Ocean's Breath Plateau aliuktuq

Raiyuk had grown! He was nearly as tall as his father, leonine in his prowl, watchful of those within the village and those that visited. He took pride in his work; his father had taught him well.

He now carried a fat trout with him. It needed cleaning before it could be stored, but Raiyuk did not want to do it. He approached the ulaqs where the women slept, thinking to pawn off the job on one of them, and in the process he passed a gaggle of people he did not know well — visitors who had been here for mourning.

A nod was given as he passed them, but nothing more.

After all this time, Seal had not forgotten the boy from her youth.

When his parents left Moonspear for Moontide it had rocked the young girl – the first time she had ever felt loss. Now, it seemed like loss was a part of life. Starwoman grieved for her sister and Seal grieved for the loss of two uncles: Caracal and Bronco.

She was in a strange mood and it quarreled with her usual effervescent personality. She did not feel like herself today. The dismal late-autumn weather didn’t help.

Seal was on her way to collect fresh water, a bowl of driftwood clutched in her mouth, when she spied the familiar clay-colored boy between the adults. Well, no longer a boy but nearly a man! Her spirit brightened. Did others see her the same way? Not a girl but a young woman?

She placed her basin upon a rock as if to not forget it. “Raiyuk!” she called. Did he want her company? “What have you caught?” she asked next. Of course she saw it was a fish, but perhaps Seal meant to give him space to boast.

He stopped with one paw raised, ready to keep walking, but turned his head and shoulders partly to witness whoever had called his name; his ears perked lazily.

The girl approached him and he felt his cheeks flush with warmth, and his throat felt tight, but it had been so long since he had seen Seal that Raiyuk did not immediately recognize her! He saw how pretty she was (that was impossible to miss) and fumbled over his fish.

It hit the ground with a thick and meaty phwumph. He licked his lips, realizing immediately that he had fish breath! How much more ill-prepared could the boy be?

It's a trout, he answered lamely; appearing too busy to chat for long, as he turned away from her, thinking to spare them both the foulness of his breath.

Her words made Raiyuk stall, who abruptly dropped his prize to the ground.

Had he meant to do that? Raiyuk’s brevity could not deter the unflappable Seal. Her doe-brown eyes flicked between the trout and the aloof fisherman, bursting at the seams with joyful feelings as she waited for the moment of small talk to end.

Then… he began to turn away!

A small part of Seal became shy. Maybe he did not remember her or did care for company. However, any hesitation was promptly squashed by the affinity she held for her childhood friend.

“Oh Raiyuk!” Seal suddenly cried out as she flung herself at him, meaning to wrap her arms around his now-strong neck. “I missed you so much!” Maybe she was becoming a woman, but Seal’s golden heart was still full of naive youth.

Her exclamation startled him, but he could hold back the urge to jump well enough that he only looked vaguely alert rather than afraid; what would his father think if the mere presence of a girl could rattle him? No, he was better than that.

When she moved to grapple him, Raiyuk was too stunned to stop her. The physical contact was something he sorely missed in his life - especially from a woman! When was the last time his mother had kissed his forehead? This wasn't the time to get maudlin.

I - I am glad! He was still oblivious about who she was, however it felt like he should know, and besides that Raiyuk did not want to disappoint her (what if she left like mom did?) and it was easy enough to play his part.

I was just bringing this to the women to see if ... they might have a use for it. Are you? Ah, hungry, or -- I, I could forget about the fish if you'd like. It was possibly the most he had ever said to anyone!

Seal gave her long-lost friend a good hug and squeezed her arms around him, jovially mashing her face into his brine (and fishy)-laced ruff.

“Och, you’re supposed to say ‘I missed you too’,” she laughed, unaware Raiyuk hadn’t recognized her. She simply chalked up his reaction to the surprise.

Seal released him from her vice-grip grasp but found herself loathe to let him go. Raiyuk, Ray, TJ, Sable… friends and family from her childhood who had departed Moonspear… How Seal wished she could bring them all back!

He offered her his catch. Though, admittedly, Seal was hungry she was more interested in learning the ways of village Moontide.

“How about I go with you? Tae the women’s ulaqs?” Seal proposed. “I ken how tae dry fish, and I havenae been given a proper tour of Moontide. I leave home for Moonspear tomorrow,” she explained, voice somber at the idea that they would be parted again so soon.

Her laughter! It was infectious; he found himself chuckling along rather than answering her with words, jostled by her attention as she released her hold. Raiyuk didn't get much physical contact aside from the care and love of his father, so the unique attention of the girl was something new, and thrilling, and he didn't know why, except it wasn't a bad feeling.

Oh, uh, okay! Yeah, he ducked to grab the fish from the ground and began to usher her along towards the ulax. When she mentioned having to leave for Moonspear, Raiyuk felt a pang of envy. I'll gubb oo uh 'oor! He murmured around the fish in his mouth. Along they'd go; it wasn't far.

Someone was always willing to take what the hunters brought to them, so it wouldn't take long for Raiyuk to find a place for the fish; he could try to gut it himself and splay it out for drying himself, but, that didn't seem like the most impressive thing to show his (new?) friend.

Afterwards, and with brief nervous glances to whoever worked on the fish, away they would go together.

Is there — anywhere you really um, wanna go?

Raiyuk quickly agreed and Seal passed him a cheerful smile. With the fish in tow, they departed towards the women’s ulax.

Seal soaked up the sights as they trotted together. She noticed the difference in flora and terrain in comparison to Moonspear. Even the dens were dug from different substrates.

When they dropped off Raiyuk’s catch Seal watched closely as a pack member processed it. She noticed that there were differences in how the meat was cured. She pocketed away this information to take it back home with her.

After, Raiyuk proposed a question.

“Take me… to tha beach!” She requested as a fond memory of cousin Ava and the turtle was recalled in her mind.

The beach? Raiyuk didn't think that was a very fun place; it was smelly most days, especially later on when the sun had time to bake the sand and all the green that the ocean spat out. If he wanted to impress this girl he'd have to show her something special! If that's where she wanted to go though, he'd oblige.

Okay. C'mon. Boldly, and really without thinking, he reached for her cheek and gave her a soft, playful nip before pulling away and dashing off. Raiyuk didn't go so fast that she'd lose sight of him. He was self-assured here and that confidence gave him more of an edge than he expected; his route wound towards the coastal edge of the village and soon the earth gave way to sand and scattered stone.

The sky was clear overhead, if a bit cold with the wind, and the sea shifted raucously as far as the eye could see. Raiyuk was out of breath by the time he'd reached this point. He planted his heels and spun to look for the girl, looking himself inadvertently wild.

Some days, the quickly approaching rubicon of adulthood frightened Seal. She wanted to bask in the glow of an innocent childhood forever. A time before hellcats and death songs. A time before maturity and responsibility. When Raiyuk nipped at her cheek and dashed off, she felt a wave of nostalgia. It was as if they had been transported back to the summer of their youth.

Seal giggled and quickly followed. Raiyuk’s ability to traverse the unpredictable coastal terrain greatly exceeded her own, and so she was thankful her friend never let her lose sight of him. Despite her stumbling, she arrived just after Raiyuk who looked full of life.

“You’re fast!” the young woman said, out a breath. Then, she closed her eyes and took a deep draught of salty air. “I just love the sea,” she said with reverence. “It’s so… mighty! Powerful, just like Moonspear. But infinite.”

Her brown eyes watched the crashing whitecaps, ears attuned to the call of hunting terns.

“My Da told me a story once about a shapeshifting, sea-faring wolf called a Selkie,” she told Raiyuk. “By day, they walked on land and hunted prey in the forest. But at night, when the stars and moon shone, the wolf returned to the ocean. They wrapped the skin of a spotted Seal around its body and transformed into one, so they may hunt the great waters swiftly.”

remembering the mountain which once he loved, where he had been born, became harder for him each passing moon. raiyuk now thought of the sea as his home, and was glad to see the love of it upon the girl's face.
she spoke of a story! a creature that could hide as a wolf, hunt and run upon the land, and then return to the sea with a seal skin. it painted for raiyuk a wonderful picture; he wondered if he would become such a creature! no doubt, wearing a seal skin disguise would make him a wonderful hunter.
I like that story. he said with a smile and a wave of his tail. then, more boastful he added: soon I am to go to the ice with my father. we will hunt the seals, and I will come back changed - ah, a man. maybe I am like your story?
was there a word for selkie in his father's tongue? his step-mothers? he would ask when next he saw them.

“I think so!” Seal agreed with a positive smile.

Change. Transformation. Boy to man. Girl to woman. The theme of the season was on everybody’s mind. The heart-to-heart with her mom. The talk with Kukutux… Raiyuk, Kassuq, Massaraq, Arrluk… when they returned nothing would be as it had been, and this filled Seal with bittersweetness.

And yet she was curious. What would be different? What changes would she see in her friends? In herself?

“How long will you hunt?” she asked as the wind picked up and blew her fur this way and that.

i am not certain, he answered.
his father spoke often of the seal hunt, and of what was to be expected of him, but in the moment raiyuk could not recall if it would be days, or weeks, or from one moon to the next. only that they would be gone together.
the sea continued to crash upon the shore. as it drew away from them it seemed to whisper, and for a moment raiyuk listened, but he did not know what it said - if anything - and seemed lost to his thoughts. he imagined what it might be like to run upon the ice and what his first taste of seal might mean. would he know when the change happened?
he thought also of this story, the selkie. if he returned wearing the hide, would she recognize him or would he be too much changed? he broke his attention away from his fantasies to focus on the girl again, smiling.
maybe i— he began, but then, there came a call from afar by his father; a request that the boy join him for further work. he had been slacking to spend time with this girl and knowing that, he felt his cheeks redden.
i must go. i liked talking with you — he was so shy now! looking away, watching the sea and wishing the salt air would cool the blush he felt rising up his throat and across his cheeks; he hastily says, maybe i will visit moonspear, and — anyway, i must go.
he smiled to her, ducking away, hurriedly. he did not want to disappoint his father!

Raiyuk did not know and Seal watched his countenance become introspective. For a moment, she saw herself in him… and she wondered if Raiyuk, too, felt the growing shadow of a foreboding future. It was like a great wave was about to sweep them away from the beach.

He spoke again, but before he was able to get out a thought, a wolf called for him and distracted Seal from her reflection.

The way his speech hurried wasn’t lost on her. “It was good to see you again,” she agreed. “Yes! Please come visit soon,” she added, hopeful they would see one another again. Maybe, next time Orca could reconnect with Raiyuk, too.

“Bye Raiyuk!!!” She called after him as he became smaller. Then, she turned back toward the village.