Snowforest Taiga [feast] Act natural, whatever that means for you.

The feast was finally underway.

Kigipigak moved between various piles of meat: some was aged and drawn across a sleeve of bark, in the style of Kukutux' people; there were whole heads of caribou arrayed across stones, pine boughs piled beneath haunches of meat on display, and various entrails arranged in the snow so they would not immediately spoil.

Around these feeding points were Moonglow and Duskfire wolves. Some ate, some were conducting light-hearted conversation, and still some were milling on the fringes, perhaps too weighed by grief to do much else. It wasn't as rowdy as Kigipigak had anticipated their celebration to be — but the night was still young.

The Warmaiden had kept to herself as the valley filled with wolves, Duskfire and not. She smelled Rivenwood around, but aside from the young @Heda she didn't see anyone else yet.

Nyra wasn't used to being part of a pack with many allies, and this would probably be apparent as she nervously glanced to Kigipigak upon coming to one of the feeding tables. 
Quietly, she took a small piece of meat and backed off, swallowing before she looked upon the vastness of Moonglow and the alliances they held. 

She slanted her ears back with a soft whimper, and continued to gaze at the festivities she - likely quite obviously - didn't feel entirely apart of. If nothing else, she was clearly troubled, but made a tired effort to appear fine as to not gain attention.

Kigipigak was not looking to the rest of Moonglow's gathered forces when Nyra approached, grabbed something to eat, and sulked back. He saw her as he turned to grab something for himself and turned an ear to the sound of a small, pitiful sound that was almost lost beneath the conversation around him.

The man swallowed a morsel of fatty meat which had easily pulled away from the tableau of offerings, turning to follow after her. He was slow in doing this — not wanting to invade her space if that was what she desired, and also unsure of how to begin a conversation with her.

Their last one had cemented certain opinions within Kigipigak's mind about the fallen warrior. A part of him was adverse to spending too much time with someone that was fueled by more emotional forces than instinctual, given how he was raised.

Still, he meandered in to her line of sight and gave a low grunt to acknowledge her. If she had something she wanted to say, now was the perfect opportunity - as Kigipigak wasn't likely to broach the subject of her troubles at a time of celebration.

Nyra glanced to Kigipigak as he appeared in her sights with a low grunt. 
With a small shrug, the Warmaiden sighed and exhaled her current thoughts. 

"I'm not used to having many allies. It's...strange, in a way." She mused, swiveling her ears upright again.
With a soft huff of a laugh, she shook her head as if to dismiss her words. 
"How is hunting, and patrols?" She asked after a moment of silence, tilting her head slightly with interest. She hadn't done much wandering recently, aside from going from one camp to the other.

Kigipigak regarded her comment in silence. His brow creased but he said nothing. It was not his place to dredge up the woman's past or to question her choices; it would change nothing, and only invite doubt.

The hunting went very well, as you can see. He looked over the many open caches where the food was displayed for taking, watching as others milled about as they feasted and conversed with one-another.

The white wolf took a breath. Has your time with Kukutux been well? I imagine it takes some measure of patience to tan a hide. Kigipigak glanced at Nyra then, wondering if any of the hides on display were the work of her teeth. She did not strike the Delta as a very patient woman.

Nyra nodded at his answer, and turned to him when he asked of helping Kukutux 

"I went to her, as I said I would. It has been...an experience. I will also face judgement by all of Moonglow, and Moonwoman has also offered me a cleansing ritual." She responded, looking back out to the gathering of wolves.

Kigipigak had thought the woman's camp would be a challenge for Nyra, and was correct in this. She was a warrior and was not meant for the careful work of hide-tanning. It sounded as though she struggled. She did not seem eager to explain the work at all, and focused on something else entirely.

That Kukutux had offered to do a ritual for her was odd, in that Kigipigak was not a spiritual creature himself, but not out of place. The moon-woman was wise and her ways were mysterious. It was sensible that the rest of Moonglow would learn of Nyra and judge her — it was how villages were made, how else could they trust one another?

Did she say what the ritual would entail? He wondered if it would be anything like the blood-letting of Tartok. Moonglow was far softer by comparison, which made that unlikely. It struck Kigipigak after, that if Nyra was accepted properly by the village, she might make a strong companion.

His last attempt to seek an aokatti had failed. Nyra could be a replacement — but time would tell. The future was uncertain.

Kigipigak asked a question.
Nyra shook her head in response, "No." She sighed, turning away with a firm nod and a tired expression.

What she didn't know, was that the cleansing would never come due to her own actions and lack of consideration for others. 
And that she would be chased away. 

But that was days from this moment, and therefore she wouldn't see it coming.

She was not interested in divulging much to Kigipigak.

The way she looked now, turning away and withering like a frost-bitten reed, was too pathetic to witness. He had extended numerous attempts to understand her, to initiate her among the people of Moonglow; her own actions had led Nyra to this state of weakness. Had she not been so quick to fight in the valley and to hide herself, perhaps Kigipigak would have hunted with her — and thus gotten to know her better.

As things stood now, Nyra was a damper to the festivities. He took her answer, that one word, and watched her turn away with no reason to call her back. He did not know how the mind of a woman worked let alone one such as Nyra, who was somehow so physically strong and like him, yet mentally carried a weight and a tumult within herself, and he was no counsellor.

In time he would turn back to the gathering and seek another morsel of food, eating, making merry with those present from twin villages. But he did not seek her out again.