Hideaway Strath sapukutaq

For anyone visiting Hideaway Strath, Black Morass, or Boartusk Heights. Some tags for visibility.

They mourned, and @Asivaq prepared to sing the death songs for their son.

Kigipigak found it a strain to be near her now, or rather near her spirituality, and became physically distant. At first he cited needing to go further from the village to scout for meals, but really he mourned in his own way.

During this exploration beyond the village limits he came across a few wolf scents; they were strong, so they were recent. Evidently someone had been crossing the outer limits of their village. Kigipigak let out a low rumble of dislike, but did not turn back.

Whoever it was, he would find them.

the vampire queen descended from her throne for a drink. from the other side, where the river divides the strath, a figure lumbers in the distance. but reyna remains put. she is on neutral land, there is nothing to defend here. but any closer, and perhaps she might have to. perhaps not.

crimson eyes watch carefully as the figure comes closer into view. a man, the scent of pack wolf and the stench of children wafting towards her: a competitor. she swallows, and prepares her words.

There is nothing here to explain the many wolf-scents he had tracked. Nothing to denote a village rising somewhere among the mire, and nothing to indicate a growing population, from what Kigipigak could discern in the moment. The scents spread in different directions and he would have to choose where to look first; thankfully he did not have to go far before spotting a figure, and they appeared to have noticed him as well.

On his approach he kept his posture relatively neutral (given that he could not enforce much upon these unclaimed lands); but there was also a sense of pride in the lift of his head, a defensiveness in the frown he wore as Kigipigak came to stand before this person — a woman?

You are new to this area. It was not a question. During his weeks of living in this place with his wife, Kigipigak had encountered very few individuals. Anyone he found in this place would be from elsewhere, he was certain of that.

You and your people — whoever they are — collectively trespassed through my village. Your scents are there upon our borders. Who are you? What are you doing here? She at least owed him some kind of explanation.

the man had not yet spoken and already reyna does not like him. the way his struts around, head high. she straightens her own too, meeting him only in posture. she would have to be careful, but she could barely stand this disrespect as he then spat out accusations.

i am reyna nocturne, matriarch of la muerte, and i do not mean trouble. she announces to him across the river. i am new, i must admit. and we have crossed through your land. for that, i apologize.
however you cannot say that i, at least, have desecrated your land. nivis comes to mind. 
if any of my people have tarnished your land besides crossing it, then my apologies extend even further. but you may have noticed that passing through your borders, faint as they are, is the only way to enter. what must you propose my people do, cross over the mountains? a sigh breaks the woman's explanation and outwardly she softens.
my people and i only seek for a home, much like yours. i'm sure you understand.

As far as he could tell they had crossed through the village, at least the outermost areas of it, and he had yet to take notice of any caches pilfered or prey chased from the area. He would be certain to go back and study the terrain in case there was anything of note, and each issue would be a black mark against these people. What the woman spoke was the truth—so far as Kigipigak could ascertain—however, he did not want to take her apology at face-value. Words meant nothing to him, only actions held any consequence.

I am Kigipigak Tartok. My village is Napatuqvik.


This region is mostly uninhabited. There was no reason you could not have chosen another place to settle and make your village. He was frustrated by the exchange already. My wife and I have recently welcomed children, he admitted with some caution, and a tightening of his jaw, watching the woman. Kigipigak did not want to give any indication of their number, although it was clear enough to any of the wolves that trespassed that they were few; he did not want to give up any signs of weakness either, and would not mention the loss of the little boy or the resulting period of mourning.

It was hard enough to think straight right now without being reminded, himself.

I only say this as a warning to you and your people. If they come too close to our village at any point, I am well within my rights to force them out; those of the village will be vigilant. If they want some form of safe passage, now is the time to arrange it—but when I go back to my wife I will consider this issue resolved.

the stubborn bastard judges her for her choice in home. but he isn't owed an explanation for her choice in home.

congratulations then, tartok. his offer of a passage puts a smile on the pale woman's face. ignoring his threats of violence, no matter how much it boils her blood, she continues.
i'd much prefer to settle this diplomatically. thank you for being reasonable
she wishes now that her pack had numbers; just to drive away the village, so arrogant to strut in. to invade, to chase them far away and leave their puny little settlement in pieces. but her kingdom can barely even be called that at the moment. but soon, soon. there'd be no need for a "safe crossing."

what would suit you best? traveling along the furthest borders?

Kigipigak nods in response to her question.

I will designate a path, and show it to you so that your people may learn it. They must stay to this path. They will not deviate, and they will not hunt upon our land. He had to be strict about this; he had children to feed, and the sudden influx of wolves would no doubt cause an upset among the prey populations.

It is either that, or you designate someone among your number as akiitivit. A person to call at our borders for an escort who will take them on the path. They would be watched by our guards the whole way. This would be difficult for Napatuqvik to manage given they were a two-man village, currently.

she nods along, yes yes.. no hunting, don't even set eyes upon the territory. of course she'll send the message along to her subjects but she cannot promise those looking to cross for her kingdom could ever possibly know of the path unless a trail is left for them. if those future subjects do get attacked by the village, it'd just be used as further leverage for them to stay within the safety of boartusk's embrace.

a path will be more reliable. an escort would lead to far less issues but.. well, i'm not sure how viable that option is. you must be very busy with your children. her smile somehow turns sly despite not moving an inch.

is it settled then? satisfied?

The proposed route: click!

She did not give an answer one way or another. Which would work best—an escort or not? Kigipigak found the look on her face to be further incentivizing towards his frustration; he did not know how to best explain to this foreign woman that he was looking out for both their people. His family controlled the space that her people required for ease of movement; why was she being so dismissive?

There is a clearing nearer to the mountain's edge that your people have already found, as that is where your scents were strongest as I came through my village. That will be where they wait and call, to alert my village of their intentions.

From there, they will follow the river east. It is not a straight path and will take some time, but it will take them away from the village. When the river turns north then it is another day of travel, but they will be out of my land. There is a landmark to denote the end of the path—a waterfall along the rock face; it is giant and impossible to ignore.

But that would also spit these people out very close to the Copse, and Kigipigak did not want to cause his aokatti the same headache. He pauses as he thinks, and then admits, There is another village to the north, in the forest, but it can be avoided by going east in to the bog.

Nobody said this would be glamorous.

the route is clumsy but it'll have to do. too many packs have chosen tuktu for her liking, and reyna hopes soon none of this will matter, and boartusk — better yet the hinterlands — would be hers.

that'll work. i'll tell my subjects then. but what of those that wish to cross but do not know of the path? we must have some marker to designate it. nothing much, but enough to make anyone that violates it a fool and guilty for doing so. otherwise we'd return to the same issue of trespassers, and i do not wish to be blamed for that which is out of my control.

He stops, and watches her. She doesn't take ownership for the movements of her people? The man retains his frown and it seemed to deepen.

A marker makes no sense to me. They will call if they wish to travel our land. If her people did not heed her, that would put them at risk; but it would also prove to Napatuqvik and the people she herself claimed to rule over, that she was weak and unfit. Once they announce that they need passage, they will be escorted that first time to the falls. If they need passage back through, they will do the same but call from the bog.

That seemed simple enough to him. It would also give Kigipigak some idea of how many made up their number, and the composition, as if that might be of use at some point in the future. He knew he should not have expected much from a woman that so flagrantly ignored the markers of Napatuqvik; but he would give her this one chance.

If your people do not learn the path, that is a reflection upon you. If they take food from the mouths of my children, I will expect compensation. But until that happens, this is all we need to have discussed.

Kigipigak felt that everything had been covered, for now. He would return home to report back to his wife, share the dealings with Stratos, and make sure they were prepared for any who called.

the silver coated man is not a pragmatist. and if no escort comes? what then? i have smelled your numbers in passing. a marker is neccessary in that case. her tone stiffens, her brow furrowing slightly.
idiot, moron, and more. what is it that he does not understand?

i'm trying to be reasonable, i truly do not mean harm nor to disrespect your land. but be realistic, can an escort always come to watch over those that wish to cross?

He bristles.

Then they do not travel. Or they can take the risk.

If she had chosen somewhere else, this would not be happening. If she did not like it then, what? Would she bring her people to war against him? Against the village? They had reached a compromise and now she was being petulant.

I will not have strangers going unwatched across my land. If that is not acceptable to you, then take your people and leave. Or, accept that you have made a mistake—one which could be far more costly than this arrangement. Kigipigak could have demanded blood from those that ignored his village. He could have come up with all manner of reasons to take food from their mouths, whether Reyna's people had hunted on his land or not; there would be no way to prove one way or another. Instead, there was compromise.

Either you accept things as they are now, or you contain your people to your chosen home and they do not leave. He did not care one way or another; if they stayed put, that would be easiest for Kigipigak. If they chose to move freely, there would be consequences and he felt he had made this well known by now. There was one way out—and Reyna need only accept it.

a sigh. for now, just for now she'll have to deal with this.

fine, it's settled. pleased to have figured something out with you, tartok. she nearly spits, but concious enough to save it for later. how bothersome, let a flood come from this very river and down the fools already so that she does not have to lift even a finger.

anything else you wish to say?

She sounds like a child. Clearly what they've discussed has hit a nerve, or at the very least she did not get all that she wanted; but Kigipigak did not care. He was pleased with himself for dealing with this so quickly and for having any resolution at all; but the nagging sensation of something dark and brooding remained in his heart. He did not know how to identify grief, as it was not something those of Tartok openly admitted to let alone felt—but it was there, an undercurrent to every word he spoke.

The woman accepted. There was nothing else to say. When prompted for more, Kigipigak shook his head. He did not want to linger any longer, and was already moving as if to disperse. It was perhaps unwise to turn his back to her, but so far Reyna did not pose a threat to him.

Over his shoulder he called, Good luck, Reyna.

And with that his pale figure vanished among the trees, heading for that clearing so that he could make his way back home.

the man lumbers, and as his back turns to her, she bares her whites but does not move as she fights a snarl.

best of wishes, kigipigak. and soon she is off to strengthen her territory and send word to her subjects of this most troublesome agreement.