Ouroboros Spine xxiii. in each others wounds

Lótë became enwrapped in the tale as Kukutux wove it, wondering silently with awe if perhaps the matchmaker had not chosen the wrong profession. This was not to say that she was not an exceptional healer or wisewoman to their tribe but as she spoke, the greenpaw felt she was transported back in time to the Land of Many Elms. In her mind's eye, an elder figure -- a wizened woman with rheumy eyes and a loose fold of skin at her underbelly from having borne many children -- flickered, her features having been lovingly painted by one daughter or another, bright with color and life as she regaled their people with fables of their origin. 

The beginning sent a spike of concern through her, hearing how Kukutux had been traded to Moonspear but she was relieved to hear how the raindrop's former pack mates had been kind. How she had found a husband and even herself through her marriage to the man she called blackfox -- a man who took on the face of Antares in her head, older though and somewhat in shadow, only a vague resemblance, as if she could picture him -- and in bringing her customs to her newfound home as she would later do in Moonglow.

When the duck spoke of the mountain's end, the morning dove felt she could sense Kukutux's grief echoing in her chest -- though it could not feel so great as what the Alpha had lost when Moonspear fell. Husband and child, kin and home. Or maybe it was her own, the grief of a girl who had once lost all and been left in the hands of a monster. She could not say for sure.

"Thank you for telling me this." The doe spoke only when Kukutux had fallen silent and seemed to have no more to say, dipping her head in a gesture of gratitude and respect. She felt she understood the woman better and their tribe as a whole too, a newfound pride ringing through her for what she had helped to build. She felt a bond of loyalty forge to the family her Alpha mentioned, to the Ostrega bloodline and the legacy they had founded within Teekon. That Kukutux had continued. Perhaps she was not an Ostrega herself but she was moonwolf all the same now.

"I think your loved ones would be proud of you, Kukutux," she murmured softly, carefully. "You have honored them well by continuing to live and thrive. I think they would have wanted you to go on and try to find happiness again."

"We will continue to honor them, all of Moonglow. Moonspear will never be forgotten and the Ostregas will live on through you and Sialuk, Zane and your kin. Even by us, even if we don't bear your surname," she promised with a small smile, hoping it might comfort the northron even a little. Her children would be raised alongside Kukutux's, Sialuk was to train to bring them into this world. It went without saying that Adrastus was unfalteringly loyal to the Moon and Star of the village. Her family would be entangled with Kukutux's for as long as both stood.