Qeya River sparrow's sorrow

a soft reminder: that he still has learning and growing to do. but that would come in the coming days, weeks, months — though he hopes fiercely that his father is not gone for months and months on end. but, a soft prickle of unease at the foreboding question of what he was does not entirely let kivaluk float blissfully in that assumption.

as the oldest, he tells himself that he has to prepare himself for the possibility all the same.

the backbone, he repeats quietly; the irony of her words not entirely lost to him. it was his name, after all. he had chosen wisely, he thinks with a touch of amusement ...though it had largely been his own impulse that had encouraged him to make that selection that day. on another day perhaps his choice would have been different.

but perhaps not.

i will work on my hunting skills. choosing skills that he wished to pursue officially still felt like a monumental decision he wasn't ready to make yet ( but likely because he has yet to realize that he can switch them anytime he wishes to ). mama, he begins, almost hesitantly, after a moment of silence as he contemplates and tries to process everything.

it's a lot. more than he'll be able to come to terms with in a handful of hours. days, even. with papa gone ...will you ask someone to help you lead? for her and papa had shared the responsibility, in a way ...or this was how kivaluk had came to understand it, mostly through his own observation.