Moonspear dew on the grass

Sialuk watched as Seal's posture seemed to melt from tension to calm, and she knew that Meerkat's daughter was well-suited to follow in her footsteps. Seal seemed to be attuned to the beyond in the same way that Sialuk always had been, and the starwoman delighted in the thought of having an apprentice to work with. The news that the young girl wished also to learn of medicine made her smile.

You will come often to my ulaq, Sialuk said. I will teach you the ways anna taught me, and ways I have learned my own. Tell your mother and father of this, too. They will be glad to hear their daughter has a bright path ahead. Sialuk reached her neck out to give Seal a motherly peck on the cheek, then stood back a moment and admired how much she had grown in these past few months. She had taken a traumatic experience and turned it into something that blossomed only goodness. This was not an easy task.

Long days and pleasant nights, child. I must return to the children. To her lovers, to her home, to the nephews who were only visitors here.