Deepwood Weald suamrnaktuk ≯

@Aatrox <3

another daughter to marry.

kukutux enjoyed finding these bindings. she felt she chose for the moment's heart.

but she had learned over these years.

she sang a small song as she walked, eyes looking now for prey. she set down her wrap and stretched.

The days were anything but slow. They came and went without a care.

Aatrox had no qualms with this. His time had been spent traveling, observing closely what surrounded him.

Though the raven once had a plan, his prior ideas had faded. Now, he felt lifeless, lost without purpose. 

Maybe this would change; maybe it would not. Only the future would know this, for he himself could not.

this man was older.

kukutux watched him walk with purpose. she felt that her doe-child should seek a boy closer to her age.

but men often created what it took a younger hunter years to build.

and so she approached. "i greet you." her eyes took him in.

Someone approached. 

They gave words of greeting. For a moment, he was unsure how to respond.

Eventually, it came to him.

Pale woman, He did not know her name, so he spoke of her how he saw her. Speaker of ravens, Was how he often called himself. But if she sought his birth given name, he would provide it willingly.

raven-speaker.

this was a powerful totem.

but it was brother deer who had marked vaire. and it was deer mother who guided the young woman's steps.

"what does raven-talker know of the deer woman?" she asked suddenly and cryptically, testing him as the shaman he claimed to be.

Raven-talker. Deer woman.

Only one he knew of.

Deer woman ... I know only the way of the raven, not of deer, He admitted plainly, spared of any shame from not knowing the answer to her query.

"but raven knows all things," she said softly. so how could he call himself their speaker?

"what is the name you call yourself?" the duck asked, finding arrogance in this man as well.

This woman clearly had a different idea of the raven's purpose. 

The ravens knows what they choose to learn, Which didn't mean they had to learn everything. They travel... learn secrets, and commune them to those who wish to hear.

Now she asked his name. Aatrox, Was his name.

aatrox.

"the raven is sacred to my people. we call him tulugak. sometimes he comes in the shape of a trickster. sometimes he comes as an omen. my oldest daughter was chosen by a bird with black feathers."

how she missed sialuk.

"when did the raven choose you?" kukutux asked, still unwilling to let aatrox be passed by. for now.

The raven... sacred to deer people. Aatrox never would have guessed this to be true. And yet, here this woman was speaking it to his ear.

Her daughter, even, like him.

How peculiar. 

Chosen— When had he been chosen?

Ah, yes. Now he recalled it.

6 moons, nearly. It wasn't precise, but a close enough estimate. I was betrayed. The dark feathered... they blessed me. Since then, we have been one.

so he was new to these ways. the wise mother was not certain how to accept his describing of self as raven-speaker. but perhaps he had been placed in her path for a reason.

betrayed.

be careful, daughter.

"does the raven man have a village or a wife?" she wondered aloud, politely.

Does the raven man have a village or a wife?

He considered. Was it worth it to lie, just to be pushed away? Or would the possibility of staying lead to yet another betrayal.

At least if the latter, he would not be far to exact revenge.

He does not. The feathers have been lain out in a path, but I know not yet where they lead. 

Perhaps the deer woman would know.

kukutux nodded. for this honest word she held respect in her spirit.

he wandered. he did not know his path. he had not yet been led by the ravens.

"i will offer blood to sedna for you," she decided. "and perhaps in some days i will lift my voice for you to come to my village. or i may not."

what did his feathers say of this?

She had decided she would send him off, but perhaps later call for his return.

The raven deemed it acceptable.

I will be sure not to venture far. He wouldn't. He was too intrigued. I will admit, deer woman— you and your words have captured my interest. Wasn't that something. It was rare anything ever did.

deer woman

she grinned.

"i am moonwoman. my daughter is deer woman." she flicked her eyes over aatrox a last time. "i seek a worthy husband for her."

one that does not wander.

she backed a step and then turned to begin her journey once more.