Ouroboros Spine All I have to do is breathe

You left anyway. The girl's eyes, so much like her mother's, watched him. It felt as if he were speaking with Kukutux somehow; but the girl was only a child and could not know everything. Still, what she said struck at something deep within Kigipigak.

She vouched for the young man's sisters. The pair who had sought freedom by banishment, losing the chance to become true Tartok the way he had. No; there was only the one way, the Tartok way, and this child did not know anything.

Kigipigak took refuge within the framework that had aided him throughout his life: the tenacity of the Tartok spirit, the loyalty that had been bred and trained in to him, the way of the warrior that he had assumed with the downfall of his unfit father. He smiled.

I left with the blessing of my mother, and I may return one day. I would be welcome. They would feast in my honor. My sisters would be turned away with tooth and claw if they dared to try. But even as he said this, Kigipigak saw through it. He had his doubts long ago; those doubts had resurfaced after Greymoor Watch, and now found strength within the ignorance of the child.

It is very late. You will not see many stars with these clouds — perhaps it is time to find your bed?