Moonspear ignivik ¦

we are a day early, so reply whenever <3 no posting order. welcome, starbabes

 

it was upon a green afternoon misted with rain that the next children of the distant island were born.

the night had come, and with it a horrid rippling of cramps that startled kukutux awake from her semi-sleep with a sharp sob. unable to speak, she only gasped, and then in the next moment had begged jarilo to let her alone. she had observed all taboos but one, and now the duck must face the righteous anger of the spirits she had scorned. agiisal, the moondrop had grit. the meaning would be clear; even if the word was unknown, the feral desperation of her bearing would say all that must be told.

alone, she had laid back against the furs to catch her breath, staring at the earthen dome above her. ada, kukutux thought in her distress. this was a time of women; her sister should be here. her aunt, her grandmother. the cousins that had already given life to their clan. ada, panyukasaal. hot tears flowed backward along her cheeks as the agony came again; kukutux closed her throat and refused to cry out a second time.

through the night she fought the lurking qualupilik, that green-tongued creeping thing which comes from the sea to take a woman's child. while at first the snowflower had determined to make no sound that would invite the monster, soon her mewling gave way to louder cries that cut through the gathering storm outside the den. speak not their names, the spirit whispered, and kukutux nodded her sweat-drenched head. the shuffle of an old woman within the den. tooteega come to take up her place in support of her earth-bound daughter. and so kukutux called upon their old names, and nanook arrived. they stood near, and she took up the old way of breathing in childbed.

she fell silent for a short while before dawn, alone with her panting, but first light had not come when the ordeal began again. yet the sun was muted behind the thickness of grey clouds that blotted out warm rays. surely the beast was clear now, for with it came rain to beat against the vast forests and shards of old stone borne these long years by moonspear.

inside the ulaq, kukutux returned to the ancient struggle, and this time her throat could not hold the hot fire twisting her body. a shriek knifed like a chert edge into the morning sun, something altogether primitive and savage and quite unlike the meek young wife who had come to live among the ostregas. she dug her claws into the pelts beneath and drew one ragged breath before she bore down. the forest rippled with a rake of thunder and @Sialuk was forced into the world on the edge of a low, guttural moan that ripped from somewhere beyond kukutux' consciousness.

the drumbeat of her heart slowed as she found her breathing again, and lifted a shaking leg to reveal the pale child. a triumphant cry came from the girl as she pulled the babe closer, laving tongue to remove the fluids of birth from tiny mouth and throat; kukutux felt warmth upon her face, tasted salt, winced at the sudden pull at her side as the child was given first taste of immuk.

her jaw had only untensed when the tremoring pain began again, sundering the dove into an anguish. she grasped the breathing anew, steadying herself upon the long sigh and then two short, letting the voice of the spirit work itself through her mouth where needed. outside, the rains had slowed, and moonspear gleamed like a wet gem beneath the shifting clouds. and kukutux was gone to shards of ice, writhing as her bones began to separate and a new part of her was remade.

kukutux' brow furrowed; her features tensed and broke into a fatigued gasp. tooteega loomed close, her greying jaws bared against the slithering tongue of the qualupilik. the girl refused surrender; in another rush @Saviguk was cast into the ash-soaked world of the wild mountain, and his mother wept to see him, his finely made paws, the blunted, seeking muzzle. a son for @Jarilo. a daughter for her. she kissed the pale child again, nestled the darkened one close, drew in her sobs. no further agonies arose; the tension washed away as the forest dripped with rain and kukutux fell to trembling inspection of the two newborn lives her she had given her husband.

Birth, love, loss, pain, death, then a long stretch of quiet.

In the womb, Sialuk had been nothing but impatient to get out. Now, as she took her first breath, she felt a sense of calm. The warmth of her mother's tongue soon embraced her, and not long after, she was clean and dry, suckling her first real meal. She fell asleep immediately after she'd had her fill, resting quietly against her brother.

Adrift in the void, all Saviguk knew was bliss and warmth. The presence of his sister, @Sialuk, had gone largely ignored. Yet even on some deep, instinctual level his young mind could not comprehend, the cherub sensed he was not alone. Swaddled in the safety of his mother's body, his existence was comparable to being gently lulled by a calm ocean.

Then a ripple, faint first. And another and another, stronger than the last. Until suddenly he was tossed into a swirling surge, pulling him down, down. His little heart fluttered, he panicked. What was this?! No, no, no! I don't want to go, don't take me! He would have wailed, would have summoned into thought. Unable to fight against the impossible force that tore all he knew apart, Saviguk came careening into the world.

The landing was not nearly as bad as he thought it might have been. He flopped down onto something soft, but decidedly cold and wet. A horrid shiver wracked his tiny, temporarily oil black body. He didn't like this, no not one bit! Tiny mouth opening to draw the first life giving breath, his strong vocals clenched as he released a mewling cry. But salvation! In a form of a new sort of warmth. Soft and gentle, encompassing him entirely. This, he liked. Scooted up close against his dear mother's breast, the cinna-bun boy nestled into the warm tendrils of her ivory fur. There he found a teat, the wonderful, oh so soothing flood of milk filling his tummy. Beside him, was @Sialuk, whom he leaned into instinctively, falling asleep, while peace reigned once more.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡!!!!!!

Painfully new to this process up close, yet knowing that it was coming sooner over later, he offered no objections when Kukutux finally ushered him away from the comfort of her side. That much did understand, even if he didn't like it as it sent him further into an unknown. It was simply not his place there any longer, and he ducked low on his way out, after a murmur of his best wishes--and fondness--for her discomfort was not lost on him, and neither was it the end of what she would have to face on this voyage. He worried, of course, like he did when he just didn't know, but maybe his encouragement might be worth some scrap of something. Jarilo left her company with a heavy heart.

Turned out to the mountainside's open air alone to muster his best patience, Jarilo would wait, and wait. However long it took, he had no say. His anxious paws carved a route of guard around the clearing, widening first, then pulling back close eventually as the rounds were made in pensive silence on repeat. On the way, he found @Antares and @Atlas, who he warned off with word of what he was anticipating, trusting in the pair to carry his message and help keep a watch beyond his own eyes as well. The shadows disappeared back to the forests just as they had come to surely pass on what they now knew. Then, watching them go, the older Ostrega resumed his vigil. 

Jarilo never could settle for long, even eventually as hours passed and anxiousness wore fatigue into him. Sometime therein, posted just beyond the ulaq, he dozed halfheartedly when pacing no longer satisfied some unseen need, though it was with ears up flickering to every sound and shifting uncomfortably on his wife's behalf. But he would not interrupt, or burden her with his wondering. He trusted her, and placed faith upon her to see them all through to the other side--herself with it, importantly. He was reminded to hold dearly onto what he had then as well.

When heavy clouds soon gave way to showers, it pressed him closer to the shelter, where his waiting continued until over the petrichor, he scented something different--new. Quivering his nose, eager for more, he bided his time, thick with anticipation. Soon, he hoped. Soon.. until curiosity finally angled his muzzle towards the entrance, and though he could not see past the darkness, he studied the new quiet over the sound of the rain.

couldn't resist posting again <3

her tired gaze closed, but there was still work to be done. kukutux recalled how the sisters had gathered around their birthing counterpart — in that moment every young woman was the sister of the new mother — and how the old midwife had compelled the woman to cough.

a deep, forced rattle, one that clenched the sore muscles of her belly and separated from her body the crimson tree that had nourished her children. algaak, the birthprice for tooteega's attendance.

she trembled still from moment to moment, but at length her soft green gaze lifted to the rain-dripping entrance of the ulaq. her voice was hoarse, throat scoured by the force of her earlier wails; kuktutux pitched it now into a low croon that bid her husband closer. she was not wrong to wish him now; he had heeded her command, and now she longed for the silent guardianship of his bearing.

no harm would come to her or the little ones while jarilo was near at hand.exhausted, kuktutux lay down her slim muzzle to await his arrival, brushing both sialuk and saviguk with a warm sigh.

She dreamt dreams. None of them she understood, of course. They were dreams that wouldn't pass for years, yet. Or had they already passed? Her tiny pea brain couldn't comprehend any of it yet, but her physical body twitched idly. In the dream, she was fighting somebody. A white wolf. Pale blue eyes. They were at odds, but they'd once been friends. Comrades.

Not knowing its entire lengths, Jarilo could not give the fullest due reverence to what his mate endured to mother their cubs. Urged by excitement, suspense, worry, and anxiousness all mingling into a daunting beast, he certainly felt some strange sense about such unknowns--it was this that had given him patience despite all of his curiosity, paired over the reminder to not interrupt and let her war it out proper, unburdened by his ignorance on the matter; his support came from elsewhere now, after all, which he hoped he had given. His place was best at guard, over and over had been his mantra, and that she would be fine, he reminded himself while watching over this swatch of the rainy mountainside.

Now, tentatively approaching a new time and remembering what else he was able to provide, after having let the quiet span for some time (since what he presumed to be the worst of it all had perhaps come to pass), he answered her low call with a questioning rumble back. Ears turned down flat, and rain-slicked body made small and low meant not to disturb, he darkened the doorway before slowly entering--where his heart raced and he breathed deep such strange scents that he had only tested from outside, then kept his short path to Kukutux first.

While he felt like he had been gone for so very long, hesitance kept his motions heavier than usual, and he reached his muzzle towards her own, seeking that much touch before he let it turn to licks for her cheeks should she have it of him--relieved, said his quiet whine then, despite the exhaustion on her he couldn't help carry away in full. Yet.. over the din of his anticipation and overwhelming want to catch up on everything that he had missed, he peeked for her side with all the questions he couldn't bring into words right now, never before in the presence of someones so very young, new, and most monumentally, theirs.

a silken weariness was stealing over kuktutux, the first slumber after which the young no longer reside in the protective circlet of one's body. the spirits danced, and all was well. it was as if she were a child again, falling asleep to the sound of drumming feet.

a blink, and her mate had drawn close to the drizzled opening, and then his sleek body was slipping against her own. a sigh feathered from her throat, first at his reassurance, and then his kiss; kukutux felt drunk with a deep and sweet love as he told in a single sound how it had been to hear her struggle.

and look what they had been given at the end of it. a slow smile crossed the snowdrop's glowing, wan countenance as she turned her gaze to his expression.

"sialuk," she whispered gently, indicating the paler babe with a dip of her muzzle. "she came with the rain. she is like a drop of it on the earth. that is sialuk." a pause to hear what her husband would say, or if he would only listen, and then she moved to motion toward their son. "saviguk. i felt as though i stood in a storm of ice. he is a part of the snow." 

now she was silent; she reached to kiss his cheek and then settled back against the warmth of his protective, wondering figure with green gaze gone dreamy and moonwater. if he spoke of the names, kukutux would hear it all; she cupped the pale petals of her ears forward, glancing down to their tiny eider-chicks.

The quiet vibrations did not wake the babe, for she had known them even in the womb. Her mother's voice was something that, although she had not yet heard it, she had already grown attached to its meaning. The skin on her back twitched, and she shifted slightly to become more comfortable, and then she went back to her dreams.

In her dream, she felt the warmth of a large black wolf. His eyes were some shade of green she couldn't quite make out. He said something to her, though she could not comprehend it. She could only grasp the vaguest of emotions behind the images that swam in her mind.

Deep in his milk coma, Saviguk was oblivious that someone else had entered the den. His father. The other half of that which had spawned him. Had sewn his very fabric into existence. Dark sides heaved with gentle breaths, tiny paws planted firmly against the roundness of his dam's tummy. He leaned close, in towards his sister. He would keep her warm, keep her safe while she dreamt. His contentment could only be expressed in the simplest of motions; a faint twitching of his spindly little tail.

Slowly, the first threads of worry broke away when the dark Ostrega did not find himself unwelcome (very much the opposite), or greeted by anything but a scene he could never have imagined before.. Anticipation quickly took its place all too readily (he let it), with a greedy quiver of his nose and tipped ears to accompany as he followed Kukutux's gesture first to the pale babe tucked beside her.

Sialuk, a pale daughter.. with the rain itself. Then, towards the darker shape, Saviguk, a son.. among a storm of ice. He nodded first--yes, absolutely yes! alongside happy new beats to his tail in his best summation yet. Anything more from him was just clutter, no objections, only a quiet awe for he had never seen a life so new, let alone a dual pair of them, and never so.. remarkably apt for their small circle that had just expanded.

Pride came for him too, pressing him closer to the little ones, curious but respecting this entire notion that their arrival had toiled his mate, and that this was still such a delicate time. But, he still wanted to soak in it.. despite not having any words for it himself, not in any language he could clumsily conjure to his tongue now. Delicate, he reached a feather-light touch with his muzzle for both daughter and son alike--and a deep breath, finding it so peculiar but alluring--all to commit to memory, them, and now. With the important milestone of birth behind them, he was awfully relieved, but excited too. They were earthside now, though they had been already in a way, now he could see them! And soon, they would see him and everything else he had to show them here as they grew. A momentous notion, for the world beyond was great and big, but he knew he only wanted the best for them.

I'm so happy they're here.. and to meet them finally, he murmured quietly through a fond look when he finally could muster words. Jarilo remembered his wife's request that he be with her after, and he certainly would--he wanted to be right here, hard-pressed to pull away, as he just edged in closer to Kukutux, situating himself in neater than before. I do hope they were good for you.. and will howl to my sisters soon, later.. so they may know, he added quickly, before they could worry considering the messages he had sent with the yearlings, and more importantly, to announce their arrival as Moonspear's newest--in time. Jarilo might need to collect himself for that one, such a joyous note, and important to him as well. For now I do want to stay right here with you all, unless you need me for otherwise, of course, he added, naturally, because she would be the only one to make him move for right now now. It was too unique a moment, and he wished to savor it--while it all set in, fully and whole.

last from me <3

"oh, no, stay, stay," kukutux begged in an exhausted whisper. hydra must know, yes, but for now the duck was soothed by the focused attention of her husband, the love she already saw within his heart for their children. the atmosphere was clouded with warmth, made moreso by the drip of rain out-of-doors.

it seemed the wet world had come to gleam like an emerald gem pulled from the heart of still water, and kukutux let her eyes close at last for a long moment. and then she had come awake again, unable to keep from looking to her babes yet another time. a brief pride in herself, in the tasks she had fulfilled to make the ulaq a welcoming place, how she had fought against the monster and prevailed to give jarilo a son.

sleep, little sister, the inner spirit urged. and for a moment kukutux felt she could hear the voice of her mother, distant in her happy vale beyond the dancing lights. you have done well. the snowdrop nestled against her mate then, caressing him with a slumbering kiss before she allowed herself the respite of slumber.

girl no longer — made-mother and now kukutux came to the first pathway of how she might keep the ways of the sea-ice alive in her children. made-mother, and soon she would be teacher, last voice of the wisewomen from the sun-floes.