Sequoia Coast oil teeth

backdated to feb 5!

@Raiyuk had not surfaced with the seal his first time, but chakliux had explained that it was rare to take one on the initiating hunt. he himself had done so once, but raiyuk had not been raised upon this land of ice sheets and water to take the breath in a gasp, and that was the fault of his father.
raiyuk must rest, and so for two days, chakliux hunted cormorant, feeding bloodied bits of gristle to the sea in hopes of appeasing the salt spirits.
send him a seal, the hunter prayed, and as he looked out across the cold ocean to the groaning of the glacier-voices and the crashing of ice, he felt that his next children should draw breath here.
no time to think of it now. he roused his son and clapped him on the shoulder. 
"again."
there was a hole in the ice, and chakliux pointed toward it with his chin.

In his sleep he wrestled a creature of the sea, built like a bison, with curving horns and a big shark mouth; it was somehow all of these things at once, and a giant, and when Raiyuk woke he was standing atop the creature's back as if it were a glacier.

He rose to his feet while the edges of the dream held fast to him. The smell of blood from his father's offerings cut through the last of the ethereal feeling, and when Raiyuk faced the sea he was awake and sharp with his focus.

The hole in the ice awaited him. The sea was just beyond, and as he readied to dive in Raiyuk steadied his mind and took one large breath; then, he was beneath the surface without so much as a splash.

It was so cold on first contact that he felt the familiar urge to scream. Chakliux had trained him well, and after a moment a familiar numbing eased the urge from him, and Raiyuk was able to open his eyes and to swim - eager for a seal to show itself.

Today he would become a man.

with the same assurance of the first time, raiyuk descended into the cold depths of the ocean and chakliux followed.
there was a self-assuredness to raiyuk this time. he was smoother in the cold salt, more focused, less reactive to the cold.
chakliux glimpsed round for the first great seal, eyes darting for another. he followed raiyuk where the boy would lead, silver bubbles streaming around both of them.
today his son would become a man.

It was dark beneath the ice.

His figure cut a shadow there which Chakliux could follow for a few minutes, then it dropped away.

Raiyuk used the limited light that glowed nearer to the ice in order to orient himself; he kept the location of the carved hole in his mind as he swam.

Dark shapes came; some large, some smaller, all fast. These shapes came and went from the shadow-play of the ice, with the larger ones keeping distance; but beneath, a younger seal not yet wise to wolves came close.

They shared a look. The seal was emboldened, and it could move more freely. It came swimming close and touched Raiyuk; it wanted to know what this other thing was! Raiyuk stayed calm. He let the creature explore and when it began to show playfulness, he thought of his coming siblings.

A bellow from the deep made the ice quake; one of the adults was warning the child. It did not want to listen - and Raiyuk took his chance in that moment.

The shapes moved beneath the ice!

Something struck it from the water side!

There was stillness, and bellowing, and the sea became a riot that only Raiyuk contended with.

The large shapes dispersed and far off in different directions, the family split, the seals emerged to watch the ice for more danger.

When Raiyuk surfaced he was bloody; he did not have the seal pup with him, but he was grinning red, and needed the air. His eyes flashed to his father as he gulped breaths, and then he went down again.

The seal pup was thrown through the carved hole and on to the ice where it slapped down and lay prone. Half of its face was torn; its neck cut, its hide scored by Raiyuk's teeth. The boy came up next and dragged himself to the open air again, sopping wet and invigorated.

gnashing teeth; reddening water. chakliux and his son cut the chosen seal from the others and set to the breathless slaughter in a glinter of waves and salt.
his son was a shark who cut down among the shafts of light and struck, hard. the seal hunter was impressed, adding his strength to the ribbons of flesh cut in the side of the blubbered animal.
the sea reddened, color deepening unto that of birth-ochre and first-breath.
at last chakliux knew with father's instinct he could no longer stay beneath, and in trepidation he let himself float upward, to air and sky, slicing frigid surface with a great gasp.
dripping, he crouched beside the ice and watched.
once! raiyuk raised in glorious splashing crimson, and their eyes met with a fierce and confident light.
and then all at once chakliux was whooping in joy, dancing around the downed form of the seal and the panting sides of his boy, the new-made man of the seal hunters.
"my son is a man!" he shouted to the ends of the sea ice and the broken floes, to the glaciers, to grandfather white bear and the wheeling terns; "my son is a seal hunter!"

The call of his father's voice echoed in his ears, while he felt the pounding of his heart and the rush of blood in his veins. Raiyuk raised his head to hoot and holler with the man! He pounded the ice with his feet, and laughed, and went to Chakliux to dance with him as a man might; shoulder to shoulder, rough and tumble.

Breath plumed from him like dragon-smoke. He got seal blood upon Chakliux' furs. Together they hollered and moved around the dead seal pup and pounded at the ice, which echoed faintly in to the sea like a drum, until out of breath entirely!

The kill was done; the hardest part was over, and now Raiyuk would travel home to be given his scars. He thought of how hollow the sea had felt when he had first entered it, and the deep sound of the seals as they called to their young. He thought of the way the pup had tried to test him and play with him, and how very much like wolves they were—but also like fish somehow!

The events of the day would repeat in his mind even as he slept. It was only right—this was the most important event in his life so far, and Raiyuk knew he would never forget.