Ouroboros Spine zodiac

The boy had taken notice of a new scent upon aaka, and when he managed to slip away from his sisters he followed that scent until it was very strong. When he came to a man's ulaq he stopped to observe the area and listen to the wind as if it might hold answers, but the voice of Black Bear was silent.

As time moved along, Tautukpik became distracted by the flit of birds, and their calls to one another. He watched a butterfly lob itself drunkenly between blossoms. When he caught movement from the ulaq, his attention affixed again.

He saw a large pale figure — and immediately thought of his aapa. Was he home? Was he going to come back to them? Tau rushed to the ulaq with his heart in his throat.

Standing there, he did not see his father, but the stranger @Kannoyak.

The cotton grass man had not anticipated young blood finding him. Yet as he stood on the edge of his home, there was a boy who gazed back.

Kannoyak swallowed at the lump in his throat. He was not a man who had talent for sussing out emotions within others. Still, the white hunter could see this boy’s gaze. There was longing there, a desperate cry for love, for family. It clenched at the man’s heart. Something like familiarity had been shown but it had been wiped clean from the young wolf’s face.

Hello, moonboy. Would you care to hunt with this man?

Kannoyak offered the younger a smile.

*gobbles up this thread with glee*

The man was very much like his aapa, but also different in very specific ways. The boy was precocious enough to catch the plum of his eyes, the pristine quality of his coat where as his father's would hold scars, and a smile that was welcoming but also guarded. His voice was not as strong sounding; and for a moment Tautukpik regretted coming so far in his hunt.

Speaking of, the man invited the boy to hunt together. Tautukpik had not yet hunted anything; he had thought it was something his aapa would want to share, and when Kannoyak spoke his words, Tautukpik gave a little huff from his nose and backed away.

You're not aapa. He was frowning a little bit; the wind whispered something then, and he turned an ear but chose to focus on the man instead. Why does my aaka come here? But even as he asked this, he saw inside the ulaq was the beaver pelt which Ariadne had been working on.

The boy huffed at his offer. Kannoyak blinked, surprised at the quick denial. Even if he was hesitant, the boy had surprised the white hunter. When Kannoyak had been young, he’d been pawing and scratching at any opportunity to track and follow prey across the white snow. He wondered if he had overstepped, if his friendship with Ariadne had sparked something in her children.

This one is named Kannoyak. Cotton grass man.

It was best to start with introductions. The white hunter smiled, warm and welcoming in the way his plum gaze settled on the young wolf.

Moongirl - ah - akaa is a friend to this man. She was injured and Kannoyak carried her to safety. Sometimes she will visit to make sure this one is settling into the village. A small nod of his head followed this explanation. He wondered how the child would take it.

He wasn't listening.

Seeing the pelt strewn upon the floor of this ulaq, smelling the comforting scent of his mother, seeing this strange man who was almost like his father but also not, was too much.

While Kannoyak introduced himself and tried to explain, Tautukpik was probing and invasive, grabbing for the beaver pelt and pulling. It was well made and quite large; Tautukpik stretched it as he yanked and his teeth caught in the hairs.

'Dis is nah youms, he drawled around the hide, pulling pulling pulling.

The young wolf did not seem all that interested in the answers that were provided. He pushed forward, entering the den and gripping the beaver fur in his sharp teeth. Kannoyak watched, mildly surprised at the boldness of the boy. He could not help but admire the courage that it took to stand up to a stranger when he was still so small.

As the child pulled the fur from the den and chided the cotton grass man, a feeling of sadness swept through the white hunter. There was pain in this boy. He was feeling the separation of his parents and it did not seem that he had a place to put those feelings.

You may have it, he spoke gently. There was no need to battle with a boy over prey skins.

Or- the white hunter paused, eyeing the child cautiously, this man can show you how to get a bigger one. One for your ulaq. The mountain goat has thick fur. Wouldn’t that be better than this?

The man did not put up any resistance. Tautukpik had not expected much; maybe some chiding, maybe some effort to correct him as that was the habit of adults versus children, but the only thing to transpire was the acceptance of the man. Tautukpik didn't really want the skin. He wanted something he could not grasp.

Kannoyak was willing to be the bigger person. He offered to hunt, naming something that Tautukpik had never heard of before. He was suddenly very angry! Giving the fur one more tug and one more shake of his head (which had quietly ripped the work of his mother) he dropped his hold and stepped stiffly back.

No! No hunnin'. Stay 'way from aaka! He was bristling and putting on his bravest scowl, which was more cute than intimidating. Tautukpik was the man of the family now and he was under the impression that he had to protect his mother as well as his sisters, now.

Whoever this man was - even if he was a good man, and even if the wind did not protest against him - Tautukpik needed him to understand. Stay 'way! Or - or, or what? The boy gives a snort and a stomp and cannot think of what threat might be good.

Or I'll make Black Bear come! You won't like that! The trees around them shimmered with the faintest breeze, yet no voice carried that Tautukpik might hear.

The pelt tore with a screeching noise and was left on the ground, tattered and frayed of all the work Moongirl had put into it. Kannoyak’s eyes lingered on the present for a moment before he fixed them again to the boy’s face. There was anger there. Anger and confusion that the white hunter was certain he could not help to quell. What could be done for a boy who felt as though his family was being torn apart?

The young wolf warned him. Stay away or he would summon the black bear.

Cotton grass man considered feigning worry, fear, something to ease the boy into a sense of control. On second thought, he understood that there was no scenario in which lying would make the child feel better.

Kannoyak does not fear the black bear. If given its space, the bear would wander freely and the wolf would hunt again. What if aaka comes here? What if she wishes to visit? You will tell her no, that she cannot?

He wasn't taking this seriously. Tautukpik meant what he said! He flashed his teeth around the torn fur and then as he spat it out, he continued to grimace and to posture, trying to look as big and as strong as his aapa. It wasn't an animal he could summon — Tautukpik did not even know what a bear was in truth — but he knew the voice of his Big Sister, and was certain as deep as his spirit went inside of him, that he could do this thing. That by asking, She would come and make things right.

Kannoyak said he was not afraid, and he asked his question. Tauktukpik paced, and then rolled his eyes, and shouted, STAY AWAY! He stomped his feet.

He could not do much else but posture and be loud, and by this point it was likely his aaka had noticed his absence from the ulaq — or maybe someone could hear his shouting.

YOU ARE NOT AAPA!

Stay away!

Kannoyak had not moved since the boy had started. The white hunter watched, patient and worrisome in the creases near his eyes. The child was beyond console. He was enduring emotions that he had no names for and to shout was the only way he might release them. At one time, Kannoyak had felt the same. In this moment, he feared that the Moonwoman would come and scold him for upsetting her grandchildren.

YOU ARE NOT AAPA!

No. Not aapa. Only friend…

The cotton grass man’s voice choked in the back of his throat. He looked to the tattered pelt at the boy’s feet and stirred with sadness for the loss of the item. It had been a good fur and it would have made a lovely furnishing for his home. None of that mattered now.

NO! He shrieked in response to the man's pitiful muttering.

Not his aapa, not his friend, nothing! He wasn't allowed! The utter denial of Tautukpik empowered the boy and he turned to go, feeling his skin burning and his throat tight.

As he went, he felt the hot tears sprung by his father's abandonment threaten to fall; and as he was so inexperienced with such a big emotion, his trail would inevitably become damp as he sought out his sisters.

The boy’s voice erupted in a single word - no!

Kannoyak watched as the child raced away from the mess he’d made. The tattered pelt of the beaver left in the dirt with its edges frayed and the pristine work of Ariadne tarnished. The cotton grass man picked up the remains and carried them back to his den. He shook the dirt from it, as well as he could, before placing it on the ground and trying to clean up its sad appearance.

When the white hunter turned his attention back to where the boy had retreated, he felt a welling of guilt in the pit of his stomach. Try as he might, the pathmaker did not know how he might help repair this hurt.