Ouroboros Spine oh the mountain top, oh the visions stopped

How different he looked, accompanied by Kukutux in this new place.

She could see the marring from pit to ribs. Hip to groin. She missed the ones upon his neck and tailbone. Not high enough (or at an angle) that would allow such.

Guilt welled up in her, hot and heavy. To have him make the trip even to these borders made her feel ill. She could not imagine the pain that gripped him. Before and now. Those dumb crystal tears welled up in her eyes again.

She cried so much lately. Unsure why, unable to control when it happened.

Yet she was not ashamed of it this time. Kukutux had already witnessed her weep once and surely, if Kigipigak had heard the words she had given the woman, he might know why she cried so.

The heavy weight of relief.

That shredding of guilt.

The dead duck at her paws, her promise to bring Kukutux a gift, forgotten entirely.

Oh, Kigipigak. Her shoulders sagged and, even if it was not her place or not protocol with an injured man, she sought to be near him again. Remember the way she had thought of snowy mountains when she looked at him — even if he was more like a snowy volcano now. Remind herself of the way he had shielded her in the woods.

She had never repaid him for his kindness that day.

Perhaps, she hoped, the plateau was a chance to do that.