Ouroboros Spine salumaruk ⇑

kukutux felt her heart calming beneath a rush of unfamiliar sensation. the way that raimo looked upon her, as if she were an injured deer in the snow, forced her to bite back a shiver. she did not like it.

he was not the only one beneath consideration. in forcing herself to think in plain words upon her situation, three names were given. it felt as though raimo had decided this already for himself. "i am not ready for a husband." there was no shame in such an arrangement. she was a widow who was young. he was chief among hunters. but only her husband might be leader among she and sialuk, and kukutux was unwilling to elevate raimo so soon to that.

a test. he would be father. everyone would know that the duck's nestlings were of his spirit, born beneath her own ulaq. independence of a husband was the right she could now claim, and fatherhood had never been tied to such. raimo had not been firsthunter for many moons. a man could come along who might test him. then her children might not have the status she had meant to give them.

kukutux suddenly wished that she had said nothing; for the way the lynx-man looked upon her; for the way that it made her skin sweep with heat and a low answering pull began in her stomach. "i will not decide now." a barter. it was truth. but perhaps she was willing to be beholden to raimo for longer. however the truth of what he had said was not denied in her wisdom. he would give moonglow strong children.

"besides," and she charged ahead without thinking, mind spinning in a thousand directions, "i will not be able to come to anyone's sleeping place for another moon." crude —! more than she had ever said, and kukutux was consumed by shock at her own ribaldness.

"i mean also to say," a breath, a sideway glint of greenstone toward the shadowhunter, "that as first, as sivullik, you may claim the right to take a wife. any childen born to your ulaq will have your status." heart still galloping like caribou, for as the silence deepened, kukutux wished in wild shame that raimo might reach out to touch her.