Duck Lake doublemeat palace

Sialuk found herself far, far away from the spear for the first time in a long time. @Treepie was old enough now to be on her own, her other children had gone, and she felt less tied down than she had in a very, very long time. For so long, she had tied herself to others, but she thought, come spring, she would not do the same.

That was not to say that she would not follow her instincts, as she had every year before... but she would distance herself emotionally from those who would bed her. She would guard her heart against them, building walls so she might not feel the acute pain of their departure. Moonspear was always meant to be a village that would raise its children no matter their mother or father, and when the snow began to melt and her time came, Sialuk would not let herself fall in love again.

She sat at the edge of the lake in the late afternoon as she made this decision, watching the small waves crash upon the shore. Soon, it would be frozen over, a solid mass that would no longer bend to the will of the wind.