Ouroboros Spine mundr

kukutux too had not expected the north-man to return so swiftly. weeks must be commanded — but his power showed itself now in the swiftness

they were formidable, this katvaktuk and the man at his side. kukutux did not need to glance at what the forneskja wolves carried, for she scented the rich oil of seal meat, the muskiness of otterskin, the heavy reek of foxes.

for a moment, her eyes were only for aiolos; she saw him always as he had been.

her own kaiyuktuk.

once she had meant to bring him the name of a woman. once they had thought to marry sialuk with his son huojin. each time had sedna interceded, and once with violence.

an elven wisp of a forceful woman had sent her to the first moonspear, the village of the ostregas. the blackfox had married her. kukutux had not disliked her husband. but it was aiolos who first spoke of love to her, guarded her from the sea winds upon the high plateau with an unconscious grace.

and it was her sun man who had loved her through the pain of a sundering loss.

her smile! glowing for him, before she turned toward the man who had not come to her after all.

he had not sought the vision.

"i welcome you in your triumph, sólhárr," the duck chose to say. "my husband speaks in rightness. you must rest. i will bring healing."

he had not come, but the ram had given himself all the same.

greenstone eyes beckoned the forneskja hunters to her side. only some steps before they would be unburdened, their gifts spread at the hearth of callyope's mother and father.

the ram gave himself. she held her peace, ducking into the ulaq to bring several plants which at once she began to strip and crush with worn molars into a soft green paste.