Moonspear nift

thought it might be nice to have a group thread <3 still AW to anyone not at the lodge!

four days ago chakliux had returned to hunting.
his shoulder had healed. his side no longer pained him always, only sometimes. he moved with a new care, approaching his previous swiftness but with a caution that came from his injuries.
today he had caught a weasel. he returned to the lodge shared with @Kannoyak and @Nasamik. "wife," he grunted, dropping the animal at her paws. it would be hers to dress and her responsibility to cut meat for himself and the whitewolf hunter.
chakliux dropped down nearby and began to clean blood from his chest.

Chakliux would no longer rest in the healing ulaq. He was free to rest and laze in the lodge Kannoyak had worked hard to build.

Nasamik welcomed her husband with a light wag of her tail and a warm smile. Husband, She returned in greeting, reaching to give a light kiss to his cheek.

While he would then settle off to the side, she took hold of the weasel he had brought and carried it towards the back of the lodge. There, large leaves lay flat upon the ground; a perfect surface to suite for tearing meat and skin so that blood would stain the earth where they sat and slept.

You are feeling well again? Nasamik asked quietly, beginning her work with the delivered meal. She could only assume so, as now he no longer required special attention from Sialuk or the other healers of the village.

I am powerplaying Samani because she is also my character. Referenced trades between Kannoyak and Samani happened behind the scenes, if that’s alright for the board. <3

The white hunter carried two large furs in his teeth and one upon his back. The girl from the Moonwoman’s village had been sweet to offer a trade. He had brought her the meat of mountain goats and she had given him a small variety of furs that she had treated and kept clean. They were ideal for the lodge on the mountain.

Kannoyak paused at the door. He could hear Nasamik and Chakliux inside the lodge. His eyes shifted, considering whether he might enter or leave them to their peace. They were to raise a family in the lodge soon enough. His stomach stirred at the thought of children. It would be good to have them nearby.

A small grunt announced his presence. The white figure stepped into their home and placed the furs at the feet of the others.

This one has traded with the girl in Moonglow. Sea girl with green eyes. She gives furs for meat.

An easy trade for a hunter like Kannoyak.

good with me! <3

"better, now that i have gone back to hunting." chakliux fell into a contented silence, looking at the strong walls and ceiling of their large lodge. kannoyak had done well.
the snow wolf came then, bearing furs. 
chakliux knew by mention of the seawater eyes that kannoyak spoke of samani. he tried not to still himself in thought of her and her beauty, of curiosity at what she now sought in the world.
"beautiful things," he said toward his brother, jerking chin in approval. as nasamik was occupied, chakliux began to carry these things to the sleeping-place they shared.
when the children arrived, he and kannoyak would sleep on the other side of the lodge as not to disturb his wife.
but for now, their warmth filled the shelter. "wife, a boy is coming to join us. he was injured by a bear. sialuk uses her medicine upon him." he smoothed the rich pelts, admiring the skill of their curing. "he will be a good first lodge son to you. you will give him work. when he is ready to hunt, kannoyak and i will teach him." he glanced to the man as he spoke, wishing to hear his words also.

She was amidst her work, but had listened to the men as they spoke. 

Chakliux soon addressed his voice to her, speaking of a boy that would soon join them. Oh? Nasamik hummed between nibles of fur. Then setting it aside for a moment, she thought further on his words. It will be good to have the extra help. Soon, my belly will occupy too much space for certain tasks and movements. A simple jest, though she did not know if her husband would find humor in this. The one thing of him she did not know at all hours. 

But she did not linger on the topic long, soon engrossing herself in the task at hand. What more he said, she would listen again, but would not likely speak for a time.

Chakliux spoke of little warrior brother. The white hunter listened. He was quiet as he thought of the troubled boy coming to live with them. His spirit had carried a great shadow. Kannoyak could feel it when they had spoken. It was heavy with sadness and anger and guilt. It hung over him in all its dark wetness, suffocating his potential and his light.

Little warrior brother needs help, he voiced.

Nasamik is kind. She will give him strength. When his spirit has started to heal, we will teach him the ways of the hunter.

It would be good for them.

Plum eyes shifted to the seal hunter’s wife. She tended quietly to the lodge and the things they had gathered to help make it home. Kannoyak thought her to be a good wife for the seal hunter. She had great potential in her. The bold Chakliux could bare that potential to the world.

nasamik dominated the space with her soft femininity. it was the way a lodge should be and he found comfort in the proud lines of her back, the way her sides had begun to blossom. his heart was filled with many things as he looked at her, a smile curving at her jest; desire welled inside chakliux.
but he had been instructed that this was not safe for a woman carrying children. and so the seal hunter would not make his want known.
now he hungered for meat and looked to kannoyak as the man spoke. "he is hard like ice inside a cloud," the man grunted in agreement with his hunting-brother's words. "kannoyak is right. you will bring kindness and soothing."
chakliux had never seen kannoyak look upon nasamik with anything other than respect. and yet he wondered. "what flesh did you give in trade, brother?" he joked, eyes alight as he set them toward his lodgemate.

Both men now spoke of her with such warmth and respect! Touching, at the very least. A smile tucked itself beneath her work of pulling at the skin and being sure it was entirely free of the carcass. 

A tease, she was, leaving them to their humble words while pretending as if she'd heard none of it. They would notice, or they wouldn't. But she heard it all. Chakliux would later know her true thoughts by some or other grand display of affection. But not now. Her work would be done first. The men would eat, and then they would lay for bed. Then, her husband would know his wife's feelings towards his words.

Ah, Kannoyak laughed in his father’s deep voice.

The sea girl would not take this payment. She speaks of another that she has been promised to. A tradesman.

The white hunter eyed Chakliux with interest. The seal hunter had a good eye for beautiful things. It was easy to see that he could find the warmth of a woman with his proud figure and charm. He had made Nasamik a wife. He had already started to build their family. How was his spirit led to such a destiny?

Samani asked for mountain goat. She makes a village near the sea. Meats for furs and your children will be warm and soft until they have grown into hunters. 

Kannoyak has eyes for some, he admitted to his brother a moment later. But he had seen the way the raindrop woman was with the seal hunter. He had seen that she kept many kinds of company. The white hunter did not know if this bothered him. He wished to know more about her. He wished to know more about the dark-haired Amalia, as well.

chakliux's smile stayed though his eyes cooled some degree. "he was their first hunting man. sivullik. now he trades trading to become husband." he laughed a little, then warmed with interest to hear kannoyak speak of those who had caught his eye.
jealousy for rodyn tickled beneath his breastbone. he ignored it.
a village beside the sea. chakliux saw how the three clans would be united and control this part of the coast as well as the rich mountains.
the seal hunter grunted. it would not be long before he was able to hunt the goats. but for now he was not ready to run so hard. his side still had its moments of tenderness. "what is the name of this village?" he asked, craning his neck toward nasamik as his mouth watered at the scent of blood in the air. 
a grin. "you are path maker, hunter, guardian, speaker of good words. it will not be hard to find a wife. and then, brother, then we will join our lodges." there was no need for kannoyak to go away and find a place of his own unless he wished this. they would simply expand what they had made.

Heretic nudged me to skip over Nasamik for a round or two. ^^

Moontide, he said in the common tongue she had used.

All three of the villages would be united beneath the light of the moon. It was a powerful front to have in that part of the land. Sialuk on the mountain, proud and strong in her home. Moonwoman on the spine, the beginning of that mountain range bleeding into the shore. Moontide on the plateau, where they would reap the benefits of the sea and the land that surrounded them.

Chakliux offered to extend their lodge to accommodate Kannoyak’s future wife and children. The white hunter nodded his head in thanks to his hunter brother.

This lodge will be a good one. A large one.

The plum-eyed man was filled with his contentedness.

<3

nasamik retired from her work for the present. chakliux moved toward the glistening chunks of fatty skinned meat and began to eat with gusto, motioning for kannoyak to join him.
enough talk of wives and lodges, for now. "the man alaric is a good trader. maybe you will take him with you when you travel next."
chakliux was wistful. he would have liked to come as well, but such journeys could take many days. he did not want to be delayed by snow again. a man should not be departed when his children were coming.
chakliux said no more, only ate until his hunger was sated. he looked toward the pile of silken furs where they would sleep. he preferred to be nearest the entrance in case of danger — or a summons from sialuk — and so his wife might lie between them. seal hunters slept as one for warmth. it was all he knew. but perhaps the others would not care for this.

Chakliux began to eat and motioned for Kannoyak to join him.

The white hunter lingered awkwardly before he settled in beside his seal hunter brother and picked at the fatty meats in front of them. The other man spoke of Alaric with some praise. He said that the storyteller was a good trader and that perhaps Kannoyak could take the man with him on his next journey.

He talks, the plum-eyed wolf commented. It wasn’t mentioned with hostility. Alaric was a man of many words and many things to say. The white hunter was not like this. He spoke infrequently. He offered his voice when he felt it was necessary. Would the storyteller not grow tired of his simple responses and lack of imagination?

When will you be able to run the white hunting grounds? he asked Chakliux with a stern expression.

chakliux grinned. "he does." to kannoyak's question he grew pensive. "i say i am ready now, but that is not true." it hurt to say this but he trusted the other. "ten days. each day the pain in my side is less. but until it is gone fully, i will be a weakness to our hunting."
perhaps kannoyak might see his anger in this flaring moment. but then the seal hunter found control. his countenance took on a wry look. "i am going to lie down now," he said, glancing into the darkness toward where nasamik's form glowed softly in the darkness over the sleeping-place.
kannoyak knew what happened in a lodge.
by now, surely.
it would be a good thing if nasamik also took his brother-hunter into her favor. one day. for now chakliux brushed kannoyak's shoulder with his own as he went to join his wife.

short reply to pose as my last! ^^

Her husband soon came to join her in their sleeping place.

Though her eyes did not open, she could feel his presence. And when she did, she curled close. Or— as close as her rounding belly would allow, that is. 

A soft kiss to his cheek and a soft hum brimmed with gentle affections were offered to him before Nasamik allowed herself to drift off to sleep.