Days gone by

„Welcome, my little one.“

The cow leaned down to bring her face closer to the little bundle of wet fur on the ground beneath her hooves. It softly shivered and one moment later, two indigo eyes stared at the new mother. She, who was going by the name of Corazon, smiled at the view. They were exact copies of her mate’s.

Corazon began to lick the little bull’s fur to dry it. He would get a cold if it stayed all wet. Her tongue brushing over him was massage and caress at the same time, and her son seemingly enjoyed it. He pressed his little head against his mothers black nose and nuzzled her back.

“My sweet little son,” Corazon whispered happily, continuing her work.

After some time, the newborn’s fur was all dry and quite fluffy. It was silvery grey, with white socks like his parents had and brown markings. In his mother’s eyes, he was perfect. She took a step backwards and smiled at him.

The little caribou looked at her with puzzlement on his soft features, his head tilting a little. The mother gently nudged him to make him get up. He needed his milk.

“Come on, get up,” she told him.

After a while, her son actually stood, his long legs stretched widely so the gap between the pairs of front and hind legs was formed like a V. He stumbled forward and pressed himself against his mother’s body, seeking for warmth and someone else. His muzzle followed the curve of her white belly until he could smell what he was instinctively searching for.

For some time, all that could be heard was satisfied smacking. The bull’s little tail was swinging back and forth and his mother was watching him, although she couldn’t see his head for it was hidden under her belly.

When he had filled his stomach, the calf stepped back and looked at his mother, milk dripping from his brown muzzle. She laughed softly and rubbed her head against his. But soon, her laughter turned into a yawn. She felt tired and exhausted and laid down to rest.

“Come, my dear,” she called the still nameless calf and to her surprise, he obeyed, lying down next to his mother and snuggling up to her thick reddish fur. She licked his head and she rested hers near him.

Soon, she drifted into a light slumber.

She didn’t know how long she had been sleeping when a familiar voice awoke her.

“Corazon? Are you here?”

“Over here! And be quiet,” she responded. After a few moments, a tall bull emerged from the long shadows the setting sun threw over the landscape. He seemed relieved to finally have found his mate and his eyes started gleaming when he saw the little caribou beside her.

“Is that him?” he asked excitedly. His mate nodded in response.

Carefully, he lied down behind his mate and nuzzled her proudly. Then, he rested his head on her back.

For some moments, mother and father just looked at their newborn son in silent amazement. They felt like nothing could disturb their happiness. 

“What are we gonna call him?” Corazon asked, but winced when she noticed that she had forgotten to lower her voice. She looked at her calf, which groggily opened his eyes.

“He has your eyes,” Corazon confirmed, a smile curling her lips.

“I see,” her mate answered, leaning down and sniffing his son’s fur. The little caribou giggled and nosed his father. Tunerk laughed quietly.

“He’s cute. What do you think of…Kesuk?”

“Kesuk?” His mate tilted her head, saying the name slowly, as if tasting it.

“Yes. It means sky or water.” Tunerk looked at the clear sky high above them, which wasn’t blue anymore, but colored in different shades of red and pink. Corazon smiled.

“I like it. Well, then your name is Kesuk, my little one.” She nuzzled her son, and then her mate, looking into his indigo eyes for a long moment.

That night, the little family slept alone under the stars, away from the herd.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Little Kesuk was two weeks old now, and stared at everything with wide blue eyes. His mother and father were feeding from some small plants at the moment, and he curiously walked around to search for something to do.

He was trotting around, still in his parents’ hearing range, when suddenly, he was rammed in the side and knocked over. He had no idea what had happened, but he could feel something lying across his side, the one he wasn’t lying on.

“Get off of me!” he shouted at the other animal. And the stranger actually did! Both quickly stood and stared at each other.

The one who had run over Kesuk was a fellow caribou calf, a bull. He was mainly white with dark grey markings on top of his head and running down his back and the upper side of his tail, black socks and black streaks beneath his amber eyes.

“Can’t you watch where you’re walking?” the other bull scolded him.

“Where I am walking? It was your fault!” Kesuk responded angrily, narrowing his deep blue eyes. The two bucks stared each other down.

“Oh boys, don’t take that too seriously,” they heard a female voice. An older caribou calf, a cow, approached them with dainty steps. She was mainly honey brown with high white socks, greenish-brown eyes and chocolate brown on the upper half of her head, down her neck and on the upper half of her tail. Her belly and chest were cream-colored.

“I’m Adsila, and I guess you already now my little brother Siku.”

“Name’s Kesuk.”

Adsila smiled at him, while Siku still looked kinda angry. He threw his head around to face his older sisters.

“Don’t interrupt me!”

Adsila just rolled her eyes at that comment, but continued to smile.

“Oh brother, it was your fault and that’s it.”

“On whose side do you stand?!”

“On mine, didn’t you notice?” Kesuk replied proudly and threw his head in the air, laughing proudly, TOO proudly for Siku’s taste. And suddenly Adsila started to laugh. That was the final drop!

He plunged at Kesuk, who was complete and utterly surprised by this and landed on the ground once more. But before Siku could stomp on him, the grey caribou rolled to the side and quickly stood to meet his opponent.

“Guys!” Adsila shouted, but the bull calves ignored her. Okay, if that didn’t work…

The cow leaped forward, rammed her little brother’s side, throwing him to the ground. He blinked and looked up at her, who smiled contently.

“Your sister is really staggeringly,” Kesuk laughed, and the other two joined him soon. Siku picked himself up and shook some dirt off his fur.

“Are you okay?” Kesuk asked.

Siku grinned. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry for knocking you over,” he answered.

And from then on, they were friends.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Time passed, spring and summer went by, fall and winter came. And with them hunger and coldness and need. Little Kesuk learned to know all of them, and in the middle of the winter, after the scattering of the herd, he couldn’t imagine it would ever get better – or that it ever was.

“Mother, I’m cold,” little Kesuk said and walked up to his mother, his hooves buried deeply in the soft snow which capped the ground.

“Oh, come here, my little one,” Corazon responded. She had already lain down beneath one of rare trees which stretched their bare arms into the freezing night air. Kesuk did as he was told and pressed his small body tightly against hers, seeking for warmth. She licked his head before he rested it against her side.

“Don’t worry, it will get better,” Corazon tried to reassure her son. But he was miles away from being convinced, she could see it in his eyes.

“But if it stays that way, we will all freeze into ice statues! Hmm, I would like if that happened to Tornuaq…I could let others annoy him for food!” Corazon knew her son didn’t like the leader’s calf, but was sure he was joking, as always. She sighed.

“Do you remember summer? When you and Siku annoyed the lemmings or played in the rivers although we kept telling you that you would fall sick?” She had a dreamy expression when she thought about those happier times. Life was hard in summer, too, but now, it was almost impossible to find food.

“Yes, I do remember,” Kesuk replied and closed his eyes. He could almost feel the warmer air on his face and the dry ground to his feet when he raced his friends or his father.

Corazon smiled. “Then hold on to that memory. Soon, it will be like that again. Now, should I tell you about my youth?”  She would to anything to keep his thoughts away from the situation of misery they were currently in.

“Oh, yes!” Kesuk nodded eagerly.

And so, his mother told about life when she was a calf and lived in a larger herd. It was obvious that she loved telling stories, she was beaming and her eyes gleamed at the happiness it brought her to remember those days. After some time, Tunerk approached them, laid down next to his son and nuzzled him before joining him in listening to his mate’s story.

And then, he told. He had arrived from another herd when he was only a yearling, after most of his herd had died from starvation and man’s traps and guns. Kesuk listened to their talking until his eyes slowly closed and he fell asleep. His parents smiled, nuzzled each other and rested as well.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

In his actual time as a grown-up bull, Kesuk trembled. He had no idea if it was from crying or from the freezing air around him, but he did.

Those days were gone and not going to come back.

Hot tears ran down the caribou’s frozen cheeks, leaving dark trails. He had lost everything that had mattered to him. His father was gone. Not gone as in gone away, but gone as in dead. He had sacrificed himself for his son’s freedom. In a moment of hopelessness, he had plunged himself at a man who was blocking their path and gotten a bullet in return.

Kesuk could still remember how his father’s eyes had opened widely in shock and pain, how crimson blood had streamed down his shoulder before he fell. Another wail of tears escaped him.

And he, Kesuk? He had been frozen in shock until his mother had snapped him out of it. And he had run off like a lunatic. But instead of fulfilling his father’s wish, he had spent precious time on saving his crush. When he had stumbled to follow her, he had somehow injured his leg. It wasn’t broken, but sprained and hurt bad enough.

And then, he had run off, leaving behind his mother, his dead father and his best friend. He would see none of them ever again. He had no idea why he hadn’t gone back. He had tried, but the desperate look in his mother’s eyes had kept him from it.

His crush Buniq, a beautiful milky chocolate cow with white and dark brown socks, dark grey markings, a white belly and chest and calm emerald eyes, and he had just adjusted to the new situation when one bull appeared who destroyed the faint feeling of safety.

Tornuaq.

Tornuaq was a strong bull, grey with a black head and markings, black socks and reddish-brown eyes. He had always desired Buniq as his mate, partly because she was the only cow of their age around, and thus, he had never liked Kesuk.

And this was the perfect moment to claim her as his. Kesuk was a good fighter, he had practiced a lot with his father, but he was injured and weakened. But Tornuaq appreciated that the other bull still stood his ground.

But in the fight, he had still caused him some injuries on his sides and his neck, and he supposed that Kesuk’s leg was even worse now. No matter if he had stayed or not, it was unlikely Kesuk would survive, so he had herded Buniq away to avoid that she had to watch her friend die.

Kesuk sighed. It was no use, he would probably not survive the night.

But father died for me.

He couldn’t give up. Not after what Tunerk had done for him. He was sure his father wanted him to move on, he had always said if he ever fell to a predator, he would fall fighting. And he did. So Kesuk supposed he should do that, too.

With new strength flowing into him from that thought, he raised his had, a determined expression on his face. Although it hurt, he stretched his front legs and leaned on them, putting as less weight on his hind leg as possible.

It took him some time to stand, and he trembled from weakness, but he was not about to give up. He just couldn’t.

He would survive this. Happier times would come.