Ouroboros Spine ᐊ uluu

the day was quiet enough that his absence felt loud. ippiksaut moved from her ulaq to main ground. scenting the air where paths crossed and voices faded. no red in the brush. no heavy tread by the lake.

she paused, ears angling, tail still.

@Wrath, she called once, not sharply, but with purpose.

then she continued on, stubborn as frost, intent on finding the crimson man wherever he’d wandered off to.

his gray goddess would find him walking along the far west stretch of spine, coat fluffed up against the high soaring winds. winter having arrived in her fiercest form, red remains proactive in patrolling the pack borders.

despite every urge to curl up in his den and stay there for the rest of the season.

there is only the sudden appearance of ippiksaut riding up the ridge in sharp pursuit to soothe the increasing agitation beneath his hide. he chuffs to her lowly in the distance, and once they close some of it in equally as long strides, red's one icy eye splits the evening.

my iron princess, the rogue saddles next to her with a mouth full of teeth, bumping shoulders, where are you going? do you need company?

she snorted softly, eyes rolling once toward the pale sky as he drew alongside her. iron princess — honestly. men and their names.

ippiksaut, she corrected, flat and immediate, bumping his shoulder back with little ceremony.

her gaze flicked toward the western slope, already measuring snowdrifts and wind. i’m collecting winter herbs before the frost locks them away. roots, bark, anything the cold hasn’t claimed yet.

a sideways look, sharp but not unkind.

you can come if you keep up.