Moonspear you're not a romantic.

Desdemona found a wolf skull in the mountain. She was closer to the outskirts then the peak, but it was no mistake that it was once a canine. She however couldn't tell if it was once a Moonspearian wolf, for the only thing that had been found, was just the skull. It was starting to be covered in nature, as if it been there for some years.. 

A past pack? An intruder once killed? The guard brushed away the vegetation onto it, as she inspected closer. It seemed the rain had made it more visible, but now it laid with a mystery.

strengthened by her many hunts, kukutux today had set herself toward larger prey. though she had no hope of felling a deer alone, the woman looked to the mark upon her shoulder and coursed the woodland after the small herd. falling into a lope, the gamma followed their trail toward the thinnest part of the treeline.

it had not stopped raining. "uggutuk," the young woman muttered to herself, though sharp nares caught a familiar scent, and so she veered from her path. desdemona. a fierce shadow who came and went, and had hydra's blessing. the hard shadow was now bent over something pale in the soaked greensward. kukutux drew closer. "what have you found?"

oop short because im dead in inspiration

"Kukutux." Desdemona have a short nod of greeting. While the two weren't particulary close, there was still recognization. Though she hasn't seen much of the white bird since he marriage with the Ostrega beta, and her children. 

"I found a wolf skull, but it seems old."

<3

scarcely believing what it was desdemona said, kukutux' expression paled and she chanced a nearer step, glancing around the woman's well-muscled shoulder. the yellowed sockets of a wolf looked back, and the duck gave a little cry of shock, darting away.

"aglignaktuk!" kukutux hissed beneath her breath, jadestone eyes boring toward desdemona. "it is a disturbed ancestor! we must feed its spirit and find its bones, or else the ghost will remain in moonspear until it has found a body to take."

She looked at the white woman, a blinked for a moment, "What." The words slipped out, and while didn't mean to simply say it out loud, the deed was done. She didn't believe in Gods of spirits, or ancestors at that matter. If they were real she believed they would be more benevolent, but her life had proven otherwise.

Desdemona didn't know Kukutux was superstitious.

the duck's brow knit. at once she flushed with shame at her outburst, then anger that others lived so ignorantly of the taboos. but that was not the fault of the huntress. "we should respect it," she began again, more softly, though she did not return to the warrior's side. "not good for it to be here in the raindrops."

"I see." Desdemona stopped touching the skull, out of respect for the other, despite not believing so, "then what should we do?" But she didn't mind following whatever Kukutux wanted. It would be nice for a proper burial, whoever the stranger was, but perhaps the one desired some kind of ritual to follow for it.

desdemona was in need of guidance, kukutux believed. she was a strong and capable woman, but even hydra for all her ferocity had brought forth many young. the duck paused. "i will dig a hole here." best to put the skull to rest where it had been found; she shuddered to think it was the exposed bone of jarilo's mother or father.

setting about it immediately, the duck's paws were soon muddied. her delicate muzzle turned back to desdemona, and she wished to ask that the woman bring the skull. but those were not the words that escaped her. "ataurauga," she murmured. "sister. i could teach you much of this if you wish." if you come to my hearth. you have none of your own. a swallow. "are you happy, with no husband?"

She nodded, and went forward with her own paws to help dig. She understood burying the bones, but never really thought it was bad luck if discovering one. Despite being rather confused and skeptical of Kukutux's ways, Desdemona still respected it and simply followed her whims.

Then she paused, not looking at the white wolf, "Yeah." The guard said rather firmly, and continued digging a rather deep hole, "I don't intent to take one, or have kids."

a blink. "why?" any other time, kukutux might have been far less direct, far more polite. but this was not the first time she had been stunned by a statement. there were no men to hear them. she crept closer, refusing to look at the wolf-skull as she trained her worried jade eyes upon desdemona, awaiting the woman's answer.

she was grateful that the huntress had simply not argued over the sacred bones, but now a new sort of trepidation was rising.

"I don't deserve them." She felt it was a simple matter, and reason to end the last season so. It was a rather quick method produced by Hydra, and effective, as she guarded the borders from potential creepers. She always saw herself as a guard, rather then dedication to herself and a potential mate.

She wouldn't want to spread her cursed blood either. 

"Is this hole big enough?" She dug far enough where nearly half her body could probably slide in.

deserve? who could say what a woman deserved? only the gods. not even a wife's husband could judge her on that. was it a matter of barrenness for desdemona, then? but she was not old, only sharp-edged like all the she-wolves in this place. no softness to draw a man, though hydra herself was the same and had many children.

"yes," the spirit-talker answered, looking over the grave her companion had dug. "naammaktsiarit," she whispered quickly and quietly to guard herself and desdemona with politeness.

kukutux stepped back, away. "why do you say you do not deserve?"

Satisfied with such, she stepped out and cleansed the dirt from her pelt with a quick shake. Desdemona was away from Kukutux to do so, and when satisfied with being more presentable, she sat beside the white priestess who uttered some prayers. She had nothing to say about that, but, it satisfied the other.

"My blood is tainted, it does not deserve to spread. A bastards lineage should not continue so," the guard responded coldy, and truthfully so.

kukutux did not understand; the more desdemona spoke, the more confused she grew. "what is 'bastard?'" on the isle, there were no fatherless children. cubs belonged to their mothers, not to men, and any child could go from home to home and be fed. the clan knew each small wolf furthered their blood, and brought themselves together to protect each and every.

"if you were given the chance to be mother, would you take it?" the pale woman asked softly.

"A bastard is someone who was not meant to be born- a mistake. An affair." She momentarily frowned thinking how her bastardly father managed to catch their mother, but at the same time, Desdemona has very faint memories of her. She has no idea what kind of.. Canine, she would be. Remembering her donor's wife as well, how could anyone stay with a man who slept around?

"I do not know," the guard answered truthfully, "the thought never came." She always felt, even if she wasn't bastardly so, it wasn't in her nature to be motherly. Seeing the parents from her homeland act so cold to their offspring, she didn't want to do the same. She wouldn't do the same, but feared the cycle.

an affair. kukutux sat to hold the notion a moment, rolling it through her mind. a child born that had not meant to be born. did desdemona mean that she had been cursed? a twin, perhaps. one kept to raise, and the other laid out in the elements, for a soul could not split into two pieces without one becoming corrupt one day.

the snowduck figeted. the huntress was not cold to her, only wore the heavy cloak of a man and had a man's responses. kukutux inched closer. "what do you know of jarilo?" tentative step upon the ice between them.

"I do not know much of Moonspear relations- only that he is the beta." Desdemona actually didn't know if there was a spark between Kukutux and Jarilo, only that they carried pups together. She saw them as mates, but the confirmation never really came. She does not know much about the mountain canines. 

The guard thought it was an odd question to ask.

nothing. she fought the urge to frown, knowing she could not now step back. "i am his wife. if i say to him that i wish a sister, perhaps he might decide to give you children." daring, the first suggestion of its kind that kukutux had ever made, but she would stand alongside it. "and children do not belong to men. they belong to their mothers." it was this belief that had always guided kukutux since her time as lifegiver had come. she did not anticipate anger from desdemona, only a rejection, and perhaps a cold step as the lynx-woman went away. but she did not know, and so the duck was silent.

Desdemona remained neutral, but she was a bit wary on the proposal. While never thinking of taking a mate, nor children, it was even beyond to share a man, with a 'sister' of sorts. Poly-relationships were foreign to the guard, as all she had seen were affairs between lovers while hiding away from their true mate, and resulting into someone like herself.

"My blood does not deserve to be spread in Moonspear," carefully she chose her words, "while I thank you for the consideration, it is something that I do not deserve," nor really want, but refrained from such harsh words. She was realizing the culture-difference was quite large.

"Do you love him?" She asked.

love. there it was again, the request for a definition that kukutux did not think she understood. love had been no factor in her marriage; she was dutiful to jarilo, attentive to every need or desire he might have; she tended the ulaq with pleasure and care, and took pride in her role as educator for the pair of children she had borne him. 

but the duck did not think this was what desdemona meant. "if he chose another wife above me, or put me away, i would be saddened." kukutux was not only well-trained as a wife; she had discovered she enjoyed being near the blackfox, enjoyed his careful looks that reminded her of the spring before, enjoyed how gentle and affectionate he was to the son and daughter of their hearth?

but was this something that could be measured as love in the eyes of desdemona? kukutux was unsure, and did not remark upon sisterhood again.

Desdemona wasn't sure about love either. There was faint attractions to various of wolves- the aesthetic pleasure to the eye, but never would she pursue, nor' would the feeling expand. Like eye-candy, and many of the Moonspear wolves were like so. She enjoyed the dark hides that many held, finding it a pleasure alongside the moons light.

"Where are you from?" Though with such differences in cultures, the guard couldn't help but ask where this woman came from.

"a very cold sea, with much ice. the land there. an island." suddenly wearied and ashamed, wary to know what desdemona would think of her after that, kukutux straightened. "i will bring sweet leaves to put at the burial," she murmured, begging silently her leave from the warrior-woman.

"i have enjoyed sharing words with you." and it was not at all a lie, despite how anxious kukutux felt herself grow now. but still she lingered, wondering if the distant woman would talk of her own home, and continue their meet.

Never visiting the sea, Desdemona could produce an appropriate image to what her homeland could be like. However, enjoying the winter-time due to her dark pelt, she could only think pleasantry. Though with her own home, she knew despite a pleasant-sounding area was, may not hold the best memories. She nodded to the womans suggestion, not realizing it was but an attempt to leave her so.

"I also enjoyed so-" despite perhaps the awkward tension.

somehow comforted by desdemona's response, the sea-wife straightened slowly as if to depart. and yet something held her here; the inner spirit whispered and she turned her slender muzzle back toward the warrior-woman. "would you — i have," and here kukutux faltered, flushing with irritation at her own stumble.

"i am hunting the weasel. i invite to you come with me, if it pleases you."

This woman was a bit confusing to Desdemona, but she seemed to mean well. Simple cultural differences between the two, but wouldn't deny company, nor' the friendliness between the two. She offered a small, rare smile to the woman, especially due to beginning statement.

It was cute.

"I'll come along,"