Kildeer Rest urgiasruk

@Sun Eater, and maybe more? idk!!!

how soon until the elk get a taste of spring air, and know when the time has come to rear ungulates? how long does he have left until he becomes a man or he is replaced?

he'll find out soon enough.

the boy watches the herd from a distance. the wind that blows against his face is harsh, but hopefully that meant his scent could not be picked up on by them as easily.

quietly did sun eater's shadow fall across ghelan. a silence maintained between father and son as wind picked up pawfuls of snow and flung them into a gusting spray.

he too thought of the future, of his fire-star and what life she would bring to the saatsine. but here beside him was his firstborn, a boy he ought to build into lanzadoii now, and harshly.

muzzle lowered for the inexorable tracking.

now united with his father, ghelan tenses yet mirrors his motions. his muzzle lowered, and each step was careful. tracking was easy enough — while the caribou couldn't smell them, they certainly could. 

the herd itself has shrunken since the march started. only the strongest remain. even from a distance, ghelan could feel the strength in each of their deliberate movements. the same strength his father carried as they stalked the valley and encroached the herd. occasionally the boy glanced at him, just to make sure he wasn't doing something wrong.

there was very little of red leaf in ghelan now. not his name, not his words, not even the hardline and even way he moved with sun eater across the land.

they were dark shadows upon fresh snow, death moving on four legs for the irrepressible and ancient flowing of caribou to their natal calving grounds.

"the mothers are pregnant. leave as many as you can. they will bring young to the herds in the springtime." the single eye moved to his son, then away once more.

he relaxes slightly when noting comes from sun eater. it wasn't praise, but he wasn't chastised either. instead, the dark chieftain speaks orders, and his son only nods.

the weakest from the strongest. how could he pick that? ghelan stepped forward first, glancing back to his father. ..what do i do? he hadn't been paying much attention to the hunts like a saatsine wolf should.

"look," sun eater grunted. "see how they move. how each walks. look for wounds in their skin or antlers that are broken. look for those who lie down in readiness to die."

in silence they paced for a time, and then he asked, "you have met k'edghildza?" it was important that they meet, even if sun eater had left quite vague the situation of ghelan among them.

he listens to sun eater, squinting and leaning forwards to see clearer. none lie down, or at least not yet. he waits more, watching for any breaks in the strides of the caribou.

but his focus wavers. k'edghildza. is that her name? he raised a brow, glancing to sun eater before returning to caribou-watching. i've met her. the boy's tone is flat, leveled.

a cold rejoinder came the moment sun eater assumed ghelan did not approve. "she is not your mother. and she will not be. i will not force you to see it, ghelan." breath swelled. he tried patience. "but you are a man now. all children born to the saatsine will learn from you." what would he teach?

"you and sulukinak and meleeys, only those three names may become a moiety of me. of this clan. remember it." blood-tradition. it was something even sun eater did not quite understand, for he had never comprehended it even as cen.

he didn't need father to tell him the obvious. there was some slight relief that he wouldn't be forced to call her aaka but it didn't last long.
i don't feel a man. he mumbles, eyes never leaving the herd. the future had nothing to learn from him, except how to be better sons. how not to be weak, how to stand and walk properly. and the children you have with her? aren't they caribou? what did having lanzadoii blood matter.

one from the herd, an older doe, finally lowered herself to the ground. she swelled round with life, however. ghelan looked to his father for answers, hindleg lifted and prepared for a chase.

"you are caribou, ghelan." for a moment he only set that one-eyed stare on the boy. "you are my oldest son. that does not go away. one of you may inherit this band. the children born to me will claim saatsine through their mother. your claim is through me."

where was ghelan's pride? had he truly become sharadoii, or worse, a fish-eater, in his very heart?

"not her. if we take two lives we are to work for it. if she is allowed to live, she will bring more calves to our herds. if the spirits take her, we will have them both. choose another."