Duskfire Glacier [m] Tshärr

---

ayovi turned to the foothills and skorpa followed, wintry wind in teeth bared for a smile. a terrible nervousness had come suddenly over the man, a fear that possessed aught to do with their hunt and all to do with the fact he might possibly be a father.

it was not something upon which he had mediated a great deal, but something about the cold day kept him in such cups of musing. such events had never been part of predicted life; he was a northman but also a rogue, and settling had not played a role in any contemplated future.

now it spread before him, this new path. rather than explore it, skorpa leant himself to their hunt; he touched smears of blood among the cold needles, saw blotches of it upon the beaten snow. cloven hooves and a dragging leg. caribou. reindeer.

fatherhood. bearman dragged his mind from that thought and jerked his head toward the wavering larch just ahead, eyes shifting to ayovi.

---