Northstar Vale don't you know that i'm trying?

:o

she argued with herself that it was untrue. how had she come to be mated if she did not like men? because he paid your father's bride-price. because you knew him first as a kind boy, then as a kind man.

kukutux' brow knitted; she would have sought more discourse with herself had not the elegant voice of the before-woman rang out. the girl looked up, a strange burn attending her cheeks beneath the short pale fur. 

the first words she had not understood; the second she would rather not answer. but the duck was mannerly; she paused and gave kalika a respectful look. "i am working this hide into leather, for puppies to chew. i must stretch it now." 

this close, the colour of kalika's eyes seemed to swell, seemed to engulf kukutux. she dropped her own gaze soon thereafter.