Moonsong Glacier inugagulliq ⋒

moonsong had risen.

she was careful that day, for the man chakliux had described might still be too near. black foxfur was her wrap this day, and as she neared the glacier, she found the heavy scent of kilgitsuk.

but today was not for him, it was for ariadne. kukutux had brought sticks of dried venison and rich curls of freshwater fish wrapped in tendrils of evergreen, and she climbed the borders at once, jadestone eyes searching in pleasant observation for her daughter.

He was waiting for Valiant, who he hoped would come before they ascended the mountain. Dutch wanted to go along with the rest of the pack, but he knew he would wait until he got the chance to speak with his hunting partner. The approach of a pale wolf initially filled him with relief — but he saw as soon as he'd sprung to his paws that it was not the one he'd hoped for.

"Peace be," he said, getting over his hesitation and stepping forward to greet the stranger. She seemed familiar with this place, and she came bearing gifts. She must certainly be welcome! "Can I help you carry anything?" he asked her, feeling instinctively that he was in the presence of someone far more important than he.

ee! was hoping to get to thread with u <3

it was not any time at all before a man came close in warm greeting, a man she did not know. if he was of the north, moonwoman did not yet see it.

she set down the wrapped bundle. "this woman greets you," the moonglow wolf said in formal response, though good humour touched her face. 

the man was polite and strong. furthermore he was no unsure boy, and this suited kukutux, who felt that ariadne's pool of suitors was dismal to include kilgitsuk or chakliux. 

"i am kukutux, of village moonglow. ariadne is my daughter," the third to seek the creation of her own home.

And I, you!

Kukutux. What a name! Dutch thought it was the kind that belonged in stories, much like Ariadne's talk of villages. It made sense, then, that this was her mother. The panther tried to see in her some shred of Ariadne's future — he could only think that they shared the same sweet grace, even if it seemed a little more gentle and reserved from the moonwoman.

"Then it is an honor," he replied with another wag of his tail, this one more enthusiastic. Her name belonged in stories, yes, but he felt sure that Kukutux must be a storyteller in her own right. "I am Dutch Arjun, son of the White Spine. A son of the Morningside line — but I do not know if any still reside in these lands."

He watched her keenly for a moment, eager to hear tell of his family if she had news. Either way, however, he dipped his head to take charge of the bundle she'd set down.

<33!!

dutch arjun, son of the white spine. and his forbears here had been morningside. kukutux did not think she had heard this word before. "tell me the name of your father and your mother," moonwoman encouraged, pleased by his silent perusal of what she had carried with her to the glacier.

kukutux looked at him with the eyes of atsak, matchmaker.

the hunter was perhaps older than she would have envisioned for ariadne. the sunshine people believed that two must grow together, must live as husband and wife, must grow to know each of the two villages. courtship among the siqiniq was arranged and lengthy, allowing for many moments where one or both of the young ones might refuse the other as was their right.

this was for one simple fact: it was fifteen days between villages, sometimes twenty, sometimes a journey without count when the long dark came and the ice crept up from the sea. a boy who left his family to live with the people of his betrothed would become as their son. a daughter who departed her mother to serve mother-in-law would be a child of that ulaq. and so, in this way were kinship ties deepened even though it might be many years before you saw these faces again.

but here there were now four moonpacks. they had no such distance. their choices were made then without contemplation of a lightless winter and the ocean which swallowed hunters.

the air here was cold and bit at her lips, her eyelids. it reminded her of that small isle and her grin next was unburdened, almost girlish. "you have made a long path to this place, then?"

"Aditya, and Easy-Ishara," he replied, but he did not expect this to grant her any extra insight. Easy was long gone from these lands, and his father... "I am hoping he will find me here," he said to her. "It has been many moons since we last saw one another."

Ariadne was far from the panther's mind. He knew that Kukutux was attached to sunman, but his admiration could not be helped. Especially when he was swept up by a pretty smile — one he read as impish and struggled not to return in full.

"I travel with my brother, Valiant," he replied, giving a little nod to confirm her guess. "Company makes the long road feel much shorter. Now he seeks a place in Moontide — I had hoped he would visit with news by now."

But, secretly, he was pleased not to have to share Kukutux's attention with the other man just yet. He would surely get over this harmless crush, but it was no crime to enjoy someone's company!

"Little cloud woman has spoken of your village," he told her. "It speaks well of this family, that its daughters settle so near. I hope to visit all the villages, to collect your songs and stories."

Here, Kukutux got a 'lil side-eye. Could she be enticed into sharing one with him, now?

little cloud woman.

for ariadne, it was a good name, and her eyes held a deeper interest as he spoke.

"two summers ago, i met a man who had the name aditya. he was searching for a daughter and came to moonglow to give her name and to ask. we did not see her. but he stayed a short time in my village and he traded his stories."

now! was that tale enough to whet this man's intrigue? her gaze glowed sidelong, demure beneath a fall of lashes still dark as they had been.

"i have the hope that your brother comes to this place, and that your father has found your sister."

kukutux held a story, forming, just at the side of her mind.

The panther made a wordless sound of joy, stunned at this turn of fortune. She could not, of course, produce Aditya for him right out of her pocket, nor did he think she could point him in the right direction. But he felt his father's presence between them, and he was warmed by the idea that Aditya had shared song and story with Kukutux before.

"I hope so, too," he replied, sobered nearly speechless. The strings of fate played a sweet tune; he felt the mystery of the world settle around him like a warm blanket. When he next looked at moonwoman, it was with a new sense of kinship.

"I think that things will happen as they need to," he told her. "I have been delivered to this place and this time by kind hands; I must believe that these hands hold my father and my sister, too. As for Valiant — " He flashed the woman an impish smile of his own. "He will come. He cannot resist my charm for long."

now she thought of vairë, as dutch spoke more of his brother. kukutux felt as though she could hear the admiration of the man, how he longed for his sibling to be here upon the glacier.

she hoped that massaraq, kassuq, and arrluk would share a similar bonding between them. the white spine hunter was for a moment overcome, and kukutux found herself remembering the soft kind eyes of aditya, and how he had given these to the man before her.

"i am atsak, matchmaker," moonwoman said next, her lips unable to stop a teasing arch. "do not say to me 'soon my brother will come.' my mind, it fills with much thinking."

Matchmaker.

That brought the panther up short. He halted mid-step to turn a blank-faced look on the woman, his mind struggling to exit the mires of his deep sentiment.

Matchmaker. That was important, because —

"The isbjørn must be wed," he said, meeting her teasing with obvious gravity. There was a brewing sense of mischief in the other man; he thought it would be great fun to unleash Kukutux on his hunting partner, but too, there lived in him a deep desire to see Valiant settled and happy. "I will bring him to you," he said, relaxing into a smile once more. "And if you find him a match, I will see his firstborn named in your honor."

He was intrigued now more than ever by the moonwoman and the moon villages.

"Have you matched many?" he asked her, still itching to hear a story — any story!

this dutch showed his mind upon his face. moonwoman thought this to be an interesting aspect in a man, and considered too how expressive her daughters were in a way she was not.

"what is that word you said?" she asked, her attention still attuned toward the kuyipitkat man. how fitting that ariadne had been born within the vertebrae of the protective mountains, and now this hunter stood before his mother with that name upon his heart.

he bartered! her eyes flashed with delight. "bring him. i already have a name." and it was something with great honor he offered.

now, at the number of those she had matched, kukutux nodded. "four. but it is something that is always considered. my sons from this year, i have sent them away to seek the spirits. one has come home, and now he is a man. arrluk. so i look ahead and i have chosen that when the sun comes, then i will look for him."

age determined urgency and speed of marriages. those ready at once for children would be married swiftly as she and the blackfox had. those with more time before them would enjoy a longer courtship.

a pause. "did ariadne tell you how the moon villages came to be?"

"Isbjørn. Ice bear," he replied with a wag of his tail. But, "It is not my words; they speak it in the Land of Long Nights," he explained. "I do not speak it as well as I do the common and my father's tongue. Valiant knows it better."

And he would teach it to his children, Dutch wanted to say. He thought that it was important to learn as many words as possible at a young age and assumed Kukutux would feel the same. He was wary, though, of trying too hard to sell the other man. Not because he worried Valiant would not live up to his praise, but because he did not want the moonwoman to think Valiant needed to be talked up.

His dark brow popped in surprise when she claimed already to have a name. "May I know this name?" he asked her, intrigued. He was fully prepared to be denied, but it did not hurt to ask!

Four seemed like a respectable number, to the panther. He felt relieved, somehow, that it was not more. Perhaps she had a true gift for these things and saw only those destined into each others' arms. That she was so discerning and still seemed to like him left the panther feeling chuffed.

"I will pray for a strong match," he said of Arrluk. And then, "She told me a little, but the conversation was short. I would like to hear more."

From someone with a longer memory, preferably.

the path was winding and ate at her feet with deep cold. 

ice bear. this rose a wariness in her, for she remembered how adrastus had come back from a hunt with an evil spirit inside him. and yet she put this aside. valiant was a new man and she had not even seen his face. she would not place around his shoulders such expectations.

"perhaps you will share your words in this village of ariadne. perhaps you will trade them to us."

he asked after this name. cold breath of winterwind played with the ivory hairs along her shoulder. "another daughter to moonwoman," but she guarded vaire even in this. the young woman still grieved.

a halt was needed; hips ached with a deep spear of pain, and in acceptance, kukutux  exhaled and slowed, sitting to rest. there was no apology in kukutux for ageing, however. to reach the age of elders was a blessing, a gift from sedna. now her eyes found that of the arjun man.

"that mountain is moonspear," she began, lifting a small hard paw toward the peak where her life had truly begun. "it is where sialuk was born, my first daughter and head of the village there now. she did not have a year when a great star fell from the sky. it threw rocks from the mountain. it destroyed our ulax and killed many. even those who lived beneath the mountain were harmed."

to live such an experience twice had devastated kukutux in a new way. "so few of us came down from the mountain. i waited in the place where moonglow was to be built. i waited to know if my children had died. sialuk returned to me." she did not weep. mauruk too, now lived, even if she had sent him to the caribou people. even if his spirit had not been whole when he came back.

sialuk had returned.

"she helped me to build the village while we healed. we sang the first death songs for those who had died. the spirits of moonspear called always to sialuk, and now she has returned. now the mountain too, has found its better heart, in her. now i am grandmother. her village is strong. signs show themselves to her eyes, and animals answer sialuk. she has husband and wife, and knows many ways of speaking, for she has traveled far to gain much knowledge. you will meet her soon. she will come to see moonsong and her sister."

the second; "i found for another daughter a good husband, a strong man of great loyalty. they agreed to their marriage in moonglow and went out to build moontide, upon the place where i met her father for the first time." the plateau, and now kukutux gestued in that direction. "my sea-shining girl. moontide rose. some from moonspear and moonglow went to join them. she was to be mother in this same year." her gaze tightened and she tipped her scarred muzzle in some physical grief, unable to look at dutch for a moment. "sedna called to her spirit the day her sons were born. sialuk gave them milk. i built her death ulaq there."

"we do not say the names of those who have gone to the dancing lights."

but she could feel the name pulsing beneath her breastbone.

"and now there is moonsong." the third. and the dread of mothers for mothers had not abated, only lain quiet until the moments in which kukutux remembered she would be grandmother over again, and could think only of how the soil of moontide beneath her paws had felt that day.

"ariadne wishes to make her own way, as i did, as her sisters have done. she has built good trade between those she gathers. some of them i have known for a while. this land calls to those who come from ice, but she brings peace with her. already i see how calm it is."

and those were the stories.

The panther thought he sensed a sudden chill from the woman, but he did not resent her this; he should not be prying into what was clearly a matter for women rather than men. That it was another daughter of Kukutux was more than enough to spark his imagination. He hoped that the match might please all parties, but part of him wondered if these women might be a little too well-tempered for his cousin. Valiant's eyes were often drawn to women Dutch would more easily label temperamental.

The lingered. Dutch did his best not to fret over the woman as she lowered herself to her haunches. If she was unconcerned, he would not draw attention to her pain. Soon enough, her voice took over, and he lived in the grief that she painted rather than the worry of the present.

Ariadne had not told him of the falling star, nor any fallen family aside from her late seaside sister. He was quiet for a long moment while he absorbed this, only nodding along when Kukutux spoke of Ariadne; Dutch had already marveled at her gentle spirit.

"I will hold this story close," he said to her. "If Moon and Morning join, I will make sure their children know it even after they no longer speak our names." If they did not join, he would keep it beneath his breast; it was not his story to tell to strangers for a meal.

if moon and morning join.

her breath was released in intrigue. the man already considered binding his blood to the wilderness. her jadestone eyes were open for a moment; wondering.

dutch guarded the lore of moonwolf. she searched his face, wanting to know if beneath the kindness there was a darker air. something hidden. something which lurked.

but she found nothing. for now, she found only the face which dutch had already showed to her.

kukutux enjoyed the white spine hunter. "moonsong is strong to have you, arjun-man, son to the hearth of aditya."

The panther turned his face away, pleased to be complimented but easily flustered by praise. Still, he made no effort to deny or downplay his worth. A grateful smile played on his face.

"I feel her strength," he said earnestly, but that was all he had to say in response.

"I will bring Valiant to you," he told her, shifting the focus back to his cousin to avoid further discomfort. "He does want to be wed — to be a husband. But I fear he will resist talk of match-making. He must expect he will simply trip and fall into true love one day."

It was not a thing that Dutch scorned by any means, but he did not think much of his cousin's prospects. The man was too guarded. Too quick to pull away. There was a risk in the true pursuit of a woman that the other man had not yet been willing to take.

kukutux felt her face lift in a wry grin. "it is most often that women come to me. not always men. if he is a hunter not ready yet to be married, then a bad match for him would be a very young woman, eager to be mother. someone with more time and more experiences might be better for such a man."

she looked forward to taking the measure of valiant, and would be pleased to find that he and vairë had already met one another ahead of a trek to moonglow. she was a skilled and beautiful sunshine woman who had shown herself to be a good mother and who now stood to inherit her mother's leadership. she did not need a husband to tend her. what vairë wanted was a companion.

"perhaps he will have luck, as i did. aiolos and i had great love almost at once." her eyes shown. "you speak so seriously for your brother. but what does the man dutch desire?"

"He is ready!" the panther hastened to assure moonwoman — a sheepish smile attempted to excuse the slight jump in volume. He was level-headed once more as he went on: "He is a romantic. He is a hunter, yes, but he hunts for his One. He wants to find her. He... "

How should he put this?

"He guards his heart," Dutch said at last. "He has lost his parents and his brother and sister. He wants to make for himself a new family — but he is afraid to make something that can be taken away. He waits, I think, for she who will tell him she is safe to love."

Dutch had spent his life, after all, asking himself just what his cousin's problem was. He thought now that he had the isbjørn figured out — but he balked when moonwoman turned her questioning to his future.

"Me?" he asked, as if she could be talking about any other. He looked toward the mountains, unable to meet her eye during his inward reflection.

Finally, his smile returned, albeit this time far more subdued.

"I want to stand beside a someone who wants to stand beside me," he told her.

how she liked this man!

kukutux meant to put his name into the ears of ariadne as soon as she had passed from this path. the pasts of kigipigak and chakliux worried her, bored her. why should her daughter pick from disloyal men when one, then two, new men of good heart would come to moonsong?

a romantic, a hunter who wished to find love rather than it be brought to him. in this was valiant not ready at all, to accept what he could not change with his own strength.

sometimes love must be met. sometimes love must be matched.

dutch charmed moonwoman with his contemplation.

and he asked for little. vague, romantic and deeply so perhaps in a manner he did not recognize: a boy's dream which was so great that to sequester it into words would be a disservice.

dutch, too, kukutux decided, was waiting.

"this can be had in many ways," moonwoman ventured, eyes alight.

He laughed, at this, and his smile warmed once more.

"Yes," he agreed. He had larger dreams. Things he thought about in the dead of the night. Stories he told himself about his future. Faces he had looked into while his heart skipped a beat. But  —

The panther stood. He moved toward Kukutux and then-sidestepped so that they were shoulder to shoulder, albeit with hers rather lower than his. Cheekily, he told her: "I am happy right here."

Here beside her, but here at the glacier, too. He felt more and more settled with these moonwolves, and with the idea that he might make this his place and these his people.

"My heart is for a man," he said to Kukutux, his voice very quiet. "I could love a wife. I have come close. But I want to know that someone else will care for her. I want to know that my children will have a father even if something happens to me. I could love her, but I would never sleep again. Not if I loved her alone."

his heart was for a man.

a grieving pall still resplendent in love swept across her face. "i loved a woman."

her springjade eyes said to dutch that he was welcomed. understood.

"my daughter sialuk, who is head of moonspear, will have a wife and a husband. it is done in this place, tirnmiakpak."

the same sharing. dutch then was not for ariadne, who kukutux expected to choose one man.

wind smoothed her alabaster face. "you have held this in quiet for some time?"

His gaze cut quickly to moonwoman's face at her response. He wanted to tell her that it was different still for a man — but he saw her grief, and he understood that this, at least, was not different at all. Love and loved still meant the same things.

"It is not easy even for this man to admit he cannot do a thing on his own," he replied.

There was more to that story. Complications. Hurt feelings. He had had all that he needed while he and Valiant wandered together — but the isbjørn had not. And Valiant was not the same as Dutch. He needed his own woman and his own family. Their wants would always be at odds. It has taken this many years for Dutch to see and understand this truth.

And now they both needed a replacement. To find something that was born of intent rather than necessity.

It hurt more than Dutch was willing to admit. He imagined it hurt Valiant more — he had not shared his reasoning before they separated. He had only made it clear that he was on a path that the isbjørn was not meant to follow.

"Will you keep my name in your mind?" he asked her, and he was embarrassed to realize how difficult still it was for him to ask. "I am — content. I am happy. But perhaps I could be happier."

"yes. i will hold your name." already she meant to give it to ariadne, and moreso now that dutch had shared much with her, many glimpses of a spirit that was strong enough to admit when he had difficulty.

he would be easy to love, when he found this man, she felt. a woman too would not be deceived by him nor his desire, not if she was made secure by two lovers.

it intrigued her. it pleased kukutux, this imagining for the man beside her.

"you must have much happiness." the ulax were ahead. she paused to nudge his shoulder. "walk with sedna. i will see you again."

her jadestone eyes were filled with good enjoyment of him, esteem besides.

The panther beamed at moonwoman, a reckless surge of affection suffusing his veins. He felt invigorated, empowered — hopeful in a way that he wasn't used to. He felt something that was not just contented acceptance of his future, but something like anticipation instead.

Perhaps the coming year would bring him a family of his own. Perhaps it would not. But he stood now where the spirits had always been leading him, and that was enough.

"And you as well, moonwoman," he replied, and then, so that he would not watch her go, he turned and raced himself back to the borders.