The man is alive.

His eyes open but he does not see, she thinks. He moves and it is the spirit of the fire moving him, nothing more. Sulukinak tends to him a moment—washes his face with her tongue which feels colder than his skin, a bad sign—and then his tone shifts, and she sees the movement of some extra part of him.

Not his tail—it had eyes. It had teeth, grabbing at an ankle.

Something maternal possesses Sulukinak in that instant, as she sees it is a child. She moves quickly from Tugix to this living bundle and, regardless of protests from either of them, grabs for the girl. Pulls her in to an embrace against her chest. Begins the arduous task of grooming her, next.