Moonspear kipigniugun ⚭

his step came now too, a tread which kukutux dizzily met with her own, until they stood just before one another. and still after all that had gone on, she did not expect his answer.

eyes closed; she drew a shaking breath, and when she leveled her springjade gaze upon jarilo again, it was blurred with tears, saltwater relief unfurling beneath her eyelids. upon a threshold she stood, and kukutux steadied herself upon the sincerity of jarilo's eyes.

"i am your wife," the duck ventured with a nod, dry-mouthed, nerves fraying. out of them all, jarilo had been the only one to know her before this night of odd perfumes and the clawing hunger of her own body.

there remained the matter of their matriarch and her mate, who must give their blessing to this union. kukutux drew a breath, clawed toes gripping the earth as she reeled in disbelief, a shiver nestling into the base of her spine.

a swallow; a shift of weight. she reached to jarilo tentatively, silently seeking the reassurance of his touch to safeguard her against the biting lap of fire. a husband. a wife. kukutux could scarcely believe it had come to pass, not yet realizing the dawn of it even as she beheld his thoughtful verdant gaze and waited for his own words to arrive.

did jarilo truly wish this, or was he only moved by her as men would be? kuktutux could not think of that now, shuttering her own stare for a long moment of fighting for control