I like you Shaman! I would welcome you with open paws into our fold. If this other Shaman you speak of has half the heart and courage as you do, perhaps together we could defeat this shadow bear. The Big man will tell us. He will know what must be done for he has been here longer than any on Qikiqtaaluk .
oc -
Qikiqtaaluk is the name the Inuit call Baffin Island. (Qikiqtaaluk = Helluland = Baffin Island)
Aglakti and
Furyok head north across the flat and barren plains of
Qikiqtaaluk. The ominous range of mountains lie miles ahead and
Aglakti knew that's where they were headed.
Mya and
Pandoval would ahead and lead the way and then fall behind as children tend to do. Every so often,
Mya would walk near
Aglakti and asks her odd questions like
"Was your mother a lemming?" and
"If you had to live in the sea, which of Sedna's creatures would you chose to live with?" Pandoval raced
Aglakti whenever he noticed she was speeding up her pace. He felt in direct competition for his mother's affection and used uver chance he got to prove he was better than the shaman.
Furyok smiled and encouraged her son and apologized to
Aglakti when
Pandoval was out of ear shot, which
Aglakti soon learned was a fair distance. Darkness quickly fell on the travellers as mid day arrived on
Qikiqtaaluk.
Furyok's mannerisms tightened somewhat as she kept a relaxed, yet watchful eye on her cubs through the night.
Anningan's wicked smile shone down on
Aglakti willing her to fail in everything she will ever do. It began to snow as winter gained an even greater foothold on the Artic plains and time seemed to pass more slowly as
Aglakti blindly followed
Furyok through the snowy wasteland.
They would have to stop and make a fire soon and
Furyok knew it. She began to dig a hole in the snow. Within no time she had carved a large space out of the snow for
Aglakti to rest and start a fire.
Pandoval and
Mya joined
Aglakti in the makeshift igloo and warmed themselves next to the fire.
Mya changed herself into a lemming so
Aglakti had more room. She crawled inside
Aglakti's seal skin jacket and nuzzeled up under her chin, warming the Shaman like a fur scarf.
Pandoval was far less accomodating and sprawled his furry polar cub body as far as it would stretch and seemed to claim space on the igloo floor that he was not even using at the time.
Furyok stood silent vigil outside the igloo and soon sleep took
Aglakti into the dream world. A world she was not as confident in as she once remembered. In the dreamworld,
Aglakti would often see the shadow bear and although
Aglakti knew she could not be harmed in her dreams like she could in the spirit world, the bear was getting stronger. Who knew when the dark bear would gain the power to harm the shaman even in her dreams.