December 08, 2024, 02:32 PM
(This post was last modified: December 08, 2024, 02:34 PM by Raiyuk.)
His father's lodge was empty when he returned home to it.
There were no wives tending to children within it. There was no sign of seal hunters within a hundred yards of the place. What had been discovered—too late—was something that could not be fathomed; and so Raiyuk refused to accept his suspicions because it did not make sense, it was not something that his father would ever —he wouldn't, he couldn't, what about - no, no!
The sand here was frosted and barely moved as he walked the length of Moontide's beaches. He followed what remained of his father's path until it vanished and then went further and further and further because — what else was there to do? He would see Chakliux up ahead, he just needed to be patient. Or faster. Or — he would see the man again.
The ocean growled as it swept towards Raiyuk, and sighed as it departed.
On and on he would go.
'Just another few minutes,' he told himself. 'He will have turned around again, and we will laugh, and we will talk of the boys who are now seal hunters.' The sea came close to touching him and Raiyuk looked up dully from the path, except it wasn't really a path because his father's steps had faded by now. 'This is wrong.' It was wrong and it hurt and yet Raiyuk was too much in shock to comprehend.
One last jarring thought reached to him from the blackness of the sea, as he stared, and as he hoped, and as he mourned.
'Father, where did you go? Who will keep the lodge without you? I can't do it. I can't be you.' He could not see the sea now because the sea was inside of himself, and as Raiyuk's eyes glazed with tears, he let out a horrible moan. The world was under water until he blinked and as the warm wet of tears coursed down his face, he became inconsolable.
There were no wives tending to children within it. There was no sign of seal hunters within a hundred yards of the place. What had been discovered—too late—was something that could not be fathomed; and so Raiyuk refused to accept his suspicions because it did not make sense, it was not something that his father would ever —he wouldn't, he couldn't, what about - no, no!
The sand here was frosted and barely moved as he walked the length of Moontide's beaches. He followed what remained of his father's path until it vanished and then went further and further and further because — what else was there to do? He would see Chakliux up ahead, he just needed to be patient. Or faster. Or — he would see the man again.
The ocean growled as it swept towards Raiyuk, and sighed as it departed.
On and on he would go.
'Just another few minutes,' he told himself. 'He will have turned around again, and we will laugh, and we will talk of the boys who are now seal hunters.' The sea came close to touching him and Raiyuk looked up dully from the path, except it wasn't really a path because his father's steps had faded by now. 'This is wrong.' It was wrong and it hurt and yet Raiyuk was too much in shock to comprehend.
One last jarring thought reached to him from the blackness of the sea, as he stared, and as he hoped, and as he mourned.
'Father, where did you go? Who will keep the lodge without you? I can't do it. I can't be you.' He could not see the sea now because the sea was inside of himself, and as Raiyuk's eyes glazed with tears, he let out a horrible moan. The world was under water until he blinked and as the warm wet of tears coursed down his face, he became inconsolable.
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