Ouroboros Spine In from the snow

The voices of Ariadne's parents lifted and twinned towards them, and Kaluktuk saw in Ariadne a nervousness he did not share; he was proud of them, and expectant, and perhaps arrogant enough in the moment to think things would go well. Soon the moonwoman and sunman had descended to meet them — and there was another, Vaire, drifting close and observant. Kaluktuk did not speak; he ceded the moment to Ariadne as she was welcomed by her mother, then with words and an embrace from her father.

There was a pause, and Kaluktuk chose to speak. We have come to discuss a bride-price. That much would have been obvious by the scents they carried, and by the meeting Kaluktuk had with Kukutux days ago. Speaking it to life now, where others might hear, gave Kaluktuk strength. He continued, We have been courting, and as a show of commitment to Ariadne as well as village Moonsong, I have shed the trader's name I carried. She has chosen to call me Kaluktuk. It is he who greets you now. He hoped this would be one step in a direction they both approved of; but then, he did not entirely put stock in to their approval. In the ways of his own people, Ariadne had made her choice and there was finality to that. This, he did not say.

The name itself held alterior motives as well. The meaning implied that he made Ariadne very happy, and that he was happy as well, and together they might fill Moonsong with such a feeling. It was the abandonment of his grief and his pain in favor of something new and good; it was proof he chose now to settle, to be husband, to be rooted in this place.

Kaluktuk looked to Moonwoman as he said these things, implying much; he looked to Sunman too, growing stern and serious, for this was a serious matter. They could refer to him in any way they wished — but he had to make it known that this was who he chose to be, now. He would be a good husband to their daughter, and when they told him of the bride-price he would further prove it. His eye tried to discern if there was approval or revulsion from either of them, as he waited.