15. Cade and Kaya
Cade
It has been three days, and we finally found the pod of whales. I had never seen one up close. The size was intimidating. The large canoe held half of the pack's men. The other half was held in another large canoe.
We rowed, so we were close to the pod. Then, the command was given, and we all released the spears. They connected with the giant beast. One of the spears pierced an eye. I was pretty sure that was the kill shot.
Once the beast was killed, we attached the ropes. Someone blew a horn, signaling that the runner on the shore should go get the woman. We began to row the whale back to the beach. How often did they hunt these things? Quill had told me that when we got to the shore, we would strip the whale.
Sure enough, once the whole thing was brought on shore, we began to cut into the fat. The women came in only a short time after we started. I did as I was told. We stayed there for two days until the creature was stripped clean.
A lot of things needed to be processed from the whale. Unfortunately, we would not have time for that, as we needed to get ready to head back to my pack. Kaya needed to pack, and we needed to gather our stuff. So, while the others continued to process the animal, we would get our stuff situated.
Quill said they use everything on the whale. Some of the bones made boning on the canoes. Some bones were apparently used for sleds. There was a variety of uses for different parts of the whale. Once back, I looked at Kaya. Helen spoke, "We smell like fish." I sniffed, and she was right. We did stink. We needed to bathe. But I had to wonder how they bathed up here in the North. I had mind-linked Kaya about it.
"So, I will boil a large pot of water, and we can use the homemade soap and moss to scrub. Then we will go into the sweat lodge and sweat the rest." I was surprised that is how they got clean here. I had never heard of sweating to get clean. The moss as a sponge was a great idea, but I wondered how clean we would be after the sweat lodge. We washed off in the hot water.
We removed our clothes and wrapped ourselves up in the seal skin she gave us. We used them like towels and went into the lodge. We stayed in there for about an hour. In truth, When I looked at Kaya, it looked like she had fallen asleep.
I got up and shook her. She opened her eyes. She mind linked. "How long was I asleep." "Well, we have been in here for about an hour." "We should get out; we have a lot to do." We left the lodge and went to our respective tents. Kaya was so tired, and in truth, so was I. We had spent the last two days carving up whale. After the sweat bath, we finished packing up the stuff. We had to leave after breakfast tomorrow to meet the bush plane that was coming at 11. When we finally laid down, Kaya was out like a light. I, too, followed suit and closed my eyes.
Kaya
I woke up and knew today was the day. I was sad to be leaving my family and my pack. I had packed all my belongings the night before. All that was left was to grab my furs. I had quite a few, so I just took my favorites. I rolled them up. I had put my belongings on a sleigh to carry them with me.
My brother had agreed to see us off, and he would be the one to return the sleigh once it had been all loaded on. Helen had refused breakfast as it was seal again. I had wondered what turned her off of the meat; to me, it was delicious.
After breakfast, we were about to head out when the whole pack gathered. Everyone had wanted to come say goodbye. I was surprised that they had left the whale to come see me off. I knew this was a significant moment for our pack. It was the first time that a female had left. I was still determining when I would be back. I knew I would be at some point; I just didn't know how long it would take. Nieva pulled me to the side, away from the crowd.
Her mind linked, and in our native language, she spoke. "Kaya, you are now a Luna to a new pack, but you will always be a crescent moon. It is on your body as a reminder. You will always be a part of us. That is why we have not cut off the link to you. We will always be here if you need us.""Thank you, Luna."
"You are a Luna now; you don't call me that we are one and the same now." It had not occurred to me that that was my new reality. That I was now supposed to oversee the welfare of many people. Helen said a couple hundred; that was a lot of people to consider when I made decisions.
"You need to remember everything you have learned. Remember to show strength when needed and mercy when people deserve it. Living on the ice teaches us the importance of hard work and that if pack is strong, that is where we thrive." I nodded at her words. "I will miss you. If you ever need anything, you just mind link, okay." "Yes," I was about to say Luna but caught myself. "Yes, Nieva. I will." "Goodbye, child."
She gave me a long hug and kissed the top of my head. I hurried off to say goodbye to my mother, father, and younger siblings. My little sisters and my mother started crying. I knew they did not want me to go, but they also knew I had to.
My father was the last to hug me. He mind linked me. "Say the word, and I will be down south as fast as possible." I didn't respond; there were no words to say how much I would miss them all. After all goodbyes were told, they slowly returned to their duties, and we walked to the research station where the plane would be.
Once we arrived at the research station, my brother waited until the plane arrived. After we loaded everything up, he looked at me. He began to speak. "I will see you next year when I come down south. Before then, if the pack can spare me. But I will always be here for you, little sister. You need me even for anything, and I do mean anything. I will be down there." "Thankyou "
I said to him over our connection. "Also, don't forget you are from the North. We are made of tougher stuff than any of the Southerners." I chuckled. I kissed him on the cheek and got up on the plane. He watched as the plane took off, and I looked back until I could no longer see him. I took a deep breath. Cade held my hand and brought my head under his chin. I snuggled into him.
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