Ocean's Breath Plateau sweetness, I want a tap on your heart

It would be a fast visit. Dutch felt guilty leaving the glacier at all, but something about this felt necessary. To his healing, maybe. To his peace of mind, certainly. There was just so much inside him, and there was not one individual among the wolves of Moonsong upon whom it would be appropriate to unload. Perhaps even Chakliux was inappropriate — but Dutch could think of no one else.

He'd meant to announce himself, but when he came across a fresh trail, he followed it on a whim. The seal hunter had passed through here not long before, smelling of saltwater and blood spore. Dutch moved through the brush with feline grace, and when he found that pale, scarred figure, and the wind in his favor —

The panther watched him only for a heartbeat before taking a running leap at @Chakliux, indulging without thought in that impish pique that often led him. The crash of his steps and a loud grizzle were the seal hunter's only warning before an avalanche of dark and sharp-fanged fur tried to overtake him.

two days ago had his wives come into their fire-time and he had not rested in his fulfillment of them, readied, eager at a moment's word. chakliux was weary in the sweetest of ways. his energies otherwise were spent with raiyuk or hunting, and it was the heavy trail of pelicans which drew him now.
some instinct flared his awareness; the seal hunter had begun to turn when dutch threw his body forward and upon the man. they grappled hard, chakliux falling to the earth and kicking out in laughter when he realized it was the moonsong man!
"ah! so you have caught me unaware! i will wrestle you now, truly," and he rolled, diving for the other's legs.

Regret came in the form of a sharp, insistent pain in his haunch, but the panther separated himself from this sensation and yanking a paw just narrowly out of the path of destruction. The seal hunter captured the other, though, and feeling none to spry, Dutch used his weight instead to try and subdue the other man, snarling an affectionate, "Lockjaw," before he wrestled a foreleg around Chakliux's throat to try and choke him into submission.

This was not really possible for a wolf in his state, of course, and it was not a very good battle tactic.

It was just fun.

This physicality felt almost like a hug. Dutch was vicious in this affection until some of the ache in his chest had melted away, and then finally acknowledged how he had angered his wound.

He made himself limp.

"You would attack an injured man!" he cried out, as if Chakliux had instigated the fight. "Ay, me! Have you no shame!"

he bit at the arm; he thrust it away, chuckling. their wrestling reached a pitch, then a descent; when dutch came away he was hobbling, and the seal hunter's eyes were concerned over the mocking sounds in his throat.
he relented; he pushed the panther once more, saying, "an injured man attacked first!" but soon pulled dutch into an embrace.
his eyes peered next, closely, at the knitting wound. "my wives may have medicine for this," chakliux declared, intent to bring dutch home quite clear.
seriousness grew. "you need a belly of meat and a rest where others watch over you, mikiak."

He had come this time expecting such an inspection, and had licked the wound clean before departing from the glacier. He looked on in weary amusement, and accepted the man's words with a huffy laugh.

"Yes," he said, pointedly, "I can smell the medicine. Your wives cannot want me there today. It heals, seal hunter. Despite you mistaking me for a seal."

Dutch had never in his life started any kind of fight. He would swear this until his dying day.

"I came to speak with you," he said, likewise sobering. "But I must return quickly."

dutch did not want him to be tended. chakliux grinned at his suggestion and rolled his eyes. "they will not mind if my brother-hunter stays a night," he pleaded, but did not press more after this.
the pale ears came forward, and in the air of a man leaning upon his spear, he relaxed and nodded toward his companion. "tell me."
if quickness was sought, let them rest and speak here. chakliux was only grateful to have seen dutch's face since the hunt.

How hard it was to resist such an offer! And such a tone — so little was ever asked of the panther. He wanted to pour blessings upon this man, but he would deny him this.

"He will stay a different night," he replied, contrite and conflicted.

But it was this: "Ariadne did not return to the glacier. Nor Kilgitsuk. Kaluktuk." He searched berrybright eyes; did the seal hunter know this? "It was said to me that she was upset by the women's circle," he continued either way. "They left in the night, without word. We are few now in a moon village that holds no moon. I have asked moonwoman to give us guidance. To send another moondaughter, or to disband the village, if she sees fit."

he had known some of this but not all; his features creased as dutch described how they had not come back. he thought of ariadne, far from home.
far from him.
dutch had made overtures to the moon woman. it chilled chakliux to think of what she had asked. what she had known. how close she had been to becoming one of his own lineage.
he was reminded of k'os.
"i am sure she will give you answer, dutch. but i must ask: what is it you want? why not claim the place for your own family, if she does not mean to return?"

What did he want? It was so difficult to say! He had always felt he had all there was to want, even without a mate at his side. The want he felt for a wife or children had always been abstract, second to the life he was already enjoying.

But now these wants had been given shape. He thought fleetingly of Tulugak, who had sank her teeth into his spirit before her departure. She was one of the very few women he'd met and felt no need to tuck into his shadow for safe-keeping. They could have cared for each other, couldn't they?

Why hadn't he followed her? Oh, he knew why! But why hadn't he even considered it?

"I don't have a family," he replied, after realizing the seal hunter wanted an answer. "I thought I wanted Moonsong to be my family — but there is no Moonsong, now. Not really."

He spoke in frustration, not knowing whether he meant these words or not. Some of the anger he'd been suppressing welled up again, and finally, Dutch let it fill him. He blew a harsh breath through his nose, his expression darkening.

"She and that man have brought my fears to fruition — but it is my own fault for hoping things would go differently."

He was not angry with Ariadne. Not really, at least. He was angry with himself, and angry that he could not stay, and angry with Chakliux for failing to make him.

And then he was not angry at all.

"If moonwoman tells me that Moonsong should disband — I want to come here," he said. He turned a another searching look on the other man. "I will bring my girl. We would dwell with you and your family. We would make your lodge bigger. I would make your home my home."

the seawind was sweet as chakliux listened, but he did not expect what dutch said, what he offered; if moonsong came down, then his companion would come to live in the place of the seal hunters.
this brightened his eyes with elation; his teeth flashed in a grin though his expression remained steady. this was not a promise, for it sounded as though dutch would follow the leadership of the moon woman.
but ferociously; he knew what he wanted, and raised a paw to clasp the panther's elbow as he stared into the flame-hued eyes of the man he had come to treasure.
"let the sunshine people handle their own moonvillages," he urged. the mother would embroil herself in a vendetta and the girl had turned her back upon her own family. why should dutch follow the lead of the siqniq? 
his girl? chakliux did not wonder if dutch had found a woman after all and instead spoke, remembering how the moon woman had come to him in coldness; "no matter what is decided, i want you here, you and your girl. welcome in this lodge. i will stand by the decision you make, but your heart is not there and it could dream in this place."
his thoughts were misted now, spinning; expansive! dutch and his woman as companions to himself and marina and tullik, children to play together outside the lodge, and perhaps one day, another built by raiyuk in the same clearing for a wife whose name the seal hunter felt he already knew.
chakliux had not meant to press another invite; he said only with shining eyes, "you should meet them."

It was a balm he hadn't known he needed, to hear these strong words in favor of the move. Even as arguments and rebuttals occurred to him. Even as the urge to defend the sunshine people and their matriarch rose up in his chest. These things were insignificant details around what they truly spoke of.

"Let me see this to its end," he said. "So that none can say that Dutch Arjun will not keep his word. When I can set this down instead of dropping it, I will come to you. If you will keep a space for me 'til then."

But, for now — "I will meet them," he said, picking himself up. "If they are ready to be met."

fading! <3

the berrybright eyes were suffused with understanding. dutch must hold a strong word; it was now his way. 
the determination gave way to pleasure, the anticipation of having his hunting-brother in his lodge, and he regaled the man with more seal hunter jokes as they traveled up to the lodge.