Stavanger Bay tuniksimaruk ⦒

set for tomorrow dusk <3 @Vairë

"daughter. the raven has brought me."

moonwoman had traveled through the night and the morning, arriving that eve.

her body ached, but her call was firm, seeking, the pouch of herbs at her feet.

was that the scent of blood in the air?

Vairë felt as if she had been awake a thousand years.

Her eyes were heavy when the crow alighted on a branch, and there was her mother. Wordlessly she came trotting over to press her head to Kukutux’s shoulder, taking a moment to just breathe.

We have a family in Saltshore, the father killed a man after his wife, the mother. The child has a cold, the mother..something serious. She backed away, her head still reeling.

First her birth mother, now this. The weight of an entire world had settled on her shoulders, stress pinching the corners of her eyes.

I don’t know what to do. Her voice cracked, and she swallowed against a sudden wish to cry, eyes darting away.

death.

death by the sea.

kukutux now knew what she felt; the presence of a tupilak walking the sands; she held vaire close and thought of the grey brother buried upon the glacier.

"i am here, fawn-by-the-salt," moonwoman murmured. "take me to the woman and the child first."

Pping Blossom with this post since she’d be nearby anyway!

Her eyes swam with tears, but she swallowed them down. Her answer was a wordless nod, not trusting her voice in that moment. Then, she led the way across the sand, trying to take comfort in the salt dancing across her nose.

It didn’t work. She just felt the unease of the past several days settle across her shoulders like a great weight, adding more to her burden. Vairë closed her eyes for a mere moment, allowing that single indulgence, before beginning to stride with purpose once more. She was not fawn, but doe.

It was time to act like it.

The child was waiting for them when she arrived, laying in the sand and sun with her wispy gold coat shining almost the color of the sand around her. Sluggishly the girl raised her head to watch them come close and Vairë plastered on her best smile.

Hello, Blossom. That was the girl’s name, wasn’t it? The child blinked sleepily.

This is my mother. May we go see yours with you? She perked up, toddling to her feet and tumbling into the den. Vairë chewed on her lip, then ducked into the doorframe.

@Reverie ? She called, trying to find the golden hued woman in the darkness.

May we come in? Spirits, she hoped the woman was even awake.

Staying very vague

Strangers at her doorstep. Reverie rose unsteadily, taking a protective step toward Blossom and drawing her near. Presumably Lestan had informed her that a healer would be coming, yet she found herself no more prepared for it than if it had been a total surprise. Dread clenched at her chest, but she chuffed softly in invitation, wishing desperately for Lestan at her side now. He wouldn't leave her alone with a healer, surely, knowing how she felt and what they had done to her.

PPing lestan as just watching in silence <3

kukutux felt again the anticipation of evil things within this lodge.

or perhaps it was only power she did not comprehend.

but the haunted eyes of the silent man followed her as she stepped to the woman's side. 

"i am kukutux, mother to vaire," moonwoman said when she had put down her bundle. "i greet you, reverie." her green eyes moved to the girl child, softening. "she has the name of blossom?" the duck asked, coming no closer as she sought only peace between she and the young mother. very young.

Vaire is now skippable until she is addressed again!

The girl had silently scampered to her father’s side, settling between his front paws in a practiced move.

Vairë was relieved for a moment. Her mother was here, all would be well. She sat, shakily, in the front of the den. She would not enter unless needed.

Ok I'm gonna say Rev's last thread is probably far enough along for this... bear with me while I butcher this language lmfao, lmk if you want the rough translation

Her eyes darted between the two women, her wariness evident in the way she tucked herself closer to Lestan. There was something about the older of the two — the pale woman, piercing green eyes, a presence like the first morning mist of the season of rain. She glowed —
Inepo empota mammatte ju'unea ini'i, Reverie spoke hesitantly, uncertain. Her eyes fixed unwaveringly to Kukutux, who she suddenly felt as if she knew. As if she had known her for a very long time. Perhaps she could help; perhaps she could tell Lestan all the things that Reverie wished to say to him. She relaxed, and added, Empotako ampora ania empota jooa.

the young woman did speak.

but it was not in a tongue that kukutux understood.

yet she heard in it the sound of trees and running water; she thought at once of shikoba and the words that the star hunter had taught to her.

moonwoman raised her paw, touching it to her chest. "kukutux." she pointed now toward the girl-woman, asking with eyes and smiling mouth for an answering name-sound.

She didn't understand. Worse, she assumed that Reverie did not understand either. Frustrated, she settled next to Lestan, pressing firmly into his side. Still, she obliged the unspoken request for an introduction.
And held her silence after that, as she tended to ever since the realization that she could not bring forth the language she had been raised to speak. It was not for lack of comprehension, but something else — some kind of invisible wall she struck whenever she reached for the sounds. All that would come to her now was this, the language of songs, never meant to be spoken this way. A language meant to praise gods...
Her gaze drifted away from Kukutux, toward the sea. It was singing to her; it always did, now.

silence, now.

kukutux thought perhaps she would bring shikoba here, or send her while she stayed with the star hunter's children.

reverie.

but that was all.

no more words, and the eyes toward the long salt made kukutux wonder if she wished to return. "i bring medicine," the duck said softly, unrolling the bundle of velvet deerskin. "for your little one. and for you."

Medicine. Reverie's hackles lifted slightly but she otherwise made no move as Kukutux unveiled what she had brought. For a long moment she only looked at the herbs, but then she crept forward to inspect them very thoroughly. When she had deemed them safe, the fur along her back settled, and she turned a grateful glance toward Kukutux. This would at least save her the effort of collecting herbs.
They didn't seem to understand that she wasn't sick anymore, and Reverie could not tell them, so she would only carefully avoid accepting anything for herself. Blossom, on the other hand, would benefit greatly from this. Reverie tried to offer a gentle smile to Kukutux, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.
She still felt as if she knew this woman, but suddenly it was not a comforting feeling. Suddenly she felt dread again.

so. her words were understood, if not returned.

moonwoman was patient. after a glance toward where vaire sat outside, she looked back toward reverie.

"i have had many, many children. each birth splits the woman-bones and opens into blood."

as she spoke, the duck selected a small brush of nettles, sacred for their bite. her paw was careful not to touch with more than claws.

"sometimes when we cannot heal, it is because a tupilak has entered our bodies. an evil spirit, which brings sickness. tupilaq can take the face of those who we love. it can blacken our blood."

now moonwoman looked to the man. "this is sacred medicine, not for the eyes of your husband, reverie."

the secrets of women, unbestowed upon one so young.

but the choice to send this lestan away was not her own to make.

and so she pointed toward the early berries, the rosehips, ground. "i will make you a tea. i will teach my daughter how to make it. drink twice in a day, when the sun rises and again as it goes behind the mountains. it is not only for your body, but for your mind."

"and for blossom," elderberry syrup, pooled in a leaf. "give this to her as you take your own tea."

the nettle brush lay between them.

As Kukutux spoke, Reverie remembered —
And the effect on her was visceral; she shuddered as the woman spoke of blood, and flinched at the words the face of those we love. Rose; but not Rose, not her at all. Her expression darkened and turned tense with remembered anguish, ears lowering all the while. So Kukutux knew what had happened, then; she knew that Reverie had not been ready, had not been strong enough, and that through her weakness she had allowed this to pass.
Shame wrote itself into her bearing next, and she was hardly able to look at Kukutux, or even Lestan or Blossom. Reverie prickled with the knowledge that Kukutux knew, she knew simply by looking at her. And to send Lestan away — ! Unthinkable. She retreated back to his side and glued herself there as if afraid he might leave even now.
The herbs seemed safe enough, but she did not trust Kukutux entirely. What if it hurt, and Lestan was not there to help? What if it hurt Blossom? Reverie was beside herself, and made no attempt at response or interaction aside from a desolate gaze that darted between Kukutux and the herbs she had brought.

this girl had been brought to hurt.

kukutux looked at the man against whom reverie huddled. he had not spoken in all this time, though now he trembled almost in the way that she had.

a bad thing was here.

kukutux took a tiny amount from each indicated plant and tested it on her tongue with the same sure slowness, demonstrating to reverie in the quiet way of women gathering plants that all was well.

"i will not make you take these things. but they will bring healing. and sleep," kukutux added, suspecting that none of these three had been given a long slumber without the burden of fear.

"will you let me make a song for you, reverie?" moonwoman asked after a moment, her eyes still filled with that mother's calm.

Reverie watched Kukutux carefully, and told herself again and again that she did not need these herbs. She was not sick, not anymore. But Lestan was trembling beside her, and it occurred to her then that this might comfort him in some small way. He was so quiet, so withdrawn ever since that awful day with Riordan; more than anything she worried that the day he would leave her would come soon, that it would be her fault. She feared losing him before they had the chance to truly build a life together — to death or to darkness, it was all the same, would end the same, and she would be the cause of it just as she was the cause of his suffering.
Blossom was far too young to lose both of her parents.
She resolved that she would try to solicit his opinion, to the best of her ability, before she made any decisions. Her glance toward him said as much, to the perceptive eye. Reverie looked back to Kukutux and nodded slowly, tension fading into a hesitant acceptance. For now.
She would do nothing, take nothing, until she heard Lestan say that he wanted her to do this.

his word was a singular all right.

and kukutux looked to reverie now.

why did he decide this for her?

was she not a woman of her own mind?

what had happened to them?

but for now, moonwoman was quiet, waiting.

Reverie's stomach churned when her husband voiced his agreement. She didn't want this, didn't need it — but for him, she would do anything. She glanced toward the nettles Kukutux had offered, and finally accepted them.
She told herself that it was for Lestan. But the song of the ocean overwhelmed all of her thoughts, and Reverie turned distant. Lost in a daydream. She would drink the tea, when the time came — and if that meant sending Lestan away for a time, then she would do that, too. Reluctantly.

can fade this! <3

reverie drank.

kukutux would stay until the young one rested, and then tell her doe-daughter of the tea's properties, how it must be prepared.

another night and she meant to depart for moonglow.

but for now her green eyes were only soft with affectionate encouraging toward reverie.