Moonspear aliuktuk ⚶

she had dragged all the furs out of doors, returning to kick and prod what debris was inside until it too was ousted. the cache outside the entrance to their ulaq held sticks of meat; she had picked a mouthful of wildflowers and returned with them. 

satisfied that they had dried well, kukutux crushed them as gentle as she was able, letting the torn little blooms litter the floor of the den. the duck was driven not only by the blooming primordial sense of change, but also the taboos that had been taught to girls before they spoke their first word.

was she wrong to want jarilo near? it was a shy thought, one rooted in no disrespect for the silent spirits, and yet a pain twinged sharply along her flanks. startled, kukutux dropped the pelt she had meant to carry back inside. again, the thought, again the pain. she swallowed fearfully. this taboo could not be broken; the teeth of the great bear had threatened her twice now. 

shaken, the duck finished her work in a quick silence, dropping the furs atop the crushed wildflowers and tidying the small clearing outside with a grim air.

she was rewarded; the pain did not come again.

*needs to catch up very badly but also:*

Still damp himself from the creekside he had prowled, he carried back a fish delicately in his jaws--certainly not his most fruitful of catches lately, but he was very much keying into the distractions life posed lately. Hydra's pups had come all well so far, which was a start, though warranted the increased sense of protectiveness across the slopes. That was just the half of it, or no, maybe not even that much. That lead him to the next monumental thought, for with each new day that dawned and set, he was left to chew his toenails about what awaited Kukutux, and by such an extension him. It felt well out of his control by now, far into another realm entirely.. but that did nothing to ease his nerves about it, despite his efforts to swallow them down or exhaust it elsewhere. He was sensing the looming date, though surely not as keenly as his pale mate--who he worried for in many ways with a nervous sort of excitement that he had never met.

Drawing on what he did think he knew from his father, and even their current alpha male, there would probably reach some point where he may be entirely unwelcome up close, forced to keep watch at a distance or else face the ire of a mother that he didn't want to rile. But.. hesitant to press it every time he came innocently wandering on back, he stepped into the clearing before the doorstep gently, ears down and eyes sharp before proceeding any further--fish still clutched, a light sway of his tail, and a second given to catch his breath.

<3 we can fade our older thread!

jarilo found her half-asleep in the space outside the mouth of their den. restless as she was, the girl's rounded body forced her to a stop when necessary. fatigued, she had succumbed in the warm spring air. when the tread of the ostrega man was heard, her moon-soft ears lifted, a small smile coming to rest upon her mouth as she beheld him. "uiga," she murmured across the way, inviting him close to her with a longing air.

she had said it many times before; it was honeyed between her lips, and when the distance between them had been closed, kukutux was happy to breathe the scent of jarilo, reach out for his touch. "i think it will be time soon," she whispered softly, apprehension entering her gaze unbidden. she remembered how it had seemed only to watch, a frightened, curious girl hovering outside the birth ulaq. kukutux breathed out. "are you ready to be ada, jarilo?"

Greeted, he shook his coat free of any lasting droplets of the creek before closing that last distance spanning between them. Today would not find him unwelcome, at least not for now, and perhaps his quiet arrival might be appreciated. The sun was warm, the day peaceful, though his inner workings didn't always agree. Striding over lightly, he would not disturb that, however; his concerns would be for her, first.

He set down his meager fish catch and nosed gently against her cheek while he settled beside her, situating himself close, then closer. Time had slowly made him a bit bolder and less reserved with the company between each other (now that he knew he could have it--he learned young to be careful where gravid women were concerned--they were mighty). Touch was easier to come by when he worried about it less, simply so. Though, it was her words that stilled him briefly. Soon. Ada, him.

Anxious, but strangely tickled by the idea, he crossed his paws. I am, I think. As ready as I can, he answered, steadier than he had thought it would be, but he had stewed over this plenty by now. I'm excited to meet them, he mentioned. Are you ready? Will you.. need anything? When it is then..? His mother kept everyone away, save for their father to guard and those secrets for the finer details went to the grave with them. Hydra had her mirror sisters as she always did, keeping Dirge and the other near-yearlings at arm's length too. Kukutux had.. him, and.. well, whatever he may muster for her in place of blood-bonds.

"i am as ready as a woman might be." which was to say, not at all, but it was how a wife must greet her husband's concerns. she must not allow jarilo to fret, and therefore did not tell him of her fears. not for pain, nor for the death of her young brood; nor for the monsters that surely lurked to kill and to claim the babes for their teeth.

leaning closer, kukutux allowed herself a moment of peace, closing her eyes. "in the next hand of days, it feels," she murmured, thinking of the ache in her lower back, the tightening of her abdomen in steady rhythm through the night. at length she glanced down at the snowy rise of her flank, considering. a need? kukutux could think of nothing she wished, only that against the taboos she ached for this man to be with her during the harshness of it. "come to me when it is over," the duck whispered, raising her gaze to his own. "be with me then."

As ready as she might be, then. He accepted this with a slow nod, for in a woman's territory, he could have little say and even his encouragement might risk coming from a wrong place. Still, though he contained it, there was worry. This was her first litter, and they faced unknowns--her more than him, certainly, to the point that he knew he could not name them all.

And, that was certainly soon.. which served to further quiet him into thoughtful silence that he let hang there a moment. Mere days! Soon, then.. he agreed with the breath that eventually he found again. And, while her wants were not quite what he had expected them to be, it was easily doable. He didn't intend to be far, anyway. This only gave him more reason. Definitely. That's easy enough, he replied with a fond look back for her. I'll be there, he added, unaware of any taboo to the notion, to anyone's perception, anywhere. Charon had posted guard when his younger siblings were born, and Hydra's sisters and Dirge did much the same for her, so that was the niche he had intended to fall into--assuming nerves didn't get the better of him, or he might find distraction elsewhere, but knowing that this was coming upon them so very soon, he gripped the growing need to prioritize being here, for her, and for their pups.

*takes a hundred years*

*worth it*

an easy silence followed his words, wherein kukutux curled herself deeper into the yield of his affectionate warmth. she had settled easily in the routine that followed the earlier chaos. wife, and then the clash of brothers. the shedding of ostrega blood by ostrega fangs. arcturus' cold gaze. revui's stone voice.

the duck shut her eyes, swallowed. wife, and then the relief of discovering she would carry life, the caution she had taken, the care jarilo had shown. always an attentive man. a dutiful husband. 

but kukutux did not know if he loved her, or if he had simply become accustomed to the possession of a wife. she supposed in the end it did not matter, for he tended her kindly and fulfilled all longings she might have. he had given her a strong hearth. she hoped to give him a son in return. "when they are old enough, i wish to take them to the great salt. one day," she breathed into his sable fur, suddenly cascaded over with nameless sensation and a longing for the wild ice plains of her childhood.

There were many things he did not know how to say, many that perhaps he did not know yet. What was sure was a growing comfort, in him, with this as he pressed back, happily close. He could be less stiff about it, more himself.. and he wondered if it meant anything to her, as he was slow to bloom, as per his nature from the very start. She was nothing short of everything he could want, or need, always.. but he wanted one day to not harbor any doubt, even if he kept it choked back, and subdued better than ever before.

Yet, his ears perked, and the rest of him slid to a nod. The great salt. He blinked over his best recollection of his own time there, of Charon, and Vela, happily together with him when they visited Stavanger Bay. All the questions he had asked, and everything new he had learned about his father and the seaside lands that had raised him, from the forests, to the waterfalls, to the beach itself--plus, the strange beasts they had hunted! It had stuck with him, a piece of good times; simpler ones, even. Yes, I'd like that, he said with a breath. My father.. once when we were younger, he took my littermate and I to his birthplace called Stavanger Bay. Maybe we could go there, to start? he brought up, unsure if she might know the place, or if there were better vistas on the coastline that she knew instead. He had a fond memory and a distant attachment of his own, at least. It's a decent walk from here but not impossible, even for littler legs... he added, though it was certainly up for further suggestion--only assuming she knew more than him, who barely visited the sea himself.

"what is a 'bay?'" kukutux inquired sleepily. and his father. she wanted to ask after it, absorb whatever details jarilo might offer, but not now. not now. these moments belonged to the pair of them, and the future that stirred in her flanks. a little kick jarred a surprised gasp, a rearrangement of her pale body along the shadows of his own. 

"let us go to this stavanger," kukutux decided, teeth flashing in a grin that glowed momentarily. "they will see the ocean. i will be happy." new stories could be created in the sands there, though both she and jarilo had their own to add. she preened the black fur closest to her with a loving tug, disentangling whatever had gathered there.

"that first night," and here she drew a breath. "the first night that i came to moonspear." her eyes traveled to alight upon his own; she lifted her chin. "i am glad that it was you who found me in the snow."

A bay? Well, he had only known the one, so he operated under the assumption that it was a textbook example It seemed like a place where the shoreline pulled inward some, sort of like a crescent moon of a beach around it, I would say.. he supposed, remembering when they had viewed it from the higher grounds. It had a secured feel to it, even alongside the sea for my first time, came to mind as well as he leaned against her, nearly distracted by such, and all it entailed--when he couldn't forget just how close the pups were in the moment, or rather, they wouldn't be having it.

That sanctity of the coast could have easily come from his father's knowledge over his shoulder the entire time, with Vela beside him--not from the geography, but who knew? He could only reflect in full now, so very many moons later, and even then it felt more distant than he wished. He wanted to renew that connection, and what better way than with her beside him, and their young among them. It was as good as settled in his mind and his tail switched against the earth, not just because she would be happy, but for all it brought. We will go, then, he agreed with a soft, content sigh.

And, as she brought him back to the first night, he blinked, remembering the snowfall. Yeah? Me too, though I think I was awfully nervous at the time.. he chuffed. Meeting someone new, and someone important, though he had not conceptualized how important then. Even before then.. last winter was a strange turning point for me, I guess.. after a lot of bad came with the summer before, though a lot of learning too.. he spoke quietly. After Hydra and Dirge's first litter had come, it had been best for him to move forward then, figure it out, and he was in a much better place now.. not wallowing, not miserable. He could miss what they had lost, but coped, and had a bright future to look towards instead largely thanks to her. Meeting you, all you brought to my days.. it gave me a lot else to focus on. A lot of good, he said.

"i would not have known," kukutux mentioned faintly. jarilo, for all the inner workings she had come to know were in him, never showed his true intentions. at least not upon his face before those he did not know. his wife had seen her husband in his calmness, in his protective guardianship, in his worry, but these were faces he had kept to himself until trust was born.

the pups appeared to be calming upon their chaotic swim along her sides. the duck's jaws split with a wide yawn, and she blinked for a long moment at the shifting glow of the sunlight. half-moons and safety, the scent of him alongside her. the promise of his role as father to be fulfilled, and his gentle praise of her, his gratitude.

theirs had been a swift union, but kukutux had found in jarilo a soul like new snow, for dedicated as he was to moonspear, he had never cause his moondrop to feel lesser. for that she thanked many spirits, and folded her tail around her flank. "you are the sun in my sky." eyelids began to fall in earnest, for though it had only been a short time, resting for even a handful of moments provoked sleep. surely he would not mind, would lie with her here. but she did not quite succumb; she rested against him with a placid blink, watching the green tree-branches dance in an unseen wind. "do you believe that your mother would have approved of me as your wife, jarilo?"

He replied with a sheepish little shrug. Guess that was probably best, he murmured, otherwise, he might have botched the whole encounter entirely had he let it out. Stoicism was a difficult beast to tame for him in some regards but he had begun to grow into it better and better by the moon, learning, and making it work for the best. In his head, it was probably not as effective as he took the time to realize. He was able to find some comfort in keeping it to himself, sometimes.

Then, to his admissions, the sun in her sky? He tilted his head, moved, and realizing more on his own. The sun.. was a great star, vastly important to all the wilds beyond--counterpart, in his stories from when his ears had first begun to stand, to the moon itself. He felt a little fuzzy, cheeks warmer than before, a loss for words.. and once more, he felt so lucky that he didn't even know what to say short of some attempt at verbalizing the feelings welled up in his chest, his head, the rest of him. His everything, too, had come to want to keep her safe, happy, treasured, and loved right with him. Where his words failed, for he knew it would be clumsy at best, he pressed a soft kiss into her cheek. Even that didn't feel like enough. He wanted to give her.. so much.

As for his mother, that too kept him silent a beat. It had been hard to tell, sometimes, what went all went through her thoughts. She had strange tastes, varied ones, and had come to appreciate Dirge far better than his father had--likely for his headstrong persistence, and dark humor. Charon had never warmed, this much the son understood. He probably would have taken to Kukutux immediately (a darkened thought wondered if not for the right reasons, for the ones that had driven him to his end) for he had been Jarilo's earliest pressures to find another, and propagate the Ostrega lines. Anyway: I do think she would have, he replied, softly, when he found his voice again. Kukutux possessed something terribly special, very much so, and something from a different world than theirs that she would have liked even at face value--and not only for the usefulness of her skills, or the curious tongue she could weave that easily. For in her quietness, there were great depths that his mother would have seen probably well before him even.

Amekaze was difficult for him to think about it, though it urged fond memories back to the surface, he still missed her badly. His face had furrowed a bit, before he released it on a sigh. I wish you could have known her, he said quietly, almost off-hand in the mention. And them, too. he gestured for the pups, who were hopefully they were settling down, before he set his own head on his forelegs. It was peaceful, and their mother deserved her rest as well. Jarilo wouldn't press the subject in favor of quietude to come, either.