Totoka River odobenus

She had run until she could see the sun again. The seemingly-endless night of the north had gone away, and with it her brothers—and so she was alone in her seeking, running now at a trot while her muscles ached and her lungs burned. When Sulukinak's path cut through grass and came to rest along a shore line, she felt her legs give out utterly.

For a while she lay there, exposed. The river rushing by, but out of reach. Her heart still hammering. It had not yet sunk in for Sulukinak that she could not go home.