Emberwood devet

when you had no hunger, the hunting was easier.

pelts had begun to gather and the meat seemed endless. saatsine was strong for this. yet still she felt the need to drive herself into runs, to let her teeth find the flesh of the beasts they followed. she did not think she would be so successful if she ran by herself, but she felt another would come.

this was how their days would be spent, after all.

she snipped at the weak legs of an old bull. wary of his swinging head, of his kicking hooves. he did not wish to be taken so soon! she laughed deep and rolling! the choice was not his, did he not know?

too recently had the chieftain been kicked with enough force to bruise his foreleg. he had sworn and leapt clear, thanking the caribou spirits that the bone had not been broken.

a day of rest, of resisting the hunt would be necessary. his limp was open but his stance proud, unbothered. 

below him, ice diver harried an aged animal. a rare pleasure touched sun eater's mouth with approval. she was strong, that one, born not to lanzadoii but bearing their name all the same. already she learned many words. sun eater hoped that ice diver and ridgeback would bring children to the saatsine, welcoming their brood as firstborn.

he was not able to rein himself for long; he kept far clear of the sharp hooves, chuffing sharply to see if another hunter was near to help. but if not, sun eater was able to ignore his pain. such harshnesses were the lot of those who followed the caribou.

she did not think of his limp as she did with old bulls. it was not one that would put sun eater out of running forever.

łts’ii! she remembered him telling her. swift, swift! she snapped the words between seeking teeth. she did not have to kill this old bull, she could make only show of it. in truth she had not yet decided which it might be.

she wanted to look towards sun eater, but could not remove her gaze from the bull.

he heard, and his senses rippled with pleasure.

a cow thundered past. sun eater drove it on, away from ice diver, her lanzadoii echoing in his mind.

suppose he decided it must be she?

enthralled with their shared power, he called the same words in caribou tongue, tongue lolling.

she did not think this bull would fall. only be marked by her teeth. a carving on its haunch to serve like a tag. she would watch this one, remember this one.

she did not think that was such a terrible thing. maybe wise, even, if she allowed herself pride.

and sun eater kept a cow at bay for her to have this moment. she did not miss it and found herself conflicted by welling emotions.

she did not begrudge him for what he had done. she did not wish to strike him from his position. maybe the tendrils of envy intertwined with admiration. her thoughts too have to carry on a far chase.

the bull gained ground, her fur stood on edge. a brilliant look about her scared face. her attention was turning towards sun eater now. her strides meant to eat up the distance between them. it was not aggression that drove her to him.

"ice diver."

his voice was a grating sound in the teeth of the wind. the notched bull bellowed.

sun eater ignored the pain in his leg as he moved in swiftness to intercept, closing the distance between he and she.

teeth glinted on that icy sun; a snarl bid the caribou back, nostrils pluming draconic breath.

they moved in a slow wheel, saatsine and blooded quarry.

her name, a billowing thing in the wind. grunted into existence. she had made it. she had crowned herself the title and had lovingly done the same for her husband. she wondered how he felt now, with endless energy spent upon caribou instead of thinking.

the thought died shortly thereafter. surrounded by the beasts but kept near sun eater. her throat died in her voice when she thought there might be words she could say.

she snipped at cold air, as if she meant to keep all the caribou at bay!

then she sought to move her shoulder into sun eater. no fear, no resentment, no aggression. binding and bonding.

they stood in this way to watch the caribou — their herds, their kills — for some minutes.

his tongue lolled with the fast panting of delight, and when his jaws closed, it was to sing out a dark note of frost into the world.

it twined among caribou legs; it played upon the wind; it came to die in echoes around them, the monologue of sun eater finished for now.

the whole world was for saatsine to walk.

she knew this. she felt it. it was made true by these moments. in the spring they would walk further from the river. wherever these beasts went off to.

there might be clan children by then. there must be, won’t there? they would walk. all of them, regardless.

strong clan. she told him now and felt something of regret! these were things she might have liked to say in his own language. their language, that she still learned. not yet enough to be fluent.

it was a grimace that took place of what had once been brightness. eyes now turned away from his face and out into the moving caribou.

"uti'yesisyu," sun eater murmured quietly in translation, noticing her expression yet bearing no comment.

"eat and grow fat, ice diver," he said at last, humour lacing his words; the man did not think he needed to elaborate. surely their thoughts moved on similar paths at times.

the future lay milling and snorting before them; what saatsine consumed today would strengthen them tomorrow.

a word given.

more given in their shared tongue. she offered a tsk of her tongue against her teeth. too fat and i will no longer run after them. mischief replaced the disappointment she had felt within herself.

the bull would wear her mark. she would find it later. if not here among the valley then later when they laid among the rivers and taiga.

come find you later.

no elaboration, she was prepared to disperse from his side. off to chase or watch more caribou. she wished to know as much as she could about them before they finished here.

"too fat. make ridgeback run."

a joke, a jest shared.

to ice diver he nodded. "go." walk with the caribou spirits. already they were strong in this valley; already many lives had been given to their teeth.

saatsine was blessed. let them hope now that the winter would only feed their power.

single greystone eye watched as she went gracefully to her wisdom's pursuit.