Kildeer Rest suammaktuk ≜

They did not have to journey far before Kigipigak spotted the various ulax clustered in the snow. He looked over one shoulder and then the other for @Towhee who was meant to be following, but he had not tempered his own pace, and so she might have been further behind than he knew. The sound of the snow falling had become white-noise to him, the same as his own strides through the deep patches on the ground.

Between this camp and the next milled many caribou. He did not need to look to see them, as they were quite distant, and their shapes were dark blotches. Others of the village were minding the herd while he was escorting Towhee to where @Kukutux could be found; he had let thoughts of Nyra slip from his mind as he journeyed, thrilled by the presence of winter weather.

It was something he had come to miss since arriving here in the south.

She wanted to roll her eyes a little at his explanation of ulax and their traditional uses, though Towhee was too busy looking around at everything to bother. She had never felt so out of place as Kigipigak led her through what he called a "village." She was equal parts burning curiosity and utter wariness.

He moved swiftly and she kept pace, sticking close to her escort. Towhee spared a couple glances at the caribou herds milling in the background, which reminded her of Kigipigak's earlier words. "I am Kigipigak, hunter for Moonglow. My people have made camp near the glacier to keep watch for the herds and hunt the caribou..."

Once, Towhee would've hardly considered setting foot outside her domain, where her family lived. Now she had spent the past weeks wandering the wilderness, alone. It sounded like these wolves might have struck a balance between those two worlds, sticking together but always moving.

"Wild," she said again, to no one in particular.

kukutux often joked to aiolos that she would remain pink once they had left the glacier-lands.

her ruff, her chest, her mouth, even her forelegs, all stained the same blood-rose color for now. today she oversaw the scraping of hides by a young girl from rivenwood and another the same age from a village called sapphique. both of these names had been pared by her accent, but they had not seemed to mind. the one called mireille spoke delightfully herself. and it felt as though inside of her heart, heda held a trader's spirit, which learned quickly and 

when she saw her tall kinsman coming up to the ulaq of snow, kukutux smiled. she straightened gracefully from her tasks and came to greet him. "kiggavik," she said softly, then turned an interested eye upon the stranger at his side. 

the woman was built strongly. her markings drew the eye. it was the bursts of brazen hue that made the newcomer ikualavik at once in her mind. the jadestone eyes brightened. "this woman greets you. welcome to winter hunting of village moonglow."

Presenting the shadow with some measure of pride, Kigipigak looked to Towhee and then to Kukutux, then nodded to the moon-woman.

This woman is Towhee, mother of Meerkat of the village Duskfire. Kigipigak moved so that they could meet properly and speak as women. He lingered in the periphery.

She says her home village is no more, so she travels. It was a basic understanding of what Towhee had spoken about, but to Kigipigak it was not something terrible or strange, as villages moved all the time, or ceased altogether.

So, this was Kukutux. She was palely furred with spring green eyes and a surprisingly small stature. She moved with confidence and grace as she came forward to meet the unlikely pair. Towhee eyed the prominent scar, orange gaze sliding backward over the hips of a matriarch. Her gaze then backtracked to the woman's face, concentrating on her lips.

Some wolves were harder to lipread than others. It was a little difficult for Towhee to pick out Kukutux's words, especially as it seemed like the common tongue might not be her first language. But Towhee did her best to interpret, filling in the rest with contextual clues. She sensed Kigipigak saying something on her left, though she only glanced at him long enough to confirm he was addressing Kukutux before returning her own attention to Moonglow's leader.

"My name is Towhee," she said, wondering if Kigipigak might've said that already. Oh well, a formal introduction still didn't hurt. "I'm not sure if you've heard of me but I've certainly heard of you. You looked out for my daughter, Meerkat, for a time," Towhee said, Wraen's words floating through her mind too. She ignored them, at least for now.

kukutux was careful to keep pity from her eyes as kigipigak explained. it did not seem as though towhee were someone who needed such feeling. "while you travel, towhee, i hope you will rest at our camp for a time." 

she smiled. "meerkat is important in my mind. she is soon to become woman. it is quite a time for her mother." she offered towhee the respect of another anaa. "she and sialuk, who is my oldest; they are close in age."

Kigi will be in the background / skippable from this point but if you want him to return, just tag!

Once the introductions were out of the way and Kukutux began to speak, Kigipigak did what came natural to him, and what was normal to the culture: he gave the two women space to talk and to be women together, while he kept an eye out for any work that needed to be done around the ulax. In this way he could remain alert if they spoke to him directly, but active also, so that he could be useful. He was not suited for these moments of direct conversation even though he was a boisterous creature.

"Oh," Towhee said, taken aback by the invitation, "thanks. And yeah, I think she and her man are talking about having kids in spring. What about Sialuk?" It was rather gossipy of her but somehow, despite everything, Kukutux had disarmed her with the warm welcome and the talk of daughters.

"Didn't you mentor Fennec too?" she said as suddenly as the thought hit her. "Like, way back in the day? She's my eldest daughter." If she was right, then that meant Kukutux might know a little something about medicine. Towhee idly wondered if she might have something to help soothe the former Sovereign's aching feet.

kukutux glanced fondly after kigipigak. she led towhee back to the den of snow. its sides were hardpacked, and she had breathed upon them to bind the ice crystals more closely. 

her man. so towhee know of issorartuyok. her tone had held approval. she wondered why the northern man held hesitation inside him toward meerkat, if he had already made a meeting with her mother. such things decided a marriage.

kukutux offered towhee a strip of winter-dried meat and a bit of liver from the last caribou killed by their camp. the air was dry, and so the venison preserved well. without the sun, however, curing it took twice as long. it was how she intended for moonglow to carry as much of it back as possible.

"sialuk has no man," she said softly. "but when the sun returns, i think she will take one. the green-time chooses one way or another, even if a woman has not decided." the idea of sialuk unmarried and without a clear path forward worried kukutux. but her daughter had been woman since the fall of moonspear and the building of a new village.

"fennec! yes." she smiled. "how is her life? it is good to have met many of your children. you are welcome among us."

Kigipigak fell into the backdrop and Kukutux motioned for Towhee to follow her. She hesitated, glancing over at him and offering a nod, then padded behind the white she-wolf to an igloo of some sort. Ulaq, she thought with a tiny snort.

Once again, the woman's hospitality caught her off guard. Towhee could only watch, orange eyes slightly wide, as Kukutux produced some tender pieces of meat. She wasn't in a position to refuse food, so she accepted the strips of jerky with a grateful nod.

Wraen had despised this woman. But she'd also hated Hydra. Anyway, what did a dead person's opinion even matter? Of course, Towhee would always remember Wraen fondly. She would never forget the countless times Wraen had supported her. But she was gone and her past takes simply couldn't have any bearing on Towhee's present or future.

Kukutux said more words in that poetic way of hers while Towhee chewed. She kept her eyes on the woman's lips, taking her time to parse everything she said. She couldn't help but let out another snort, louder this time. Sometimes, a she-wolf's season really did make the decision for her, as Towhee knew all too well.

"You got that right," she said, "and Fennec's okay, I think. I don't know if you know Bronco but they're mates now. They have a son, my grandson." To this day, Towhee beamed like an idiot whenever Killdeer came up in conversation. "They went their own way when the Redhawks recently disbanded."

Towhee paused to take another bite of meat before saying, "On that note, I guess I'm on the market for another pack. Could yours use someone like me?" she wondered, not at all certain Moonglow would be the right fit. But there was no harm in feeling it out, right?

kukutux lit with a true joy. "bronco was already a strong hunter when we made our last meeting. and fennec has much skill. i have happiness that they have made a path to one another." 

and towhee was anânsiak now. she wondered if it was the first time. and she wondered too at the brief pinch of envy in her heart.

the time will come. or it will not come. be patient, granddaughter.

towhee's joy was palpable, even as her words spoke of the caldera's. she smiled back. the prospect of expanding a family through young ones was a welcome joy.  kukutux shifted a bite of jerky to her back teeth, mulling. when towhee spoke again it was to offer herself to moonglow, and the duck reached to touch the other's paw gently.

"fennec is redhawk. she travels with her mother even if she does not know it." the redhawks would live in whatever children were born to bronco's hearth. it was how villages carried stories from one place to another. "moonglow will be a home to you, if it is what you wish."

her face slid into a gently teasing expression. "we make a path back before the next moon has come. if you choose to make a path off with a handsome young hunter before this time, i will have understanding." towhee had been leader. now she was a woman at the head of her own life.

Towhee blinked down at the paw touching hers, then looked back up to Kukutux's face. The words of welcome were unmistakable, though the remarks after that didn't make sense. She paused for a moment, trying to parse them, but there was nothing for it.

"What do you m—wait, you think I might abscond with some young stud?" Towhee questioned as it hit her mid-sentence. She stared for a beat, then busted out in the most unattractive laughter.

"I'm pretty sure you don't have to worry about that," she clarified a moment later with another snort of amusement. "I'm not the marriage type. And I'm pretty done with having kids." Towhee shrugged one streaky shoulder. "I think that's part of why it didn't break me down when my pack disbanded. It was time to close that whole chapter of my life. Let my kids and grandkids write the sequels or whatever. Yadda, yadda..."

She hadn't actually given that any deliberate thought, though it felt right as she said it. Towhee wondered if it made any sense at all to Kukutux, especially since she wasn't actually that old.

On that note, she added, "Just 'cause I'm done cranking out crotch fruits doesn't mean I'm ready to retire. I'm a master mercenary with heaps of leadership experience. I don't necessarily aspire to that—leadership, I mean—but I'd make a damn good advisor and guardian, at least I'd hope."

Towhee hummed thoughtfully and voiced one last thing. "You have a pretty specific culture here, don't you? I'm fine with learning and trying new things but would it be an issue if I did my own thing, with respect to yours?"

towhee's laughter was like the call of birds. kukutux found it to be a familiar sound. and the other's amusement informed her own. her own laughing had come by the end. she wanted to say that a woman who was free to seek her own pleasures and her own path might be encouraged to do so now, before the warm months returned.

the duck nodded with a new reverence. she had been mother and grandmother. now she was ready to live the next years of her life. kukutux felt quite young suddenly, in a way that was awkward and jarring. 

guardian. advisor. and a choice to do one's own path. 

crotch fruits; the word provoked an audible chuckle.

kukutux looked out toward the herds of caribou. "it is not so important for you to follow my ways if there is respect." she watched the shadows of wolves, cutting sickness from the collective of the living. "my kinsman who you have met, we are both of the north." she turned her attention back to towhee. "but he has his ways. i have mine. my husband who has the name of aiolos, his stories and words are not the same. but i learned from him. and he learned from me."

it felt good to speak of him.

"every wolf of my village learns the words we speak. they are said so often. shikoba is sivullik. firsthunter. listen also to her voice when she calls you for hunts. that is all i ask." towhee had her own years of wisdom. kukutux would not seek to bend her into something she was not. 

When Kukutux assured her that she needn't personally subscribe to any beliefs she didn't, well, believe, Towhee knew the moment had come. She was going to throw her lot in with a group of strangers, for better or worse. She had no idea what to expect of the coming days, though she knew one thing: it would be an adventure.

There was one last thing, she supposed. When Kukutux mentioned listening for the lead hunter's voice, Towhee said, "Understood, though you should know that I'm deaf, actually." There was more she wanted to say, though she pressed her lips together, giving the woman a chance to process that. For all she knew, it could be a deal-breaker.

She hoped it wasn't, though. Living with Moonglow would mean she could be somewhat near Meerkat again, without actually butting into her life. Towhee didn't know when the pack intended to move on or where they were headed after this. That was also part of the adventure, she supposed, one she could appreciate more now that she'd developed an unforeseen affinity for travel.

kukutux did not expect the words that came next.

"what is deaf?" she inquired.

the duck was unsure that she had heard this sound before. her pale ears swept forward in concern and interest, to learn a new thing.

The slight tension in her frame tightened a little when Kukutux asked her what she meant by that. Towhee felt a little incredulous, though she tried not to let it show as she explained, "It means I can't hear, at all. I was born this way. I don't let it hold me back but, well, it means I can't hear a summons, for instance. I can read lips and also speak a signed language I call ptero."

That might be a lot to process, if Moonglow's leader really didn't know much about deafness. Towhee stopped there, once again stiffening as she waited to see how Kukutux might react to this information. More than ever, she wondered if it would make or break her bid for a future with this pack.

towhee could not hear!

kukutux wanted dumbly to point out that they had been speaking. but the woman swiftly explained this.

"you look at the words i make with my mouth." she thought it very unique, and tried to think if any relative, extended or otherwise, had also been born in such a way.

"you will not hear us calling." but kukutux shook her head. "it will be all right. i will learn — ah, will you give me the teaching? of ptero?" 

moonglow functioned upon the familial and the closeknit. "my daughters born this year are twin. one does not speak." her mouth tightened, then smoothed. "when such things happen, it is the work of nanuq."

"Yes," she replied simply as Kukutux puzzled out how they had been communicating thus far. "I read lips, then fill in the blanks with context clues. Body language and facial expressions say a lot too."

For a brief moment, Towhee thought she was about to be turned away. It made indignant heat flare up her spine. It cooled immediately when Kukutux asked if she could learn ptero, which of course the former Sovereign was always happy to teach.

"Of course," she replied. Kukutux might be able to see how much this simple question meant to her by the shine in her orange eyes.

Her brow furrowed when the queen of the ulax went on to mention a daughter who wasn't verbal. "I'm not sure who or what a 'nanuq' is but maybe she could pick up ptero too," Towhee said, completely unaware that they were talking about Cowstep.

"I think there's a lot we could learn from each other and I'm sure that extends to the rest of the, ah, village. I'll contribute in all the ways I know how and I'll definitely be curious to learn more about all things Moonglow," Towhee concluded, in a bid to make it official.

welcome :D <3

towhee's eyes shone. kukutux exhaled, relieved that they had come to an understanding. "nanuq is grandfather white bear," she explained, returning the same warmth. "sometimes he chooses one of us to hear his voice."

"in the village where i first breathed, there was a man who had no eyes. it was how he had come out of his mother. at first, i was frightened to see him. but then i saw he had a good voice. he did not feel that he could not hunt. and he was kind. we gave to him the name of ukuksi. it has the meaning: listen! what do you hear?"

kukutux closed her eyes for a moment. "he knew many things. he had learned not only how to hear the caribou, but to hear the voices of his village. he was not different. he was a man of the village."

her eyes were kind. "so i have given you two teachings here. the first is that to be deaf is not to be set apart. not in my village. and the second is that in moonglow, i tell many stories. perhaps too many." she laughed.

Thank you!

Of course, her natural inclination was to scoff a bit, though only internally. Towhee rolled her eyes, albeit at herself, and paid attention. She had said she would respect Moonglow's customs and she wanted to stick to her word. Maybe it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to her but Kukutux had said that was okay, as long as she respected it.

The story about the eyeless wolf naturally reminded her of Fennec, which sent a throb of fond longing through her. Pay fucking attention, she scolded herself, especially because following Kukutux's lips required every ounce of her focus.

It was funny, really. By the time she finished, Towhee's eyes ached in a way that reminded her of Wraen. And the storytelling itself reminded her of her dead friend, as well. Wraen had hated Kukutux. Had Kukutux hated Wraen? She wondered but did not raise the subject.

"I used to be a chronicler, myself, though I don't flex that muscle often," Towhee replied. "Anyway, I really appreciate the sentiment. Of course, my word is one thing and not worth much since you don't know me yet. But broken ears aside, I'm confident I'll prove myself an asset." She dipped her head and, while it was down there, spied the last of the dried meats and happily gobbled them.

towhee put her eyes toward the sky once. kukutux noticed. perhaps it was a gesture she could ask of another time. for now, she listened to their new moonwolf speak and confirm herself. "i have belief that you will do this thing. i know fennec. i know meerkat. only a woman who has skill and is strong could have raised them."

she straightened. "moonglow has many camps where we have brought meat and hides. this is our first-place. but you do not need to remain here if you wish to wander, towhee." kukutux paused to look fondly after kigipigak, and then the red girl from sapphique, dragging branches to freshen their sleeping rooms.

the village gained strength.

she hoped it would be blessed.

"if you stay, you are welcome to sleep at my hearth, here. it is your choice." she smiled fully at the woman near to her.

Being reminded of her daughters' successes put a warmth in Towhee's chest. Her pack might have failed in the end, yet raising her children and even welcoming a grandchild into the world were much, much greater achievements. There was something profound about living forever through future generations of Redhawks.

When Kukutux invited her to stay at her hearth—she assumed, maybe incorrectly, that this was synonymous with ulaq—Towhee was no longer surprised. In these past few moments, she had come to realize this was just how Kukutux was. She was no less touched, however.

All she could think to say was, "Thank you." She paused, thought of something and repeated while signing, -"Thank you."- The motion reminded her of the ache in her feet, though she decided against mentioning it. Being offered somewhere to rest them was more than enough for now.

kukutux was ready to answer, but the quick gesture of towhee's paw caught her eye. she lifted her own and performed a clumsy copy of it. the duck gave a self-deprecating laugh. her eyes lifted to the other's face. "there will be a feast with duskfire here in this land. and there will also be a time of old songs."

soon their people truly would come together. 

"i would like you to be with me when i tell stories. perhaps we will tell them together." she raised her paw once more. 

and then she let out her breath. towhee must wish to leave now. she nodded at the other.

Kukutux talked of a feast. Despite having just fed on the gifted meat, she felt saliva pool in her mouth. She hadn't eaten particularly well on her travels. Though she wasn't starved, the mere word "feast" evoked a powerful image in her mind.

-"I can't say I really understand much about songs,"- she shared with a huff of laughter. -"I assume Meerkat will be there. Maybe I can tell a story in ptero and she can translate. I've done it before, with my brother."- That had been so long ago, though it might be cool to revive the practice with their child.

When Kukutux nodded at her, Towhee sensed she was being dismissed. She threw the Moonglow leader a tired, grateful smile. -"I'm not sure where I'll end up camping out but I'm gonna go take a look around,"- she said, ignoring the ache in her feet as she rose to go. -"I'll see you later, leader lady,"- she said with a playful salute as she ducked out of the ulaq and back into the village.