Moonsong Glacier pittaq ▱

moonwoman nodded, studying his face and feeling the that the cold tension of ariadne's disappearance had sapped the warmth of her usual greeting.

but this was a time of great change, and to know that dutch had not asserted himself as headman intrigued the duck. if he wanted power, here it was. he had not taken it, and to her mind it meant that he did not want it.

"i know no one in this place aside from the girl sulukinak and your own face." pitching her voice to match his, the woman closed her eyes for an anguished moment. "i have no moondaughters to send. my sister, my star hunter, she has offered to come. if she leaves the village then i have the thinking her daughter will not want to be without her."

"firsthunter and new wife will come if they are asked. but chickadee choosing this place to move their ulaq when the daughter is wanted in brecheliant maybe will turn the fat sour between us."

he was not headman. kukutux spoke as if he was, and now she looked into the handsome and sober face. "if this village is to be kept, then you and your people must quickly choose a headman or headwoman. i have made my choosing for this in you, dutch, but only if it is wanted in your mind and spirit. the ice mountain is fierce and strong. it will only bow to a strong leader, one who wishes to be here in its strength." 

there came a quietness, wherein the wind's howl could be heard through the tiny places of the ice caves far above. "firsthunter, kivaluk, was born at the hearth of kigipigak and abandoned at mine. we do not often speak of it, he is son to aiolos and i in all other ways." there was a frostweave tone now to her voice as she gazed along the glacier. "we did not see kigipigak for many, many months." a year? not quite? two years? 

"the next time that moonglow saw him, he was kaluktuk, asking the bride-price for the hearth-sister of the son he left behind." there was anger now; moonwoman sprang to her feet as if she were much younger.

"come. there is a sacred place here in moonsong that existed before its name. it is where the one i now call gray trader is buried. he was born alongside my first husband as brother."

if dutch did not want to be leader, then kukutux would not wish it. but he would know the secrets of this place, the hidden altars. the powers that bound the spirit of gray brother.