Ouroboros Spine xxiii. in each others wounds

for a long moment the duck was silent, considering. she was more mended at this time, and while thoughts of the ruined mountain still gnawed at her in quiet nights, she felt perhaps readied, as she had not been before.

"i was traded to moonspear for something i did not understand." but her lips were soft in the telling. "i was brought to him — to moonspear. i had told to my leader i wanted a husband, and she told to me that she would find for me one in another land."

"but when i came to moonspear, she said i was trade for something she had taken from them. they all had the name of ostrega. the first brother said i would not be traded. the second was blackfox and angutik to me. he took me as wife when the fever came to me."

"after i bore the raindrop and the ice-crystal to his hearth, i became more of myself. more mother. later, i said that i would be atsak. in this, blackfox was kind. he stood beside me." a breath now. "i brought with my the ways of my mother. my skins. the drying of meat. the way to be a proper wife. i gave him much happiness."

careful now, lest she stray into memory.

"the star came. the first brother found me. arcturus." a pause. "he brought me to this place. i said i would die here, for i knew my law-sister to be dead. but sialuk found me in this place. blackfox and moon-hunter boy; they did not come down. moonspear is no more. it is a land of graves now. that way," in the direction of the glacier, "the third brother is buried. moonglow is close to these places. we keep my ways and we keep the name of ostrega. i am ostrega, as is sialuk. and zane as well, though he was not so close. we are what is remaining."