Ouroboros Spine kimmaktuk ∝

kukutux was restless by now. but when dawn came it was accompanied by a cold rain that swept the last bare branches of the first ulaq away. driven to her feet, kukutux limped away, blinking against the deluge as she sought to delve her pale figure beneath the conifers.

unsteady footing upon wet ground sank the moonwoman twice; she rose with pelt muddied and dignity bruised, hoping that she had not been seen. the storm grew harsher, and kukutux hurried for shelter, harried ears backpinned as her rocky gait carried her unvenly toward a shelf of stone.

beneath that, a yawning mouth. the duck turned in all directions, seeking another of moonglow. but when no one arrived at once, kukutux chose to sniff toward the darkness, satisfied to find nothing but a tangled rope of stale scents.

Shit that's cold, Zane huffed as he made for the trees. He'd been hunting (swear it!) and just managed to find a damn burrow when the sky decided to take a piss on his head. Real funny.

He had a habit of speaking with himself, but he wasn't expecting company. It took him a moment to spot Kukutux, but when he registered her, he also spotted the cave she'd found. Damn, nice find Duchess! You got room for one more in there? Promise I'll keep the wet to myself. He smiled as waifishly as he could, hoping she'd take him up on it.

The trees were alright for shelter, but havin a rock overhead would take this chill out for damn sure. Then, maybe he could convince her to share a little cozy.... for warmth, obviously. He was a fuckin gentleman, alright?

kukutux brought her gaze to rest upon zane as he spoke. she would have liked to be alone, but this was not practical with her injured leg. the cavesite beckoned, and she urged him closer with a wave of her ivory plume. "this is a new place to me. let us see if anything has made this their home," the moon suggested, offering a tight smile that did not reach the expression of her eyes.

she ducked slowly into the dark, searching the hardpacked earthen floor for bits of bone and pebble and grass, for unseen tracks, anything that might suggest this place belonged to another. the duck found nothing, however, and turned to search for zane in the small darkness, wondering if the true was same for her kinsman.

Oh, well. The choice was between getting soaked out here or potentially sneakin into some killer creature's digs. Much as he liked Duchess, Zane did note he had one advantage on her. If shit hit the fan, he'd manage to run a hell of a lot faster.

Sure, he answered, returning the smile with a little more confidence. She seemed to insist on leading the way which was more than fine by him.

He gave the cave a good sniff once inside, though he didn't go poking in many of the deeper corners. Seems like whoever was here must've cleared out. Maybe they heard we were comin. Zane chuckled, then stretched, dragging rough claws over the cave floor in the process. He then gave an abrupt shake (thankfully near the entrance) before sitting down. He fucking hated cold rains.

zane was correct despite his usual flippant manner. kukutux still did not understand what a man in his good years won from taking the attitude of a younger man, but so far it had served her kin. reminded that they did indeed share the name of ostrega between them put her to mind of their extended family.

could she still call herself an ostrega if there was no blood there, only in her moon-hunter and her raindrop? a thought for another day. kukutux shuffled around in the small space and at last lay near zane, extending her injured ankle out. "you are content here, hunter," the duck observed, offering him a warm look once she had settled.

Sure. It wasn't a question but Zane still felt like answering. He didn't get her, to be honest. And he was starting to think he never would. Flirting with her was becoming more of a game than an actual desire, because if he ever did manage to get what he shot for... well. What other reason did he have to stay?

That Lane's an interesting' lady, by the way. Where'd you find her? He didn't know what she'd told Duchess about the meeting, and he still had a sneaking suspicion the two were in on something together around this. Maybe he'd get a hint out of her.

kukutux grinned, looking up from where she had begun to fuss over a stubborn hillock of grass against the cave-wall. "before the — the mountain," she finished, features lining somberly before her good humour returned, if a bit muted than before — "— i went on a journey that was many days. i met many who did not have husband or wives," she revealed with a wry twist to her mouth.

"she is pleasing to you, yes?" kukutux asked, alabaster ears lifting but not so hopefully. zane had no wish to be more than thirdhunter in moonglow. it remained to be seen if the prospect of lane as wife would inspire him to more.

Pretty enough, he said honestly, though he wasn't willing to say much more than that. Probably a good thing, though he had no way of knowing now how that would go.

Did you talk with her before, tell her anything about me? He asked it casually enough, but he was definitely digging to catch a lie when he watched her reaction.

Whatever the case, he wasn't about to let Duchess know he was considering giving in, not so soon after doubling down on his fuckin reservations. Look, he might be a free and easy dude but even he had a reputation to keep. Even if that reputation was built on being as undependable as fuckin possible.

And anyway, what about you, Duch? What's 'pleasing' to a girl like you, in a guy? The question was part self interest, part absolute curiosity. He still felt like he didn't know shit when it came to her (or her kinda weird but pretty hot kid).

kukutux flickered into a soft laugh. "i did not share your name before i made your meeting. we talked of husbands. lane wishes someone who is not so — who has not put down roots, as a tree." for he had not; he remained a part of moonglow but at its edges.

she hoped this would not be so forever. "children do not tie a marriage together," kukutux murmured softly. "so you see how you were my choice for lane. there is growing that can be done upon the same path."

duchess. pleasing. she blinked slowly. "a man who does not put me in front of his bond to moonglow," the duck said, offering a wan smile as she quieted.

So you are trying to be rid of me, he replied with a wink, exaggerated and ribald. He didn't really know what she was saying, what with bringing up kids, but he could hardly disagree with the face value of what she said. He knew better than most that pups didn't do shit for tying a pair down if they weren't meant to be. He'd have more than his own share of wives were that the case.

You're a strange lot, y'know? Always hear of girls who want a guy to put them before anything else, yet here you come too, sayin you'd want a guy to put this place first. Zane snorted a little skeptically. Sounds like an invitation for someone to take the place out from under you.

Made no sense to him. If he was in her place and was lookin for someone, he imagined he'd want the opposite, because wolves had booted him from more than a few packs for the 'good' of the place. A lot of different wolves had a lot of funny opinions on what was 'good' for any given place and those definitions changed far too easily for his comfort. Sides, what would that bond to 'Moonglow' be, if you ain't part of it? Makes no fuckin sense.

a quick, cool look passed over the duck's warm face; something implausible and cold lighting just for a second in the blink of her greenstone eyes. to think that moonglow could be taken from her when she had built it! yet with a blink kukutux humbled herself, speaking to the inner spirit to say that zane only meant to protect this place in his coarse way.

"it means that if change comes to your life, you will stay in one place to see the storm pass," moonwoman began softly, carefully. "not a husband, not a wife, and not children will turn your path away. i will come and i will go one day to the dancing lights." 

her gaze was upon him.

"will you be loyal to sialuk and to moonglow then? or only to me? i am only one part of moonglow."

Me? He huffed out a surprised chuckle. He hadn't imagined she'd assume his question to be directed at her so obviously, but apparently she'd sussed it out. Really though, she'd never imagine he fit that particular criteria. He had little interest in the mountain and had made that fairly apparent since arriving.

I'm not loyal to ground or to some name. He shrugged. I'm loyal to whoever suits me and right now, that's you. I like others well enough, but none of them have tried to claim it, so who the hell knows? He wasn't a complicated guy.

If you were to disappear tomorrow, Duchess, Moonglow'd go with you. It's a name, and I bet this place'd have another in a matter of months. Places change. Ain't shit we can do about it cept ride along. Maybe it wasn't her intention to let the place die with her but from his experience, she wouldn't have much say in it. Then again - he probably wouldn't be around much longer than that himself.

she did not understand zane's preoccupation with refusing to cultivate loyalty to the ground, to their ostrega clan, or to this very earth which gave him life and supported their small number. it annoyed kukutux, his continued flippancy, and this showed in the drawing together of her brows for a small moment.

there was still sialuk, and still the tenets of moonglow that had made this possible.

the duck did not know why he remained. but she wished him to stay, despite the clear reality that he was only a sour grass man, and would go when the wind uprooted him. "we only have the freedom that we give to ourselves."

You confuse the shit out of me, Duchess. Zane replied frankly, but there was no real weight behind it other than friendly observation. He didn't understand one bit of the way her mind worked and half the time the things she said contradicted wildly. This one was especially fucked for him.

Half the time you look at me like I'm crazy, not pledgin myself like some kind of eternal guardian, or whatever, to this place, and then you go and say shit like 'we choose our own freedom' like I'm not the fuckin poster child for it. He let out a good-natured chuckle. What do you think I'm doing?

He chose his own freedom over anything else. He was here for no reason other than the fact that he wanted to be and he damn well meant to keep it that way.

Why's this place so important to you? He could tell she hadn't much liked his answer before, and while he stood by it, he was interested to find out what it was she wanted to keep around so badly after she was too dead to care.

zane caught her there, at the junction between knowing and saying. she had left herself unsaid, but now the knifehunter had her at his point.

the woman shifted, tightening limbs together as a wind flickered through the milky tresses of her ruff. "because i do not understand why you do not choose this place, with your freedom. i am wrong to want this thing of you. it is selfish. but if i do not know when i will wake, that i will find you here," the moonbird went on, the shimmer of green upon him, "then i do not know if i can send you to sivullik, to be made a hunter in his party. or if i leave moonglow for a short time, because i must, i do not know if i may say 'please put your eyes upon this land until i am back.'"

zane was not dependent because he had not chosen moonglow as she had, as the others had. nothing bound him save his own want. she could not lean upon him. he would be always an arrow fletched with blue when the others were green.

his question caught a breath in her throat. "sialuk and me are what is left of moonspear. all others have gone. we — i — will carry the name of ostrega forward this year. it is respectful of those who have gone to the dancing lights, that we honor them with moonglow."

her eyes were filled, inexorably, with tears.

So she did want a promise. He'd guessed as much since most head honchos had, but the fact was she'd danced around it pretty fuckin prettily these last few weeks. He was more amused than bothered because at least she wasn't holdin it over his head, demanding it. Was too bad, though, because he was about to do nothin but disappoint her.

He didn't understand the point anyway. If I wasn't choosin this place, I wouldn't be here. He said plainly. And I don't see what else matters. What does it matter if I'm here tomorrow, if I'm here today? You got another set of eyes for now. Use 'em.

It was oversimplified, but it seemed pretty stupid to put so much weight on someone's word that they'd stay put. He shouldn't trust him to stick around regardless of what he said, and honestly, he thought she should give him props for at least bein honest.

Trying to appease the dead was a load of shit too, but he was smarter than to say that out loud when she was bordering tears. Zane shifted, giving an awkward clear of his throat. Look. It's a nice place, alright? Doesn't have to make sense to me. But if my opinion means anything, a names a name. And you don't owe mine shit, so the fact your doin this for it means you're already ahead. He attempted an encouraging smile, but this wasn't exactly his element (clearly). He figured as a very-much-alive Ostrega he had more right than anyone to at least tell her that.

she did not agree, but sensed that this would be all that zane would give. and she could not ask for more, such was the contract between them. he would stay until it was home no longer, and then he would go.

suddenly wearied, as much by their conversation as the limits of her own body, kukutux tucked her paw closer and folded a pale plume around her haunch. "if you will do this thing for me, zane: please go to the mountain that once had the name of moonspear. bring back word if any strangers have settled there." a temptation in her, rising, to drive them off. it was a grave now, as was the glen and the glacier. she would not let it rise in sorrow again.

For once, Zane would take the hint. It was still raining, but he could find a dry space somewhere else, and Duchess seemed pretty damn wrapped in on herself right now. He wasn't sure why and frankly wasn't too interested in digging in. He had enough of his own shit to wade in.

Can do, boss. He stretched, then stood, giving her one more glance. Thanks for the chat, catch you around. One last somewhat cheeky wink and he was headed to the exit, off into the rain and to his own distractions. He'd check out Moonspear next chance he got, though the idea of walkin that death trap put a shiver in his spine.

<3

kukutux did not sleep until long after zane had gone.

perplexed.

how did a man live without such restrictions? it was not a freedom given to women.

and on this one, she sank the last of her strength, and at last slept.