Ouroboros Spine salummaun ¤

When he returned to the empty ulaq Kigipigak saw that they had done away with the two largest pieces of pelt. There were smaller pieces scattered across the escarpment, some would-be toys for the children that looked purposefully cracked (and not by their teeth, as they were still too young for them). Kigipigak tended to the toys. He gathered them in to their own pile and then, one by one, took them to another place. It was different from where the skins were put to rest in the dirt; he found a knoll with loose, gravel rich soil and took his time to plant each of the toys like separate seeds in a row.

He looked back, then began to move again, and came to where Lote lingered over broken bones. Kigipigak was not comfortable with stooping to look deep within the ulaq (he had never slept within one except during his recovery, they were eerie to him, as any hospital patient might be avoidant of hospital smell in the days after an accident); he could see something splattered across the walls but could not determine what it was.

More excrement? Such desecration to a once-shared space.

Most of the objects had been removed by now, leaving a stained earth and ruined interior, but there was nothing that Kigipigak could do about that. He stood watch over the doorway while Lote took her time, wondering if she would speak, or if he should perhaps leave her to tend the rest.