Ouroboros Spine Chaménos

Evening had covered the land in shadow and the chirps of bugs could be heard from the foliage.

Sandy legs carried a lean young wolf, not yet a year of age but hardened and sharp. The dark blue of his eyes matched the unearthly blue that hung on the horizon, just where the sun had slipped out of view and where night had started to claim the skies.

Antigone could smell the scents of wolves. None of them were familiar. At least, he did not believe they were familiar. The pack carried an aroma of strength, of healthy numbers.

The young wolf’s howl was a melancholy sound on the air. Intended for anyone who would greet him at the borders.

he was a strong boy.

moonwoman answered his call with her arrival. in some ways he reminded her of stratos, in others he was striking and strange.

the color of blood covered his face.

"who calls for moonglow?" kukutux asked in curiosity, her jadestone eyes kind as well as watchful.

A pale woman with jadestone eyes greeted him in the border of the pack. Moonglow, she called it. Her posture and expression were enough to convince the boy that she was the leader of the pack on the spine. 

Antigone, he answered her. The young figure dipped his head slightly before drawing his dark blue stare to her face. 

I am looking for a girl… with green eyes. Soft orange near her neck. Her name is Sorcha.

a strong and tired boy. 

the son of a mother kukutux sensed was far from her child. 

she thought of stratos once more.

"this is her home. she is called chickadee now, and her kin is of brecheliant. she has gone to visit them."

the duck blinked quietly. "will you rest, antigone?"

Her home… 

The thought of home curled his lips into a frown. A new home and a new name. At least, Antigone only knew her as Sorcha. Chickadee was bright and sweet - the chirp of a bird in the trees. 

The pale woman asked if he would rest. Cold navy eyes shifted to the earth. Both of his ears fell to his head. 

Sure. If I can see her when she comes back. Is that alright?

he was a boy who was tired. her mother's eyes saw this at least.

"yes. i will tell her that you are here when she makes her way back."

the moonwoman moved then, gesturing for this one who held the name antigone to come with her, to be fed.

Antigone bowed his head and followed the pale woman. She said that she would inform Sorcha, when she returned from her trip. The red-hooded boy wondered if Chickadee would find him as appealing as Sorcha had. The changing of her name had stuck in his mind and forced him into an obsessive wheel of thoughts.

Is Moonglow your name or is that the name of your home? he asked in a rough voice.

The scraping of his paws against the stone would be a sign of his exhaustion. The darkness that surrounded his eyes would confirm it. Antigone looked as though he had crossed oceans without a drop to drink or a bite to eat. Somehow, his coat was beautiful and perfectly clean.

"moonglow is the name of this village."

birdsong and the sound of children's voices rose upon the warm air. she glanced at him.

aungijak. the sea was in his eyes. the cold was on his tongue. the snow was in his body.

she walked with antigone up the well-worn path that led to her great ulaq.

"i have the name kukutux. you will call me moonwoman."

skins lay in the clearing outside the denmouth. the duck gestured for him to sit and began to gather the customary meal of greeting. today it was venison dried in the hot sunlight and a cluster of blackberries. she placed both upon a thin strip of bark and nudged it toward his feet.

"have you come far to this place, antigone?"

Moonwoman.

Curious. Antigone had never heard of someone with such a title. Though, the other name she had offered was a peculiar sounding thing. At the very least, he could make sense of Moonwoman. It attached her to the grounds on which they walked.

The pale leader asked if he had traveled far to get there. Antigone's expression was shrewd. He did not know how he might explain that he had left his home months ago. That he had traveled for many days before finding Moonglow. Or that his mother and father were not far from the Moonwoman's lands.

I've been traveling for a few months now. Sorcha and I- Er… Chickadee and I were separated in a bad storm. I couldn't even find her trail.

Anger sprouted in his chest. Antigone did not wish to talk about this.

I was born in a place not far from here. And I will never return.

did kukutux know the closing heart of a young warrior when she saw it in his eyes?

had she not seen the same in kivaluk?

aya, and now the girl chickadee walked with sivullik. what would change when she returned to the village?

she did not ask him of his home. "when we found her, she was sick with great weakness." kukutux had not seen the boy antigone eat, and now a motherly look entered her face, though she said no more.

he was not a child, though he was young. these things must be decided for himself.

Antigone's dark eyes sharpened at the mention of Sorcha falling ill.

I should have been there. I should have helped her.

The red-hooded yearling could not help but feel that he was cursed with these passing moments of opportunity - capable of helping but never in time. He feared that the girl might be angry with him, angry with the storm that separated them, angry with the empty promises that had been made.

Is she better now? he asked the Moonwoman in a strained voice. Sorcha must have recovered, to travel back to her home pack. What can I do to assist your pack while I wait?

"you may be hunter. join this village. decide what you will do when she returns."

did this boy have some feeling in the heart for the chickadee-girl?

and not yet did she speak of firsthunter. "she was only sick for a small time. she became hunter and watcher of the children."

"do not hold worry. for now, you rest, antigone," kukutux murmured, her crisp accent breaking the edges of his name.

Is everyone here a hunter? he asked her with a thin-lipped expression.

Did they have no medics? No warriors? Were they a pack based on trade? Antigone had seen his father tending to furs. When asked what he was doing, the man had explained that a traveler had come and shown him how to treat the pelts. It was a task that seemed to make him happy. Antigone had never taken an interest enough to ask more.

One ear flicked back. His navy eyes shifted to the wilderness beyond their borders. He wondered with Sorcha would come back. He wondered what she might say.

Alright. I will do that. His mind did not feel as though it could rest.

fade? <3

"most are," she told him. "it is what we are known for. every year, moonglow seeks winter hunting. we follow the caribou, and join a new pack for many hands of time, sharing between us."

kukutux looked at him. "eat. and then rest. learn moonglow after." he was not dismissed, but kukutux meant to rise now, to seek one or more of her sons.

to think upon firsthunter, chickadee, and now antigone.

Thank you.

The words were tense and as rough-edged as their wielder.

Antigone felt that she was trying to decipher him. He could see her eyes shift over his face, searching for something within him. The boy did not know what she thought he was. He would serve her pack until he could speak with Sorcha. When he had talked to her again, only then would he make plans for his future.

Until she returned, Antigone would put himself to work. Hunt prey, gather herbs, whatever would pass the time he spent in Moonglow.

<33!!