5/22/2025, 8:02 PM
a storm chaser. a water-woman. he was reminded of a pantherine story in which beautiful women shed skins and climbed from water. this was the reverse of that, and the superstitious part of the seal hunter waited vaguely to see if she would be taken by the stormcloud. but in its touch she grew frenzied and his heart grew light to see her. chakliux slowed to describe small circles in the sand, to chase her as she chased him; he looped through her marks and made whorls of his own, the two leaping around one another. a whoop broke from the man's throat; his berry-bright eyes danced with delight.
once! once she slipped but before his legs could carry him to her aid, up she was once more, freckled hinds catching his approving eye once more. and when she came for him, this cloudburst, chakliux laughed aloud and moved to meet her, to lift for two legs and dance as many steps as he was able while her high pronking went on along the seacoast.
he was coming to the end of his energies but unwilling to admit it, for this was such a striking diversion as to be arrestingly distractive.
once! once she slipped but before his legs could carry him to her aid, up she was once more, freckled hinds catching his approving eye once more. and when she came for him, this cloudburst, chakliux laughed aloud and moved to meet her, to lift for two legs and dance as many steps as he was able while her high pronking went on along the seacoast.
he was coming to the end of his energies but unwilling to admit it, for this was such a striking diversion as to be arrestingly distractive.
speaks seal, walrus, lanzadoii, sharadoii, and several pidgins · little english