Moonsong Glacier Snowdrops

The panther caught her in his embrace, his own heart suddenly pounding. There was a fizzling sense of dissonance he was too distracted to examine — but he had not expected her to be so wholeheartedly in agreement.

Me? a small voice asked, somewhere in the back of his mind. Are you sure?

He held tight, hardly daring to breathe lest he break this moment. How could it last? It couldn't be so simple, could it? Was there some trick around the corner? Oh, not one laid by Simbelmyne! He knew her heart to be true and kind. But one laid by the universe, which always seemed to laugh at the expense of others.

"If you will be happy, I will," he said, "If you will be happy — with the seal hunters. Chakliux, and his wives, and their children. With Sulukinak."

He drew back enough to search her face again, hope held back through great effort, like a mustang pulling at the end of a lead.

"If this is what you want, I will give it to you," he told her. "And there will be babies, and kisses, and laughter — in excess, all the days of our lives."

He wanted very badly to give her these things — but he could not help thinking of his mother. She would not have been charmed by the life he offered to Simbelmyne. His mother had never shown interest in anything men had to offer her, and he knew it was because of his father, whose blood ran through his veins. Would he be good enough for Simbelmyne?