Qeya River bear tooth

"they will be," his moonweave teeth promised, a glinting grin. his shoulders rolled. "make him stay. you brought him to this land of the river. he is yours." how casually he said it! and yet she had come to know harder ways of being. he did not need to pretend with her.

"we will go. we will come back. when i came this way with my wife, we walked after the caribou through the forests of bracken. then we came out onto the taiga. we will come back to the river and make winter camps between here and the trees again," he decided, tongue stealing as if he could taste the snow, the ice, and the outside winds scouring an eager face.