Ocean's Breath Plateau [m] i was made to love you

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set for the evening.

Sialuk had not intended to come here, to arrive on Moontide's doorstep. And yet, when she did arrive, nothing could have felt more right. She knew several men who lived here, though which ones would pursue her, she could not say. One she was most certain would find her if she lingered long enough, and she grinned girlishly at the thought. The year prior, he had been in her debt. This year, there were no strings attached between herself and Chakliux, should he come to greet her. They had embraced once before, and he had visited Maggak often enough.

And what of Rodyn? His heart was broken from the loss of his wife, but comfort could come in many forms. They had been through much since the boys were born, and Sialuk was a mother to his children in all but blood. Would he not wish to share that relationship with her again? Was she not the first woman to be chosen for Sialuk, before she had gone away?

a paw, upheld.
wet snow was blowing in from the coastline. chakliux tasted it upon his mouth, looking for the flavor of ice that would tell his seal hunter heart when it was time to set off with the boys.
he too thought of rodyn, for the happiness of the somber man who had loved samani. 
but the wind shifted, and took his breath; and all of a sudden he did not want the tang of sea ice but the star woman who had descended the mountain.
he came upon her with a croon of welcome; he blew hot breath teasingly across her skin, eyes dancing with desire.

Sialuk met the ice hunter's gaze, the glimmer in his eye matching that of her own. Many months had passed since they had been alone, whether by design or by fate. Those months melted like the ice in springtime, and Sialuk relished in his open gaze upon her. The starwoman found that she did not think to ask after his wife (wives?). Nor did she ask after Raiyuk. She was here for the ice hunter himself, she knew.

There was a certain quality to Chaliux, Sialuk realized, that differed from her other lovers who were men. Never had he expected anything of her, nor had jealousy pricked his heart that she could see. He had always simply known, and she appreciated this now. A girlish giggle escaped her lips, and she bowed in front of him before dancing away. Then, a pause, looking back and inviting him to chase.

she was a graceful arc in the growing moonlight, and chakliux gave immediate chase. moontide had forests, the open spaces near the sea; beaches of tufted grass and clearer sand; hillocks and draping trails.
where sialuk led, he followed without hesitation, without thought, and soon it became a dance, his laughter pursuing her heels as the night went on.
he had never forgotten the ways in which sialuk had first stirred his heart.

Sialuk had not forgotten the thrill of being chased—but she had yearned for it. So much of her fever had been spent haltingly, with questions and words, but with Chakliux, there was a deeper understanding. They knew one another like one knows a lover who has been away. He did not share her ulaq, and she did not share his lodge, but she felt that a piece of her would always belong to him, and a piece of him to her.

She ducked between trees, leapt over fallen rocks, and crashed through the bitterly cold seawater, all the while with Chakliux on her heels. Why, she wondered, were others so hesitant to share in one another's warmth and comfort? Why, she wondered, did they not let themselves bask in what their body desired? She thought of Glaukos, of Dutch, even of Etienne, and then warmly of Talisman who had seemed to have her understanding of the way she felt, despite his closeness with Kusuma.

The starwoman led him to a quiet, dark clutch of trees, slowing her gait and panting heavily from the rush of the run.

You have no debt to pay, she said with a coy smile, and yet your embrace calls to my spirit. Sialuk touched her nose to his cheek, drinking in the smell of salt and seal.

"it is because i am salt and you are mountain." his voice was a whisper as his strong arms embraced sialuk; his kiss to eartip, to cheek, to throat; but he pleasantly deferred to her lead.
water gave way to darkness, and the wintertide winds which waved the branches above them riffled through their pale pelts.
"it is because even when we spend much time apart, i call to you."
they heard one another.
no more was needed than that.
the eyes of the seal hunter gleamed as he danced softly around sialuk, a soft praise-song on his lips.

She knew it to be true as his words trickled into her ear. Her belly clenched pleasantly at his touch, chills prickling her warm skin. The time for words ended quickly, and she let herself succumb to his touch, relishing in the familiar movement of body-against-body. There was a sweet roughness to the seal hunter's touch that she had felt from no other. What was business last year became pure pleasure this night beneath a waning gibbous moon.

Chakliux understood her culture in ways that others did not—could not. And while she did not think to become wife to him, Sialuk knew deep down that their bond was one that would not break because of it. Sweet smells and warmth embraced her, and for a time, the starwoman lost herself to a man she had once nursed back to health. A man who had not one or two, but three wives to his name (though one was unaccounted for).

sunshine. saltwater.
they mingled as if it were summertime between the snow, chakliux putting all his attention upon the changes in her breath, in the yield of arm and throat and flank;
she dissolved with him into stardust and the sound of longing sound, something ancient and only for the seal hunter and the moonspear woman.
sialuk would have chakliux in full as many times as she wished; there was laughter even in the breathlessness, marvel even as darkness slowly greyed.
she etched herself into the corners of the seal hunter.

The time she spent with Chakliux was entirely different from the time she had spent with Talisman. Instead of questions and answers after their embrace, she found only a short rest after, eager for more of him. Night gave way to the break of dawn, and Sialuk found herself satisfied with her time at long last, asleep and curled at his chest, listening to the beating of his heart in the dreamscape.

She dreamt of seals, of children she did not yet have, of her current children grown and going off to follow their own paths. The starwoman dreamt of her lovers at home: Argent and Elentari. Their loving looks to one another stirring her own heart. She dreamt of taataa, his handsome dark face, and the face of braataa before he had become the thing he was now. She wept to see their faces, told them she would see them again many, many seasons from now, and woke to the sound of seagulls overhead.

The seal hunter snored, and Sialuk kissed his cheek.