Stavanger Bay mispronunciation

She carried with her now two things.

A caribou pelt draped along her shoulders and the scent of Kigipigak. Two things she cherished very much in the silent moments of dawn.

She had allowed @Kigipigak to rest if he so wished, but informed him fully that she would only be a call away and he was welcomed if he wished. She adventured the bay, followed a frozen creek surrounded by trees down into a grassy field. Although the field did not reach forever. It eventually melted away into sandy shores that took beatings from the harsh winter sea.

Somehow this place had everything.

Trees, fresh water, salt water. Grassy knolls and sandy stretches.

How far different from the plateau it was.

She wondered what Kigipigak would think of here. She wondered if he missed the village he had pledged to in her absence. She wondered about him, even when he was surely not far.

Even with her promise that she would not go far, Kigipigak worried that she would vanish. He lingered for a short while among the Sentinels, trying to be comfortable there as he rested, so that she could have her space; she was a ranger much like himself, and Kigipigak knew the value of exploration.

Still, he was not far from her. He could not keep himself away. Her trail led down in to the bay area. One might expect less snow to appear upon a beach, but the season's chill had been uncharacteristically frigid this year. There were ice sheets drifting further out upon the ocean; the sand was frozen solid.

Kigipigak roamed along the southern limits, near the path that led down in to the heart of Stavanger, where he could watch the horizon and keep note of Sakhmet's ruddy shape as she roamed.

There was some shift in her, something that had been a slow creep but something she realized nonetheless. It had been easy to blame it on the excitement Kigipigak, but here alone it still ran through her veins.

Warmth.

A season change loomed on the horizon and although it would not be Sakhmet's very first, it was the first she actually gave thought to. She was outside of a pack, she was roaming, she had Kigipigak very frequently glued to her side.

The last was enough to provide some thought of comfort, protection.

Things would be fine, the pulse under her caribou covered fur was nothing more than nature's summons. Something she felt she might be able to ignore for a bit longer.

Especially when a distraction loomed on the dawn lit horizon. His pale figure only highlighted by the movement of it along the path. Undeniably Kigipigak.

She could not help but make a summoning sound to him. Low and soft. A songbird's beckon as her tail swished low behind her.

It was easier to be separated from Sakhmet if she was still within his line of sight. It wasn't a full separation. He trusted her innately, but feared something might go wrong anyway. Maybe she would grow tired of him as swiftly as Valmua had; maybe she would let her eye wander to another man as Lane did; maybe — it does not matter, she is here now.

They were reunited.

Her call was not one of terror or worry, as it came to him. It was some kind of invitation. Kigipigak was glad to meet her there upon the sand, and drifted close, a pale moth to the flame that she was.

There would always be relief in not needing to speak words with him. He read her body language, her natural chuffs or howls. Easily understood, is what she said. Even when her words weaved on trails of confusing thoughts he had listened closely and responded appropriately.

She sought to take careful steps closer to him too when he approached.

Tail still swished behind her as she aimed to push her caribou covered shoulder into his side. She did not want to rough house as they had in the snow at the river, but she did want to gently herd him to come along with her.

There was so much to explore now that the whole world was open to them.

They melded, briefly. The caribou hide between them, perfuming the air with the strong notes of Kukutux, as she had prepared it herself. It would retain some piece of the moon-woman for a while and Kigipigak was glad for it, as it felt they traveled as three, not two.

He wondered what Moonglow would face upon their return home. Imagining the women with their new hides and fresh pelts, organized in to the hillside ulax. The hunters investigating the caches for spoils, and packing away what meat they had gathered in the taiga.

Kigipigak walked with Sakhmet while he pondered. He was quiet, inattentive to the looks she spared him, and distracted from the sights; but he was not bereft for their departure from Moonglow, either.

200 for you <333

Silence was comfortable, silence was okay.

Until her thoughts ballooned so much she felt the need to talk to him finally. Compelled to ask for the things on his mind too. She was not oblivious to the way he lingered in silence too.

We should move inland soon, A soft suggestion as her gaze turned from the seas to the trees in the distance.

Unless you're enjoying the saltwater. She teased softly with a brief scrunch of her features.

She broke the silence with a wish.

Inland? He almost didn't recognize the word, and dropped his thoughts in to the snow so that he could focus on her. That part was easy. Kigipigak chuffed softly as she mentioned the water.

It is nice here. It is very cold, though, and I do not know if we could survive. The beach was a lot like the stretches in the north that were made entirely of cold; the ground was ice, with water beneath, and sometimes frozen earth piled so high with snow that you could not tell these places apart.

He thought of Duskfire Glacier.

We should go somewhere far from the sea. Which meant east, presumably, back the way he had come, back to the taiga where the prey was scarce or ill. That would not be good enough for a pack, but perhaps for the two of them together.

Could they survive here?

She thought of the food, of the shelter. There were the cavern they had met at and she imagined there were creatures that could be plucked but...her experience with coastal living was very little. None, actually.

Except all would be okay because Kigipigak had an idea. To go far from the sea. She wondered how far but those little details did not matter. They would know where to stop when they found it.

I'd like to see new places with you. Which was perhaps her way of saying not the plateau again.

Do you dream of anywhere, Kigipigak?

I.. don't dream, not often. Those I had would be of Unnuakvik. He answered, feeling far away as he thought of his home. It hadn't been a very good place if you really looked at it: superiority complexes abound, men seething for battle, and his mother was a piece of work; but he loved her, desperately so. He missed her.

He had taken a few steps, led by Sakhmet.

Before the hunting in the taiga, I dreamt of snow a lot. The cold. Do you ever find yourself missing things? The sea crashed beyond them distantly, not quite loud enough to drown out the conversation. It set the mood to something almost melancholy.

Your parents, he remembered them suddenly - the pale woman with her strange, silent husband. The children they rescued. Kigipigak looked to her now, concerned. They were with us briefly in Blacktail. They moved on - south, I think, when I was separated from them.

Had she been there with them? Kigipigak couldn't remember exactly what had happened with the two ghosts, and felt a liminal guilt. They could try and find the rest of her family if they were still within the Wilds; but that wasn't a call he could make himself.

Unnuakvik.

The word came so effortlessly from him but she imagined if she even tried to pronounce it without practice, she'd fumble over it. Regardless he spoke of dreams of snow before his times in the taiga. Had the taiga sapped him so that he didn't dream as much now? Perhaps...perhaps she could provide some peace.

Although it was her turn to answer the question but he put the pin in it immediately.

Her parents.

She missed them horribly and she worried for the children. She hoped that...that everything had worked out, despite the fact that she had disappeared. Despite the fact that she had likely wounded her mother even more by becoming another missing child. Again.

I do miss them... She admittedly softly, lump in her throat. I worry that I probably hurt them more though with everything else that was going on and it's...maybe for the best I let them recover. If they're somewhere south here.

Maybe they had left. Maybe they had scattered further south than she knew possible.

I've dreamt of snow too before. Forests also. A sudden conversation loop lest she get too emotional thinking of how wayward she had become from her family.

How there was some twinge of guilt in staying close to Kigipigak and going there on way instead of seeking them out as they might for her.

Kigipigak had not thought to temper his question, or his look, and saw his mistake when she replied. The way she quieted and struggled to speak was not specific to women, but to him as well when he thought of his mother.

The segue back to dreams was welcome. Snow, forest — there were ample amounts of both these things here, at least in the winter. If she thought the snow was welcoming then perhaps returning to the taiga was a good choice.

We could stop by the glacier then. I would like to show it to you, have you meet... he thought of Lane, and did not know what to say. The woman carried the pale caribou pelt he had gifted her; now it seemed strange to introduce Sakhmet to someone like that. The wolves of that village. He quickly surmised.

A sheepish look came across his face. It is far, but we can see the land on the way, and maybe find a place for us.

I met a woman once who said she was from a glacier there. A woman she had not thought about in some time. A woman who had been plump from pregnancy, who had caused internal strife within Sakhmet's mind that day. I'd like to meet the village though, especially if they're friends of yours. A small quirk of her lips as she dared to smile during their dull melancholy.

I bet we will. She nodded her head, a small scrunch of her shoulders to keep the caribou pelt positioned on her better.

I guess we should head back that way, huh?

Oh?

Again he thought of Lane; this time not as the issumatar of the glacier village, but as the mother she had been when they had hunted. It must have been the same woman that they both knew! Kigipigak thought to say something then, except he couldn't find the words. He did not want to explain his relationship with the other woman in case, somehow, it cast doubt upon his connection to Sakhmet. That's what he told himself at any rate — but deeper down he did not understand it himself.

The chance to move on was right here with him. The sky is clearing, he mentions with a glance to the gaps of blue overhead, the clouds having been low when they arrived upon the beach, but now thin and drawing apart by the biting wind. It is a good time to head out.

He smiled, nosed at her for a moment, and then began the steady climb up the beach and towards the frozen forests, taking his turn to lead.