Duskfire Glacier itkaktuk ⨢

she shook her head. "kigipigak, my kinsman. he has killed and bled many. he is stained with blood each day. and yet it seems he is only stronger." kukutux smiled softly, turning her eyes downcast in the old deference to issoratuyok's status as man.

man. hunter. leader. but before this, a man deserved respect for he might be these things. moonwoman's breath hitched audibly as the face of her lost son entered her mind. did the blackfox teach him in sedna's hunting grounds? surely they were together. surely her moon-hunter boy did not run alone beyond the dancing lights.

kukutux realized she was in direct danger of weeping. she was glad her face was still turned away. her throat bobbed with a swallow and then the duck turned back to the duskfire leader, composed once more. 

why does this place make me think of my son?

granddaughter. this is the place and the time when he would have become a man.

tooteega's voice was calm. 

this journey takes the young and eager boys and turns them into men with skill.

it was so different in that circle.

kukutux had been silent far too long.

"i ask for you to forgive," she murmured sheepishly. "it is my first winter hunting since i made a path away from the village and the land where i was given breath."