Ouroboros Spine Wading it out

she was silent.

"his wife, lótë. she grieves. she has made his spirit part of the children she carries, and she is full of sorrow." not quite an answer to what aiolos had asked, but she only thought of her sister now, and of how long the man had been gone. his loyalty to moonglow, eternal.

"i do not know."

kukutux heard the low weakness in her own voice, drawing a breath and placing herself more firmly against the sun man, steadying her shaking limbs upon how unwavering his strength had always been. "but this village has need of sivullik now. and zane, he does not want it."

zane, whom had been second for so long, now would not take up the proper mantle.

she felt a pang of bitterness; it smoothed, for they had always known the want of the other, and worked even beyond that. zane was honest. it was the one quality he had managed to sharpen. surely her illness was making her more uncharitable than ever before, and kukutux sought to quell her whirling thoughts.

"they need a hunter. i need a husband," voice; brazen suddenly, clear after all the days of faintness and silence. "it is not right that i make you sivullik after," gesturing to the soft-swelling roundness of her flanks. "i make a path for you to be siqiniq instead, if it is your want, aiolos."