Permafrost Hollows savakti

Kigipigak was eager to get to work. He thought of how best to use his time and could not decide between hunting for food or for supplies, as @Lóte required both after her great ordeal.

He patrolled the outskirts of the Duskfire village while making up his mind. The forest hollows were keeping his body occupied while his mind wandered. Kigipigak did not know plants. He was a man, which made him a warrior and a hunter by Tartok standards, and he had never seen fit to study such things while his sisters could make up the difference. Now that he needed such knowledge to be of use, he was disgruntled by its absence.

There was ice and frost across much of the forest's expanse. The tree tops had thin layers of snow to them already, and much of what he investigated was hidden beneath a layer of white. He did not know a fiddlehead from a fungus; what might've been good to store for later was trampled readily, and what looked useful was not.

He was at a loss, but refused to give up.

it was the man from the caribou hunt.
heda approached with a confidence born of familiarity. he was among the forest trees, and she happily slipped after him. the place was like rivenwood but not; heda traveled beneath the branches with alacrity, following in the hunter's footsteps.
she did not speak. time on the taiga had given her an appreciation for long silences. and with druid back home, heda was alone here now. 
she woofed softly to the other wolf when she had come close, tail waving with the deference of a young creature. her ears stood forward after a moment; she looked curiously at the way the scar cut across his face.

A thin, rangy creature drifted near. He recognized her swiftly as the loud child invested in the caribou, but she was not followed by her little friends. Had they left her?

Kigipigak chuffed back, slowing his pace for a moment. There were no signs of caribou here - so she must have followed him. The way she watched him reminded Kigipigak of the many eyes he'd come across in his travels, each measuring him, and he wondered what it was she saw.

Your friends have returned to their home, I take it.

heda nodded. "i didn't want to leave yet." druid had gone first, and then mireille. she missed them but the great expanse of the taiga had satisfied something inside heda that was wild and unsated. "do you want to spar?" she blurted, uncaring if her ask was irrelevant.
her lesson with the duskfire leader had stuck in her mind like a burr. heda was not sure she was ready to be done with that sort of physical conflict.

A spar?

She looked too young to be after a name, he thought at first, forgetting for that split-second this was not Unnuakvik.

The man sniffed, still invested in his hunt for any plants that Lote could use for herself, and did not answer immediately. Kigipigak thought about the girl's desire as well as the terrain, and how a spar might ruin anything he might find.

A trade. He said, and looked at her.

I hunt for plants the women's camp can use. One of our mothers is injured, he would not go in to specifics as he did not know them, only that Lote had been bloodied on her return. If you can help me find something to help her, I will agree to a spar after.

a trade. but for plants? in this snow? heda frowned uncertainly. but she nodded all the same, still eager at the prospect of winning her spar.
she began to race out into the open taiga, slowing with nose to the earth and tail waving fiercely. heda wanted desperately to ask what had happened to the moonglow mother, but she did not.
having spent no time with mahler in his herbal studies, heda did not know how to search for medicinal plants. she began to roam in circles, worrying roots beneath the drifts.

The girl looked at him with an expression Kigipigak did not understand, and then was away again, zipping fiercely across the snow.

The only way he could keep track of her position was the red streak down her body - which made him think of Njord, and grimace to himself. His rival could've been the girl's father if not for the fact she was too old, he thought. And, well, who would ever choose a little hunter man?

She circled with her head down and after some time, Kigipigak realized she might've been trampling a decent supply of... Something. Everything was frozen or dead by now, but Kigipigak did not know how such things worked any better than the girl.

He gave chase, coming up alongside her while she searched.

the moonglow wolf came closer, and heda looked curiously at him. "there's something down here," she explaining, setting her paws to dig klutzily into the frozen earth. "they smell kind of like ... dirt." she was not cut out for herbalism, but kept excavating.
at last revealed, heda sniffed at the exposed plant stems. she glanced to kigipigak. "will these do? should i find more?" the promise of a spar was too great to pass up, especially by someone who had impressed her before during their first caribou hunt.

A quick glance at the roots he would not recognize, but they were intact and looked more lively than the dry, frozen pieces of growth above-ground. The girl looked hopeful. Kigipigak did not know if they would be of use to him. Perhaps he should search elsewhere, or with the tutelage of Kukutux, or Sialuk. For now it was enough.

Better to spend his time doing something he understood, anyway.

Yes, I will take those. He answered, leaving the little pit exposed, treading around it and away from the girl. He rounded towards her a moment later, cleaving through the packed ice.

Now we will spar! Come at me when you are ready — and do not hold back!

Kigipigak wanted to see how well she moved across the snow. It was a tricky thing, snow; trying to keep astride it rather than sinking in to it, and managing ones movements despite the numbing sensations of the season, or the sheets of hidden ice throughout, would show Kigipigak what the girl knew already and what she would need to work on.

heda laughed. relief filled her, followed quickly by anticipation. 
the snow swallowed her easily. she frisked above it, not understanding that she was using more energy than she should. 
after a moment she ran for kigigigak. her footing was not steady but instead of fighting the slickness of the surface, heda slowed, readjusting herself. her teeth aimed for the moonglow man.

The girl cavorted across the snow in an ungainly way, clear to Kigipigak that this was not something she was used to dealing with. She slowed and then lunged, dashing awkwardly across his path, missing him cleanly as she slid on some ice, crunching in to deeper, wetter parts.

Try to keep above the snow. Kigipigak called to her as she adjusted herself. He moved away as he spoke, so that she would have another moving target. You are young and your feet might feel too big. Big is good, you can run across the snow better. Avoid the parts that look bigger than the others: the loose snow is fresh and you will sink through it.

He turned and paced, letting his words sink in while he moved around her.

this was stupid! frustration burned heda, but she nodded toward kigipigak. he was a good instructor. her feet did feel quite large; she tapped them against the snowbanks and nodded. 
avoid the parts that look bigger.
heda jumped to firmer snow and trotted along it, focused more upon her own balance than that spar she had wanted. she picked up speed, trying to keep her trail narrow.

The girl took his advice to heart immediately.

Her adjustments did help, and he let her know with a call of, Good! And then was silent. Kigipigak did not want to disrupt the lesson with excessive words. Sparring was an act of physicality that needed none.

She moved well enough across the snow now, and cut the ice with the blunt claws of her toes. Her speed increased and Kigipigak was impressed by it, but this he held to himself. If she was not careful that same speed could trip her up, all she needed was a misplaced patch of ice.

The man moved so that he was an easy target, waiting for her to reach him, if she was able. He bolstered himself against any collision that may transpire in the seconds before her red-streaked body met his.

heda remembered that she had wanted to scuffle with the moonglow wolf, and so now she came for him. careful, aware that she could slip if she was not mindful of where she stepped, heda's approach was bolstered only by a short burst of speed.
she grabbed for his shoulder; surely he would pull away, and so she followed the snatch of her jaws with a strong lunge that shoved her body against his.
heda's heart thrummed; she was ready for what the moonhunter had to give, and what she would learn from him.

She bore across his path and reached for him, and Kigipigak moved away to protect his shoulder, only to leave himself glaringly open as she lunged again, this time meeting him at an odd angle.

It was not enough to so much as wind him, but the voracity of the attack did surprise Kigipigak. He wheeled around and snapped his teeth nearer to Heda then, goading her for more.

his teeth glinted.
heda ducked but only barely. this pulled her away from the man. her footing slipped into the ice; she slid but stayed upright this time.
the girl panted and leapt at him again, committing herself fully to the next attack as she tried to bruise their shoulders together.

She moved aside and nearly fell, and when she didn't Kigipigak grinned around the flashing of his own teeth, dropping the pretense of the spar to look upon her favorably. It was one moment — which she took full advantage of, and leapt at him, buffering against his shoulder with her own.

Kigipigak is surprised by how quickly she learns. Her adjustment lends her the upper hand a moment too long for his liking, and while he braces against her attack he bows his head and snaps harshly at the air to dissuade her.

The spar is at an end. He huffs, but is smiling again.

You are quick with your feet! Quicker with your mind. This is good. You will one day be a fine warrior if you continue to practice. He is kind; but he is also a sore loser and refuses to let this get too far along, lest it become a real trial for either of them. Kigipigak is not keen on losing to anyone, much less a girl so young.

for a moment heda felt as though she was doing rather well. but kigipigak flashed his teeth and the girl backed off at once. still she was exhilarated, plume wagging and her face reflecting his own delight.
"thank you," heda said graciously. "i know you're going home eventually and all, but i hope we can do this again."
it seemed like he was ready to leave. heda pranced forward to smooth her nose along his jawline in a firm sign of grateful respect for his lesson, and turned.
she would head back to the caribou.

Pleased after their scuffle, Kigipigak would watch her go with some fondness. He did not look upon children with envy or with much interest, usually, but found this was slowly changing for him. She was a good student — and strong. He welcomed her touch and then when she was off, turned to go back among his people.