Shadewood ipiktusuktuk ✺

she nodded, feeling rather secure in the knowledge that morgan would not simply abandon her once they had come back to her ulaq. perhaps it was because he was male, perhaps it was due to his affability; either way, things had changed for kukutux so swiftly in these short moons of time. first a mourning, now a flight. the girl felt older, more weary with wisdom she had not wanted to bear.

"i told cry i was leaving for two weeks to seek a husband, or my own way, and that i would be back." a sigh rushed from the girl's throat. "i built a shelter while i was away, because i decided not to return to the keep except to tell him i was leaving. a courtesy he repaid with ... somehow he convinced me to stay until after the birth of his children."

had cry done that? the spirit-voice asked in kuktutux' head. or had she allowed herself to be lured, fully aware of his dark wiles and manipulative nature? had she merely given into the heady weakness she always seemed to feel in his presence? the thoughts began to swirl into an eddy of plague; the duck fell into a grim silence, plodding alongside morgan.