Whitebark Stream the last of her tribe

AW! she will hopefully be joining saatsine buuut anyone is welcome. @Sun Eater ping for visibility!

loneliness wasn't something black hawk knew, and it was stifling. overwhelming. she'd always been surrounded kin; there wasn't a moment in her life where she could remember ever truly being alone. it infuriates her, as a woman who'd stare into the eyes of death and not waver, was terrified of this. 

and yet, she would endure. she would survive, as she was lanzadoii. it was within her blood to conquer and to persevere. but she was mourning. her clan, her tribe, her family, all fallen to a sickness she'd escaped. 

she had to bury their bodies one by one, and wondered for many moons on a journey to grieve. their deaths still stung, as that wound wouldn't so quickly heal, but she was able to move forward. to return to familiar lands in hopes of reuniting with lanzadoii kin and finding a new home. 

a new tribe. 

she'd been following a small herd of caribou, stepping within their prints in the snow. sleeping when they slept, then moving when they moved. hoping they would lead her home.

they had been here too long, and his restlessness was apparent. sun eater ranged farther, hunted longer; he kept distant from his clan, though he knew he must work with and among them, knew he must draw them together and speak his ways.

but today he continued to eschew company, watching a small band of caribou approach. something distracted the lead, sun eater felt, and his ears swung forward with apt instinctual wisdom. he descended his small rise of snow and ran toward the herd, which scattered and in their breaking numbers he glimpsed the masculine figure which followed.

a growl. but he came forward all the same, ignoring that he might have spoiled a hunt; there was something new and familiar and odd in the other's bearing, enough to make him grunt out, "who you?"

the caribou alerted her to the presence before she'd even smelled him. they stomped and snorted, heads raised and focused. tracking the man, who came upon her with a growl. one she would return. 

she turned to face him, her broad shoulders tensing. he smelled so familiar. lanzadoii? but she did not know his face. she stood tall, as she wouldn't grovel. her eyes sharp, assessing.

"my name is black hawk. i am lanzadoii. my clan was hawks peak." there was a certain sorrow in her tone, whenever she spoke of them. and for a moment she bow her head, wishing they rested in peace now. "follow caribou, hoping they lead me to another clan. who are you?"

at first he did not realize that what he was hearing when her mouth opened was lanzadoii. but swiftly he caught up with his own ears, and grinned broadly. "follow them no more, caribou hunter! you have found the saatsine!"

when had he felt so exuberant? a woman stood before him, strong and made more after a hunter. but these details were not so pressing. "who was your band? what is the name of your mother?" he asked in rapid delight, circling in semi-step; it was good to speak the glacier-tongue and be understood.

"i am kusax̱asaa," he offered when a lull had come, single eye watchful. "sun eater." an abbreviated, shorter meaning than the one his full name offered.

the man's delight is a surprise, but it is welcomed. her muscles relax; there would be no fight here, but a reunion! hawk's tail curls and sways, betraying her own exuberance. a toothy, wolffish grin adorns her now, as she too steps around him. 

saatsine. a strong name, for what she can hope to be even stronger hunters. and he understands her tongue! oh, how she's longed to speak it. how she's missed hearing it parroted back at her. "well met! i travel many moons to come here. the caribou never lead me astray."

an excited barrage of questions are slung, and she greets them with a hearty laugh. the ache of her lost clan doesn't sit so heavily right now, not when she's found her people again. and a strong one, at that; he was prowess, power, and strength. 

"jaggedclaw was my mother's band. her name was pavati. i knew her as black bear." she mused, deep voice rasped with excitement. with joy. her mother was a strong woman; the finest hunter she'd ever met. would he know of her? 

she stood to face him now, and bowed her head with respect. "i am keokuk. black hawk. last of my tribe." she rumbled. "tell me more of saatsine!"

they circled one another. sun eater wore an expression of relief that not even his wife had witnessed: lanzadoii greeting lanzadoii. "the caribou are eternal and bring truth," he agreed, a plume of breath lifting from his jaws. 

pavati. jaggedclaw. he did not know; wait. familiarity blossomed. "you are distant marriage-cousin to me! my mother was dii. bitterbrush." he was pleased that they had a more defined relationship, though he became somber to hear black hawk's voice now.

"i am sorry. we are strong. we are many. children are soon to be born." his eye flickered. "stay with us. hunt the caribou. travel with saatsine. i have a war chief and bloodhunters. you will be safe."

sun eater wished to ask what had happened, but it was not for him to know.

cousins! and to think the caribou had led her here, to find her relative and to be welcomed by him. "dii...my mother used to speak of her fondly! it is great joy to be reunited with family." a sharp, wolffish grin appeared then. 

he expressed his sorrow, and she took it with a bittersweet nod. "thank you. my time to grieve has passed. now, i wish my clan walk among ancestors in peace." although she'd failed to protect them, all she could do now was pray they were happy in their afterlife. 

she would have been foolish to not accept such an invitation. to walk among caribou hunters again, to help provide and protect...it was all she needed. she stood tall, her tail waving like a banner, a determination in her gaze. 

"i will walk with you, cousin, and your clan. thank you."

dii! she knew his mother, and his heart danced with the delight in finding kin. "then let us walk! tell me of your clan," sun eater offered softly. "we will not forget them on our long march."

how had keokuk survived? how far had she traveled? these things he wished to know, but the lanzadoii was careful of her grief.

"here you have kin. my sister is meleeys. my son is ghelan. my wife is dzaeyaqsaa, and soon she will give me sons and daughters. suliya is marriage-cousin," he decided, and took a new joy in how many true-blooded lanzadoii were among them now.

he asked of her clan! it would not bring her sorrow to speak of them, even if the wound of their deaths still ached raw. but instead, she would speak of them with pride. they would be remembered, by a lanzadoii no less! "my people were strong. fierce. they hunted with vigor. you would have liked them." she stated with a broad, crooked grin. "there were not many, but it was family."

she continued with a sway of her tail, a glint of pride in her eyes. "we were nomadic, too. tradition still strong. but sickness came. first were the young; too weak to fight it. our shaman could only do so much." a tint of sadness, a dip of her head. "it spread like fire. i watched them fall, one by one, until only i stood."

she paced, restless. "i buried them. they rest now, and their souls stampede with caribou." she finished with a proud smile. their deaths were not in vain; how happy they would be, to see her walk among kin!

cen spoke of his own bloodline. a sister, a son, a wife heavy with his progeny. "i will meet them all!" she declared triumphantly. she would find home now, with new family. "take me to your home. i wish to mourn alongside family. i wish to hunt alongside my kin."

a sickness. "my heart is sad to hear it." to lose anyone was hard; to lose a band entire, family, those loved — black hawk carried a pain now, a piece of their spirits bound forever with her own.

"and you have done well by their ghosts." there was admiration in his tone for the woman, how she looked upon the new world with clear eyes even after her ordeal.

"come! we will go! and we will share your suffering, black hawk," sun eater said softly, a tenderness that for him was almost unnatural.

lanzadoii women were a kind unto their own, and for this he held always a specific respect. "the first kill we make, bury the heart in the snow, for your people." firstblood; a gift of the caribou souls to those who had also gone on.