Ouroboros Spine Behind every tree is a cutting machine

adrastus asked two things, and kukutux had an answer for only one of them. and so she gathered a comfortable silence around them. there was no trail, no story to which she might refer, where sivullik chose the father of the wisewoman's children. it was accepted that women made their own choice when not married. but this was a different thing. such decisions perhaps, now, were not only hers to make.

as the quiet rolled between moonwoman and snowhunter, kukutux pressed her lips against the body of the lynx, soothed by the brush of the sacred fur against her mouth. "sialuk will follow me as moon," the duck murmured. "my son and yours cannot both be first, but this will be something they will decide between them. if they are raised as brothers in the same village, if they know that they may come to eat at my ulaq, and that the sons of the moon may eat at yours, then when this time has come to moonglow, they will already know. their bond will be one of trust." a small smile. "i cannot decide sivullik, even for my own son. firsthunter hands the name to his own. the hunters speak and feast and discuss. sivullik cannot hold the name without the respect of the others. if he is still first when this moon arrives, that means he has kept his word and his son, too, will be given this respect."

and for the last.

the woman was careful, greenstone eyes lifting briefly just as far as the jawline of adrastus before kukutux smoothed herself into the familiar submissive lines of one who saw a hunter, and meant to honor him. "i had not thought of this." she suspected he did not trust her to choose well again. "i will have last choosing," she spoke gently. "bring me the name of your hunter, and i will choose him, or i will take no one to my sleeping place." foregoing children, establishing sivullik's line.

and yet even as she spoke this, kukutux did not think she would pass the season in this way. she was silent now, pristine ears lifted in interest to know if adrastus had already decided, or if he would do so when they had gathered more.

her mind attempted not to think of raimo.