Bitterroot Valley uuman ∾

They traveled south from Kildeer Rest, and Sialuk did not balk at the invitation to do so. It was not the spine, but she knew they would go back. When the ice-ulaq melted, they would go back. She had told Towhee as much, and Sialuk would not be made a liar.

The hide across her shoulders still felt heavy, even though it did not weigh her down. She knew what this walk was truly for. Of all the wolves of Moonglow, Sialuk knew Kukutux the most. Perhaps not the longest, as Aiolos had been her friend since before she had taken her first breath, but Sialuk had spent more time with the duck than anyone else. It was a point of pride.

She knew this question from anaa would not, could not go unanswered forever.

The spine is home, she said. When the snow melts, we return, but my spirit is there now. Being away from it is being away from myself.

There were other things, but that was the first.