Snowforest Taiga black blood

He roused.

In any other moment Sulukinak would be glad for it. She was glad, but it was a bittersweet kind of joy that settled across her as she beheld the tattered chieftain. Accustomed to being aware because of her eavesdropping, to be stagnant here invited surprises—and she was not sure exactly what was being said around the camp, or by who, or how truthful it might be; so while Sulukinak was indeed pleased that her uncle had not yet succumbed to his injuries, she could not trust herself to speak, and could not answer his questions.

There had been a brief visit by his wife, before he was moved. There had been the appointment of Nagruk to War Chief; this he knew, as it was Sun Eater who had decreed such. The stoking of someone's greater rage now threatened the cache, with no voice louder than that of his woman. Should she tell him? She could not confirm it to be true; Sulukinak would not venture out of hiding from this place, not for anything.

In the language he had shared, of himself and of her father's people that she had so wholly become, Sulukinak answered: They call for your head. War Woman, she says to me, 'take me to the glacier,' because I know it. But if she goes there, she is not here. And then what? The hunters of Saatsine go charging in to war, leaving their chieftain and his children behind? It made no sense.

Your woman calls for war, that is what she had said when his body had been found—but he perhaps did not remember on account of being mostly dead. The corners of Sulukinak's lips twitch as if to smile, and with a tremble she holds herself firmly blank-faced. Why would she do that?