Little Goat Mountain So close, no matter how far.

She moved at a quick lope, trailing her way through the trees and toward the Sunspire with purpose. Dawnlight came dull and with the promise of more snow to come as the morning progressed, and Ciri felt it sensible to seek someplace dry to wait out the worst of the storm.

A cave was to be found in the lower reaches of the mountain that bordered Blackfoot, and she stepped into the darkened hollow with relief. The sound of her claws on stone echoed along with that of dripping water, which came from further within the cave. Ciri shook off the snow that'd clung to her furs and found a place to settle, sinking to her haunches so she could sweep the snowmelt from her cold forepaws.

he had killed two stoats here after hours of stalking, and never before had chakliux longed for the sea so much. for moontide. for his wives and his son.
soon. he would soon be home.
after eating one of his catches, chakliux prepared to carry away the other, directly into the teeth of the wind and the storm, which did not merit more consideration from the seal hunter.
it was a vaguely familiar scent which caught his nostrils; he turned his head and began to seek, noticing the cavemouth. he chuffed. "come out, spirit-shadow."

With warmth returning to her bones, Ciri pressed her belly to the stone and curled herself close. She had travelled long through the night and hadn't realised how tired she felt, and her muscles were glad for the rest. She exhaled a contented breath and allowed herself to doze, though sleep came briefly - there was a voice beyond the safety of her hollow, and her sunflower gaze cracked open.

She knew that voice, and was on her feet and making her way smoothly toward it at once. Peering beyond the moith of the cave, she saw a pale figure through the snowfall and her tail gave an sweep of recognition. Here, seal-hunter!

she called to him! chakliux goggled and stood still, suspicion washing in harsh waves; he lifted a lip but prowled closer, giving the entrance a wide berth.
sungold eyes; ah! "ciri!" he exclaimed, at last relaxing; he thrust himself close to the cave with a soft laugh. "it has been almost a year! you look well," he said, and a note of true admiration crept into his voice.

Her name on his lips, and her own curved upward in a smile. It brought warmth ro her breast to have been recalled by him, and she thought fondly of their hunt the previous Winter. As do you, she purred in response, and reached to nudge the chilled furs of the seal-hunter's cheek in appreciation to have been found by him.

Ciri shifted, wishing to be free of the biting cold, and encouraged her pallid companion deeper into the hollow. You are far from home, are you not?

ciri's touch was gentle; it sent a jarring thrill through the man who had long missed the warmth of feminine arms. he accompanied her deeper into the stone lodge, glancing about.
"i seek a man who has harmed one of my wives," chakliux murmured. so much had come to pass in a year's time. "i found him, with my hunting-brother dutch. he is wounded. but i must turn back for home."
his smile was true. "why are you here, ciri?"

One of my wives. Ciri blinked, first surprised and then visibly disappointed to hear Chakliux announce that he had chosen more than one she-wolf as mate. She did not look back over her shoulder at him as she trailed deeper into the cave with him, and inhaled deep to steady herself against the wave of jealousy that reared up, threatening to crash over her.

I seek Moonglow village once more, she said, unwilling to dive deeper into conversation regarding whatever women had managed to win the seal-hunter's heart. Ciri paused when she'd ventured deep enough, and at last moved to glance up at her companion's vibrant gaze, though the spark had dampened in her own.

all at once the warmth between them had cut away with the howl of the wind beyond the cavern. chakliux hesitated, feeling unwelcome, but dragged his stoat along all the same. "the moon villages have gained in number. first there is moonspear, led by sialuk. then there is moontide, led by samani." he did not feel hesitation in saying her name. "she was called by death."
a muscle leapt in his jaw.
"now moonsong has raised its head, led by ariadne." slowly he butchered the stoat, and in silence he offered ciri its choicer portions.

Kukutux had told her of the revival of Moonspear when last she'd returned to the Wilds, and while Ciri had been glad to hear it she'd known then that things there would not be as they were. The swallow doubted she would ever find true comfort among the ghosts of her past on those slopes. Moonglow, however, had been a place where memory did not threaten to drown her.

There were two other villages that'd grown since her departure, though the names of their leaders were unknown to her. She could not recall crossing paths with any of the Moonwoman's daughters when last she attempted to make a home among them, though she supposed it made sense for them to come of age and disperse to seek their own paths.

The seal-hunter offered meat in silence, and Ciri accepted. Have you chosen another of these new moon villages, Chakliux?

One of Kukutux' daughters to warm your bed, too, she mused, bitterness nipping at her as she considered how foolish she'd been to wonder if he'd ever thought of her in the hopeful way she'd thought of him.

the seal hunter watched the blood glisten in the half-light, watched ciri eat the fat before he pulled his eyes away. "for a time i lived in moonspear. i chose moontide after this, and it is where i built my longest-lasting lodge."
outside the shelter the white squalls had begun; it was only for his company that chakliux did not at once depart. her familiar self and the prettiness of her eyes kept him, though they had cooled since the mention of his wives.
perhaps this drove him, a boldness.
"are you jealous to find me married, ciri?"

He had drifted between the groups, it seemed, though ultimately had selected Moontide to be his base. She nodded in acknowledgement before dipping her muzzle to lick at another bloodied strip of fatty meat, her mind clouded by disappointment and frustration. Ciri had not obsessed herself with the thought of Chakliux during her time away, though regularly she had entertained the idea of his interest in her. He was strong and handsome and charming; of course he would not have waited for her while she took herself off into the world.

She was angry at herself for what she felt, because he'd never been hers. His words distracted her from that, however, and her yellow eyes rose to seek the bold hue of his own to hold them. Ciri knew the answer: yes, and fiercely so! But she could not give voice to it, and averted her stare once more. Chakliux would know the answer without her speaking the word. I often wondered, she said softly, if you might have chosen me, had I stayed.

"i am used to being chosen." a slow grin lit his mouth. "and i am used to making my own choice."
his lean body relaxed alongside ciri, even as he swung one ear to monitor the wind, a smooth and unconscious gesture. "maybe we would have chosen one another. maybe not. maybe the choosing would be different."
chakliux breathed the good iciness of the snowy air which howled beyond the cavern. "women still choose me and i them. but only certain ones can be a seal hunter wife because it is a want not made lightly."
their eyes were studious upon one another, each a scroll which asked in silence to be unraveled.

She twitched a whisker, unnerved by what he had to say. Ciri didn't understand what he meant. Her ear remained cocked in his direction, hungry for an explanation that was not owed to her. As she considered this, she faltered slightly and her tension slackened. How ridiculous she must look to him: a child, upset and disappointed at missing out on something.

The swallow felt a muscle twitch in her jaw. Was he saying that he was mated to some, but gave pieces if himself to others as well? The idea of a husband's disloyalty to his wife in such ways sickened her to her stomach, and her impression of the seal-hunter soured.

So you... get around? Ciri asked with an edge to her tone, blinking up past her lashes to look upon Chaliux's pale face.

"no," chakliux murmured, for though he had shared words with others, he had not indulged them or himself. he had chosen simbelmyne but she had not picked him for this First Rite. their interlude would come later. he had chosen ariadne; she had chosen kaluktuk, but it did not mean their connection was over. how could he explain further what 'choice' meant for him when it was not an immediate embrace? 
the tone ciri now carried irritated chakliux, who did not care for jealousy and less for judgement. in many ways he invited these things upon his own head, though he would not admit it.
it was good ciri was heading for the village moonglow; her ways were more acceptable by the standards of the moon woman.
he closed then and watched the snow flicker past, considering that he had given broken bones and sleeping children to become a seal hunter in this place of beautiful women and hard men.

They differed far more than she could ever have imagined, and the disappointment was clear in the furrowing of her brow. Ciri, who'd been greatly affected by the way her own mother had chose to live, could not see herself sharing the father of her children with anyone else. Chakliux seemed to stiffen, somewhat, in his single-worded response to her, and turned his berrybright gaze toward the mouth of the hollow in which they'd found one another.

Her own sunflower eyes followed his. She listened then to the howl of frozen wind through the trees beyond and felt a shiver course the length if her spine. Ciri was sorely disappointed in his choices, but felt unwilling to sway in her own. It was a topic best left, one she ought to move on from, but -

I came back because I'd decided to choose you, Chakliux.

The words were spilling from her maw before she could tell herself to stop. Their time working together in Moonglow had been brief, but the appreciation she'd felt for him then had never dissipated.

his gaze did not return to ciri, but she would see how her words has affected him by how he gathered his body close together.
"i married my first wife not long after you left, the mother of my son. she has gone now, but i will never be a man with one woman. and no seal hunter woman chooses one man."
and it was how he chose his wives; those cohesive to a culture that did not choose only one. the days were far too short and the dangers too great upon the sea ice to bind yourself in such a way. entire lodges of wives and men could perish in a heavy snow.
now and perhaps abruptly he turned his eyes upon her. "i would have chosen you also, ciri. but now i do not think this would have pleased you."
his voice had lost its edge; he spoke solemnly and earnestly now. if a woman wanted one man and to be loved only by one, then he was no choice. if she wanted her body to come alight in pleasure he might have been, but there was no mingling the two of these things.

He looked at her again, and she struggled to read him. She simply gazed right back, yellowgold eyes shining with regret upon her dark features. Ciri had enjoyed how easily Chakliux had made her smile before, how his own could wash away the sorrow and darkness that'd often plagued her. It'd been easy to be with him and she'd girlishly hoped to experience that warmth again in the time she'd spent away, trying to better find herself.

He was right. The swallow would've grown bitter with resentment for Chakliux' ways, for the connections he might prefer with others. She would always be wondering if she was pretty enough, if she was good enough. Leaving Moonglow had been a difficult decision, but a wise one now that she had learned more of the seal-hunter's lifestyle and how it could never live up to her own expectations.

For a moment, just a fleeting moment, she wondered if she could change him. It wasn't something that would be fair to him, she realised swiftly, and shame bloomed in her breast as a sad smile graced her narrow muzzle. How do they do it? Ciri asked, her curiosity more innocent now that her own sliver of hope had been dashed. Your wives. When they want only for you, but you are with another?

"this has not come to pass." what ciri envisioned and what was the reality were two things that had no basis in one another. the seal hunter's brow furrowed. "i am here, far from my lodge and my son and my wives because a monster attacked one of them. not to find women," no matter how the warmth of ciri's form had thawed him from the snow outside.
"i have built them a lodge and made sure they want for nothing. raiyuk and i, we are the ones who bring the dangerous meat back to where tullik and marina are warm inside. i do not collect women. i do not marry those for whom i cannot provide." even a portion of his kills still went to sialuk for acrux and maggak.
"i have not even been home long enough to be with them, to settle into a pattern with each. so. yes. i have women outside my lodge whom i would enjoy. but i have not been so eager to touch them that i would hurt the ones i married, hm?"
tullik welcomed a seal hunter's ways. marina yet had not spoken enough with him to know.
all things in their time.

He went on in explanation once more, and she maintained her silence. It did pain her to hear the names of the she-wolves he'd chosen, that of a son he'd gifted to the first of them; she could not deny the heaviness in the heart of her. Still, Ciri could not understand it. Chakliux cared for them, yes, and he protected them - but were they happy? Truly? She knew she couldn't be, to look upon his face on his return and wonder if he'd found comfort in the body of another during their time apart when she would yearn only for him.

The swallow mused over the confidence with which he spoke, and she thought how most men she'd encountered were so very alike. Her mind's eye conjured an image of her father's face and she thought sorely of how he, too, had fathered cubs to different she-wolves - and how they'd all suffered for it.

Ciri had long decided that she would not repeat the mistakes of her own parents.

There was quiet sorrow in her sunflower eyes as they held each other's gaze for a time. She would mourn this lost opportunity and her squashed hope, but not so deeply that she could not move on from it. I wish you peace for the future, then, she told him gently, despite the uncertainty of her own.

"i offer the same for yours, ciri," chakliux gave back, offering the woman's contemplative face a small curve of his mouth.
closing their talk of wives and seal hunter traditions; turning now from the fact he had been wanted by ciri, the scarified man set his gaze back on the howl of snow.
"i travel with a man from moonsong. his name is dutch. he has a heart that does not shy from anything. i am learning from him how to be a better man," chakliux admitted, though it was for ciri's own interest that he spoke now of dutch. yet the words went on; he meant them, and found himself wanting to return to the panther right away.

The sentiment returned and her smile matched his own, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. Ciri recalled how infectious it'd been a year prior and felt her skin flush hot beneath the raven fur of her cheeks. His handsome face and easy charm had intrigued her from that first encounter She shifted against him, knowing she should part from his side, but still she lingered.

Curiously, so did he.

She thought he would be on his way yet instead Chakliux spoke of his companion, a wolf by the name of Dutch. If his aim was to turn her attention toward him then Ciri did not detect it. She listened, and asked: what have you learned so far?

"patience. thoughtfulness." dutch had given him the place of a brother as well, though he was not certain how to communicate this to a woman. "maybe you will meet him if you stay with the sunshine people."
he was thinking now of ciri married, happy as one wife to one man; a small smile curved his mouth, for even in regret of losing her favour he looked forward to seeing her pleased.
the snow broke, and chakliux wriggled from the den into the cold air. "i will see you again, ciri. we will talk of other things."

Patience. Thoughtfulness. Qualities that this stranger to her carried, apparently. Ciri thought quietly of him and imagined him to be gentle, with a warm smile, though she shed it from her mind as swiftly as it was formed.

She no longer wished to dwell on her hopes of the opposite sex.

The remainder of their time in the hollow was silent. Soon the storm began to wane, and Chakliux withdrew from her side. Cold crept into the space where he'd lay alongside her; she lifted her muzzle to watch him go. He turned to regard her one last time and she blinked tiredly up at him. Farewell, seal-hunter, she told him, and stared out into the frozen wilds until he was gone from her sight.