Ouroboros Spine nuvakliak

It didn't feel right to put distance between himself and his parents, not now that he was reunited with them again and they could be a family, properly; however, Mojag felt out of place after his return. He could only sit and stew with his thoughts for so long before the wallowing got old (boring, even), and he felt compelled to move - even if it was just to walk the paths or lose his breath in a run.

He eventually found himself among the southern hills. Here, he found scant traces of deer in the area: frozen tracks fixed in the mud, and graze-lines among the trees which might've been from the autumn - he wasn't exactly certain what to look for. It didn't feel as thrilling now that he was older, after what he'd been through on the island.

The wind coursed through the trees and shook snow from where it was perched, and for a moment Mojag was snowed on by a fine mist of powder; after, as silence descended again to the hills and the trees, he watched his breath plume and forgot all about his reason for hiking the area. It was enough to be at peace in the silence.

am sorry im forcing a mother-son thread here lol

mojag had every right to feel a bit out of place, considering how long it felt like he was away from his birthplace. shikoba did not want to smother the boy and make him regret coming back with his father. that trip surely must have been stressful enough for her son, as he most likely does not see inutsuk as much as a father figure. and shikoba wished this was not so. she wished that she had provided him with the perfect upbringing, the family he could always rely on and talk to. yet, what had this mother been able to offer him? perhaps not even a fraction of what she wanted to, at least in her mind.

she knew better than to baby him at his age, however, she could not stop herself from wanting to keep him close after the many moons he spent away from her, away from the spine. the powdery snow did little to stop her path as she continued to remark the borders rather dutifully. though, the scent of mojag would infiltrate her nose, and the mother would take a break.

shikoba would see him eventually, his dark plumage coming into view. and the mother would chuff to him in greeting, hoping that she would be allowed to come and embrace him with a nuzzle of her nose. but if not, she would simply allow for the verbal greeting to serve as enough for the boy.

Its ok!! Sorry for the wait!

His mother came upon him eventually. There was no one else around; it felt like they were the only living things in the whole village as he spotted her moving across the snow. She seemed so small compared to the idea he carried of her in his heart; smaller, anyway. Maybe Mojag had grown larger himself. She was warm and welcoming and as she came to greet him, he leaned in to her touch.

Anaa, he murmured, fully committed to the mama's boy bit. It might not have been appropriate at his age to press so close, or hold her, or burrow in to her winter coat, but he did all those things with his tail wagging furiously. When he was a touch calmer after (and still plastered against her) he asked, How are you?

shikoba wanted her son to blossom into a strong man, as every mother would. the woman was well aware that when he became older, stronger, and wiser, he would no longer cling to her coat and to her words. so, for the moment being, the woman would soak up the moment. it all didn't matter, what mattered was this moment right here.

"i am happy," she would say to him, placing a warm kiss upon his brow, "happy that you are here." shikoba had let mojag know from a rather early point in his life that he lacked a paternal in his life for a reason. although the boy showed understanding of why this was, shikoba worried about her son endlessly. while she liked to think that the loose ends were tied up between inutsuk and mojag, star hunter was still cautious of their relationship.

"you have grown, my mojag." perhaps in many ways besides just his size. and shikoba was quite pleased to know her son was going to be large enough to protect his own family one day. "have you settled?" the boy no longer needed to sleep curled up against his mother, and he saw more of the world than shikoba probably ever did. coming back home was certainly a change of scenery.

I have, he answered, although his tone left some room for improvement - he wasn't convinced one way or the other if he should share his deeper thoughts, and decided against them. His mother was so esteemed here in the village! How would she react to her son rejecting the same path? Mojag wanted to mull over his thoughts for longer, but he also did not want to plague her with his doubts and misgivings.

It feels different here, and the same, somehow. Like there have been changes - or maybe I am changed? It is confusing, he blushed and pressed his face in to his mother's furs again. I was far away, on an island. I thought for the longest time I had been brought there by the sky lights, the kind that Kukutux sometimes talks about in stories. Death, then.

I am glad to be home.

he is still her young and bashful son, despite the changes in his own form. the way he burrows into her for support, of his confusion of what has happened to him and the spine in the time he spent on the island.

shikoba would offer a brush of her muzzle against him as comfort. "change is scary sometimes," she would console him in a calm manner, "it happens as you grow. it is something we all experience." 

he speaks of the place he inhabited while away and the thoughts that seemingly pooled in his head. shikoba wished she was a wise woman who held more answers for her son, yet she often felt as if his problems were sometimes out of her reach to help.

"they could have. spirits are all around us, especially during the times of snow." shikoba believed in divine intervention in the sense that it was her ancestors who guided her to Moonglow. and it was the voices of moon woman's own who whispered that mojag was alive, despite being out of view. "did you feel their presence while on the island?" perhaps he would be a spirit walker as well if he felt any connection to them?

The spirits could have led him from Moonglow and back again. Perhaps they served the god of the island, Bartholomew's god, and wanted to take Mojag and expose him to that? But that also felt so silly, and childish, to think of these forces wanting playmates and being even close to sentient; Mojag did not know what to think, but he liked to hear his mother speak of spirits, and listened to her questions.

I felt... something. He didn't know what it had been that kept him rooted there. He had been very sad, and sometimes very happy, thinking that his life had ended and that his hunt for his father was over - a failure, but over, so he could focus on other things. I hunted there and helped the people of the island. We chased deer together, and they taught me to fish in the sea, and... he wanted to talk about the turtle he had found and named, and the place that was then named for it, but then he'd have to explain what a turtle was to his mother and Mojag didn't know how.

Is it wrong that I miss them? He blurts next, bashfully.

he hunted and fished, providing for the island dwellers. this of course made shikoba's heart swell with pride that her son showed promise in her field. and perhaps it would even sting a little to know that mojag maybe didn't desire to follow the same path that his mother has carved out for him.

"is it wrong that i miss them?"

she looks to him with an understanding expression that only a mother in her years could offer. a slow shake of her head. "it is not wrong to miss others, mojag." she would tell him this. "they were..." maybe not family, but something close to it, "your other home, away from here."

but perhaps it was the old saying that for some, home was not a place, but home was a person, a people so to speak. mojag was in the stage of life where camaraderie was important to be around. he needed positive influences in life and those willing to shoulder his troubles and foster his growth into a man. and for a moment, shikoba wondered if he had found those things all on his own without his own village behind him.

"do you want to go back there, to the sea?" she asked him, hoping to seek an honest answer from the boy. she had wanted an heir to her title, even while sivullik. and now as star hunter, her legacy would continue to grow within the village. and while she wanted mojag to follow in the footsteps she has left for him, perhaps that is not where the spirits guided him.

They were your other home. That sounded right, and wrong, at the same time. A soft breath left Mojag as he considered the truth of what his mother said, and when she asked her question he felt an immediate and acute panic; it was hard to know his feelings right now.

Maybe one day, he hastily answered.

I would like to see the people there again. I could bring them a gift - or bring them you, and show you the island? That was an idea! He could share the island with his mother and she could see where it was he lived, and she could hunt upon the sand with him, and in that way Mojag could share the experience. If Bartholomew was still there, and Heda, he could introduce Shikoba to them -- but it seemed so fantastical as he considered these things, too.

My place is here, though. This is home. Until the moment he sought to become a man, and the spirits drove him to leave; but Mojag was oblivious to such a thing right now.

her son seemed confident in some answers, yet so unsure in others. shikoba knew this was simply an age thing, as she had seen it within other young boys becoming men and had even felt it within herself at such an age. the world was continuously changing and mojag was being forced to change with it. indeed, it was a hard task upon such small shoulders.

"your anaa has not been to the sea in many years," she admits to him, "i would like to see it again." the last time she was there, a group occupied the sentinels for what felt to be generations. they had declined her a spot within their group and shikoba forced herself to travel inward towards the mountains and her first home, lost creek hollow.

she was unsure of what she would notice at the ocean, new creatures and perhaps the faces mojag had come to love as his own. shikoba liked to think her son had good taste in people. so when he speaks of his home within the spine, the mother offers a small and chiding laugh. "my son, when you walk the path of a man, you may find places away from here that will be home. and you may find others to be your family."

as did Stratos and the other kin of moon woman. they went and found themselves, though came back and some already left once more. growth came from experiencing the new, and mojag certainly could not have everything from just within the spine. "but for now, you grow strong and sharpen your skills." manhood could wait, at least for a few more days past scheduled, if shikoba could push it back further. speaking of...

"has mojag found something he wants to do?"

The boy's tail waved and his expression grew radiant upon Shikoba's acceptance of the idea; he was thrilled! The thought of them running upon the sand or swimming after fish, or with her meeting Heda, and Bartholomew, and anyone else there - it fed some deeply rooted feelings within him. Still, he was unsettled by how attached he was to a place that wasn't truly home. This was home, this was where he was meant to be.

His mother spoke of his path, and of his skills growing. In time he would go out and do what was traditional to Moonglow and find himself. He did not want to leave her again, he did not want to be apart from his family again, but he knew by now that it did not need to be forever.

Has Mojag found something he wants to do? The question was simple, and not simple, at the same time.

I... He didn't know what to say. The first thought in his mind was to mention the sea again, but...

No, I don't know. He was a hunter's son, so what else could he do? Mojag had never done anything else, even on the island. He had done whatever he could to be useful to Bartholomew and now that he was home, what else could he do but the same? I just want to be of use. I am a hunter.

His smile was genuine, although it didn't feel entirely right as he pressed close once more to his mother.

he was a hunter. it was in his blood, coursing through his veins and burning in his heart. but sometimes, when shikoba looked her son over, she saw other things. she would see the face of the boy she whelped, the show of excitement he wore when he saw rain, and even the reassuring smile when she had considered inutsuk to be lost to the wind.

in many ways, she saw a gentleness in her son that she lacked to see in herself when she was his age. but perhaps this was something to keep to herself. she did not want mojag to feel as if he was inferior because he was different from her. 

"you will always be useful," she says to him warmly with another press lips against his brow, "and there's no wrong choice. no matter what it is, it will be useful to somebody." she knew he felt the large pawprints she left behind for him. she felt the same way when her father was beginning to grey in his age as chief. shikoba knew that the searing pain of not being enough was an unpleasant experience and preferred to keep mojag from knowing such things. "whatever you pick should make you happy."