matchmaking so early in the lives of his boys.

We are not so different, Kigipigak mentions.

The boys could find their future aokatti among our villages! Or perhaps a future issumatar. It felt foolish to think so far ahead in their lives. Kigipigak did so now to entertain himself and Kukutux, and did not take it too seriously.

"i was there when he came into the world," kukutux clucked with the contented air of a woman who has been mother and seen others become mother. it was how she had wanted to rear sialuk.

but the spirits had meant differently for her eldest daughter.

kigipigak spoke. his tone was joyous. but he was still a man. he did not understand that girls must have futures or else they would become like bitter grass knives. this time forward, she had learned, did not always include husbands or children.

but one day they would touch natigvik's land and they might feel inside them the stirrings that sialuk felt upon the mountain.

she wished to be prepared for that day.

"i have much pride for you, kiggavik. for all of you." in the next she sighed gaily. "i think winterglade will be its own village before many more hands of time."

It was good that they visited. Kigipigak was glad to be among familiar people, to have them know his sons, and for those sons to learn of things Kigipigak could not teach.

Kukutux' words deeply affected him; she had been wise counsel in earlier days and had healed his body when he thought, certainly, that he would die; but look at them now! A mother again, and himself a father.

I am glad to have so many friends in this place. I... Traveled far, and in my way searched for this. And here it is. He was briefly overcome and could not speak! A display fit for a small girl, not the mighty Kigipigak.

Ah! I will show the boys how to stalk a deer soon; mine and yours, and make strong men out of them! He was smiling so wide his eyes were shut, to hide the emotion gleaming there.

she gently nudged the winterhawk with a brush of her muzzle. he glowed with happiness. sakhmet was the woman of his heart. all her spirit was filled with joy and delight for them both.

"they will remember you for this," she said gently. "such hunters pass into memory."

he was proud. he was fulfilled. the scars upon his heart had healed and even the ones he wore in his pelt did not hide this.

"do you know the word of 'war-council?'"

His beaming did not cease, but there came a queer look upon his face. War? What would Kukutux need of a council like that?

Yes, I know what that is. My people were soldiers before they were hunters of the north; what makes you ask? Was something brewing on their horizon?

"there is a man in pack close to us. sacrarium. he asks for fighters. but moonglow and winterglade do not know him. yet i think it is a good thing if we declare war-council, for this place of villages. that way we decide together."

"he asks for warriors, but there is not yet war. he asks in the event that threats come to us." but she had thought him vague.

What was asked tugged at something deep within Kigipigak which he had neglected, having given up being a warrior so long ago, and now being a father and husband, he thought of it and felt something close to mourning for the absence.

I see no reason to share your warriors with them. It sounds more like a threat; that they are testing you, the village, and friends to Moonglow, to see how strong we are. He was frowning.

This invisible piece of himself which had been traded away for the civility he now carried, the leadership role he coveted, the family he had built. Being a father had become the most important thing in his life - but before all of that, he had been a warrior. He had been Tartok, through and through; black-blooded, as they were called.

And now he found himself pining for those early days. A sense of nostalgia flooding him while Kukutux speaks of danger and war-councils and things that do not mesh with young boys, or new parents.

Natigvik is small — it is not built with warriors but with hunters. My boys have grown up on stories of Tartok and desire that life for themselves, but it will be some time before they are able. That was all he could offer of his village.

Perhaps I will seek out these people myself, and have words. I wish to know their intentions. If they see threats on the horizon. He found himself missing the empty northlands, suddenly.

kigipigak answered with the authority of a war-man from their north.

kukutux offered him the silent woman's deference that came with such confident words.

"they are that way." she pointed in the direction of sacrarium. "i did not think of them as a threat. but now that you have said this aloud, i see that it perhaps is so." moonwoman was thoughtful.

"our villages have strong hunters. winterglade will be the same. but those teeth for brother deer can be given also to a wolf." 

a pause. "moonglow and winterglade will meet sacrarium for telling stories, in the glen of fireflies." that way new intentions might be ascertained. "and a woman who has the name themis. she speaks the language of my sun man. and she builds a village that is near our own."

there was much to consider.