Ocean's Breath Plateau taimma ➻

there was one way, but kukutux had only ever heard of it. a trader could claim the rights to the wife of the ulaq in which he sheltered for the night. only certain men were given this privilege, and if she forced herself into the honest grain of the rain-soaked moment, she would not have minded revui being given a trader's welcome in her home. 

such practices kept dissent from flowering among the men, and much honor to the women who were chosen for such roles. her body carried children, and kukutux was newly married; she would not have been a choice. but the anger that poured from the stone-cut ostrega brother scorched the duck's wings, and not for the first time in a handful of moments did she wish for him to give a true reason.

she would not submita and she could not abandon moonspear, nor jarilo. revui was selfish to ask; he cared not for the babes in her belly or for the spire where she had made her home. tears stung her now, released by the tension of the moment, burned by the cold fire of his turning-aside. but despite all this, kukutux did not wish to leave, and for a long moment stood rooted in her silent weeping.

"come back to the mountain, revui," her wisped voice lilted in a beg. "take a wife. raise your children with mine." she could not be what he wished, but in her heart there was a seed of affection that might take a plainer form. the little bird belonged to the mountain and to its wolves; let him belong also, and tame his anger with the gentle ministrations of a mate.

a lingering glance into his eyes, daring, and then she fell away and turned, ears laid back against the rain and steps unsteady as tears blurred the pathway home.