Hushed Willows but i finally think i can say

for @Nutuyikruk ! keeping suuper vague for reasons. <3

ezra, whom thought that he would become a relic of rivenwood one day, can no longer stay in a single place. not when his father and brother were still missing. not when he was so desperate to find them, to be reunited. he'd left behind his birthpack with his mother and had felt nothing for it.

the morning is clear, chilly. his fur had begun to grow coarse in preparation for the months to come, but like the filling out and growing up, ezra does not notice it.

and even if he did notice, he'd be glad for it.

his steps slow as he shrugs thru the flowing willow branches; nose and eyes and ears alert.

ref tag<3

Lynx went nowhere without telling @Muskrat a strict path in the mountains, and returned quickly each time with small prey. She would be useful- she would be useful. She would not be thrown away.

Wind cracked through the dawn.

It was the first time Nutuyikruk had felt such a cold. It was pleasant! In such an odd way. Like how she could feel her bones shiver, yet her heart was light. The chill wrapped her in something new, something pure, like it had seeped through her fur to wake her soul. There was a sharpness in the air, a bite that stung her nose and whispered against her ears, and yet it didn't hurt. It felt erasing.

She stood beneath the willow trees, their weeping branches swaying in the wind as if they danced with the sky. The mountain loomed not far, its peak kissed by the first pale light when the night broke away. The world was so still, and for a moment, she felt she was moving. Reminded for a moment that life was here, waiting for her to notice again. It crept into her chest, a fragile joy, fragile wonder. She spun in circles to catch the breeze!

"I am searching." Was she talking to her aapa? Her aaka? She did not know who, but she promised the sky she would bring home a meal again. Spinning!

the voice draws ezra closer. this time, though he is unaware of it, he is the watcher.

she speaks ... but to who? aside from ezra himself, who peers through the thick flowing boughs of a weeping willow, she appears to be alone. his breath stutters in his throat, ankh golden gaze sweeping left and right. but no one else comes.

it is just her and him.

and when he is sure of it, he steps out from the snaring boughs of the willow.

searching for vhat? asks ezra, announcing his presence to her. he leaves distance, just in case. because he trusts no one but his mother and father and brother. but she appears to be about his own age and in that, the vessel feels a sort of kinship.

An answer came.

"Birds!" Excitedly whispered out.

The bridges knife wove through the trees. Spinning in slow circles, and feeling the cold in such a gentle way. At least, it was only the start of an autumn chill, and she had only known warmth even in birth. The voice went unseen, blissfully unaware, momentarily, until the cinnamon girls blonde nose had followed the sound.

Frozen for a moment, but the earth continued moving still. The willow branches waved. Birds fluttered away in the trees with heavy flaps of their wings. Wind whistled quietly through the trees. He held a silver face, with fire for ears. Red faded out over the boys muzzle. And these golden eyes. Nutuyikruk stared quietly with her own wondrous eyes.

He did not know her. But she knew him.

A soft greeting finally managed to fumble out her mouth. "Hello."

birds, she answers. and then she is staring at him with eyes the color of a lush green meadow.

she greets him softly, her earlier excitement appearing to shy away.

or so this was how ezra chose to interpret the change.

for a long moment, the vessel stares back, feeling the familiar itch in his paws to keep moving. or maybe it was her unwavering gaze settled on him that made restless.

to him, nervousness and restlessness are of the same token.

hello, he parrots back after a longer moment spent debating. you are hunting birds? he asks, hopeful that it is the answer, thinking his mother might like a few eggs.

Nerves extended up both front feet and into her chest. There was no foam in the red boys mouth, or a gloss over either eye. Though, if there was, Nutuyikruk knew she would not have noticed it right now, and would only be stopped mindless by gold.

Birds.

A hum left the girls mouth, and then a smile formed. "Yes. Oh, I have been trying for days to catch birds and pull nests, but I think I am not good at it yet." It had seemed so easy. It was, perhaps, and she was just very dumb to hunting things not on the ground. "I think I am just slow!" She drew a step closer, and found a giddy excitement forming at a new idea.

The ridge's girl had been trying for days with so much failure, but what if? "What of you? Are you a birdhunter?" Eggs!

birds are harder to hunt than ground animals, speaks ezra, though he is far from an expert on such things. in truth, if he could omit hunting and sleep entirely it would give him more time to search for anselm and gideon. it is the obsession that drives him now, determined to believe they both still live and were out there just waiting to be found.

i vouldn't say i am any good at it, admits ezra, golden gaze shying away for a moment before it trails back to her. but i have seen meadowlarks and i they nest on the ground. ...i vould like to take some eggs back to my mother.

The boy turned head. Why, Ezra said he was not any good at it, and so maybe neither of them were very good. Maybe they could make the best of it then as some saying went, somewhere: two wrongs made a right! At least, that was how things were supposed to be.

A reality formed in one dream. It was a small one, really, and certainly one that could not be spoken aloud without embarrassment, she knew.

Finding birdeggs or otherwise any bird was something never done before. Last she had, it didn't end well. Sickly or not, the pale woman was the boy's mother, wasn't she? Anyone would feed their family. 

Nutuyikruk's tail lifted at the base just enough to begin straightening out. Even when Ezra's head shied away, the girl examined carefully, smiling just enough for a small glimmer of light to sit on her eyes. Each word was next nodded with, considering.. "Well, I can help?"

there is soft surprise at her question, lighting and stealing across ezra's expression as she asks if she can help. in his mind, it was expected. this was her hunt initially as she'd been searching birds initially.

yes, ezra replies. of course. ve look for their nests together.

a small pause is given.

i am ezra. he offers his name, figuring if they were to hunt together she at least deserved his name.

Her first mistake was almost mouthing his name as it was said. The name Ezra repeated louder in the girls mind than he himself had said it, and then it was a thundering noise when the realization struck that it was now He who gave his name now.

Ezra

"Ezra."

And of the many names lost to the girls memory, she had never once forgotten her own. "Well, my name's Nutuyikruk, but they call me Nutuyik, or-"

Simply, as all had said, even the ghosts in distant memory,
"Nutu."

Steps taken back, she offered her flank and positioned towards an open path ahead of them. A motion was made towards the sound of birdcalls. "I think there's a lot of wing flutter around. I'm sure we can find some!"