Ravensblood Forest ketos

takkiruk did not take the fish. kukutux felt as if she could sense his hunger, and her heart ached for him. her mind wondered what he might have suffered in his short life. then thoughts of the young one she had lost to the mountain, and for a moment her expression hung glasslike and fractured.

"this woman wonders why this boy is frightened. she is only a mother, only anaa." a whisperwind voice, and she did not look his way, seeking the formal and polite engagement. kukutux stood then, slowly, and then her jadeite stare tipped slowly toward the child. a curve to her lips, careful flick to the end of her whitespun plume, ears smoothed back to reveal the earnestness of her brow.

a glance to the fish nestled in the skin, and then moonwoman was floating into the treeline. "there was a stream, when she came through these trees. she will be there." 

perhaps he was a spirit. her mind shuddered, flesh beading beneath the ivoried pelt. she did not think so. spirits did not have mouths wet with hunger for meat. ears slanted backward, kuktutux listened for him, steps slow and unhurried beneath the gradient of shadow.