Ouroboros Spine juniperus

The summer heat had given way to a blustering wind and after a few days of being buffeted by hot air, there came a stillness, an easing. At night the crevasse became colder. The chill lingered long in to the morning as autumn made its quiet arrival and Kiliutak watched as some of the trees began to shift in color.

He had been watching for a while now; there was not much else to do where he was kept, aside from watch, and listen, and be somehow at peace with his situation. He was not left to his own devices entirely - there were guards and visitors to bring him food - but essentially, Kiliutak had spent the summer in isolation. Whatever rage had been imbued to his spirit found itself quelled, at least in any visible sense.

The boy did not lash out to those that visited any longer; he did not speak much at all, withdrawing to an inner world while he watched time pass and things change around him.

He had not been forgotten — but he had not been set free, either.

kiliutak had changed.

moonwoman felt her life-spirit returning. 

she climbed the stones to where the boy was kept. with her was not food, but a small round disc chipped from the antler of a stag.

it was still stained with the animal's blood. she tossed it into the darkness where she suspected their omega might lay. 

but moonwoman said nothing. she only settled herself upon the threshold, to answer if he spoke.

He watched from as far back as his body could have wedged itself against the rock, observing the approach of a pale body. It could have been Sialuk for all he knew. Kukutux had been keeping away from him; sometimes Kiliutak would see Zane, or the red-coated man, or from time to time a large pale man with scars. Less and less he saw of Kukutux.

Until the moment she arrived now, tossing something against the dirt. It looked like a flat stone. Kiliutak watched it touch down upon the earth but did not rise to meet it for a moment - and when he did, he moved with a hunched, tight gait. Sniffing at the shape and finding little of value upon it.

Then, turning his gaze out to where Kukutux waited, he squinted in to the light. This wasn't food; what could it possibly mean?

he did not emerge. she did not enter or demand that he come out. 

she heard the inhale of his breath as he questioned her offering.

"moonglow has chosen what is to be done."

she longed to give him another choice. but what had been decided was just and was fair. kiliutak was a test for moonwoman to overcome. she would not fail her village on his behalf.

The disc forgotten as soon as it was found. It was meaningless without explanation, that which he feared, but the boy received the words and followed them from shadow, watching the witch as he emerged. Kiliutak had the heft of a man and the contrary weakness of a boy sagging and hunched in his draw from the crevasse, stepping over and around the disc of bone and then draping against the stone floor. He listened silently for a verdict, unable to raise his once defiant eyes upon Kukutux now, having had his place in the world solidified.

she looked at him a long time.

"you will not be killed."

and that was all kukutux wished to say. the idea of shikoba's teeth cutting into this one's flesh sickened her. the duck turned away, but not before peering into the darkness again.

"my heart has forgiven you, nuak. moonglow will not give you this until you have had punishment."

You will not be killed.

This pronouncement hit his ears and he barely moved. He heard, he understood, but he did not understand at the same time; a thankless flicker of his eyes up and back again, and that was all. After what had transpired with the red girl and the boar tusk, and the ruination of caches, and the pilfering of ulax, even after his containment, Kiliutak did not expect leniency.

He had not thought himself welcome to life. Having been stuck upon the mountain since the early days of summer, and it now being autumn, he thought he would be forgotten here, left to waste. Perhaps given over to Shikoba as a play-thing; the woman was ever-ready to target him.

Kiliutak squinted at the dirt. His low tail had curled between his legs.

Punishment..? The boy's voice was almost a whisper.
Hadn't his captivity been enough?

"yes."

"it was the equal choice made for your life."

surely he knew the way of balance? he had lived among them long enough.

kukutux sighed. she was burdened with this, and what was the best way for moonglow.

"and then you will be sent out from us."

"after that, do not come back to this place, nuak." the tone in her voice was final. he had been their prisoner for a long while, and she no longer wanted to trap him here behind their teeth. but he must learn the consequence of betraying a village.