Ocean's Breath Plateau how long do you want to be loved?

It was hard to see more go. Rodyn had been right—their numbers in the village Moontide now dwindled, and there was no reason to migrate, no way to sustain it.

When Dutch came seeking him at his father's lodge, Raiyuk found himself filling with an unexpected rage—but he swallowed it, and he listened, and he learned the way to Round Valley. He looked from brother to brother to uncle. A part of him wished that Dutch would swoop in and take the boys so that they would have the stability of someone familiar in their lives—a bigger part wanted to deny them the choice, even if it would be more work for Raiyuk. He could not lose more family. Dutch was family, though. He was beloved by their father.

The man left to seek out their chieftain. Raiyuk returned the two boys to the lodge, which he had been trying to organize in the days following their father's departure, and saw that they did not want for anything. When the time came for the departure of Dutch and his family the offer to see them go was presented, and whether Sea Hunter or Chagak wished to say their final farewells or not, Raiyuk would go and he would watch them depart, too. He tried to imagine Chakliux in the shifting winter light; perhaps he had forged a path for them to follow.

In the emptiness after Raiyuk walked the seaside with new mourning.