Firestone Hot Springs Typhoid and swans

As much as she yearned to hate the woman and rail against her, Jinx could not hold Nanuq's faith in question. She had blindly put her trust in Sos twice, and her faith had led her away from her home both times. Though she claimed to be devout, she questioned her Gods at times, and at other times behaved as though she was above their influence. The mambo in her knew better than that, and revered the Gods earnestly, but the Kesuk in her sported arrogance above all else. She was much changed from when Nanuq had last known her.

Of Echo Cove, she knew very little. What stories she had been told were of victories and glory, but there was little in her memory to recall about it. Specifically, she knew it was a northern shore, and primitive in its ways. Jinx chose not to comment on Echo Cove's supposed importance, if only because it wasn't her birthplace. She knew in her heart she would have done the same for Shearwater Bay, but would never admit it to those nearest her.

The hissing of the pools seemed to have stifled itself. She wasn't sure if it was because the rain was slowing or because her heart pounded in her ears when Nanuq admitted she had thought the pale daughter would lead. "I did," she responded brusquely. "We both did. Nutaaq said it was the Gods' decree," here she paused to rub her teeth over her lip with a frown, "but the Gods must not have realized there was only room for one. We did not agree on anything. Sos showed me the Bay in flames with Kaskae at my throat, so I left before He and Atka had the chance to make that reality.

I hold my own land now," she finished with a hard stare, as if daring Nanuq to comment on Jinx's leaving the Bay for reasons only she considered divine. For a little while longer, mother and daughter talked, but Jinx was still tense for all of it. There were some things that just couldn't be forgiven, even if the Gods had made them so. Abandonment of Nanuq's children without a word was just one of those things. Nevertheless she invited her mother to the mountain if Atka sought to take her there, then took her leave of the burly Kesuk matriarch, being no longer interested in the ghost rock's properties.