Ouroboros Spine Behind every tree is a cutting machine

What he'd said had potentially offended her- or it had taken her by surprise, he thought. She seemed to fret momentarily and he wished he could reach out, and tell her simply to be calm. That he was not here to put pressure on her, or push her. She had admitted to him that she was still just learning, and Adrastus, too, was trying to learn her ways. He wondered if there was a slight language barrier, as she clearly spoke another language as well- though it was a mark of her education, intelligent and diligence to hear her speak the common tongue so fluidly, and yet recall, also, the words of her other tongue. 

His features lightened when she spoke of the vision she had had for Moonglow. He felt honoured that she would tell him of this- and was flattered to hear his name spoken. It caused him to have a funny feeling in his chest, when she said the name Lótë, as he thought often for the painter and hunter. She possessed a kind grace that shone through, especially when she took the time to welcome his presence or tolerate his questions about her art, and paint-making. He had indeed taken an interest in her and now, he wondered- perhaps if he had shown a bit of that to Kukutux on the first day the two had a chance to speak to one another. 

What surprised him, then, was that she seemed to indicate that he could be both Sivullik and mate to Lótë. Had her vision occurred to her while he had been on the mountain? This was all quite surprising but at the same time, it was hat he too had considered, though he wouldn't have called it a vision. 

But it would seem that things were perhaps more complicated than what he had imagined, or what he had thought might be best for the pack and for himself. He'd found a way, he thought, to bring peace amongst the men. If he was deemed fit to be Sivalluk, perhaps Raimo wouldn't mind his demotion, particularly, if he was paired still with Kukutux. From what he understood, this might still mean that any children Adrastus sired would be sivullik as well, but he wasn't sure. Not when she drew close to him, adressed him as sivullik, and caused him to bend toward her with her touch. 

He finally received an answer from her, which restored his faith in her as wisewoman. While it had not been considered proper for a wolf to take another into their hearth, and to share their body outside of marriage where Adrastus had come from, it appeared as though Kukutux, by way of being the wisewoman, could choose as she pleased. With her muzzle hovering only so far away from him, he felt a warmth flare in his belly, but he begged it to remain at bay. It was all too tempting to go back on the things he had felt, and simply take everything she offered to him. 

"I have a few questions, that I would like clarification on. They deal with the present, and the future," He said. Surely, she would know the way. He pulled back enough so that he might speak without being tempter by the warmth of her closeness. They spoke now, he thought, as wolves who shared the pack's welfare as their common interest. What she sought to build and grow was something he would guard and nurture as well, but if he was to promise to do this, he would need to understand the pack's ways better. 

"And in the time that passes before you are ready to conceive, you would invite any to your den, as you please. This...Is hard for me to understand as it was not considered...Proper, where I am from. But I have promised to learn your ways," He said. "Perhaps...This explains some of how I felt, when you confessed you had shared your bed with Raimo." After all, it had served, so easily, to cause him to think Kukutux had lowered her own potential value. "But this would end, when your time comes to bear children; then, you would choose me, as is my first right as Sivalluk?" He asked. From what she had stated before, it sounded as though she felt free to dance with whoever she chose- but that he would have the right to sire children by her, above all others she might have dallied with before. 

"But I must also ask...If I sire children by you, this does not mean we are married, correct? And that I might still seek a wife for myself, despite having fathered your children?" He asked. "I...Am just curious to know. If I, as sivullik, could both begin courting and readying my ulaq for a wife, but also be the father of your children." He didn't mind if Raimo had Kukutux if she chose him to suit her needs in the meantime; but he still thought the man was not fit to be a leader, or a father to Kukutux' children. He didn't yearn to father them either- but if it meant keeping Raimo from fathering them, then he would do what he had to.