Ouroboros Spine bad eggs

All welcome. Tag for @Raimo and @Kukutux, since they are nearby!

Clutching the otter, Sialuk made her way back to the icy ulaq. For a moment, she panicked, realizing that anaa was not there. But her scent remained, and she must have only gone out for a quick break. Perhaps to find some running water that was not ice or snow. Carefully, Sialuk placed the otter at the very back of the ulaq, then made her way to the entrance and sat there, guarding the kill.

She wondered if Meerkat had found survivors at the glen. She wondered if any of her family had survived, though with each passing hour, she knew the likelihood grew smaller. The feeling that welled in her chest became too great, and she tipped her head back to call for @Jarilo and @Saviguk again.

be careful, daughter. we are not alone. at least once she had seen a shadow in the distance. men wandered at this time for women willing. a new fear struck her heart. sialuk was not at an age for such, and yet she was tall. beautiful. a bad heart might see this as weakness.

relief flowed to water her parched heart, followed by pain to hear her raindrop's voice. kukutux gingerly pushed from the ulaq to sit alongside sialuk. she lifted the lower dirge from her spirit; it mingled with the girl's plea like dark clouds.

Her mother joined her, and Sialuk whined softly with relief at her presence when their voices dwindled. Without Jarilo, without Saviguk, she needed to fill the roles that they had played in their lives. Anaa could not in her present state, and anything less would take their spirits away, too. Hunting she had been taught, but there were other things men did that she had not learned. How was she to keep anaa safe? And herself? If somebody wished to overpower her... what was she to do?

Meerkat came to me. She had been away, and she went to seek survivors on the spear and in the glen. She said she would let us know what she found. There was a man, too. Raimo. I do not know his intentions, but I could not offer him a meal.

It was more than she had spoken since the fall of the mountain, and she stilled after, letting anaa digest the information.

meerkat. kukutux listened eagerly, desperate for another name to be carried to them after what had happened. that the girl lived was a relief to the duck. she nodded. "it will be good if she comes back. perhaps more will come. maybe they go to another place. but if she is alive, others will be also."

she could only pray that among them her husband and son would be numbered.

a man. a man who had not been fed, roaming into the ring of mountains. kukutux' lips pursed thoughtfully. "we will give him the otter hide," she decided. it would not be nearly as fine as the furs she had lost upon moonspear. but it would be a gift, and might hopefully soften him against any thoughts of posturing.

Sialuk nodded in agreement. If Meerkat was alive, perhaps others had been traveling separately. Was there hope for Saviguk? Jarilo? That, Sialuk was less certain of. Anybody who had been on the mountain or in the glen, how could they have survived? Her mother had, but anaa was special in her heart. Closer than the others. Perhaps this was punishment for Sialuk being less close to them. She did not know.

She was pulled from her thoughts by anaa's suggestion that they give him the otter hide. Sialuk prickled. They needed it more than he did. They did not know him beyond his name, did they?

Only if he gives us something in return, she suggested.

kukutux was silent. "i think that i met this raimo," she admitted with a sigh, unsure still what to make of the dark man. "he gave me ptarmigan meat. we are beholden to him." were she stronger, she would remove the thin skin with its feathers, cure it into something soft for a den.

as it were, all the duck had to offer was the jerk of her head toward a small pile of snow against the edge of the ulaq, where she had tucked the meat and bones that still remained of the bird. "you sleep, pukak. i keep watch."

Raimo had what? Sialuk found herself taken aback by what she heard from anaa. She found herself wishing that she had come back sooner. That she had been a better hunter, a better protector. Being indebted to a stranger was not something she wished upon herself, and less so upon anaa. She furrowed her brow, concern etched there.

She could not refuse sleep much longer, but she held out for as long as possible. If he comes back, wake me? I do not trust him. She trusted him even less now, knowing that he had taken advantage of her mother in that way. He must have known she could not offer anything, and yet he had given her something. He had the knowledge that Sialuk was bringing food, and yet he had intervened. It bothered her.

the duck nodded. "when i am well, we will dig an ulaq on the side of the mountain. then we can see for a long distance who walks toward us." she said softly, attempting to infuse her voice with a sense of confidence that could not be felt. "eat first. he does not have our trust. but his offering gives strength." 

the duck lay down, tucking her injured ankle close. she would leave the shelter to sialuk; her eyes turned as always toward moonspear.

surely they still lived.

Last one from me!

Tomorrow, she said when anaa instructed her to eat. Her stomach was empty, but so was her heart, and so it felt better to sleep this way. Anaa needed the food to heal, and Sialuk would go at first light to catch food for herself.

She tucked her nose beneath her tail and let the restless sleep take her where it wished, dreams of flashing lights and strange thunder interrupting any hope of rejuvenation. Still, her body needed the rest, even if her mind refused it.

<3

kukutux would not argue.

her raindrop slept, and as before on other nights, her mother watched on, gazing between her daughter and the overwhelming stone detailwork of how moonspear had come to its knees.