Spring, a time for new life, a time for new hope…
After a very long, very tiring two days, Sedna finally got to enjoy the blissful feeling of the absence of labor pains. She lay in a pile of skins and cradled a tiny infant girl in her arms, tiny tears trickling down her face from joy as she watched the child nurse. She knew that she would forever see the nursery hut as the place where the best thing ever happened to her.
"You look so beautiful," she murmured. "I wish your father would have been here to see you. You look just like him." She really did, too. The girl's father, Akkikiktok, had died in a mammoth hunt several moons ago, right after Sedna found out she was expecting a child.
"What should I name you?" Sedna wondered aloud, looking at the girl. "Should I name you Akkikiktok, after your brave father? No, too hard to say. Maybe Pakak? You are sure to get into everything, but I don't suppose you should be named after what you might do. Quvianuq is very fitting for you, but it, too, is long." She looked outside, where she saw the icicles hanging from the trees, dripping water.
"You were waited for impatiently, my child, like freed water during spring. That is what I will call you, child. Your name will be Imiq."
No sooner had she named the child did she hear a familiar voice calling, "Hello? Is anyone there? May I come in?" It was the voice of the medicine man, and Sedna's brother, Shesh.
"Come in, Shesh."
He walked through the flap, and looked fondly down at the child he had delivered mere hours ago. "Imiq is a beauty, isn't she?" Sedna breathed.
"She is indeed," Shesh muttered. But, then a pile of furs in his arms whimpered.
"What's that, Shesh? It can't be a child in this tribe; I was the last pregnant woman."
"That is because it isn't, Sedna. I found her in the forest. Probably abandoned from another tribe. I want you to raise her as your own. Say that she was your daughter's wombmate. But, you must say that she was born to you. Let no one know otherwise. Promise me that, Sedna."
After a long silence, broken only by the snuffling sounds of Imiq's suckling, Sedna muttered, "I promise, Shesh. How old is the child?"
"About six moons old, at most, Sedna. At least a newborn. She will be able to pass as Imiq's wombmate." He placed the bundle in her arms, and left the hut.
"Now, you, what should I name you, my new daughter?" Sedna asked the new child. She looked rather strange; she had pale, sickly skin, and rather than the black hair everyone else in the tribe wore on their heads, the girl's hair was a red of a sunset. She most certainly was from another tribe, though none that Sedna had ever heard of. She tried to play with the baby, by tapping the baby's nose. The girl's eyes shot open, and looked at her, with eyes the color of rotting leaves. She opened her mouth, and Sedna braced herself for the shock of its loud cry, but to her surprise, the baby began to laugh. It giggled merrily, and Sedna smiled; she had indeed found a name for her second daughter.
"I shall name you Sakari."
Okay, the prologue for this story is done! Here are the meanings for words you may not know! BTW, all of the names for the tribe are in Inuit, because I wanted them to. Okay!
Sedna: Goddess of the sea and creatures
Akkikiktok: Brave
Moon: The equivalent of a month
Pakak: One who gets into things
Quivianuq: Joy
Freed water: Melted water
Imiq: Water
Shesh: brown bear
Wombmate: Twin, or triplet, or any sort of multiple birth
Sakari: Sweet