Moonspear [m] fear, itself

Sialuk listened in earnest to his story, one which was so rich, Sialuk felt as though her own arm burned with the marks as he explained how his mother had pushed the shell into his wounds. The tradition fascinated her, though they had no seals here for his sons to carry on this rite of passage. She knew now why he would move to Moontide, back to the ocean that was no doubt calling him, just as Moonspear had never stopped calling to her throughout her life.

And what rite does a woman perform when she finds that she is no longer a girl? she asked. Perhaps it was the same as the one Chakliux had endured, but this was not always the way. She wondered also what rites her own children would march into as they moved to adulthood. This was many months away, and yet she wondered... perhaps the bones would show her what tasks they would need to accomplish before they could be known as men and women.