K)nnuk

they/them

Young adult terrestrial wolf of the na-M)lnon region. Chosen by their pack to carry the skull of their deceased envoy, ih-Lanun, to the pack's Memorial Cave in the North. This choice was, really, made years ago and primarily by ih-Lanun herself, as it most often is when an envoy is granted the luxury by time to grow old and prepare for their eventual passing. K)nnuk, grandchild of ih-Lanun and a skilled navigator, has been studying and training for years in preparation for the long, dangerous journey.

After all, their village sits amongst the temperamental warm showers of the South of the continent Ilnia. The once-in-a-generation journey all the way to the Teethline Mountains in the North will be long, dangerous, and impossible to complete alone.

K)nnuk has...mixed feelings about their journey. There is, beneath it all, the current of grief. Though death is no secret among their people, not something to be whispered, the loss of a village elder cuts deep. K)nnuk feels ih-Lanun's absence like they would a missing tooth. They are still able to bite, chew, swallow. The other elders continue drawing breath. The village's new envoy, who has been in her duties for years now, really, simply overseen by ih-Lanun, continues to nurture the relations with their neighbours, her assistants busy as ever. There is very little ache that's specifically about the loss of a grandmother - na-M)lnon folks tend to be loose about family relations at best.

The tales go that ih-Lanun is not gone. But the tales don't comfort K)nnuk, because wherever she is now is somewhere she can no longer speak to them from.

So, there is the grief. The constant undercurrent of grief.

It has been months.

(The bones need time to be cleaned, after all.)

There is...trepidation. Anxiety and excitement in a confusing mix. This is a great journey to undertake, a great honour, a great opportunity to see the world on their own paws.

They'll be away from home for months.

They know they will not come back the same.

Their elders plead with them one last time on the dawn they set out: do not travel alone. Stubborn pup, are beloved hide and blood, we know what you are like, we know your lonely paths. No wolf can make this journey alone.

K)nnuk doesn't answer that they will not be alone, that ih-Lanun will travel with them. Their grandmother's skull tied to their back is not what the elders are talking about. It will not placate them.

No wolf can make this journey alone.

K)nnuk bows their head to the elders' wisdom one last time. They will take things as they come. In all their training, all their studies, the forging of alliances is the one thing they have stubbornly avoided planning for. They'll take things as they come.

in-K)nnuk, from this moment granted the averted gaze of things of legend, because the pack refuses to mourn what is not lost, departs. The eyes of their village follow them until they can't anymore.