The Heartwood inuusik ✾

was this where she had met the spirit? kukutux remembered how she had begun to speak with ghosts upon the mouth of the sea. that was in the months after she had left cry, and felt her form suffused with a power to which she had not returned. it had been too frightening, too masculine. kukutux had feared it would anger the spirits.

still, the memories remained. she took a step, then as the weight of a gaze settled upon her, turned springmint stare in that direction. she had grown accustomed to the boundless masculinity of the ostregra brothers, and so did not expect the tread of a strange man.

a flinted tuungak, watching her with giltcoin eyes and an open curiosity. 

kukutux dipped her shy muzzle politely. "i greet you," she called across the small distance, wanting to be mannerly despite her retiring ways.