The Sunspire the prom

on the outskirts of tikal; please let argent post first. <3

Months had passed since she had left Glaukos with his general. But when she had heard the term again from the wolf with the warning, she had been reminded of him. With a quick word to her envoys that she wished to make contact with an ally—@Njord, @Meerkat, @Alaric—Sialuk departed only for a few days. The trip would be swift, and Sixsix would fly overhead to alert them to any danger that might present itself.

Slowing, the starwoman found strange scents lingering along the outer slopes of the canyon that met the sunspire, and she stilled herself in her tracks. Germanicus no longer held station here, and Glaukos had dispersed elsewhere. She frowned, eyes turning to @Argent.

This village is not the same as it was, she said. Its people have moved on, and new have moved in.

His gaze scanned the lands before them, considering her words before giving a faint tip of his head, a furrow within his brow. These mountains seem to have that effect on packs, he offered in turn, the shadow of his father seeming to linger upon every nook within the rocky landscape of the Sunspire. Moonspear was fortunate that no others had encroached upon them, but as he could recall, much to Stigmata’s chagrin, their neighbor mountain was often rotating of packs. 

He wondered of that. 

Do we stay and see if your friend remains here? This trip had been a long time coming for him… questions he sought answers to, and yet he was eager to ensure Sialuk had the answers she sought first—particularly when he did not know what Mahler would think of his presence within another pack so close by.

The starwoman shook her head. The two I met with are not here. We should go where your heart leads you, she said. Sialuk could not spend time looking for men who were not here. Their scents had long been replaced by those of strangers, and she did not think they would know where the general and the clouded spirit had gone. He would find his way back to her in his own time, she believed.

Your father built his village on this peak, yes? she asked, peering up at the spire's summit.

‘We should go where your heart leads you.’

It was a perfect opening for a wolf who might have more game than Argent—and he cast her a sideways glance then, the curl of his lips proving the suggestion was certainly on the tip of his tongue. He was not a man with smooth words—and they were on the brink of strangers land, and so he allowed the suggestion to die with a heated glance only.

At her next question, he found himself more pensive, his large form shifting. “He did. A lake, near to here,” he mused, his eyes trailing from her and to the distinct direction of Arrow Lake. “But his plans were overly ambitious and it fell to ruin.”

Once upon a time, Argent would have considered sharing such a sentiment a betrayal to his father. Now, he simply took it as something to learn from. “Mahler was the man who raised me, though, and he should still live on this mountain.”

Should, being the optimal word… and he did not feel as confident in that statement, given the sickly state he had last seen the man in.

Sialuk caught his brief glance, but she too knew this was not the place for such dalliances, much as they may wish to. She listened as he spoke of his father's village, and she wondered what sort of plans might be deemed "overly ambitious." Kivinik spoke then of the man who had raised him, and Sialuk found the mirror in her own story. For it was Aiolos who had done her rearing after the death of her own father. It had been later in her life, but he had nonetheless become an important, albeit background, figure in it.

This was Argent's journey now, and Sialuk struck out a paw, motioning for him to lead the way. His words from their previous conversation rang in her ear, and she flushed at the thought of them. I plan on courting you, Sialuk of Moonspear.

It is custom of my people for a husband to pay a bride price for the woman he wishes to marry, she said as they walked. If younger, anang would have given you this price, but I am woman with my own village now, so it is mine to decide.

They were met with silence—the edge of borders and looking outward. Sialuk did not wish to linger to determine who now held reign over the sand-cloaked lands and Argent agreed it felt moot at this point—if her friends were no longer here, there was little sway or need to hold knowledge of a pack that was far enough from them.

So when she motioned for them to continue, Argent did so, ensuring his larger form remained upon the side of the mysterious pack, lest a guardian finally come upon them. They walked, and she was silent for now—his own gaze and thoughts straying to the canyon, unable to shake the feeling that something tumultuous would come upon them.

It was then she spoke, and the man offered an arched brow as he listened, his gaze then studying her pretty features. “I would seek to pay your price as well as your anang’s, if only for a chance,” he responded to her—hesitating only momentarily on the foreign word and the way it felt on his tongue. Still—if Sialuk were to become a solid part of his present and future, he would learn her language and culture—or so he could only hope. “Anang means guardian?” A question to ease her in the conversation she now held with him—though his raindrop was not a woman who balked at such topics.

A smile played on her face when his grammar faltered with the word, though she did not chastise him for his mistake. Anang means 'my mother,' she explained. When you speak of Kukutux, you say anaa, which is saying 'her mother.' Or you say anax̂, which is saying only 'mother.'

Anang has both ugix̂—husband—and ayagax̂—wife, Sialuk said, smiling. No woman yet had approached Sialuk on becoming ayagang, but she had shared a bed with Keen, and the starwoman had not invalidated the possibility of bringing another into her bed. Tullik was young, yet... but Sialuk had noticed that in the months she had been with Moonspear, her figure had begun to fill out. And, of course, Elentari had caught her eye on multiple occasions.

She explained to him the wording—Kukutux was a woman he had heard of in name only, and knew he should likely pay his respects to her, whether Sialuk accepted him as a husband or not.

The wind drifted past them—bits of the red sand pelting at them, though no scent of another seemed to creep upon them yet. Argent knew these mountains were a popular hub for their species, and his wary eye would still drift back to the canyon, though he could all but hear the smile in Sialuk’s words as she spoke.

She meant to take many lovers—a topic Argent and her had encroached upon but he had never delved into his more ruminating thoughts on the matter. He worried of it, certainly, but between the scenarios that would play out, the worst outcome he felt would be to not have Sialuk in his life at all.

“And do you seek a wife?” And in what she felt she wished to build in Moonspear, he idly wondered if husband and wife were simply titles, and where the priority of multiple lovers would be placed.

Moonspear was a pack that held strength and wisdom—but would it topple like a deck of cards when jealousy and mistrust came knocking upon their borders?

Nothing in Sialuk's heart said she must have both wives and husbands, but she found it limiting—restricting—to have only one. What if another crossed her path and she felt herself called to them? It was the way of many people to take more than one lover, and she had seen the practice at work. It brought the village together to share what they could with one another, and what was love but another resource to be spread amongst themselves.

Mmm, she thought aloud, Keen warmed my bed for a time, but her interest in me waned. Sialuk was not hurt by this. She had suspected from the outset that Keen was unlikely to remain with her. Why, she could not say. Meerkat had been the first to hold her interest, but she and Njord wished to remain to themselves, and Sialuk would not interfere. Nasamik appeared not to have any interest in her, either.

Tullik was young yet, and Sialuk did not wish to put pressure on her. There was also Fennec, though the starwoman was unsure of where her interests lay. Perhaps with the friend she had brought with her. And there was, of course, Elentari. Elentari has shown interest, but her heart seems drawn to another—one who is not among our village.

Sialuk did not know enough of Ukulele or Wicca to say whether they would be prospects or not. She cast a glance to kivinik, wondering if this talk of loving others would rile him.

Argent listened—interested, mostly, and surprised jealousy did not rear its ugly head. Perhaps, because she spoke of other women—and his base instinct of reproduction was not threatened in that manner.

Argent was anything but philosophical and did not dwell on it.

Keen was mentioned and he recalled the yawning girl—her attention span hadn’t seemed terribly adept during his own meeting with her and he had simply believed she found him boring. Had Sialuk been slighted by the woman’s waning interest in her, he might have been more inclined to be insulted for her.

Instead, she spoke of Elentari—a she-wolf Argent had noticed, as was hard not to. Striking in her appearance—and yet perhaps smitten with another outside their village. Had he been more boisterous and not entirely new to navigating the scenario of such open intimacy, he would have questioned if her lovers were for her, solely.

They had been travelling—keen on placing distance between them and the canyon, but he pulled her to a stop, his eyes intent upon her as he studied her. “You’ve a long reign ahead of you, Sialuk. You’re heart is pure and will be provided all it desires,” he offered, sweeping a kiss to her before once more coaxing her along.

But one questioned remained—and if they were nothing but honest with one another, he would need to know the limits in what she held. “Your… anax̂,” he began, wondering if he had coined the proper term for Kukutux. “She has a husband and a wife, but are they also wed to one another?”

He remained steady and silent, and the starwoman allowed the hush to remain, enjoying the quiet sound of footfalls on the earth as they made their way toward Mahler and his village. When he slowed, pulling her in, Sialuk felt herself once more wheeling in that same emotional space she had when he had professed that he wished to court her. Grand words and compliments would get him far, and perhaps he knew that already. She returned the kiss with one of her own upon the underside of his chin. You say this as if I do not have all I desire, she teased, falling into step alongside him once more.

To his question, she shook her head. Sakhmet is wed only to anang, she replied, pausing for a moment to think of the children that came of Sakhmet. Atâtanguang—ah... husband of my mother—he gave children to Sakhmet, but they do not have hearts as one. Perhaps only because Kukutux could not provide this for her wife on her own, she and Aiolos had agreed upon it amongst themselves.

This is how village works together, makes everyone happy. She smiled, thinking of the little bundles of fluff that were likely outgrowing the ulaq now.