Qeya River qasigiaq

With her belly full, Sulukinak sought the scents of wolves as she probed the wilderness, seeking above all a sign of Cen.

Her interests lay along a riverside. At first Sulukinak had been hunting for her cousin, then sought a drink, and in prowling for the shallows she caught the scent she knew.

The girl prowled more efficiently than before; taking solace in the reaching shadows, and with quick steps in the water to obscure her own path out of habit, she delved further.

he bathed his wounds and the pain lessened.

his ear would remain ragged; a cowl of scars would form over his shoulders. but he lived. he drew breath. and he stood upon his own earth.

he stood strong-legged in the water, drinking. sun eater showed himself often, flaunting the renewed strength even as he watched over those who gathered.

his senses tightened. he lifted his head, not to scent or to see, but to feel.

The scent changed.

There was more iron to it.

Sulukinak slipped to the rocks and climbed the side of the river, legs slick. She spotted someone in the water and was drawn quickly closer but not too close, observing; then once satisfied, she slunk close enough to perch upon the bank behind him.

Not a word; not a sound.

wind whispered across the lid of that remaining eye. in the way of a heavy-jawed meat-eater, he knew someone was near.

he did not hear. he did not see.

but he did not fear. the woman lay healing. the man would not dare. these things he believed, and bent his head to drink the icy water once more.

It wasn't just the man that held this scent of iron - it was like the land itself was imbued; the water, the marks she had crossed.

The man bent to drink and Sulukinak patiently stared. She recognized Cen now even with his differences, and said to him in the language she had learned, Who cut you, uncle?

her voice — his mind registered this even as sun eater went stiff-legged, whirling upon —

she was different. changed. she was the shadow-weave now, and her copper eyes saw into him.

despite the eerie feeling, sun eater relaxed, sighing out into a wide grin.  "i fought for this land, tse'e. i killed for it, and i was cut in the taking."

She had left him to learn, and now seeing him she wondered what lessons had been missed in her absence. Down one eye from before, but now an ear too? The wounds looked fresh enough; she did not smell fever.

Sulukinak had returned more of a hunter and a sleuth, not a woman of medicine. What help could she provide now?

This place? She wanted to know more; was he building something or merely lashing out like the yearlings on the hunt?

"this place." he stepped from the water, watching her again. "i took captives. i brought them here. i have made us saatsine, as i said to you."

"healing must happen. many were hurt. those who live will walk. we will follow the caribou back here again. but not before i have ghelan, sulukinak."

It was the mention of the boy that made Sulukinak turn more frigid, more detached, although it was not matching the emotion in her chest - a sort of resentment, white hot.

Silence spawned between them like the spreading of an ice sheet; there was no telling how thick, or what lurked beneath.

Kiviraq says I have a sharper mind than teeth, she wryly comments, mentioning by name the hunter Cen had spoken to before the last moonshift.

She did not want to think of Moonglow, or her uncle's wanton revenge; but, she had been taught some strategy. Perhaps by involving herself she could save him from himself. It was as much (if not moreso) a benefit to Sulukinak, as she would not abide the loss of family.

A long breath came and went; the ice did not thaw.

What can I do? The hunters had taught her purpose, and now she was unmoored without it.

his turn to grow still, the threat of loss perceived in this casual mention. "and what else did kiviraq say of you, tse'e?" his tone was warning. it did not matter how many mentors had taught her, he was blood. no others. their blood meant more than the word of any man, including kiviraq.

"well you cannot go to get him," sun eater muttered, feeling the scabs pulling upon his torn skin. "and a healer must come."

he pressed tongue to teeth. "can you bring one here to us, sulukinak? i do not care how it is done."

She looked at him with a subtle petulance rather than answer about Kiviraq.

I can find what is needed. Either someone to aid them, or someone to teach her.

Stepping back from the river's rocks, as if to go immediately.

"go. come back. i need you."

blood necessitated blood. she need only remember that he did this for them.

for him. but for them.