Ouroboros Spine There are things in life you learn

Her discussion with Mordecai was brief, but telling. The prime male wasn't from the far reaches of the north like Sialuk herself, but seemed to share the age old territorial nature of their kind. She explained to him that she was an angakkuq, and learned that the Ouroboros Spine was in need of a replacement for their former shaman. Fortunately for both of them, the details of Lecter's twisted craft didn't come to light, for Sialuk considered herself a pure and true example of what a shaman was meant to be.

She'd had a few hours to settle. The extent of this was choosing a suitable place to bed in the coming nights. She chose a clearing in the trees, where the sky peeked through the spires of the conifers and where the stars and aurora, should it appear, would be visible. Sialuk preferentially slept outdoors, and she knew she would do so when the wind drove snow into the bowl-like valley; this area was muggy compared to the dry, frigid tundra.

She had just settled herself on her stomach in the centre of the clearing when the snapping of a twig drew her attention. Sialuk's ears tilted forward as she combed the underbrush with her eyes... but whatever caused the disturbance didn't show itself.