Hoshor Plains sister bear

the gathering was coming to an end, people still straggling with burdens in the direction of their respective villages.
when sundown came, chakliux went out into the snow, and exhaled; he called to @Raiyuk. from being near the moonglow camp he knew that seal was here; he grinned to himself, not wanting to command the boy away if he was occupied with impressing the moonspear girl.

His father had returned!

Raiyuk had no place to be, with the hunting done and the carcasses cleaned. He went to the voice that called, and saw Chakliux.

Did you hunt him? As excited as he was, Raiyuk remembered why his father and Dutch had gone away, and thought they would only return after success.

He looked for injuries too, and when he saw none Raiyuk playfully shoved at his father and nosed at his scruff.

a laugh; he pushed back against raiyuk, and for a moment they jostled one another. "we hunted him," chakliux assured; he reached against his withers and pulled out the thin, rank strip of withered skin with hair clinging to it.
"here is a piece of him. we must save this. i do not know how to scrape a skin!" he lamented, though it was only a loud joke, and chakliux was proud of his prize.

His father gave him a gift in that strip of man leather. Something he would protect. He saw how close Chakliux had come! Raiyuk wished he had gone, and maybe with his added teeth the offending man would have died!

I was part of a hunt of my own; there were many bodies, and we brought down one of those, he motioned to the far-off wall of bison but had forgotten their name.

In remembering, Raiyuk visibly favored a leg. He compensated to hide the flaw while his father observed the beasts. There will be much meat when we return home. You are coming back to the lodge? He was hopeful, but half expected Chakliux to go to village Moonsong.

already had the seal hunter thought of many places to hang this prize where visitors and those who dwelt in inside the lodge might see it always.
his son spoke simply, but pride bloomed open and bright upon the face of the father.
but the sharp eyes noticed how raiyuk held himself; the pleased expression gave way to concern.
"seal hunter! have you sought healing?" chakliux demanded. to be injured just before his manhood ceremony would compromise the boy in the water. "i am coming home," chakliux assured, eager to be back in their lodge, and soured by his words with ariadne in a way that would keep him from the glacier a while.
"come! let the healers see you, my son. you must be ready to enter the sea and you must be rested without aches before this happens."

As much as he enjoyed being fussed over, Raiyuk did not want to waylay them at the healer's camp. I have already seen them! A girl from Brecheliant saw to me. Bronte had made sure to keep an eye on him and help him walk there, and kept him company while the injury was looked over. Those at the camp said it was a bad bruise. Nothing is broken. To prove he could still maneuver Raiyuk hopped a bit, testing his suspension, and tried not to grimace too strongly when the muscle protested.

They would go home soon, and then they would be away to hunt seals upon the ice! Raiyuk did not want to miss this opportunity. He did not want to be held back because of the bison hunt. He saw no point in commenting on this, though. Chakliux did not need to know the specifics.

"raiyuk. you cannot be in the water until you have healed." his words were firm; he knew how much his son anticipated the making of a man, and his eyes were understanding.
"if i bring you to hunt the seals, and you are injured, they will take this as disrespect. a disrespected animal spirit will seek to kill. this is why an injured man waits until he is whole to give of himself to the sea."
now, a teasing grin; "you are young! it will not be more than a few days of rest in moontide." secretly he looked forward to finding whether or not his wives were ready for him, and how to maneuver that in such close quarters.

He was visibly disgruntled by the correction of his father, which melted away after a moment or two. Raiyuk wanted to be out on the ice and he wanted to prove he was ready to be a man, but he also felt this was a consequence of leaving the lodge.

Had he been more dutiful, more obedient his father's wishes, Raiyuk would not be sore now. He had chosen bison over lodge, and the glory among these many people versus the singular empowerment that was to come.

He had been impatient. Maybe even a little heartsick, worrying over Chakliux, seeking Seal's eye and the affections of the united villages.

I look forward to home, he admitted.

"i am ready to be home!" chakliux agreed. it was good to be on the hunt, to be around the other moonvillages, but he longed for his lodge and his wives and the settlement of many days.
the routine.
"when you are a man, what will you do first?" he asked, sitting in the tall grass as movement continued around them.

The question was a difficult one to answer. Raiyuk's mind began to buzz!

He is reminded of his conversation with Seal. For a moment he is quiet as he thinks, and while he watches the bodies moving around the camp he does not focus on any of them. He thinks of the hunt that Chakliux has returned from, and how he had wished to have helped in some way with it.

He thinks of his lodge-brother. Would he also be earning his scars? One day, maybe.

I think I would like to hunt with Matteo. Raiyuk answers, although there is more in his heart he does not say. He does not mention the hellcat, which would make a fine bride-price, but could not be taken alone.

the scarred man was quietly surprised to hear no mention of seal. had not raiyuk been all but courting her? and now he watched his son from the corner of his eye.
maybe the guarding of this was the first step to entering his masculinity.
"it may take another winter before matteo is ready to earn his scars, if he wants them. take him out with you when you are a man. seal hunters will go far, trade in many villages, learn many languages. maybe you will not want to come back. maybe you will settle another place."
his eyes were warm. "but you will always be a seal hunter once you are scarred, no matter where you go."

Could he wait one more winter? That was what Chakliux asked of him now, even if he did not know it. Raiyuk would mend quickly and they would go together to the sea ice, for the seals and for the scars, and then he would be a man. Would his father have waited if he had something in his sights? Raiyuk knew the answer in his heart.

I will help him earn his scars. He vowed this, but for his own sake said, —but it is the hellcat I want to hunt. You remember it? He had not spoken of this mythical beast since he was a small child, when rumor of it spread through the Wilds. He held a dream at that point to hunt it and bring home its hide to Chakliux.

He knew that it existed now, or it had been real at some point.

Seal fought it with her people.

^{(I swear there was a thread for this but I can't for the life of me find it, RIP.)}

no worries at all! <3

this — now this raised the brows of chakliux, and he stared hard at raiyuk for a long moment.
he wanted to forbid it; father's heart said this is too dangerous.
more dangerous than hunting the seal? already he is fearless.
this eased the man; he breathed an easier breath and gave a sharp nod of acceptance for this journey that his son would undertake. "i know you will bring its head back to the moonvillages."

His father looked reluctant for a split-second, which wasn't something Raiyuk was accustomed to seeing in him, and so he dismissed it as a trick of his own eyes. Beyond that, Chakliux was accepting and supportive. Raiyuk felt no fear, then. He would hunt the seals and become a man, and then he would seek the hellcat.

He looked to the horizon with a serious expression that did not fit his youth.

I will bring its hide to her parents. He was convinced of this eventuality. But I promise you its head.

chakliux nodded. "i will hang it from the lodge roof, so it may be seen by all."
he nudged the boy's shoulder now, turned their talk to other things, but chakliux felt as if he had glimpsed raiyuk's future.
he would succeed at his seal hunt. he would hunt the wildcat. he would use its pelt to prove his strength to seal and her family. and perhaps in another turn of time, another lodge would rise in moontide.
it was a good dream.