Ouroboros Spine There are things in life you learn

Now a thin smile did stretch her lips. Her first impression of him had been one of nervous suspicion, but her second impression, the one she built here and now, had a touch of modesty to it. She thought a more self-important wolf would have immediately said it was deserved, and Sialuk wouldn't have disagreed. She, after all, was a self-important wolf at times, and believed death came to all who asked for it. She also knew that death came to those who didn't; those were the ones whose anirniit were most likely to seek revenge on their survivors. All things had anirniit, and it was safest to say no anirniit deserved to have its corporeal existence snuffed out. Nature battled spirituality in Sialuk when it came to that sort of thing, but often nature won out.

"Well," she said slowly, "if I was talking to you, what would you say?" It should have been obvious—Sialuk couldn't imagine he would kill a wolf without believing it was deserved. No doubt it was a complex matter; had it been simple, black and white, then he wouldn't be sitting there. He would be dead himself, or otherwise removed from the pack... but he wasn't, and that kept the shaman interested.