Moonsong Glacier embers

could we set this before Chakliux returns to Moontide?

Breathless, the snowcloud returned to the village with no more sight nor scent of the shadow. From the hotsprings where his presence had been felt most, she had hugged the treeline and kept the open fields on her right lest he reappear in a puff of smoke, but alas - her luck had turned cold.

On the edge of the claim her voice rises low for the men she had met briefly along the way, hoping to reconvene with @Chakliux and @Kilgitsuk and gain more insight into the situation.

absolutely!

"hunting sister." 
his talk with dutch had done much to lift the seal hunter's spirits; he would depart soon for moontide but sought now the higher reaches of moonsong and felt coldness upon his nape, the touch of good and strong icewind.
but now he saw the woman, and came close, features warm if unsmiling.

It was Chalkiux that greeted her first.

"Hunt-brother," she remained tense and on edge, fur tousled from the journey. Though the sight of him should have brought relief, the look of seriousness that lay upon his face twisted her stomach in concern.

"There was no trace of him north of the pools," she begins, relaying what little her hunt had delivered. "He is clever and let the water muddy his scent. How was your search?" Had he too come up dry?

"monsters have an ugly intellect," he grunted in answer. "i went over the mountains. his trail did not make itself known to me. i think when i go out again i will stop in other lands and tell them who this man is. i will ruin his chance at respite. he is not young. he will need a pack or he will die."
it was clear that the idea of the monster succumbing to winter and not chakliux was one he found unacceptable.

"I wish you luck when you seek him again," she nodded in agreement, touching her nose briefly to the forehead of Chakliux should he allow it. To isolate him as they would an elderly or sick elk - except this one's antlers were tattered and bleeding with the blood and pain of others. 

She swallowed a lump in her throat.

"Tell me, should I be worried?" For Ariadne? For Moonsong? She thought of her friends lying lifeless in the snow. "If there is anything I can do, Chakliux, I will do it."

chakliux welcomed this touch; he felt the power of their northern lands in it.
"watch moonsong. keep ariadne from harm. she has many teeth to guard her, but we have other villages to protect. kill this man without question. do not save him for me if he returns while i am away."
he moved, shoulder butting gently against that of the other in a hunting-bonded gesture.

She did not push for information, for Chakliux' instruction to kill held all the meaning it needed.

"I will show him no mercy, hunt-brother." While it was true that Ariadne had many bodies in Moonsong and the surrounding moonvllages to keep her from harm, Tulugak could not help but worry for her the way only a woman could.

When her trading man was away, the snowcloud would be there to comfort her. Eagle eyes to scout not only for a wanted criminal, but to watch over and to sooth the mind of her friend and leader too.

Feeling their shared strength at the contact, she dipped her head and readied herself to leave. "May Pinga bless you so that this monster may walk with the spirits the next time we speak."

pinga. he did not know this name, but was assured by it and by the passion in tulugak's voice.
"may oil father turn his face in favor upon you," he said to the blackbird woman, standing to touch her shoulder in resolution and bond.
the monster would be bound.

Their bond as hunt-brother and hunt-sister was something strengthened by the north than ran in their veins.

She leaned into his touch, bowing her head in understanding before turning to walk the path back to the village once again. While the hunter caught his seal, Tulugak would ensure their home protected.

end here? <3