Ouroboros Spine tru luv waitz

set the day after his last thread

White Elk had deliberated much over what to do. He knew this was a distraction from the mission he'd been so eager to go on. This was important, as it could decide his sister's romantic future as well as his own status upon returning to the pack.

But there was a girl.

In the end, he felt there was really no choice at all. So he came early to their borders that morning and raised his voice to call for moonwoman — and then uttered a soft scream when he lowered his head and found a great white beast staring him down.

Valiant was patently unimpressed. He tried to hide this as he said, "You've come to Moonglow. What do you need?"
The herald stumbled through a greeting that made Valiant's ears twitch.

"What do you need?" he asked again.

"Your name, sir?"

"Valiant Morningside."

White Elk beamed at him and explained his mission, which did finally serve to soften Valiant toward him. All that was quickly erased when the stranger then asked for a chaperone so that he might spend some time with Callyope.

"Callyope," he said, recognizing the name of his sister in law. He was annoyed on her behalf. "Women here don't need a chaperone. They do as they please." Later on, when recounting this tale to @Vairë, he would try to mimic the scandalized, elated look that crossed White Elk's face. It was the punch-drunk wonder that really got to him, though. "Alright — wipe that look off your face," he said to the man.

He led him deeper into the territory, once again calling out for @Kukutux.

her grandchildren had their new names. moonmother murmured over the tops of flower-daughter heads, leaving vairë's ulaq when sivullik called at the end of a first, stilted cry.

jadestone eyes soon regarded the man: tall, with a hunter's build and the curious appearance of dust clinging to his hips. her gaze lingered expectantly, chin lifting in a warm silence that ended with, "you have come to village moonglow. i am moonmother, kukutux."

White Elk had decided that this Valiant character must have gotten up on the wrong side of the den. He didn't trouble himself over the other man's gruffness any more after that. And, soon enough, they came upon a far more pleasant face. Elk was pleased to see Callyope in her aging features.

Before he'd looked his fill, he came near enough to bow before her, setting his rolled deerskin down as he did.

"Hail, moonmother Kukutux," he said in formal tones. "I am White Elk, herald of the Rocky Road, who reside in Mountain Home. I have come seeking suitors for my sister — the lady Bearclaw. Do you know of any enterprising young men who might wish to know more about her?"

Valiant skippable this round

this white elk had many words, but it was his name which stood out to moonmother. there were no words for these beasts in the language of the sunshine people, as they did not venture so far to such places. she had learned the name here.

white elk.

"this year the moon villages have more daughters than sons seeking to be married." she thought of stratos, then decided selfishly she wished him close; no son of hers had yet taken a wife and she wished that he would do so.

the greenglow eyes were appraising; she motioned that white elk and valiant walk with her along the beaten path to the ulax. "tell me what kind of woman your sister is, and what she seeks in a man."

"Oh?" said Elk, trying not to sound too interested, and then, when he failed, trying his best not to look in Valiant's direction. He could feel that suspicious squint on him again.

They walked together, White Elk squished between two more powerful forces. He felt small, even being larger than them both.

"She is a fearsome woman," he said candidly, eager to cut off whatever Valiant had been about to say. "Strong and brave. She seeks a man who will stand strong beside her. Someone who will speak soft words to her. Someone who will laugh at her jokes."

He cringed, just a little, and confused:

"She is not very funny. But she does like to laugh."

Valiant nodded peacefully along to talk about Bearclaw — and what a name! He thought not quite charitably about her, based solely on his annoyance with her brother.

When White Elk had finished speaking, Valiant cut in to say, "This man was askin' after Callyope. Says he'd like a chaperone so they can take a walk together."

He kept his tone as free of judgement as he could, but a slight infection on the chosen activity seemed to say something just a little bit more. Mainly that Valiant thought it must be something more than the few words made it sound like.

now the greenstone eyes shone with knowingness as kukutux turned them back upon white elk. "what is chaperone?" she asked of valiant, though she had more than a basic idea of what the man meant. so odd then that he was present only for a sister who had not come, not as a man might arrive at a village of women.

as was her way, moonmother lapsed into contemplative silence when they had come to the ulaq and its broad clearing. the day's hunting had brought fresh pheasant and fish still dripping from the lake; portions of each she paired with the bitter sourness of crushed rosehip, offering to both men.

"if callyope wishes to walk with you, white elk, you will know this," kukutux said at last, lightly, glancing now from a caribou hide she had pulled into her grasp. still-keen eyes inspected the waterproofing of smeared fat. "why does your sister send her brother instead of seeking her own man?"

The male hurried to explain. "A chaperone walks with young men and woman to be sure her virtue is not compromised," he told her, shooting a nervous glance at Valiant when he saw the other man's lips flicker in a tiny smirk. "I have been informed that this is not done in this place, but I... I would feel remiss if I didn't request one, anyway. My father wouldn't be proud to know."

They came to a den, where White Elk looked around with quiet interest, distracted for a moment from his task.

"She is needed at home," he said to moonmother. "For her apprenticeship. She is studying to become a midwife." He did not know what more to say about Callyope. He decided that the safest option was nothing at all. He had his marching orders from the woman herself: he would have to go find her.

Valiant skippable

"what is virtue?" kukutux asked with a steady, curious expression which belied none of her deep amusement. callyope had just returned and already men asked after her sleeping place! aya!

"i have come back from a healing journey. i helped to bring life to several children. it is not work that welcomes a husband and young ones," she stated quietly, thinking white elk upon a rather foolish mission and one she still did not understand.

"if you walk with callyope, you may not have the want to return home," the duck stated pleasantly, bending back over the toothmark seams of the hide.

The male looked helplessly to Valiant, who gave a mute shake of his head. "Virtue is — a family wants to know that their daughter is treated with respect," he explained, haltingly, "And so they send someone with them so that — "

He looked again to Valiant.

Finally, the man took pity on him. Sorta.

"He means he comes from a place where men choose what a woman does with her body," he said, his tone still neutral despite the frown on his face.

White Elk gave a vigorous shake of his head, denying what he took as an accusation.

"We have much respect for women in my homeland," he assured them both. "It is only so that a family may know their daughter is being treated with respect. And I — I will treat your daughter with respect, regardless of whether we are chaperoned. I — " The fainted pink was visible beneath his pale fur. "Already, I do not want to leave."

"then do not leave." she set the pelt aside. "if my daughter wishes to lie with you, then she will choose to do so when her body and her heart desires these things. be worthy of her, white elk." the flush beneath his fur encouraged her antics; "perhaps you find @Callyope in moonsong. perhaps not. valiant knows what path you must take."

now a contemplative look crossed her face. "you come here as chap-er-one for your own sister?" was this how it was done in his home, that a man should decide these things? not even their mother? "if you find a man here, will he go home with you when you make your way from us? what if he is not what your sister wants?"

her tone, though questioning, remained warm.

What was pink quickly became red. He was glad for the cool spring air.

"I..." he said, and then he said nothing.

"I'll point you in the right direction," Valiant told him.

"Thank you," he said, grateful for the offer and the end of the subject both. To Kukutux: "No, not chaperone. I am a herald — one of us has run north, west, and south. I have come east. I bring token, and I speak to men to see if they might suit my sister. And if they do, I give them a token and tell them where to go. I have eight left."

He was proud to have been chosen for this mission, and his eyes glittered with his satisfaction. Clearly, he expected Kukutux to be impressed.

"A chaperone accompanies young men and women while they spend time together before they wed," he went on. And he spoke directly to Valiant when he said, "And a young woman uses this time to decide if she likes the man or not. When she has made her choice, she and the other women of the pack have her enclosure. They are away from any men for seven days and seven nights, and the young woman must decide each night that she wants this man. The women of her pack may choose to celebrate with her, or some may use this time to convince her she should choose someone else."

quietly she listened, intrigued by these ways she did not know.

this was a great honor, moonmother saw, and yet she still did not understand why a man would take this task.

but she saw similarities here, in the choice of a woman over all, in the ways that seclusion was encouraged to begin attachement.

she simply had lost the notion that it must be one man, and that to know a man was not enough.

"it is like the First Rite of the seal hunters in a small way. she chooses, first. always." and her eyes shone with approval. "if a son of the moon villages goes to your sister, and she makes him her choice, what comes after this time?"

What came after? White Elk was not sure he understood the question, but he answered as best as he could.

"Then she will have her enclosure," he told moonmother, "And if she chooses him each night, they will wed. Then they will bring new life to the pack."

He glanced toward Valiant, who had been mollified by his talk of the enclosure. The male seemed a little friendlier, now, at least. Still, he was blank-faced and silent even at Elk's questioning glances.

"They will be treated well in Mountain Home," he assured her. "And it is not so far that they wouldn't be able to visit in the summer and the autumn months."

a silence followed, but it was not cold. kukutux at last exhaled. "i cannot help you with this thing, white elk. i believe all you say. but i do not know your sister. and i cannot be atsak on a man's word of what a woman might desire. i can send any man, yes. but why send a man who will not please her?"

while firm, her eyes were kind. "do not think this a wasted journey. share a meal with us. and then see the beauty of the land held by our clan. it is vast. there is much to satisfy a restless heart."

White Elk's head tipped to the side in quiet confusion; he did not know the word atsak, but he understood well enough that moonwoman did not understand his journey. He would be the one to know whether or not a man would please his sister. He had been chosen because she trusted him with this. But if Kukutux had no one to introduce him to — well, that was to be expected. It wouldn't be right to outsource all his hard work to a stranger.

"That's okay," he assured her. "There will be more somewhere around here. I will remain close, if you'd allow me."

He would need to return home after the season ended — but he thought he might turn right back around and come here again when that task was done.

last for me! <3

white elk was gracious. "i allow this. while you are in the wilderness, come and go as you wish to village moonglow."

her eyes glinted, and soon she was regaling him with one story or another of the children who had gone off into the world, and those who had built their own place.

and somehow, she knew the man before her would stay. so many had done this for the daughters of the moon and sun.