Ocean's Breath Plateau real me

set for the morning. looking for kukumama or maybe @Whip, but open to any two participants!

After a night of fitful sleep, Sialuk eventually rose to the world, foregoing her usual cheerful morning howl. With the first night of songs behind her, she knew it was better to save her voice for the eight nights remaining. The children were safe within Moontide, and Sialuk sought the company of @Kukutux this morning, picking up her scent trail not too long after she'd finished her morning routine of emptying her bladder and refilling it with a long drink from a nearby stream.

There was no pressing news she needed to share or questions she wished to ask; Sialuk simply wanted to spend time with her mother while they were both in the confines of Rodyn's village. Perhaps speak of the upcoming union with both Argent and Elentari. The latter had not returned from her errand, which worried Sialuk to some degree, but she trusted her wife would return home soon.

"it is good to be beside the sea."

it was good to be where her daughter had once walked.

she reached her arms for the oldest.

"your singing is strong. she will hear it."

a breath, a sigh. "we will carry her to winter hunting this year."

Sialuk did not share the affinity for the ocean as her mother did, but it did bring fond memories of visiting Meerkat when they were both younger. Time marched on, and Sialuk returned anaa's embrace with one of her own.

I miss her, she admitted, knowing that her mother did, too. I do not know if her children will want to stay here. They did not seem to know this place, and she worried that they would want to return to the life they had known in the mountain village.

We will never be far, I know, but it is hard for children to understand. Would she have understood, if somebody had told her Kukutux was not her mother, that she was to go stay with her father in some distant village, so young? She did not think so. She had been a strong-headed child, and she thought that it was likely Rolayne, Panuk, or both would want to return.

And what of Maggak and Acrux? Would they be able to leave their brothers behind?

"then they will go where they wish. moonspear, moontide, moonglow; these are the names of their homes."

children might have more than one, but she did not need to tell this to sialuk. her daughter was wise, and kukutux carried much pride for all the young woman had accomplished already.

she was the mountain, and the stoneways were sialuk in turn.

She knew that was an option for them, but Sialuk did not know if Rodyn would be heartbroken if they did not choose to stay with him. And could she blame him? He had already lost so much, but it seemed unfair to move the children where they did not wish to go. Perhaps in time they would learn to enjoy the soft sound of crashing waves and sand beneath their feet. At the very least, Sialuk hoped that they would give it an honest chance before revolting against the notion of staying here.

A sigh escaped her, and Sialuk found herself weary of speaking more on the matter.

How are sunman and my little siblings? she asked, shifting the conversation to a hopefully lighter topic.

little! and so they were, in her heart. "i have sent your brothers out to seek their spirit walking. your brother arrluk has returned first. now he is a man."

she would keep him close for the winter and then when the snows began their melting, would encourage him to think of his future. would he marry and settle close? would he move from her hearth to make a place of his own? she would tell him to travel, all of them, travel as men and see what the world was to give.

"aiolos is strong as ever. his sorrow is great, but he holds mine as well."

a smile, moving on; "and your village, sialuk? my irnngutaq thrive upon the mountain."

They do, she said, smiling. Acrux and Maggak were balls of energy, and now they explored the world at their own pace, their paws reaching new lands each day. They had come with her to village Moontide, and she was happy that they had.

I look forward to the time when the days grow longer and our villages come together for the meeting of three hearts, Sialuk said, another smile replacing the first. She spoke, of course, of Elentari, Argent, and herself. The latter was busy collecting the bride price, and the former busy on an errand, but even though space separated them, Sialuk knew they were never far in spirit.

Meerkat and Njord are growing a village west of the mountains, but Seal remains steadily with Moonspear. She has become an eager pupil in reading bones and learning ways of healing.

ah, it was past time for winter hunting.

it was because she still waited for massaraq and kassuq to return, and would not leave without them.

springtime, then, coming together in new sun and perhaps, new life.

three hearts, then. sialuk's marriage should take place beneath the springtime glow.

"the snow-sea itself will say, 'this is the mountain-heart bride. we see her power.'" she covered her daughter's paw with her own.

to have four moonpacks there! she could hardly fathom the number. to hear that seal had remained with moonspear interested kukutux, who saw it as a sign that the girl had embraced their ways.

"it would be good if she married one of your brothers, or that seal hunter boy here in moontide." she did not know his name, only of him. "or if she never married at all, and read the bones for many years." amusement, relief that girls had more choices in this world.

Strength in numbers was something that they truly had here in the wilds. Between Moonglow, Moonspear, Moontide, and now the copse along with Ariadne's claim, they would be strong and supported against any threat, be it other packs or nature herself. With so many, it would be difficult for any one pack to wither away. And if it came to that, they could be absorbed by another, making them stronger in the process. Sialuk was in awe at how far they had come since the fateful night of Moonspear's first falling.

Kukutux, always the matchmaker, already laid plans to marry Seal off to another. Sialuk batted a paw at her mother. She has a year yet before she will think of such things! she laughed. Although the starwoman knew that she had thought of marriage long before it was time to do so. Still, she had spent a year eligible with no man or woman to call her own. Now she took two in her ulaq, spouses in everything but name.

the small worn teeth showed in a grin. "you know i think of the future only!" and while she wished to gather names ahead of time, kukutux had relaxed much of her expectations around age.

girls grew more slowly here, she might have said in contrast to arrangements made at nine moons. not more slowly, perhaps with more freedom.

look how vast the wilds, not only a stretch of sea ice that would be plunged into darkness for many hands of time.

"ah! did i tell to you that kivaluk, firsthunter in moonglow, will marry a daughter from brecheliant? she was wandering on a journey and almost reached her end. sivullik found her and brought her back among us. she has stayed. they have lived together for these last months."

Kivaluk was not a boy—man, rather—than Sialuk knew well. Only that he was Sakhmet's son, and his father had long ago left their hearth. Kigipigak, a man that even Sialuk had once thought of as a potential partner for herself. But it was not to be. He had gone for another, then left her on her own when their child was born. Not an honorable man, and one Sialuk was glad to have avoided.

I am glad for him, she said, a smile showing through. To have a loving family was something every one of their kin deserved. Brecheliant is a fine village, and one Moonspear considers an ally. Two of their children came to visit Seal not long ago, and their medic helped when we had many patients in the healing ulaq. It was likely time to pay them another visit to ensure that their bonds remained strong through the winter months.

it was good to know what bonds had been made between the villages. when she had been younger and more bold, cruel in her misplaced love for arcturus, she had been cruel to wraen.

time had mended this between moonglow and brecheliant.

"i will send stores of herbs with you if you send more of your villagers to the caldera," kuktuux decided. "they will be gifts for the winter, for we thank them. chickadee has become one of us in many ways."

Sialuk nodded. She did not know when she would find an opportunity to make the trip, but she would find a way to make it work. With so many villages, it seemed impossible to visit them all so frequently while also ensuring that she spent time with her own loved ones. Still, a request from her mother was not one that would be ignored.

She let silence settle in, content to sit and whittle away the hours with anaa until nightfall brought more songs to her throat.