Ouroboros Spine dreaming is free

tags for reference!

Recovery was slow and stilted, but already, Valiant felt better than he had in months. His mottled pelt was still perilously short, but it was beginning to grow back in earnest. He still moved stiffly in the mornings and with a limp that he couldn't quite shake, but he could run and hunt again. Not without pain and difficulty, but these things were more easily ignored than the emotional anguish he'd suffered on the long journey home.

Things weren't perfect. Certainly, they were not back to normal — but he was back where he belonged. He was back with @Vairë, though her health gave him endless cause to worry. It was far more bearable to worry with her in his arms than it had been while he was so far away.

He cared diligently for his wife, bringing water and helping @Kukutux to keep her pelt clean, hunting and fishing and gathering fresh bedding. He couldn't tell if any of it helped to improve her condition, but he needed no incentive or encouragement to carry on with his usual dogged intensity.

Still, the work was not so much that he had no time left to himself. He spent most of it still by her side, but today, he was afield with a scrap of deer skin, plucking the last of autumn's flowers and gathering them for his wife. There was a small pile already lying on the skin, waiting to be wrapped up and delivered. Valiant sat there staring at them with a distant look in his eyes, weak winter sunlight warm on his back.

Despite everything, he found himself immeasurably grateful to be alive.

Valiant’s return and dedication did not go unnoticed by Ipiktok. Vaire’s son was happy to see someone so devoted to his mother’s care… as he did not spend much time at her ulaq. Ipiktok felt his responsibilities and duties, that would most benefit his family, lied elsewhere. He hunted and maintained the village’s terrain. Healing and praying… that was Moonwoman’s realm.

But it did not mean that Ipiktok neglected to pray at all. Every day he asked Sedna to give his mother strength. Valiant, too… for the man appeared to have walked a difficult path on his was home to Moonglow.

He happened upon the man in a small glen. “Valiant,” he chuffed. “How is she?” Ipiktok's gaze passed over his ragged pelt like a hand over braille.