Qeya River split sky

set for whenever! <3

yikaas — had he ever been attached to that name? sulukinak had gone before she could call him this so often. his mind wondered now at her whereabouts as he felt the healing scabs stretch, break, ooze in some places.

the liquid remained clear and did not taste of rot, but sun eater was careful to wash them again.

his tall shadow darkened @Ksura's presence; the slate eye glared. "not know who you are," he said with a grin that did nothing to soften his stare. "what can you do?"

He could have run.

Like a jackrabbit, he could have lain low, and dashed away once the danger was clear. It was no physical snare that kept him tethered, but one that impaired his ability to make a decision. There were too many what if questions. 

Part of him was relieved to hear the man’s voice- as it quieted those questions instantaneously. 

His body bowed away from the man. His ears had remained pivoted for so long he’d developed a headache- but when posed a question, they lifted slightly. 

”I’m a sheep killer.” He admitted. His tongue flicked over his teeth when he recalled what had once been an obsession. He tilted his head- a replacement for the shrug that would have come from his stiff, wounded shoulder. ”Hunter. Tracker. Scout.” Obviously not a fighter, He thought ruefully.

"sheep killer," sun eater grinned, displaying the teeth which had only recently been embedded in the man's hide. "sheep killer. i like this. i call you that." fast animals with fleet hooves, it was not easy to slay one in their mountain homes.

sheep killer had other talents aside from defense and flight. the caribou man regarded him with a rough nod. "you know caribou?" 

they would be streaming in thousands back over the sunspire and along the shoreline; they would be coming back toward the bracken forests in another month, grazing the valleys until the snows grew too heavy. sun eater could hardly believe the serendipity of this win.

a hunter. tracker. scout — all these things were necessary.

He could her the sound of lips pulling back, and in spite of himself, Ksura looked up to see the off-coloured molars and the scissoring angle of his canines. He felt a pain in his chest to see the instruments that had slain Ash Star; the shame he felt for bending the knee to the man dogged him like a gadfly. 

He took no solace in being valuable to the man. Being named Sheep Killer triggered a memory. The words had been shouted at him before, angrily. The shift in dynamic felt uncomfortable. His gaze fell, and the interest disappeared from his features. ”Seen ‘em only once. Just a few of them.” 

In cages, just as he had been. 

”They remind me of elk.” he said, and flinched slightly- frightened that drawing a similarity between the two might cause offence for someone who seemed so fixated on hunting caribou.

"yes. like elk. but — more large. many, many of them." sheep killer's seeming fear of him was a satisfaction to the lanzadoii hunter, and he made no move for assurance.

"who left in pack? me," he counted first with a smug grin lighting his single eye, "you. her. three i bring. who else?" and he leant closer. "children are here. how many? where?"

a warning billowed in that slate eye. do not lie. they did not belong to sun eater; he would not be moved to protect any other pups, and after a lie — surely sheep killer did not wish to see.

He blinked in response. It sounded to him as though they’d be hunting prey that would be difficult to bring down, if they were truly larger than elk. Of the few he had seen, their antlers had been thick, velvety- but they had not been a great deal taller than a deer. 

The caribou hunter would not lie, he thought. The caribou he’d seen perhaps had been small due to captivity. There had been no fear in their eyes- not even hunger. Only tiredness. 

Wild ones must be more fierce. 

The man had conquered an entire pack with one strategic kill; the rest had been done with words. Hunting caribou- was it just another thrill for him?

He wasn’t sure if he should fear the man for his accomplishments, or aspire to be like him. It nearly made him wretch, to be faced with another impossible decision.

He felt the bile rise in his throat as the questions that had kept him up at night were voiced. He shuddered, and flattened himself to the ground. He shook his head and chattered his teeth together, uttering a pleading whine. 

”I don’t know.” His voice shook. ”I don’t know who’s still here- w-w-we lost…Some are out a-searching b-b-but the others….” He said, and shrugged his sore shoulder against the dirt. He grunted softly in pain. ”I have two children- one went missing, a m-m-month ago, the other-“ his voice caught. ”I h-h-haven’t found her yet, s-s-since-“ He swallowed heavily. 

Not since Sun Eater had killed her mother.

mind forever alight with caribou, they became larger than all other life. he had been born cen beside their milling masses, their lowing the backdrop for his own newborn cries. it had been their blood tasted first, their meat eaten first; even now his mouth watered for it.

sheep killer was reduced to a trembling father. sun eater watched him with something like pity. the children were gone from the sound of it, which was just as well for his purpose and their lives.

"i father too." the genuine pain in his own voice surprised him, but he let it be heard. "i want my son with me." breath drawn; eye flint against the sky before he captured that gaze once more; "you find him for me, sheep killer, i welcome your pups back here."

it was a measure of peace pierced with the threat sun eater knew he must maintain for a time, until their loyalty was true or until their charade could not be kept.

then he would have them. a lanzadoii man of the bitterbrush band, he shed blood for honor. he had done so. now they would give him their respect. pretense at that meant death, a rotted heart cut from an undeserving chest.

once ghelan (@Brave One) was with him, every hour of the day might be given over those who tried to deceive sun eater.

He anticipated the man trying to squeeze more details from him, getting one last drop from his dry rind. Instead, the man’s voice changed. Ksura lifted his chin slightly, one ear pricking as he caught what he thought was sorrow. Genuine sorrow.

He froze when the man’s eye caught his own and only then did he realize that he had still been trembling. 

Like any other, the man wanted his child returned. 

Ksura was no stranger to searching for children. He thought of Mira and her children- scattered to the wind. He thought of his one victory, in bringing Ash Star’s daughter back to her…But every other search had gone on for months- and had had no happy end. 

Sun Eater bargained with an empty pocket, and Ksura knew it. But if there was a chance his children would be welcome if they were found…Now was the time to get that insurance. 

”Okay.” He said. ”I will try.” 
He swallowed heavily, and quietly pulled his feet beneath himself, so he no longer lay plastered on his side where his shoulder pushed into the ground. He would have to clean it out again. ”Where do I look?” He asked, ”And what am I looking for?”

"you want go now?" sun eater growled to cover the surprise, faltering in his command of common for a moment. nostrils snorted, but he stared now in the direction of moontide.

four times he held up his paw. "this many days away." perhaps more. it was why he must begin the long march. by this time next moon, his son must be with him.

but he did not tell sheep killer where to find the village. instead he tilted his head to one side, analyzing with rough sweeping stare. "how i know you come back?" the smile returned, a predator's gleam in long grass.

he did not know. ghelan was precious to him, too much so that he throw all his better sense into the taiga wind.

"we march, sheep killer. then i say go."

W-w-well I thought- He stammered. A misunderstanding on his behalf, he realized. He shook his head to convey an apology, ears flicking back. He’d assumed that Sun Eater’s son must be found first, before his own could even be welcome. A presumption he sought to remedy. 

It sounded as if Sun Eater knew where to find his son…How else would he know how many days it would take to get to his location- and why, then, did he ask Ksura to find him?

His heart sank. He began to suspect that “finding” Sun Eater’s child was less about tracking him down, and more about collecting him. 

He had every reason to return- and yet he kept the words to himself, certain that anything he valued could, and would be used against him. His cheeks flushed warm; no matter how much he wanted to search for Darrow, Aerilyn, Wren, Silvertongue and anyone who could help purge the river of the invader- he couldn’t put Senka’s life at risk. 

You say when, He agreed, in no position to argue.

he was tempted, sorely tempted, to send sheep killer off into the coastline. no one would know this man; finding ghelan might only be a matter of locale then.

sheep killer deferred. sun eater gathered himself to long legs. "want you and her heal first," the man muttered. "we leave river as one."

this, perhaps, might change as the days wore on. "go," he ordered, "rest. i find her, cover wounds."

there was another reason to stay: sheep killer would need to lie, and it was not something he had yet done to sun eater's knowledge.

It made his skin prickle to take direction from the man, even though it was something he needed direly. Tiredness numbed the pain, at this point, but shock kept him pushing through it. He couldn’t recognize his hunger, but would eat ravenously once he found a meal. 

He held his breath when Sun Eater mentioned Senka. Something wild and angry stirred within him, and yet he feared allowing it to surface, lest he reveal something that could be used as a weapon. His silence would speak for itself. He nodded, simply, devoured again by buzzing thoughts.

grey-blue scoured the hide of sheep killer, assessing; sun eater turned away then and began his arduous trek back to the third shelter he would lay in as many days.

it was as much lanzadoii as was its own answer to the vital paranoia which might keep his neck from mutinous teeth.