Moonsong Glacier kasuutiruk ‡

once more, arcturus had unwittingly -- or perhaps wittingly so -- wounded the duck. he watched as her expression changed, in the way a sunlit dale would go from bright green to cheerless grey under cloud cover. he had been the genesis of said emotions. he did not know whether to laugh or sob -- either way, each emotion came with its own bitter shard pressed to his heart.

were all relationships so rocky? he felt the entire ground was laced with invisible ice; one treacherous step, and he was swept away out of his control.

how was he to navigate her thorny heart, when half the time there were hidden pitfalls and wicked briars just waiting to snare him?

she straightened her willowy spine, her body gone from supple to cold. arcturus did not move as she made to leave. if that was her choice, he would let her pass.

arcturus had no response for the finality in which kukutux delivered her last words. if that was how she wished for their life to go, that was how it would be.

the mountaineer swallowed the rough lump which clawed at his throat. he did not understand what had just transpired, and thus remained rocked to stupefied silence as kukutux faded away.