Haunted Wood Home is Where the Heart Is

She appraises him as if she is a bear and he is an easy snack. Kigipigak does not know if he appreciates the scrutiny as it lingers, feeling more and more as if his mother is standing before him and full of rage at something he has done. This stranger is younger than that by far; she is cautious but not afraid of him, which is unnerving in its own right. Perhaps she is a traveler like himself and has been separated from her tribe. Would he become like this one day? Is this what sits in wait for him down the road?

The girl names herself and Kigipigak's thoughts are confirmed. He does not know any family beyond his own. Rache is not a name he is familiar with—though the common word, conquest, he has learned. Odd that it be a name, he thinks.

I seek my people in this new place. Kigipigak answers swiftly, not sure of what else to say. He does not know if trust can come between him and an outsider, which she is. Or a new friend. That is a slim offering but he extends it all the same. Kigipigak has no one at this point in his journey and it is not a state he wishes to remain within.