Big Salmon Lake kuak ⛣

for @Jarilo, no rush <3 all other tags for reference!

thinking of @Sialuk and what the girl's future would hold, kukutux shifted her mind to @Saviguk. if @Bronco was any indication of how long boyhood would be, she had ample time to procure a wife for her ice crystal. but the fact remained that the dark-gold young warrior was not a boy, it was simply that within the teekon, the rites of maleness were a delayed affair. therefore, she must begin her hunt in the warm months. 

it seemed to be the same for girls, though sialuk had quelled much worry in kukutux' heart with her new voice and new influx of questions. so long as she kept her daughter's paws upon a marked path, the duck knew the spirits that spoke in sialuk's blood would lead her to the correct culture.

there was also the matter of her husband, the snowdown mused. she had departed moonspear and cut a near-straight path for the lake not far off. with the mountain still rising not-distant and proud at her back, kukutux waded into the overwhelmed shoreline, snapping playfully at a frog that did not leap when the water rippled. what would jarilo think of her plans? he had never criticized his strange wife's foreign ways, even going so far as to learn parts of the words she spoke. but it was different when it came to one's children; the blackfox was still an ostrega man, and might want his children to grow up in the ostrega way.

After ensuring that enough yearlings were out prowling around and aware of his intentions for a fleeting absence, Jarilo chased the temptation of time away, and alone, down the elevations then beyond. When he knew he had been busy, and their pups growing so quickly, it seemed worth his while to not let the opportunity escape him. Sialuk and Saviguk had plenty to stay occupied with there on the mountain, and more and more, they roved independently already. The Ostrega did not think they would miss them sorely, if only for a while, and notched his gait up to a faster one.

He caught up with Kukutux some time after she had already met the lakeside, slowing up gradually as he came jogging light into the scene of her froghunts. The dark part of the pair only hung back to see if her current lunge was successful for not, watching with a slow wave to his tail--just pleased in her company, willing himself not to interrupt too soon until he couldn't help but ask: Any luck? he chimed, finally moving closer into the shoreline himself with a hint of mischief forming in his expression.

revui weighed toward the back of her thoughts, but in this one kukutux was alone. she did not catch hee first frog, slipped into the edge of the lake when she jumped for a second, and resurfaced with a gasp and a strained laugh.

jarilo, there, his handsome face wreathed with encouragement. kukutux stepped to higher ground, shook the worst from her alabastrine fur. "i am too slow!" she chirruped breathlessly, plume answering his own. the moondrop approached at length, licking as high along his tall shoulder as she might reach. "uiga," kukutux murmured, for a moment simply content to exist as their breathing cadenced. "did you come to hunt frogs with me this day?" she asked as she drew back, eyes dancing.

Ah, so not yet, as maybe luck had just not been hers just so soon. Or she hadn't found the good fat frogs. Either way, he was easily hopeful, and moving towards the water himself while she came to him. Gladly he arced into her touch, his tail waved, and nibbled softly at pale furs on her shoulder--once he could reach best as he listened. Of course, and to be with you.. while our pair is keeping busy with the yearlings. It was too tempting. Hunting frogs, or whatever else we can find, is just bonus, he explained as he skimmed the horizon for all its opportunity, but the waters nearest Kukutux pulled back his focus--plenty satisfied too that she found no trouble in him coming. There should be some big frogs around here this time of year, he smirked, willing it to be, like he was an old pro. Late summertime, after a rainy year, bugs abounding.. they had no excuse. At least for as wet as it had been, he still didn't mind the thought of a swim. He could veil it in some duty, too: if memory served, fishing this time of year was not half bad, either.

He had other reasons to come, naturally. Several of them, as a wandering eye over the damp fur on her hips reminded him in passing.. but, a big exhale, and he waded deeper, brushing against her as he did. He didn't want her to be alone for long, most of all. He remembered seeing the wolfeater.. who vanished as suddenly into the rain as he appeared twice now. Plus, with what his sister told him of what brewed in the mountains to the east.. it was hard not to be guarded without knowing how they might bleed into the valleys beyond. The pups were tended at home and well, did he have to explain himself beyond that?

kukutux enjoyed the timbre of jarilo's voice; the sweep of his dark pelt against her own fur sent a gentle rush bounding toward her heart like a rabbit. only because she was allowed, and reveling in this time shared only between the pair of them, the moondrop extended her muzzle again to the blackfox with a kiss. a grin lit her countenance as she turned her attention to what jarilo had said. "my mother called them all naagaayik. we would hunt them in the small time of summer, when they would croak in the mud." 

a particularly large toad darted out from beneath her small paw as she put it down. kukutux started, and then ears strained forward and pallid figure followed, with a daring clack of jaw that netted her the fat amphibian. "but they were not this large!" she exclaimed, setting the tooth-marked dirtgreen thing down upon the earth to inspect it. "what do they taste of in this land? i have not eaten one here before."

The dark Ostrega grinned fondly beneath her kiss, and turned his ears intently. Naagaayik, she said, and certainly unlike anything he had heard them called before--but a something to try to keep and remember if he could. Too, he noted the thought of a small span of summer--testament to how far north her homeland had been, if he drew the proper conclusions.. not because he had ever seen it for himself, only through the words of those more worldly than him. How short were your summers there? he had to ask with a curious tilt. Still, he appreciated any of the insight into where she had come from, however small it seemed, and watched luck take its turn.

His tail waved a slow rhythm. They've had a good summer--all this rain had to benefit someone, he mused. It was a good year to be an amphibian. Probably a fish too. There had been days in the middle of all that constant rainfall that he had felt a bit like one. Speaking of which, if he had to name the flavor, he supposed that suited closer than anything. Not mammalian, definitely. Maybe avian, if he squinted. Well.. I think they taste a bit like fish. Not the texture, though, he answered, and she could find out for herself soon enough. I used to hunt them with my mother too.. on the mountain's lower streams especially. When I was very small, she had me practice on them while she fished upstream, he spoke softly, and the memory was easier than anticipated here in Kukutux's company, where it simply could not trouble him.

Speaking of fish, he finally looked past her in earnest towards the water, trying to see beyond the surface. It was probably too soon for salmon to run in any real number, but a trickle of hope caught him. Still, he could only spy little slivers that dared to come close enough so far--minnows, perhaps?

"two moons," kukutux said shyly. darkness had been part of each day; she had learned not to fear it, but rather live alongside the churning nightfalls and daytime hours that blended. on jarilo's description she licked the toad's flesh and then tasted the meat of the dead amphibian.

a mild flavor, but she did not at all care for the texture. the hunters of moonspear were proud and many; no wolf of theirs would find it necessary to consume these mud-dwellers. stepping over the body, still piqued by the leap and croak of so many others, kukutux looked upon her husband's dark, sculpted profile with a soft expression. "i like when you talk of your mother to me," was the wife's gentle comment, and then she too had put her gaze upon the small silvered bodies.

cued by his interest, the pale gamma slipped closer, warming to the proposition of a hunt in the water. the duck wished to speak to jarilo of their daughter's future, but for now she only wanted the time with him. the moment would come again.

Two moons? That's all? That's barely anything, he frowned, worsened by realizing that made winter so much longer. Were he transplanted, he knew he'd despair in such a short glimpse of summertime--in hardly two moons, that left so little time--to hunt, to grow, and to prepare. Though, truth of it was that he was probably spoiled by a mostly temperate climate here, most years. He had grown up able to enjoy a long, verdant summertime and liked it that way.

As for his mother, his ears turned back a notch but overall, she did not warn him away with her words. First, he just sighed softly and still watched the water for fish, or otherwise. Mm, it's easier than it used to be. I still don't want it to be.. too much, he detailed, though it was nice she didn't find it strange of him. Learning to live on past the memory, but still know to cherish it for what it had taught, was where he had tried to be since.

Seemed like for now, he had likely scared off any fish big enough to warrant anything.

such a careful man. his love for the woman who had borne him was clear, coupled with the ache her husband surely still carried. kukutux pressed her figure lightly against that of jarilo a moment, offering her silent support of him before she at last put her mind to their task. "we learn to use every moment of light."

silvered and quick, the fish flicked tails beneath the surface. the duck observed them with a mounting interest. she had hunted for the sons and daughters of the water before, of course; however she was intrigued to watch how her mate applied himself to this sort of hunt. jarilo taught her much without determining what kukutux might learn; a woman with open eyes gathered more berries.

Upon hearing that, he was silent for another long moment. His thoughts wandered, all over the summertime, his grief, her light, their future, and eventually, landing back on the waters, he tried to keep his appetite with him here too. He handed it through several contexts, down to the most literal. A slow exhale, then.

I think I would mourn summers that short, Jarilo fussed, frowning at the water around his ankles. Patience, though, he remembered. It had been something else his mother had tried to instill on him, on several of them.. to success and failure alike. What would preparing for that winter be like? he asked, wondering if his inquiries ever made her homesick, or if she missed it in any way. He had never tried to imagine anywhere but the mountain for himself but still fascinated in the lands faraway.

Anyway, it spurred an only half-related thought. He had paused long enough to get an answer though, before he had to tie in with: When Sia and Savi can go see the ocean. I want to before winter gets.. too far, he mentioned, having been thinking on that again too when a late-season dragonfly drifted by, pausing midair by his nose before going on its way. He didn't know how soon, but it was not something he wanted to miss because of a bad storm or a territorial situation or whatever else it might be.

the islewife did not understand her husband's perception of mourning. for she and her kith, the short seasons had been a matter of life. you were raised in the dark and sometimes found your death in it. that was the way of things, and the duck would not have changed it. "the mothers and aunts and sisters and grandmothers, we searched for the fish every day. many hours. the hunters went out to the ice and were gone for long weeks." she thought back upon it, suddenly transported by the mist that veiled her springjade stare.

"but between us all, there was much to be had. the ground did not warm sometimes, and so there we put the fish and the caribou sticks and the seal fat." an unseemly gasp of hunger in her gut; kukutux darted her muzzle toward a flash of pale underbelly, but missed her mark. "if the herds journeyed far, we traveled to follow their trail. and when the winter came, and the ice, we had many caches, all filled with meat."

kikuyaliksuk. the whisper of her mother, her inner spirit. "it was not all darkness, kignitak," the snowbird grinned, catching at the fur of her husband's nearest shoulder. "at night, many nights, there were lights in the sky above us. long lights. green as sedge and purple as evening. we called them kiiguyat and they lit our way."

a sigh that curved her narrow shoulders and closed her eyes for a breath. aiolos. and the son kukutux had not yet seen. "i met a man from yuelong, moons ago. he invited that we bring our children to meet his own."

Though he followed darts of silver beneath the water, he hung onto her every word, all ears. It sounded like it was fundamentally what nature needed of them to survive. Just like any other place, but honed to its specifics by what they had. Those were the pieces he felt privileged to learn--about their days, their meals, who they had been, where the world took them.

So it was not all winter's suffering as he viewed it, focusing only on the absences where there was much more than that. Her outlook was quite different. She spoke fondly, and of far more than that--out to the lights that sparked his curiosities. Where he had only seen traces of them before, when certain celestial events he had no knowledge of let them shine this far south (first pointed out by a more experienced eye than him of course), hers were an entire beacon in the night sky.. which how could he argue with that majesty? They didn't need the warmth of the sun to keep happiness in their days, it seemed.

Nevertheless, he felt a fish dart between his limbs, but was too slow to angle a real swing. She shifted his train of thought to another pack's offspring, then how this was relative to his own, before he could say more. Oh? he tilted his head at her as he questioned for more. Hydra had the island wolves in her good graces, though Jarilo knew none of their individuals. What's he like? Yuèlóng I know only through my sister, he mentioned.

through her sidelong glance, kukutux allowed herself another admiring look at jarilo, in a comfortable silence punctuated only by the splash of their feet in the water. "i have not been to the island," the duck revealed slowly, "but aiolos is known to me. he is leader there with hua, who is empress." did jarilo know of the woman ying who had inspired more strife between arcturus and revui? she found she did not wish to mention it again, so peaceful was their time here together. "they are different. their way of speaking and of being, but not so different that we cannot be companions."

at length, the wife gathered her confidence to brush against his wet shoulder once more, hoping to command his attention in a softer way. what she wished to say was not something that she had said before. several times she glanced into the steadying viridian of his own gaze before her features lightened in a shy grin. warm beneath the eyes of jarilo, kukutux murmured, "perhaps when the snow has passed into the rivers, i will be mother in our ulaq again." bold, but it was the privilege of a wife, and especially one already mother to a son.

In this context, Aiolos certainly felt like a name worth remembering. The empress was another vague fact to him, another piece he had because of Hydra--so again, he was trusting his sister's, and now wife's, judgement on this one so far. Well, I hope ours can meld well and make friends among their lot--it could be good ties to have, he mentioned, sensing this intent here to some degree but he was still looking at it lightly. There could be much to learn for them and a broader view at the world beyond the slopes, along with the wolves among it.

When the waters were not too fruitful for his luck, he was easy to divert--she pulled his sights, and he lost the prior train of thought not long after when she came close to him. With where she was implying into winter, and beyond, that distraction was a slippery slope. Even when his cheeks felt warmer and a tightness curled at his belly, he moved closer, a little shift so he could set his head over her shoulders gently. Yeah, perhaps so--our son and daughter are lovely, clever.. they are doing well here so far, and Moonspear is strong for them--then will be for others. I wouldn't see otherwise, honestly, if that is what you would want.. he spoke low as he supposed, a tiny bit confident on the matter now that it was not all so new and daunting to inexperienced him. If she was willing to mother his kids here, he had no reason to not do what he could to make that happen when he felt secured about the situation as so.

"it is what i want, yes," she dared. with aiolos' ties to yuelong, and her own to moonspear, she could think of few ways to bless hydra for her gift of a home than with a proper alliance. tribe-bonds to commemorate another cycle of moons spent upon the proud mountain. 

and there was no other way to bless her husband than to bind his spirit within her a second time. secretly she hoped for sons; she enjoyed the idea of sialuk receiving all the attention which shapes a young woman, not to be split with a sister. for she recalled her own, with a vague and wary fondness. the name starkly remembered but never spoken.

it would not be her decision in the end. and the duck did not believe jarilo would care for one above the other. he was pleased with his children, devoted to them. kukutux knew she had chosen truly in the ostrega brother, and shook out her pale hackles with a shy smile. 

"now let us see if we cannot bring a water-skin home to them," she suggested, gesturing at the water. shy now, wishing to turn them aside lest he thought her too formal, though alabaster ears swiveled to hold whatever words jarilo gave.

As he could have guessed--that it was what she'd want, and it always seemed like that knowing just came easily to her as he marveled quietly at such once more. She raised their pair well, he thought, and it seemed to suit her--leaving him lucky, of course. He liked seeing them grow, what she taught them, and wanted to see the lasting influence her northern upbringing would yet have on theirs, but on the mountain now.

He answered in a low agreeable rumble first, then a nod to follow, because he never wanted to seem greedy about it (or be remotely reminded of his father's hunger on the matter that had helped undo him), but he enjoyed their pups and was open to more. All was relatively well, he was proud of the two he had--how could he not be? It felt like an easy future to imagine suddenly, and he didn't have time to be awed by the idea of how much easier it came this time, unlike last, when he'd been so uninitiated.

Of course, he breathed, finally, once he watched her move away, and onward back towards the task. He was sluggish to trail after her as he regained new focus towards prowling the lake together. Whatever time they needed was well spent and he knew they would not return to the mountain without a new bounty to share.