Moonsong Glacier aatkatik [m]

this was culture, this was the building of it. kigipigak had gone away after his failure and he had not kept the ways of his people for his son. now kivaluk married outside even the north, and kukutux raised her support, for she knew she could encourage chickadee to take many of their ways.

it was why she was mothermoon now, moonglow the hearth for daughters' success.

quietly she did think of kilgitsuk's future. he had called out for his sons, he was contrite. even now she felt the heaviness of his silence behind she and ariadne.

perhaps he too should have names gathered for him. kivaluk would become a father and his mind would turn to his own children. he would not be so jealous as a boy might; new siblings to sivullik would be no threat to the status he had been granted and the status he had maintained.

and then would tartok join the sunshine people, the seal hunters, and the moonspear shamans as its own strength.

ariadne asked two things. kukutux answered the last. "they will have a marriage made, yes. before she grows with children. he has gone to brecheliant, to offer his hunting to her mother and father." it pleased her that there was the surety of children in moonglow once more. now in silence between she and sun man was a new dread for the tribulation of childbirth. kukutux was aged. the risk was greater. inutsuk had been long absent from the hearth of his wife; ajei grew toward womanhood. she did not know if shikoba would bear children again.

but vaire and chickadee, they were young. in them, moonglow grew forward.

and to the second; "before you become atsak, you must become anaa. before you become anaa, you must be wife. and before you are wife, ariadne, i have the wish for you to know love." she reached to touch the soft cheek with its dewy glow of youth. but though she felt the ache in her own bones, the wearing of her teeth, the greater effort each day's work demanded, moonwoman saw herself reflected back and was satisfied. "you will build a great village here. the time will pass. and one day, you will see a man without a wife and a woman without a husband, and aya, you will know."