Ocean's Breath Plateau gransister

@Raiyuk had become a good hunter, a boy with a confident walk. each day chakliux waded into the surf to test for northern ice, and each day it was not yet cold enough for his son's first seal hunt.
this marked the movement from boy to man. he called a sharp note to summon his son and turned a path over the stoniest pitch of the plateau, hunting for bird eggs. "the snows will come. we will hunt. and you will earn your scars."
agony. triumph. invincibility.
the year between the scarification ceremony and the pursuit of women belonged to the newly made young man. he was encouraged to travel and sent in trade. perhaps he would decide to settle at home with a wife. maybe he would marry a woman of another village and remain with her people. a small number of men married a handful of wives and traveled between them, never staying in one village for a long while. some still never married, trading all their lives and enjoying many sorts of hospitality as welcome guests at each lodge.
first, however, a boy must kill a seal.

Chakliux was the model of a man for Raiyuk, and it was the boy's focus on that image and persona his father presented which cultivated various changes within him. The way he carried himself was with the pride of his father. His hunting and fishing were favored activities because they made Chakliux the happiest. Raiyuk had fond memories of his many lessons and he used those as anchors for when his mind would inevitably drift to his mother, or to Moonspear, which happened so infrequently now.
He lived for the praise of his father.
One day he would hunt his first seal, and he would become a man in the image of Chakliux; he would become a father and teach his own sons these ways, and he would choose a wife who would not ever leave.
He was silent now, striding beside his father the hunter, choosing stoicism rather than face the many thoughts swarming his mind and weighing his heart like a stone.

it was important to chakliux that he have the same sort of future that men before him had experienced. it meant more that raiyuk have this, in a place far from those seal hunter villages.
it was good to walk in silence.
at length, chakliux grunted. he dashed to the now-visible nests and began to plunder them. "eat," he ordered his son, though his voice was warm. "eat, then we will fight away the birds."
if they were apt, their bellies would be filled and they would return to the caches with fresh eggs and murre meat.

His father moved with certainty towards the nests and Raiyuk followed. His eyes were trained upon the eggs while the rest of him was alert for birds, knowing by now they would defend themselves as any living parent should defend their offspring.
He set upon the eggs when told; cracking smaller ones and lapping their running yolks as quickly as he could. Savoring the rich flavor of it.

Having now gone through two nests in quick succession he looked to his father, eyes tracing the man's scars.
They taste good. They would be easy targets once they noticed the two wolves supping on their precious nests.

the murres began to caw and shout. chakliux worked his way through another nest, but this time he scooped a single egg out, packing it into the rocky dirt beside the woven twigs. he wished to bring back at least four.
the first bird swooped and met a harsh end between hard teeth. the second drew blood from his ear. the third was tossed aside with a broken wing. "eat and fight!" the seal hunter exhorted, chuckling despite the rivulet of crimson now inching down his temple.

He went from nest to nest now, crushing some eggs and eating and watching his father, learning that some of the eggs could be hidden and they could be retrieved later.
A bird swooped down and met the end of its life at his father's mighty teeth!

Raiyuk did not consider himself a violent person; but he was emboldened and eager to prove himself to his father, again and again, and when the birds began to swarm down upon him, he snapped his teeth and fought them.

His method was clumsy, but he wounded one bird by crushing a wing, and then felt others slamming their bodies against his face and neck; he saw wings and feathers and heard the cacophony.
For now the eggs were forgotten and he felt he fought for his life! More than that, his power as a man! They were only birds and yet they were a storm!

chakliux wrenched and shredded his way between their claws and beaks and feathers until the flock lifted. he ducked to raiyuk, pressing his flank protectively against the boy. "get the eggs. two, if you can," he grunted.
he himself mouthed one of the round treats and then he caught the legs of one murre in his jaws. 
they were fairly large birds and it would take some time to gather them; the constant movement would keep the others racing to and fro, unable to defend or attack in the same flight.

Given instruction, Raiyuk began to nod and his dipping snout sought out a nest, then snaked towards another, as he climbed among the rocks. His father fought the birds better than he could.

One large egg he tried to lift free and was too animated about it, cracking the shell and feeling the slime upon his tongue. He spat the shells aside and hastily swallowed; then moved to another and another, seeking any he could.

One, two, a third! They were moved and hidden, and the nest destroyed.

his teeth tore. he was growing tired, and was bruised by the buffeting wings, scratched up on forehead and wrist and ears by the sharp beaks.
he shouted for raiyuk to retreat at once, and in the end, the birds were left to mourn their losses, four less in their group.
he had only been able to capture one of the injured birds; the rest had been absorbed by the protective layering of their flock, unseen now.
wincing, grinning, he grabbed as many as he could and left the rest to raiyuk. his eyes showed clear pleasure in their hunting.

The flock did not stick to them for long. Their fallen brothers and sisters scattered the rocks, or hung from his father's teeth. They banded together and kept their distance after, knowing that these nests could not be saved. It was lucky for the hunters — Raiyuk did not like the feeling of those beaks probing at his body, and he would come away from this with many bruises.
Raiyuk scrambled after the birds now. One retreating murre, already injured, could not quite get high enough to evade his snapping teeth. He scythed the tail, and as it came abruptly to the rocks he pounced upon it. A shake of his head and the bird was no more.
A wide grin had spread across his face. He barked to the sky, he let his tail arc high and wave triumphant. Another gull made a diving pass towards him and he deftly side-stepped it, in to another as it screamed and he snapped his teeth; but this second one came at such an angle that it could stab at his face and block his vision with wide wings. A new cut sat across the bridge of his nose after! But he would ignore how the salt air made the mark sing in his skin, and wear it with pride the way his father wore his.
When the birds had absconded from the beachside, Raiyuk stood proudly over his kills and howled after them as if to taunt, though they did not return.

raiyuk challenged. chakliux stood beside his son, whooping in full-throated mockery at the defeated murres. he laughed then; he fell to plucking the birds, opening one for the warm viscera and tossing a good portion of it to his son.
belly sated for now, the seal hunter grabbed their kills and set a sharp course back to the heart of the plateau.
when they had come far enough, chakliux cached most of the birds. "good hunting," he told his son, granting raiyuk a lingering look of approval. "you are fast. brave."

They devoured the birds together! The blood painted the stones. He heard his father hollering and then laughing. What more could Raiyuk ever want out of life? This was a perfect moment. A treasured memory.
When they finished being men, he gathered what he could and they moved back to the plateau and Raiyuk fawned in the moment, pleased with himself.
I learned from you! He praised.

a proud smile followed. "and i have more to teach you. it will be only you and i on the ice. your anânanguak cannot come with us."
privately chakliux considered waiting to see if a snowbound spring worked upon the nature of his wife. a man who faced a long hunt might indulge in those pleasantries beforehand, ensuring that new life was left behind even if the hunter did not return.
he considered raiyuk. "when new sisters and brothers come to our lodge, they will look to you for hunting. for knowing. you will be a man when they are born. be a teacher to them."
earning the man's scars opened many things for a boy. he was no longer obligated to live beneath the roof of mother and father. he could build his own home, though most new seal hunter men instead left their village to wander. the lodge would be built when they were ready to marry and fill it with children, perhaps one to three years later.

It thrilled Raiyuk to think of the ice now, and what it might be like to stand upon it with his father and hunt the seals. He looked forward to this time. He would hunt them, and earn his scars, and fulfill a destiny passed down from father to son! All he wanted of life in this moment was to be like his father.

I will teach them, he said of his future siblings. The way you have taught me. And even then, a thought occurred. Tullik will be their mother? She is good; she is loyal to her home. He did not say she was loyal to her children also, but implied as much. He was fond of Tullik and while he worried she might leave the same way his mother did, the chance was very slim.

When I am a man, I will have my own wife? He felt too young for this, and asked this in an absent way, thinking primarily of seals.

"yes. when you are ready, raiyuk. the time between your manhood ceremony and becoming a father is at least twelve more turns of the moon. journey. travel. one day you will decide you like a woman. the rest is, ah, a man knows."
chakliux grinned. "tullik will be mother to the children born to this lodge. i may marry again. i may be chosen again. but you are first son," he affirmed. "first son to first wife to first lodge."
he was pleased. he was excited for the future. "ho, raiyuk! tell me your lineage, first your mother's, then your father's." many time he had recited these names, hoping to emphasize the importance of kinship ties and knowing one's blood.

he wondered what his wife would be like; but he did not wonder long. it wasn't something he was planning. it was a long way down the road, so to speak, and was only interesting to the boy for as long as his father entertained the thought with him.
first son to first wife to first lodge.
he was smiling until chakliux asked for the recitation.
i am raiyuk, son of of nasamik, and here he felt his mouth too dry to speak, as if his throat was a hole made of ice and his tongue a seal ducking beneath it. it was not a long moment. nasamik, out of kesuk and sukari. he prided himself over his lineage of course, but he was a wounded boy, and felt more pull towards the names of his father's people. first son of chakliux — out of waking shark and shaman k'os.
his people.
soon, he would be a seal hunter.

"piujuk," chakliux grunted, his face solemn, though his eyes were still bright with open pride. "when you marry, you will learn her lineage as well."
he struck the boy gently upon the shoulder with his tail in the manner of a man clapping another's arm; "you choose next what we do." perhaps they should rest, but chakliux was energetic and filled with the success of their hunt, and of being father to a boy who brought such pride.

he wanted to keep hunting!
he wanted to find the biggest thing and chase it, kill it, and wear its blood!
fanciful ideas for a child wanting only to impress those bigger and more wise.
but they had these eggs gathered, and some murre meat.
should we take these somewhere? he wondered aloud, not at all as forthright as perhaps chakliux wished of him. raiyuk was given the chance to make a choice and direct their next adventure, and all he could think to do was return to the village with their spoils.

even in his joy, raiyuk was measured and thoughtful. chakliux studied the birds and then touched the feathers of the fattest one with the most down. "give this to tullik as a gift. she will make something fine for herself. i will take some eggs to rodyn, for his sons."
chakliux cast a last smile to his son and then gently lifted their delicate findings, trotting down into the plateau.

to his step-mother would go the fattest murre. he would be careful with it. he would carry it promptly to the lodge and tell her of the hunt! this would please his father and perhaps tullik would see, she not only had chakliux caring for her, but himself also.
his father went one way, and raiyuk another.