Ksura <3
Snow has already begun to heap in spite of the low, swinging branches above this stretch of forest. Jackpines tangle in a cave just the width of her shoulder blades, snatching at hackles while the silver belly strokes the ice. There will be no respite from the cold this day, and she sensed, no respite from her head.
There was a particular moment on a biting december day when she’d sat beside her mother in the cover of the heart monolith. It had become their routine to sit in shadow and watch the huntmen spar while they plucked the doublecoat from their caribou hides. Mother had warned never to look forward as much as she looked back. Now it ghosts on in her ears, whispering of all the ways tradition had been bartered for taboo.
Iglux̂ meant to appease aasrivak’s spirit on the footpath of a distinctive caribou, one with a pearl coat who’d become her favorite to watch. But she is elusive, her scent leading the huntress higher into unclaimed wild.
