Moonspear xii mikigak

"i am happy to take care of a kinsman." kukutux knew she did not deserve such happiness, not when the trader had died. somehow she felt in violation of her mourning, that her heart should be light. did not he send this man to you? the inner spirit whispered. you have become too boastful and brash. he leads a man of your land to you, so that you may remember your place in this world.

humbled, the duck's downy ears cupped the sigh of kigipigak, and she nodded. "already the long dark would have begun. and the dancing lights would be so beautiful, and would grow deeper and deeper as the winter went on." a place with cold beauty, the earth where they had been born. "what do you dream?"