Kildeer Rest otter boy

he nearly jumped from his skin when a voice arose behind him. his head shot to look over his shoulder, rabbit still firmly clutched. legs as dark as the midnight sky led to an angular, beautiful face. the woman’s eyes like stars. but ghelan frowned, and sunk in the snow. 

he understood for a moment why father chose a woman outside of the hunters, but it dawned on him then — when the woman stood so close — that she was the perfect opposite of aaka. perhaps his decision in bride had nothing to do with her beauty.

she spoke in a tongue he took a moment to piece together. he’d gathered some understanding of it from moontide, the smatterings of conversations the other saatsine hunters have had, and from father’s conversations with them. but never did he have to speak it. never, until now.

setting aside the rabbit finally, he deliberates. mmn.. thank he mumbled, his eyes never meeting hers. instead he watches the herd, even as he could feel her eyes digging into his skull like an icicle.