Moonspear my reign is built upon hypocrisy and all my casualties

For the visiting @Kukutux

He had found a stony escarpment due west of the mountain's peak, spacious enough with some tending-to that it could be formed in to a kind of fighting ring. There were many trees peppering the landscape, some which drew out of the soil at odd angles and then upward; but among these were various lean-tos which had fallen sometime in the past. Glaukos set to work shoving these and forcing them down, which was simple yet time consuming.

By the middle of the day he was out of breath, but much of the deadwood had been struck down. Some of the smaller segments hit the stone and shattered in to mulch, perfuming the area with the wet rot scent of their core. It would be several days before this was all done—and he was glad for the work.

Eventually Glaukos hoped the space could be used for Tiuttuk's sparring request, and any other training that might come up in the future. He was worn out, and ready for a break, especially now that there was a space within which the sun could gleam across the stonework, baking Glaukos in his dark coat.

yes.

she knew the scent.

pale fur moist from the steambath which presented itself as white-misted pool in the high reaches of moonspear, the duck returned to inspect and observe him.

a rest, he was a formidable creature, and put her even more to mind of the grey trader whose angry spirit she had buried upon moonsong.

but she did not call out; she did not hail.

moonwoman stood silent, waiting for nuak to look upon her. why had he come back? why was he here? did the spirit of father unsaid drag him in return to this bear wilderness?

With time this space could come to resemble the training grounds of Mereo. He stepped back as he gathered his bearings, trying to catch his breath, and envisioned the barren expanse once completed: a sprawling stone floor, debris pushed out of the way enough to allow for multiple pairings to spar, perhaps a space for an audience - he even considered excavating a boulder or two from the mountainside.

It wasn't much for now. As he surveyed what had been cleared so far, his gaze drew across a distant pale figure; he thought of Sialuk initially, and his attention doubled back with a semblance of interest. No, this was... the grandmother.

Glaukus stared boldly for a moment, took a breath, and turned away, eager to get back to work.

nuak.

a curious boy.

a man who had returned even after the punishments moonglow had granted to him. kukutux did wonder at what the gray man did, but she did not speak.

kukutux did not approach.

but in her mind was the trader of moonspear, and how she had sung his spirit to Sedna upon the glacier.

now this boy. this young man, had come to them. and again.

why?

she did not know for certain. but her heart whispered it must be so.

There was one of many decrepit trunks caught between several, and when he moved to shove at this one, like the others, a plume of rotten wood spilled around him. Chunks cleaved free. Bugs flit out of his way along with the dense aroma of wood rot, like the final dying sigh of the forest. One more of these collisions was enough to split the last of it.

As the debris settled and Glaukos could peruse the area - which now needed tidying so that he could expand the space - he found a sapling rooted firmly in the rock. It wasn't quite as tall as his chest, but it was there, surviving beneath the ruin.

His heavy breathing was indication he had overdone things. It was time to withdraw. So, doing that, he moved to the center of his would-be arena and shook the mess from his shoulders. He looked to the ghost of a woman again, focused, serious — very much his father's son in the way the sun now caught his jaw.

He did not know why she waited there, why she watched without speaking. Perhaps her mind had gone in the last year or two? Glaukos clears his throat, but does not speak either — as if the silence was not his to break.

it was not his.

kukutux felt inside herself that there was no fear nor hatred. that had been many years ago.

still, her step was almost regal as she drew closer, inspecting his work.

he had cleared with great strength a clearing. there were several places within moonspear that offered a far better locale for a new ulaq; this was something else entirely.

her greenstone eyes were calm. "i did not think i would see your face again."

did he remember?

did it matter?

As she drew closer he was reminded of his time in Moonglow; he had the memory of being fed, being tricked to the mountain and held there upon it. The close cropping of his missing ear gave a psychosomatic throb in response.

She smelled the same. There was an additional subtle note of something indicative to the elderly — but maybe that was imagined too, for she looked so much the same, as if made of ice, ageless.

Neither did I. He thought he had escaped much, but that had never really been proven to Glaukos. All he thought of himself, of his prowess and power, and he still ran from each mistake.

She did not look impressed. Why was that something he needed from her, of all people?

Tiuttuk calls you Grandmother, he remarks next — Sialuk is yours, too, then. Except that free spirit had drifted away from the mountain.

"sialuk is daughter to me. tiuttuk is granddaughter."

to mention her child now brought a pang. what had so befallen her sweet-snow that she must leave all of moonspear behind?

kukutux held her peace once more, but only for a time. a small hard paw worn by menial work lifted, motioning. "what is this?" 

what did this aspect of the grey trader create?

and before he answered, greenstone eyes flickered. "have you walked yet to the snowy place of moonsong?"

there was but a single way to be certain.