Moonspear [m] fear, itself

the seal hunter had settled into a rhythm. he woke. he sent his prayer to the oil father. he hunted, each day, even if his jaws were not blessed. chakliux mended what spring-rain had damaged of his lodgefront, utilizing the skill he had showed tullik.
after all, if she chose him, perhaps she might want this lodge. it bittered the man that nasamik had not wanted to stay. this was their home, where their children were buried. but he loved her, and as first wife, she had first choice of where they laid their heads.
so he would join them, eager to see her, to see raiyuk. to see stingray, and to perhaps divide his time between plateau and mountain.
but the rainstar's voice drove all things from his mind, for chakliux rose slowly, dry-mouthed, and knew the call.
he was quietly swift, choosing an old deer-path that wended its way to her ulaq, and there he found her, bright as the paling base of a flame, her eyes lit, her shelter filled with the urgency of spring. "star woman," chakliux growled, dropping lithely down to frame himself in the entrance.