Ouroboros Spine mamianaktuk ◸

"ariadne has chosen kigipigak."

this time her words were cool fire for the ears of @Shikoba, as moonwoman stared toward the glacier where the man who had caused pain in her village now turned her daughter's head.

did they not recall the pain of sakhmet? how kivaluk had only just come from himself? on some small level, kukutux understood that a great portion of her dread was driven by her loss. their loss. to lose another daughter even in this way was a piercing agony.

"i shared words with him some time ago. it was not a kind conversation. i told him he must mend things with kivaluk. then i went to ariadne, to tell him his story. he has the name kilgitsuk now, a trader's name. but she was given all this wisdom she did not have. perhaps i made him to be this to her, something desired."

a flicker of bitter humour. "i know she has chosen him for he came to me in some days, and very soon after she had taken him to her sleeping-place. he flaunted it, shikoba."

her anger was sharp in the cold air. "i can say nothing against it. for ariadne's heart, i will say i accept this. but i do not. i do not."

in her years, shikoba finds herself slower to anger.

but that does not mean anger does not still burn within sharp yellow eyes. there is a bristle in her coat, something she tries to sooth as her cheek brushes against her sister's softly. "ariadne is young, impressionable. he is older, and has poisoned a hearth of sons and his wife." her whispers are quiet, sharp. she could not believe the actions of the winterhawk, for he was once so trusted within the village. and yet now, he is here, flaunting the places where he may lay, as if to spite moonwoman! his son remained here, a man now, and yet the winterhawk assumes he has been the one to mold him!

"i know you mean well, sister, to try and let your daughter find her place and husband as the head of moonsong. but she lays within a bed of snakes," a fair warning in her tone, a tender kiss on kukutux's brow, "a man who whispers sweet nothings, and then leaves the next day if tartok demands." she thinks for a moment, thinking of ways to help. "how can we show her? does she know of his children, practically her age, estranged?"

"she knows of these things. i told her who he was and she still let herself be led astray!" had she ever been so foolish? kukutux did not think, not even when she loved kignitak and kisuk and uyagakagun, all together. all once, the three warring ostrega brothers.

but that had been her own silence to keep.

she was fiercely grateful for how shikoba rose against this man with her.

yet now as she thought of the grey trader, a horror filled her mind. "if i say anything against this man, ariadne will remove herself from me. you know this is true."

a breath. the terror grew. "many years ago a man died in anger on the glacier. i buried him there. i sang his death songs. i believed his spirit passed to sedna."

"but now a trader has come. and now a trader has come to the glacier, and he has sought what is not his. almost in anger."

her jadestone eyes were upon shikoba in worry. "do you remember adrastus?"

"young love," her voice is of a soft chide, "you know how they are, sister." love is something many people assume they have, but yet it only proves itself as fruitless infatuation. the honey moon dries, the pot is no longer full, and the heart demands to be taken care of. shikoba is no visionary, but this path she sees may only lead to heartbreak. "we cannot force her hand, no. so we must let her fall, if she refuses. she will know pain, but perhaps she will see truth then after. no mother wishes for heartbreak." a comforting look is offered in a softened gaze, "but she is growing, and is now head of her own village. she knows her power and growth."

a small breath, a tongue runs over her teeth anxiously as she thinks and listens.

"i remember him, yes. what is it that you believe?" his name wouldn't be brought without reason, after all.

slowly a nod. "adrastus was a good hunter and good husband. he was not here for the birth of his children and when he saw them, his spirit changed. kigipigak becomes kilgitsuk. if he changes again, how can sedna reach him or recognize him?"

she stood! she paced! and then the saltwater was upon her lips. "i am afraid to lose another daughter. i have been thinking much of my sea dancing girl. now ariadne chooses a tupilak!"

but this was her doing. her failing. kukutux sank down beside shikoba. "this year kivaluk will marry. in the next, sialuk will also. my mind should be upon these things."

her mind-- it buzzes, perhaps with a swarm of a thousand stinging wasps! shikoba knew not of the plight of a mother with a struggling daughter, and yet she was here to shoulder the trouble no less. She listens now and watches as her sister comes to move and pace as fire remains lit beneath her.

"Even in his ignorance, you still seek his soul's protection," she says with breathless awe, "you are a better woman than I, sister." but perhaps that is why she remains a spiritual leader,  and Shikoba the bringer of sharp teeth in this village. and when there is mention of the wayward girl who told her of talking gods during thunderstorms, shikoba quiets herself once again.

"i worry for kivaluk. he has seen ariadne as his own sister-- to think of his father marrying someone of his own kin, of his age. it must weigh heavily upon him." but her attention is stripped from the boy now come man. he did not need such women doting upon him anymore, for he had become the best facet of himself moonglow could provide him. 

"whatever problems you may have, or help you need, shoulder it with me, sister. i will be your strength in these testing days." a kiss to her brow, tender and warm.

"he will give a piece of his spirit to his children. to my blood. if sedna cannot find him, then they too will be lost." she was exasperated by how many names he had chosen!

"i worry for him also. but he will marry and have children of his own. if he cannot settle, perhaps he and his wife should move away for a time. i do not like to say these words."

she leant against shikoba for a long moment. "you have always been my sister. i will say to you now, i do not think i will be mother again. i think this time for me is over."

it hurt to say aloud. it eased to say aloud.

she could feel the weight within her sister's stomach, she could sense the pain within her words. So Shikoba is quiet for a moment, afraid that if she spoke too soon, then she may sour the moment even more. everything would be given the moment to pass, where she can only hear their breaths and perhaps the whistling of the wind.

she lets out a quiet breath. "you have suffered many moons," she says gently to her, "listen to what your spirit needs." she knew of moonspear, before it had become sialuk's mountain. she had known of the lost wayward ocean girl, and now one more of her kin wrestles with the tupilak snatching her away. certainly, many things sit upon her shoulders that even shikoba cannot see.

sisters they were, yes. perhaps in success, in motherhood, and in heartbreak. "a man can change his name, but his heart remains the same underneath. sedna will know his face, even if tries to hide." she could only hope, she could only pray. but even known, shikoba didn't know. when she thinks of the young first hunter, the mention of his wedding brings a joyous thought to her mind.

"kivaluk will bring honor to moonglow and to your hearth. i look forward to his joy." she whispers with a small smile.

"to you also is this honor, my sister. he has learned much from us all. now he will carry his ways to his wife and maybe, to his children."

for there was natigvik yet in kivaluk; she saw sakhmet even if kigipigak only wished to witness tartok in his son. 

a long sigh passed in the moments to come.

"i think i will travel more in the year that arrives," she decided. "i must find my satisfaction in other things now. i will not become the bitter old bird who chunners at the first sign of change."

she nods thoughtfully, thinking to her own children in the moment. shikoba was too old to rear another litter, and there were moments she thought of what life lay ahead of her beyond the earthly realm. but to know that she had made her own lasting impact on moonglow and its young hunters, she would die with a legacy.

she offers her sister a smile. "you and sun man will take a trip, perhaps?" she asks with a playful tone. shikoba needed to make her own trips as well, as she thought back to seeing Rodyn again in Moontide. and perhaps, she must speak with her children as her age continues to grow.

a glimmering laugh, the mingling joy of two women who had known each other for a long while.

"i will take a journey. sun man has need of his own."

a daughter lost. a daughter turning. sons still scattered.

the sun man had always been a flamewrought pillar for kukutux, and so she would be this for him.

"ajei has more age, now," moonmother said thoughtfully. "among your people, what is done to show that a girl has become woman?"