Ouroboros Spine imnaik ⩅

women's circle meeting!

@Shikoba (assuming she'd be back from her vision search! <3) @Samani @Callyope @Sakhmet @Kausiut @Bahiti (this is a Vairë tag srry;;) @Tulukiri @Skeetch @Nasamik, PPing ariadne & assuming everyone is present unless told otherwise! as before, no men or boys allowed :3

"hear my words."

they sat before her beneath the three sisters, a trio of great oaks which stood in a field not yet ripened with its purple flowers. the open of their meeting had been a full-throated call from kukutux, followed by a warning for men not to follow.

these things were not for their ears.

now she looked at each in turn, those established as mothers, those who would be, and those not yet ready but waiting.

"i have met many men in the forests around moonglow. if they stay in this place, they will want wives. if you do not intend to be a wife, when your time comes, stay here as nasamik has done." to the young northerner she gave a cluster of pine-blooms, denoting her as having come to this threshold again, eligible to be wife, older than those who were not yet ready but too, not a wife or a mother.

to samani she looked now, and then to kausiut, and then to vairë, and lastly to tulukiri. "if mother tooteega gives us her blessing again, then you too will join shikoba, sakhmet, and moonwoman in the sacred time that makes anaaq." her eyes lingered on her walrus hunter child, meaning to tell kausiut that this was not a path she must take. of these four neither kau nor tulukiri had spoken of a husband and kukutux saw it would be their choice.

to each of these girls did kukutux give a smooth oval of polished antler. "these are your womanhood talismans. when your time has come, you will give blood to these objects. you will keep them close. their power is tied to your spirit."

nasamik was old enough to have made her own womanhood talismans, but kukutux favoured her with a warm look. this may not be the way of her people. and in such personal places moonwoman did not mean to pry.

"only the mother and sedna give children." the duck glanced toward skeetch, callyope, and ariadne. this would not be their time, unless she had misjudged the age of the vibrating young she-wolf with the dark fur. she handed each a single stalk of the wild sedge which grows beside the lake early. "and they give you this time to decide if you will be mother or if you will seek other things."

spirit-talker. trader. warrior.

now moonwoman's green eyes looked at all of them. "if there are any questions upon the secrets of being a woman, ask now. the star-hunter and sakhmet and myself, we will give you answers."