Ouroboros Spine It matters not how strait the gait,

And so it was to be. Iqniq had won; but her heat would last more days than this.

In the moment, the flame took the mountain, and together they burned. The brown bear did not move, and in the coming days, loitered closely.

It took two days for him to challenge again, for him to make the same demand. This time, he won, and it all went much the same. She was had by two men, as it would be in the law of the wild, but Iqniq came again with a vengeance. And for the last time, Kodiak was chased from the land when the battle was won, to not return. Tonravik wondered if he would come to fight again; but the battles in this match were more severe, surely, and in the end, the wolf did not return. There was no doubting either of their prowess.

At the end of it, there was the male that had once spoken of his disinterest in this that in the process had become primal, base, instinctual, Tartok. His future would come of it. And his future was certainly here. There were more days to come, but she had become his, and he, hers.