Snowforest Taiga maugak ⋟

backdated thread @Gjalla

the dawn came thin and gray, light bending through fog and the hush of retreating waves.
kanuux stood before it, breath rising in ribbons from his muzzle, the taste of her still on his tongue — salt, musk, and something darker.

the ground around their bed of reeds was torn, flattened. the night had been teeth and silence, the kind that carried no promise of tenderness. now she slept, her body half-turned to him, fur black as stormwater. even in sleep she looked fierce, a shadow given form. the gash at her throat pulsed faintly beneath its shroud of curls — proof of what she had endured, and what she could inflict.

kanuux did not leave offerings. no seal oil. no strip of pelt. no words. such things were for women of ceremony, not for this one made of rage and frost.

he watched her for a long moment, the scars at his temple burning with the cold. then he turned.