Ouroboros Spine bewitched, bothered and bewildered

He returned to the ring of mountains following his search, having found little but the scent of creatures buried deep below the snow and rubble on the mountainside. There was nothing definitive about what he'd smelled- simply that it was organic matter, buried low beneath the avalanche. Those who had fallen to the mountain's shift would be buried at least until Spring, he figured- and even then, some of them might never be seen again if they were crushed beneath the shifted earth. 

Sialuk had promised him a meal, but he brought with him the remaining portion of the mountain goat's haunch, rather than coming back to her with no good news to trade for the offer she'd made him. The sun had begun t set over the mountains beyond them, to the West, but he picked Sialuk out against the snowy landscape easily enough and headed toward her. He felt a heavy ache in his chest, knowing she might have hoped to see him come, followed by one of her former packmates. 

He set the gnawed haunch down in the snow before him, and caught sight of the meal she had promised him. "I did not find your family," He said in a low, quiet tone. "It would feel wrong to take something from you as you grieve. I brought this- for you and Kukutux."