Ouroboros Spine auma ↝

there was no small use of empty words that could hide the great rift that had opened around them with the destruction of moonspear, the way that ruin had also come to the firefly glen. kukutux could not keep the knowing sorrow from her jadestone eyes; antares struggled before her very eyes to hold himself together, to not come unstitched. it was more than bruises and sickness that bound him in moonglow; it was moonspear, shouting from beyond the grave.

an involuntary shiver touched the woman's shoulders. kukutux wished to offer him a home in her land, a position. but the ostrega-man would only demurely accept, polite even as he sank beneath the stricken pain of such a great loss. the boy's aunt was silent a time, and then lifted her own gaze in the direction of the glacier. "i have seen marks of hooves in the snow and in the mud. i do not know the name of this form," she said, for she had forgotten the common word 'elk.' perhaps the prospect of a hunt might cheer antares, something to consider while he healed.