Ghost Lion Crag tunilaaga ♢

what did he mean by this? kukutux fell into one of her thoughtful silences, glancing at him in the practiced way of her clan: sideways with a submissive dip of her muzzle. perhaps he meant to chide her, though that thought was dismissed. he had seemed ... admiring? of her? but he was hunter. he had been born hunter. 

aatalinugiksuk, the inner spirit remarked cheekily, and kukutux flushed to the sensitive inner ear. piluktuk! she thought immediately after, frightened that she had broken some taboo of marriage yet not known to her. "women do not hunt like men. therefore, i must be unlike a man, or unlike a woman." 

the duck softened her features to show she was only teasing, and then looked ahead of them at a tree hanging over an incline. but this time she did not speak, wondering as always if she had said too much. however, determined not to allow the silence too large a swell, she took a breath. "do you want to know the name i gave to you in my head the night i was traded to moonspear?"