Sun Mote Copse Sun-Dried Tomato Copse

She smiled at Njord’s joke, though the mention of Kukutux suddenly reminded her of something she’d been meaning to ask him. Meerkat knew she could talk with her husband about anything, though she still hadn’t thought of a way to bring up this topic tactfully.

You know, Asivaq is Kukutux’s daughter. But they’re estranged due to her marriage to Kigipigak. I asked her why and she said that he left his previous wife and their children. Kukutux raised one of his sons as her own in his absence. I asked her what took him from his family but she says she doesn’t know. Can you imagine having such a giant, unspoken secret between man and wife?

She didn’t want to imagine it. Meerkat shuddered slightly. She looked at Njord fondly, though with a wrinkle of concern between her eyes. Did he know anything about his aokatti’s treatment of his family? Perhaps there was some pardonable reason for it—such as Njord’s own absence when their first litter was still young—but the mystery of it was ominous.