Ouroboros Spine All I have to do is breathe

What the child said next was something Kigipigak had thought before when the lesson was new, and had forgotten by the time he had to face the old man.

It had been replaced by the great desire to garner the praise of his mother regardless of action or consequence. The thrill of the fight. The pride that came after the conquest of someone more skilled while he was barely out of boyhood.

This question the child posed made Kigipigak breathe deeply. He was quick to judge the comment as superfluous; what did she know? She was from this careful, soft world removed from the warmongering of men, or the powerful nature of the issumatar.

He was old but strong, having known many battles and many more hunts than myself. In defeating him I proved my own strength. His pride remained, although doubt had festered long before this, and Kigipigak swallowed what little aroused now. If I could not have done it, I would have been made to leave. In my village it is the word of the issumatar that is final — like your mother's. She is the head of your village, the issumatar was the head of mine.

This too was a lesson, he realized. This difference shining for Samani to see and to digest.

I was told, 'This man cannot hunt! You, together with your sisters, will fight him until his last breath!' But when the time came, my sisters said no, and were sent away. They had disgraced themselves. They were unfit for Tartok. Kigipigak looked more serious now and his smile had faded. I fought alone, and won alone. This scar upon my face is a reminder of that. That is how my name became Kigipigak.

Was this a word that Samani would know? It was their shared tongue; but it was a hard word, and maybe it did not fit in to her world yet.