Ouroboros Spine xlviii. one day, we'll reveal the truth

the duck felt as though her head might swell largely as she lifted it upright. but there was a sisterly calling in her heart, and eventually she found the strength to rise and walk unsteadily along the pathways.

lótë would be mother with her in moonglow this year. kukutux was relieved not to be alone in this. but adrastus had gone, and he had not come back. it had been many, many days, and the icehunter had not returned. she knew that the heart of the cloudberry woman must be sore with pain indeed.

kukutux whispered weakly the name of her sister as she came upon the painter's threshold, the ulaq where sivullik had once rested with his wife. but lótë did not mourn, she saw; she worked, and moonwoman's eyes rested with wistfulness and approval upon the neat clearing, the things kept as though adrastus would suddenly appear between them.

yet her voice was kind as it reached for the cloudberry woman's ears, and she settled as near as the other permitted, breathing only a single sigh of understanding.