Ouroboros Spine pharmaka

and so he spoke. kukutux found she had not prepared for the sound of it: unused and youthful, redrust at the edge of the tone. as if he did not speak often. he had not needed to make a word so far.

she watched him eat more slowly, a mother's pleasure lighting her jadestone eyes in spite of the situation. there it was again: the passing sensation of familiarity. perhaps his spirit had walked this earth before. perhaps it had come back to be born into this child's body.

"i will call you nuak until you have chosen your name. it means you are the son of my brother. it means i will feed you as kin."

the duck did not know how true the word was; she said it with no perception of the blood that ran in the wildman's being.

"i am kukutux. this is moonglow." she could not remember if she had said her name before, and turned to rummage within the ulaq. reemerging with a worn russet foxfur, she dropped it lightly into the expanse between she and her newfound nephew. 

"use this, when you make your sleeping place." the duck studied him a span of heartbeats, then dropped her eyes and moved back until she felt he would experience safety once more, or something that resembled it.