Moonspear half-mother

for @Sialuk and @Tullik but aw!

it was in ceremony that the seal hunter man and wife came up from moontide. today they would seek her blessing for tullik's departure, and ask her to place the pack marks on the belly of his wife.
as nasamik had not received these things, tullik would be regarded now as first wife.
while their marriage had been their own decision, chakliux recognized that they took a hunter from moonspear. therefore he had brought fine pelts and elk teeth with him, to give as gifts. for the remainder of the first milk year shared by maggak and acrux, he would bring her many of his kills and today too was no exception, a pheasant given.
he had given the smallest and most precious thing to tullik for carrying: a deer bladder of crushed abalone shell, to darken her mark.
at the ulaq of the star woman did chakliux call out, setting down skins and meat and wares. and surreptitiously his eyes flicked once, twice, for @Simbelmyne, though he and tullik had come for sialuk.

cameo!

She dwelled within the foothills, and often made her path along the borders as she sought to hunt. The mountain loomed above, and as frost came upon the lands at night, so too did the blanket of white grow at the top of the mountain. She shuddered at the anticipation of feeling winter at this altitude, but it was a reality she would have to face- and soon. 

Her attitude brightened when she came across a familiar scent that had come across the border, and still remained fresh. Along with it was a bouquet of other scents, and a small, reddish feather that had fallen from the pheasant on the journey. The seal hunter had not come empty-handed, nor had he come alone. With him was the scent of a woman, one who smelled of the coast as well, her scent nearly masked by her husband's own musk. This, she presumed, was Tullik; the time had come for her to officially depart. 

Simbelmyne did not follow their trail, having not been summoned...But she remained in the area, wishing there were still berries left to find and eat. If there was a chance she could have their paths cross on their way out...She would take it.

Breath billowed from her mouth as she took in the mountain. Now, she was to leave it behind her. It was bittersweet, to remember the uncaring eye of a mountain that was never hers.

Tullik’s eyes tracked the peaks for a moment on instinct, flicking to and fro, trying to cast for signs of something, anything. The mountain remained impassive.

She was surprisingly alright with this.

She held the deer bladder in her mouth, careful and cautious as if she held her own child there. It was only when Chakliux stopped outside the star-woman’s ulaq that Tullik stopped too, her tail an idle, friendly wave. No matter the bittersweet nature of their visit, it was a day of celebration.

Familiar footsteps belonging to Chakliux crept outside the ulaq, and she heard his voice calling from beyond the door. The world cooled and the nights grew longer. Tullik arrived with him, their bond known by now to Sialuk and her absence noted as she healed in Moontide after her fall. It was not a surprise that she would wish to be with her husband, though a part of her wished that Chakliux would prefer to move her here rather than the other way around. This, she did not speak, nor did she let it show on her face.

Instead, she smiled warmly at the couple as they approached with gifts.

This woman greets you, she said, touching each with her nose to their shoulder.

any thoughts of more things were put from his mind when sialuk approached he and tullik. her greeting was returned; his eyes said he still found her greatly beautiful; and then he settled beside his wife.
"we bring gifts." two elkskins, four of their teeth. the pelts would not be as fine as the moonwomen could make, but the care was clear. "for your children," the freshly killed bird.
he looked toward tullik and then began; "we wish to live together, in moontide. this man asks that you, spirit woman, place the seal hunter marks over the womb of this seal hunter wife." for this request he would use her sunshine dialect, wishing to impart respect.