Moonstone Quarry uliruk ⊹

set whenever! <3

"this place has not yet been claimed by nuiruk."

it was a place set apart from the others, one of thin, twisted trails and long heights. great round stones glowing with moonlight lit the trails below, gathering until they seemed built into the high walls itself.

moonstone was not so beautiful, but it belonged to their clan.

"i have thought long of what you might do now, @Ipiktok. your pappos has many years and your mother is healing. moonglow needs a sivullik once more."

"but before i say you must do this thing, i have brought you here. some part too of this wilderness might be yours."

her eyes were soft. "and before i say, 'take this land,' i ask, do you wish to take a wife this season, ipiktok?"

Ipiktok walked beside Moonwoman with the pride and ego of a young soldier who had never seen war. His budding frame was broad, stocky, and strong – bear-boned like a northern warrior. Yet, the mind matured much slower than the body. Though he had recieved Sedna’s wisdom, Ipiktok’s spirit was filled with childlike enthusiasm.

It was with these clear eyes he regarded the quarry. Great cliffs of pale stone with little vegetation descended towards a pool of cold, blue water at the bottom. The slabs of rock shone in the moonlight like a marble church's walls.

He listened to his wise grandmother speak and thought upon his own ambitions. Kukutux’s children had established their own villages… some stood the test of time, like Moonspear and Moontide, while others had crumbled like scree at the bottom of the quarry.

Would this be Ipiktok’s path? He felt there was much to learn… but a streak of ambitious naivety said otherwise. An ulaq, a wife, a family, a village… the path of the Sunshine people appeared straight to Ipiktok’s inexperienced eyes, and he had little want to defect from it.

“Yes, this one it ready for a wife,” he blithely procclaimed with little knowledge of what it took to create a successful relationship. A marriage was simply what one did – he could figure it out along the way.

He thought of the pretty woman he had met at the hotsprings.

“I have great desire to bring honor to our village,” Ipiktok added as if to suggest he was ready to do her bidding.

he was young, and she saw in him youth. but what ipiktok did not have in experience, he would gain with settlement. this she believed. he had been away, he had journeyed. the wilderness claimed by their vast clan was known to him. and there was more beyond. rodyn traded often, and she knew the seal hunters too would eventually journey.

but their land did not need to be hunted down, to be claimed. already it was there to be given as birthright.

youth spoke. a wife. her lips rose in a faint, pleased smile. "i have the want to find names for you as the leaves fall and the sun departs."

she allowed him to consider this for a time before her tones went on; you have already brought great honor, ipiktok. you are a hunter of moonglow, and you have returned when your mother has most need of you."

kukutux brushed his shoulder with her own. "your young sisters, they will need guidance. i have taught them much, and you will bring more lessons."