Ouroboros Spine salumaruk ⇑

oakwood and beamgold, his eyes. she recognized with a slight bobbing of her narrow throat that raimo was more than loyal; he was 

inugiksuk!, the inner spirit laughed teasingly, loudly. kukutux flushed helplessly beneath her alabaster fur and turned her eyes out upon the water. at first she had feared her shy desire, as scattered as summerclouds, had been out of resemblance. her husband had moved carefully and worn a tall frame. raimo did also.

but more than that raimo moved with a silent cunning confidence that reminded kukutux of who her true face had been. lynx, came the whisper of her spirit. do not forget who visited you during the death songs.

was it true? had lynx guided a man of her essence into the path and very village of moonglow? he had helped her to build it. 

in about the span of two moons, sialuk would have her first year. she would no longer be a girl. something in-between. the next year was for teaching. but kukutux herself had been married to the seal hunter early. he had come to stay with she and her people upon the island. they had lived in their own small ulaq near to the house of her mother and father. 

she deserves to know deeper things. the things that are as old as death songs. you must be teacher to all now.

"i wish that children will be born in moonglow when the sun shows her warm face again. the earth changes and gives us all more each span of days." spring, curling vibrant and determined around them even as the snow began to retreat back to the taller mountains from where she had come. as long as she continued to speak, she would not have to explain — "if we continue to honor this land, maybe the spirits will feel respected enough to give us more sons and daughters than mine." there; it tumbled out of her mouth and into the open. she could not look at him. she did not know how to look at him, thudding heart filling her own ears.