Ouroboros Spine anittaima ◬

the smile remained, though kukutux allowed it to fade in respect for him. this was the way of things: a barter was a barter, even in the way of bride-prices. he was good to resist, to speak his mind; it showed more than the impossible pelts, the riddle of them she had remembered and given to adrastus. 

kukutux lifted her chin. the glimmer of jade in her gaze met the disappointment in his own, but she meant to reassure him. "if you had said yes to this, you would have chosen to be held back many months. a man who does not wish to be married says "i will wait until winter to have a wife," and then he does not."

a pause. "it is the question of a mother to the man who will marry into her clan. and it is a question for the spirits to hear, and to know the answer of that man."

if he took insult, she would explain further, but his intelligence was a good part of why he had become sivullik. "lótë and i spoke of this. i have already told her to ask you for the thing that she wants. if i was her father, i would ask you instead for otter-skins."

moonwoman moved again in the water. "but i have had much thinking. the lynx fur. it is beautiful, and ready. it smells of the pines in the snow, still. if she wants to be wife and you want to be husband, then in moonglow i will not be father, and demand skins, but mother, and only give her my sister's kiss. the blessing of women. you have already shown her your strength. and to my eyes as well."

it was done, kukutux meant to say. she need only hear it before the eyes of the spirits, the decision from the mouth of them both. and then she would add their marriage-stone to her high altar, where the ancestors might see and given their favour as well to the new union.