They finally left the pavillion and the gathering behind when Tea Child, the only one of the People who had decided to come and join their Lodges, met with them on her own snowshoes. Hers were round, like plates, and didn't have the kicky tail that Katsuki had struggled to master

She was smiley, and has the roundest cheeks Katsuki had ever seen short of a chipmunk, and she had a lot of questions - for Mina and Katsuki, about the boat men, for Hound Dog, about his pack of working dogs, and for Fat, about fighting.
It seems she left home to learn to fight.

She already knew a bit, and proved it when she threw Katsuki, then Iron Son, then Hound Dog over her shoulder when they made camp and asked for a demonstration.

Her training ended up being good practice for the boat-men as well; he and Mina had never really been allowed or

expected to fight. Round Cheeks - sorry, /Tea Child/ taught them what she knew and practiced with them when Fat showed her a wrestling move.

Tea Child settled into the Lodges quickly, but she was still newer than Katsuki and Mina, and he liked not being the newest.

By midwinter when the heaviest snows hit and People spent most of their days tucked in their lodges, Tea Child, Mina and Katsuki were firm friends.

She even offered to read their augeries for them if they ever needed it, which they didn't quite understand but still appreciated.

Aside from the trip through the mountains, that winter was fairly calm. It snowed often and deep piles formed. When they could, the Red Riot and Katsuki made progress on their little lodge, or cut wood planks to replace what they would take. The fished and trapped and hunted.

Katsuki learned to cook with the People's ingredients and found ways to mimic some of his favorite foods from home; they visited Sun Eater, who looked ready to pop two months before he was due. Katsuki learned to milk the goats and make yogurt (under duress).

Mina got Katsuki and Thunder Ghost to help her manage her jackalopes once she and Iron Son built their hutches with clever sliding roofs. The jackalopes were massive and their combed fur went in sacks to be spun into yarn for the weavers.

Mina enjoyed the attention & praise she got for bringing something new & valuable to the Lodges, and the weavers were hopeful that the 'lopes would breed. Plum Rain was one of the first to start experimenting with the 'lopes fur for spinning, but she was often sick that winter.

Her mates fussed around her and House Watcher carried her anywhere she needed to go, rather than letting her strain herself walking through the snow. She was small, and the pup they now knew she was carrying was already making her round.

All of this was good, in Katsuki's eyes. He could hunt and fight and shout aloud, as long as he didn't actually shout /at/ anyone in anger, and he had friends and a family, of sorts, and a mate, and no one treated him like a bad omega.

But in his mind, the best part of all were the short days and the long nights when the wind bit too hard and the snow fell to deep to leave the lodge, and he and Red Riot cuddled together in the nest, sometimes just keeping each other warm and talking, and sometimes practicing.

One day, Red Riot wanted to practice something new, and Katsuki's eyes went wide at his suggestion.

Red Riot asked Katsuki to take /him/ in the way that alphas usually took omegas.

And Katsuki was adventurous.

Red Riot told Katsuki he would take care of cleaning himself and relaxing; Katsuki just had to collect some oil, since alphas didn't slick.

He waited for Red Riot to go off through the snow to clean himself out and soak in hot spring, then put on his snowshoes.

He went to the main lodge and tried to be inconspicuous as he went to the store rooms, with the unmated adults in their lofts above, and looked for something suitable. The People didn't really write much, though they had a system of pictographs and symbols for leaving messages.

Since Katsuki only new about a dozen of these symbols, he had to go by look and smell, and since the only glass the People had was traded from the boat-men, this meant he either had to ask someone for what he wanted or go around opening a bunch of jars.

He wasn't sure which was worse - going around and opening jars at random, or asking someone for help. Thanks to the omega he had talked to at the gathering he knew more or less what he needed to find . . . just not where to find it.

And then his father in law walked in.

His friendly, helpful, gregarious father-in-law who loved to hear about what his sons were up to and to lavish his love on all members of his family, no matter how prickly or irritated or anxioius they might be.

"Fire Eyes! What brings you out in this snow? You hate the cold!"

"Ah - I needed oil - for the lodge."

"Lamp oil? Or for cooking?" Fat had one blond eyebrow raised above his face paint and Katsuki didn't know if that meant he /knew/ what he was looking for and why or if he just thought it odd that Red Riot hadn't come with him to find it.

Then again, Fat was an alpha, and Strongarm was an alpha, and Red Riot had been pretty clear that they were a thing, so Fat probably knew what to get.

Right?

This is not what Katsuki signed up for.

"Oil for . . . skin? Because . . . cold is drying my skin. It's, uh, rough."

Fat gave Katsuki another look, because Fire Eyes had his faults, but his skin didn't. He was like a perfectly ripe peach, no flaws, no dents, no rough spots. But he didn't say anything, just moved away from the shelves Katsuki had been looking at down toward the next door.

He reached up and pulled down a wide green jar with plant pictographs on the side. "This should help if your skin is too dry, Fire Eyes. And for Red Riot, too."

"Thank you, Fat."

"Better hurry home - the storm is starting to pick up."

The blush from his ears down to his chest helped to keep Katsuki warm as he walked back to their lodge through the snow. He didn't like the cold, but he was adapting to it. Red Riot had hung a second rug in the doorway to help trap the heat in their home.

Katsuki added to his nest when he could to keep the heat in, moving the low side so it did not face the door and building the walls a bit higher to shield him from any breezes.

He was better at keeping the fire in their little clay oven going, too.

A fire that burned long and low was better than a fire that burned bright and died, leaving him shivering.

Once the outer seal skin rug was dropped over the door and the inner woven rug pulled down as well, Katsuki fed some more kindling into the fire.

He added one larger peice once it was going well; the larger piece should keep burning through the night.

Next time they went to the boat-men's little town, he was going to get someone to trade for some bricks, or at least show him how to make them.

Red Riot was warm, but the extra heat of a hot brick in their robes & blankets would be welcome whent he snow piled high, and he didn't know what else he could use instead of the boat-man bricks.

The fire was built, the door covered, and shutters pulled down over the casements.

He just had to wait for the Red Riot, now.

He carried the jar to their nest, and used his knife to carefully slice through the seal and pull out the wooden stopper, propping it in the corner with another two jars to keep it from spilling. He ran some fingers through it.

It felt thicker than his own slick, a bit squishier, but his fingers slid past each other easily. The Red Riot would not need to be stretched nearly as much as Katsuki had; omegas had no knot and smaller cocks. Two fingers would probably be enough.

Once the Red Riot returned.

Katsuki removed his boots - he still wore the boat-men boots - and his leggings, coat, robe, tunic,and waistcloth so he was only in the thin linen shirt he hadn't quite been ready to give up. Besides, it was one small extra layer against the cold, and he needed it.

Plus, the Red Riot liked how thin it was, almost see through, and sometimes he fucked Katsuki in it so the sweat would make it stick to him, and -

That wasn't what tonight was about though, and Katsuki wanted to make Red Riot happy.

Even if he wanted something that Katsuki hadn't ever considered before.

He sat in the warmth of his nest, under their mating robe, and waited for his mate.

Who appeared sooner than he expected, a dusting of snow in his hair and with no coat like it was fucking spring.

Katsuki scolded him for not wearing a coat, just out of habit, to let his nerves out & Red Riot smiled, eyes a bit brighter than usual in his excitement. He crouched to kiss him before pulling off his clothes and dumping them outside the nest.

"Are you ready to fill me, mate?"

Katsuki turned pink again, like an apple, and Red Riot smiled because he had not blushed quite that brightly for a while. He loved his confident mate, but he loved him in moments of bashfulness as well.

Katsuki muttered, "Won't fill you, not - not as big, you are not as small."

"You will fill me up, Kats-u-ki, I know this. Do you know what to do? Did you get the oil for slick?"

"Yes." They had talked about this in the quiet of their nest after Red Riot brought it up, and he knew the theory. "What you do feels good to me, and I can do the same to you."

"That is right, Kats-u-ki, perfect. But let me kiss you first, before we start."

Riot pulled Katsuki into his lap, as he often did, and lay back as they kissed so Katsuki was on top of him. This was normal, this was comforting, and Katsuki felt the stress start to bleed away.

Riot kept Katsuki like that, against his chest for long minutes while they kissed. Katsuki was a biter, and Riot let him do as he pleased, knowing that his fierce little Fire Eyes loved to see his reactions and feel him rumble against him. This time Red Riot kept his hands on

Katsuki's hips, while he whispered encouragement in his ears when Katsuki let his hand wander. He wanted Katsuki to do this with him, badly, but he wanted Katsuki to be comfortable, and to act at his own pace.

The kissing relaxed them both.

The stress flowed away from Katsuki's face and Riot's shoulders, and it wasn't long before Katsuki was running his fingers over Riot's cock, over and over, and pushing his hips back - he was used to Riot moving his fingers to push into him as soon as he was ready, but Riot held

his hips firm. "Not tonight, my Kats-u-ki, not yet, remember? I will fill you after, if you want. Tonight you take me."

Katsuki pulled back and blinked the lust from his eyes so he could look at his mate clearly. "How - what do you want me to do - to start ?"

"What do you like when I stretch you? Do you like my hands, or my tongue?"

"Both."

"Then I will like both as well. Do what you want with me, Fire Eyes."

Then Red Riot scooted himself farther down the nest and released Katsuki's hips, leaning back with his head on his arms.

"I am all yours, Kats-u-ki, do what you will."

A significant part of Katsuki was nervous. A more significant part loved his mate and wanted to make him happy and /he/ really liked it when the Red Riot licked /him/ so a good way to start would probably be licking, right? But Red Riot could just throw Katsuki's limbs around.

Riot was too big for the reverse to be true, so Katsuki pushed at his thighs, and said, "Ei-ji-rou, hold your legs back. So I can reach."

The alpha didn't hesitate, swinging his arms below his knees and spreading himself, cock and balls and ass on display.

Katsuki was down on his hands and knees spreading his ass to look at the soft divot of Red Riot's hole, brushing a finger lightly over it. Riot shuddered; he had stretched himself a little before hand, but not much - just enough so Katsuki wouldn't have to fight to enter him.

"You are small here," Katsuki said, dragging another finger over him.

"So are you, Kats-u-ki, but I fit. You will fit, it is fine."

"Didn't say I wouldn't fit . . . just . . . you are small here."

"You have to open me up, Fire Eyes."

Katsuki knew he was stalling.

Fire Eyes didn't stall. Fire Eyes punched asshole alphas and hauled mating jackalopes apart when they stabbed each other with their antlers and learned how to throw Tea Child so she couldn't lord it over him.

He licked his lips and leaned down.

When he heard Red Riot let out a small, soft moan - the kind he usually heard, half aware, from his own mouth - he felt a rush. He had barely done anything, and his Eijirou was already reacting like he did when Katsuki ran his hands up and down his cock. This would be easy.

He started slow, lapping against Riot the way he liked Riot to do to him, letting saliva drain from his mouth to get him sloppy. He knew when he liked something, and he guessed Red Riot could based on the slick he made, but Riot didn't make slick, and his cock was already red.

He'd rely on instinct to make him happy.

With his tongue lapping gently over and over Riot, his nose was pressed against his balls - Riot's balls were the smell of sex to him, sweat and musk and the thin oil of the glands on his upper thigh all at once.

That smell alone made his eyes go up, and he pushed a little harder with his tongue, enough to breach his mate and move inside, just a bit.

Fuck, it was hot - was he that hot inside? He thought Riot was hot inside him, but if this is what it felt like /in/ someone . . .

It was like the heat of the sun.

Katsuki pressed his tongue farther, groping for the jar of oil to leak over his fingers and start slicking his mate. It didn't taste great, but it wasn't horrible, and as his fingers slid over and around the alpha's pinched hole and heavy sack,

he pushed his face closer as well - nose to black curls, tongue curling inside.

He knew Riot had that same spot he did, and he knew more or less where to look, but he didn't think his tongue was long enough. Riot's tongue only barely brushed it, and Riot's ass was fat.

Katsuki couldn't get in quite as deep.

He gave his mate another few licks before pulling out and spitting down at his hole, trying one more time to drive his tongue deep enough to hit the spot that made /him/ shake. Riot was enjoying it, he knew; the sighs and moans were soft, but definitely there, in their nest.

He thought he got it when he felt Riot twitch around his tongue, but with his mouth and nose buried that deep in his strong mate, he couldn't breath well enough to keep going. It was time for a new tactic.

Katsuki spat on the Red Riot's hole again and reached for the jar.

He let more of the oil dribble over Riot's cock and balls, through the tangle of black curls and down to his crack, smoothing it over with his thumbs and fingers, carefully pushing the oil in with his finger tips, starting the gentle stretch. It was easier than he expected.

His index finger slid in with no problem, and although he was enveloped by the sun, he could feel a bit better. He turned his wrist and pushed up, gently, toward Riot's full balls to look for that firm, spongey spot Riot had described to him, the one he needed to please his mate.

With his finger searching carefully, he took one of Riot's balls in his mouth, sucking gently, and listening as Riot's heavy breathing became ragged. Riot was talking , but he couldn't /quite/ make out what he was saying, maybe Katsuki's name, maybe pleading.

When he pushed his finger up just a little farther, Riot's heavy cock twitched and he gave a shout - definitely Katsuki's name that time. Encouraged, Katsuki pushed up again and again to make Riot shudder and say his name.

No wonder the Red Riot loved to do this to him.

It was heady, addicting; Katsuki felt more drunk with his mate's pleasure than he ever had during on of his heats in the empire, and it wasn't until Red Riot's fingers tangled in his hair and pulled that he realized his mate was begging for another finger, begging to be stretched

because he wanted to come around his mate, the way Katsuki did for him, and he wanted Katsuki to feel what he felt.

In the future, if Katsuki was feeling a bit more mean and a bit more cocky, he might have made Riot wait. But today, he wanted Riot to call his name when he came.

He doused another two fingers in the oil, carefully slipping his middle finger in alongside the first, and running his thumbs along the pinking rim of his mate's hole. He never expected an alpha to allow this, let alone /want/ this. He would make Riot crumble for him.

Attempting to be stealthy, he compared the thickness of his cock to his fingers. He had two in Riot now, was two enough? It looked like enough. But maybe a third, to be safe? Was it better for him to be over stretched or understretched a bit?

Riot took the decision away from him

by asking Katsuki to fuck him.

Katsuki slicked himself the way he had seen Riot slick /his/cock with his own slick, stroking himself with the oil. It was probably more impressive on Riot because his cock was stupidly large . . . but this was about making Riot feel good.

"Eijirou, are you ready?" he asked, holding himself in one hand and rubbing his thumb over his mate's slick hole with the other.

"I've /been/ ready, Kats-u-ki, fuck me, Fire Eyes, come on . . ."

Katsuki pushed forward, spreading Riot's hole with his thumb so he could slide in

/Fuck/ that was hot. Is this what Riot felt like in him? How did he last - it was - /fuck/ - Riot pulled at him with one hand, whispering for him to start moving and letting out a gasp when he bottomed out. From his reaction, it seemed like Katsuki was pressing that spot he liked

when he went in as deeply as he could, so he drew back out and pushed again, and was rewarded with another gasp from the Red Riot.

Katsuki liked this - he knew he did - but he knew he wasn't going to last like Riot did inside him, it was too warm and too wet.

He was leaking slick down his thighs and he wanted Riot to fill him up afterwards, so he reached behind himself to coat a hand from his thighs, and started pumping in and out, slow and firm to keep himself from finishing too quickly, and twisting his fingers around the head of

Riot's cock, pressing his thumb under the head and his fingers at his slit, biting his lip to keep himself grounded and he moved his hips against his mate. He wanted to make Riot come for him, before he did, the way Riot did for him.

Katsuki changed his pattern, keeping his hand tight and firm around Riot's cock and moving his hips in quick, rabbity thrusts to keep his cock pressing against the spot that made him fall apart, hoping that Riot would fall apart for him. Riot was moaning around his teeth.

Katsuki couldn't reach him to kiss him like this, they were too far away, but he needed Riot to come for him, so he started doing something he rarely did, only in his heat, and started begging.

"Riot, Eijirou, Red Riot, come for me, please come for me, come on my cock, please."

"I want you to come like I come for you, Riot, Riot, please -"

Riot's massive hand enveloped his own and started jerking faster, ordering Katsuki to fuck him faster as he pulled their hands over and over his cock, pulling the precum down his shaft and mixing with Katsuki's slick

"Riot, Riot, /please/ Riot, I'm gonna co-"

Katsuki was cut off when Riot roared his name and flooded their hands with his seed, and Katsuki felt Riot's muscles squeezing him - /fuck/ was that what it was like - and he spilled into Riot a breath later.

He let himself hang his head over Riot's stomach, letting them both breathe deeply, hufffing through his nose and mouth until the world stilled again. Then he pulled out - slowly - at watched with fascination as a few pearly drops of his cum leaked from Riot's puffy hole.

He reached out to touch again, but Riot was up and moving, flipping them so he could kiss Katsuki and keep him under him, cock already filling out again and pressing against Katsuki's thigh.

"That was perfect, Fire Eyes, my mate, my Kats-u-ki, perfect."

The Red Riot gathered Katsuki to him and kissed him breathless again asking him if he liked it and if he wanted to do it again, and if he wanted Riot in him now, and telling him of his love.

House Watcher, who had been walking past when Riot shouted, blushed and hurried away.

The winter passed, slow, and cold; no one in the lodges went hungry, and both Red Riot and Iron Son had their lodges mostly built off the main house, roof done and fire pits lined and plank after pank trimmed and seasoned once it was dry enough.

One day, in late winter when the snow had stopped falling and was melting away, Thunder Ghost came around to collect Katsuki. He had Mina, Walking Shadow, and White Monkey with him, and they along the river to the clearing - along with most of the other omegas in the lodges.

Except children and elders and the omegas too far along in a pregnancy, all the rest found their way there, to the clearing split by the stream, where Katsuki had been mated, and later practiced his snowshoeing.

They were coming together to plan the omega hunt.

At the first new moon in the spring thaws, the omegas packed smoked and dried meat, their weapons, and their tools, and they left the lodges for a full cycle - from new moon to full to new moon again, enough for her to get fat and full and thin again to feed her mate and pups.

The omega hunt every spring was the largest; omegas leaving en masse and spending a full month doing nothing but hunting and trapping and preparing food.

That was the practical reason for it, but there was more than that. It was a time for omegas to speak and build each other up

To teach and show the young ones how to use their strength and their power and their gifts.

This month out of the year, more than any other, was for the omegas a time not to be a mate, but to be a person. While alphas focused inwards in preparation for their ruts,

and betas looked upward to find the paths the augeries laid out, but omegas found themselves by focusing outward, feeling where they were in the world and how their actions affected it.

The hero's welcome when they returned to the lodge with stores of food was nice too.

And the welcome their mates gave them after a month apart.

Mina and Katsuki would be going on the omega hunt this year.

The Red Riot did not want to let his Fire Eyes go.

Well, no.

He did. The omega hunt was important. The omegas kept people fed from their hunt before the crops grew in and the salmon ran. It was important for Katsuki to go, to be one of the People to be himself.

At the same time, he did not want him to leave. Not for a little over a month, while they traveled to hunt and then hunt and then prepare and store and smoke everything, then travel back - it was such a long time. Such a long time apart.

He didn't want his Fire Eyes to leave.

But he looked so beautiful getting ready to go. He still wore his boat-man boots, but now he was dressed in the fashion of the People, leggings and waistcloth and tunic, and the robe that Red Riot had mated him with, in the boat-man's fort months ago, over his shoulders.

His hair had gotten a little shaggy over the winter, but they had trimmed it up yesterday before bathing. He wore no paint and one band of stones around his wrist, and Red Riot could see the rise and fall of his chest as he checked and rechecked his pack for the trip.

Knives and flint and javelins and gut for traps, willow and rawhide to stretch the skin, a box of tinder to be kept dry in case of rain, and blankets, and food - everything he would need for the weeks away. And while he was away, Red Riot would finish up their lodge.

And he would return and they would have his spring heat together, and go on to summer and fall and winter and then his Fire Eyes would leave for another omega hunt - and although Red Riot would have him for the rest of the year, he was loathe to be seperated at all.

He was sitting in his Kats-u-ki's nest, because it smelled of them, pouting, when his Fire Eyes came to kiss him goodbye, again.

"I will miss you," he said, trying to tug his mate closer again, but they had been trying to say farewell for almost an hour.

Each time they got distracted.

"Red Riot, Eijirou, I love you, I will miss you, I will see you soon, soon, soon. Do not worry - just get the lodge done before I get back. And don't fuck up the oven."

Red Riot kissed him again.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

Katsuki left.

The omegas formed a small flotilla to move downstream; only two to a canoe instead of three to account for the meat and furs they would be bringing back. Katsuki and Mina were both in the front of their canoes; now capable, if not expert paddlers, they weren't ready to steer yet.

There was anticipation running up and down the river, jumping from person to person; not the fearful, tense anticipation that comes with a storm, battering down your heart, but the anticipation of seeing a friend after a long absence, or looking forward to a festival.

The knot in their hearts was hard to ignore, but so was the joy and the readiness. The singing started before they reached the first portage, and it continued almost without pause from one song to another; dozens and dozens of omegas raising their voices with each other.

It was a beautiful, discordant chorus; not everyone could carry a tune, not everyone kept the beat, not everyone knew all the words, but the singing rolled along the river and down the hills to the plains and up to the moon, letting the world know the omega hunt was starting.

This sense of comraderie was something that neither Katsuki or Mina had been used to at home - and indeed were still not used to living among the People. They had been welcomed and made a home there, but both omegas were caught up in their new mates and a few close friendships.

Omegas at home, in the empire, were not isolated - exactly - but they were often sequestered from each other or large groups, mostly sticking close to home and keeping company with family, close friends, omegas that were known. But they didn't gather together in public.

And certainly not without alpha or beta companions.

But here not only were they allowed to do this, they were encouraged, expected to do this - the omega hunt was a sacred right, the duty that Moon had given to omegas to make sure their pups and mates were fed in lean times.

Duty and joy, companionship and independence, all woven together.

It was no wonder the omegas looked forward to this every year.

At two and a half days of travel, the omegas started splitting off; some would stay in the forests for jackalopes and birds and the smaller prey. These split off first. The others continued on, making toward the marshes, and the plains beyond.

Mina elected to go into the marshes for fishing and birding and digging for eggs to pickle, as she had found she enjoyed being in the water and getting dirty, what she had never gotten to enjoy before.

Katsuki decided to go after the big game on the plains.

There were the herds of great cattle like things the People called /aurochs/, stands of fanged deer that they simply called /deer/, blessings of unihorns with their glimmering pelts and the solitary dappled harts that dropped crystal horns & were sweet because they ate only fruit

All of these animals roamed the plains, and the omegas who went there would hunt in groups, spreading the kills between bulls & stags, cows & doe, and calves & kits & fawns, to not damage the herds too much.
The exception was the harts; no one had ever seen a hart's fawn.

Katsuki wanted to bring back enough meet and fur to keep Red Riot fed single handedly for a year; and knowing his mate, that was a lot of meat.

The aurochs were found first, and they were the easiest hunt, and the hardest to butcher.

They had to avoid the bulls, who were angry, but once the started the herd running it was simple for the omegas lying it wait on the tors to haul ropes and make them trip so they could be finished quickly, with as little pain as possible.

Katsuki could have claimed one of these as his first kill, but each was a group effort, and he wanted to be able to look Red Riot in the eye and tell his story, just as Red Riot had when he told Katsuki of his own bravery.

Whether Red Riot knew it or not, the night he fed Katsuki marsh hen and danced with him at the fire had been Katsuki's first step in coming into his own. And now that he was free, and able to choose, he would choose to love, and impress, and to give back to Red Riot every time.

Katsuki spent the second day between Walking Shadow and Thunder Ghost, butchering aurochs, tacking out the skins and stretching them, and helping them to knock up a smoking box to get the thin slices dried. The slicing & smoking & layering in bentwood left them with time to talk.

The problem with this is that Katsuki wanted to learn about his quarry, how hunting the deer or the unihorns or the harts would be different then the aurochs and what would be most impressive to bring back - because this was new for him, and exciting, but not for his companions.

Thunder Ghost had been given permission to go on the spring trip to the boat-men's fort, if he didn't make his lodge leader annoyed in the next two months, and wanted Katsuki to practice boat-man with him, and answer all of his questions, and let him try on his boat-man boots.

Walking Shadow's mind was home with his mates; Plum Rain was a bit smaller than he was, and she had started to swell with pups, and they weren't sure who had planted the seed in her - him or House Watcher.
Winter had slowed and weakened Plum Rain, and he was worried for her.

This resulted in three different conversations happening between the omegas, loosely, fragilely linked by questions as Katsuki spread the smoked meat between layers of bark, Walking Shadow added tinder and meat to the box, and Thunder Ghost chopped offal to jar for fertilizer.

"I just want to see what the boat-men shoes feel like, cause if Red Riot and Iron Son could bring back mates, maybe I'll bring back a mate, right?"

"What do the shoes have to do with a mate? Tell me again about these unihorns and harts - which are bigger? Is one better eating?"

"Uh, I think the unihorns are better but it doesn't really matter once the meat's smoked. I think the unihorns are a bit bigger?"

"Okay, which one has a better pelt then, if I want to make something for Red Riot?"

"Doesn't matter to him. Do boat-men alphas rut with omegas?"

"Thunder Ghost, stop thinking about the boat-men & get the bones out of here before the carrion-eaters come for it. House Watcher's worried about the size of the pup. I should have stayed with them. House Watcher'll need help taking care of her."

"She'll be fine! House Watcher

isn't going to let any thing happen to her, and Healing Giver is there. Besides, they'll both be so happy to see you when you come back with more for your nest. And Sweet Cloud's been saving up fluff from her 'lopes for yarn for the pup's wrap. Plum Rain'll love it."

"What about the horns, are the horns good for anything? And the antlers? What's the difference between the deer's antlers and the hart's antlers?"

"The horns are good medicine once they're ground up, I think. Walking Shadow?"

"Ice picks, travois rods for the big ones, picks."

"What about the antlers?"

"Oh, all sorts of things. What do boat-men hunt at home - do you have deer where you come from? And aurochs and unihorns?"

"Our deer don't have teeth like yours. You didn't answer about the pelts, which is better for Red Riot?"

"It doesn't matter, there'll be enough that you can give him one of each if you want."

"Yeah but I want to show him one as my first kill, not just a big mass of them -"

"The horns are good for nausea, too. Maybe we should be scouting a unihorn herd."

None of them were pleased with the conversations, really, but they got the work done with the other omegas in their group working on scouting or butchering.

Over the next five days, they smoked or sun dried hundreds of pounds of meat and packed it away.

A few omegas took care of guarding their camps and their stores as the others scouted and began more hunts; several stands of the oddly toothed-deer were their next target, but the butchering went faster because they were smaller.

Katsuki found himself thinking of Red Riot on his turn at camp often. Riot had brought him a great bear back, a thick fur to keep him warm in the winter, and a fierce quarry - something that reflected his mate to be.

He and Red Riot had had their betrothal party - promise -thing

that Sweet Cloud and Iron Son had gotten to enjoy, that was usually a huge event for the People. And although they had eaten of the bear and used it's pelt, Katsuki wanted to bring back something for Red Riot that would express - something.

The depth of his feelings? The words he said in private, that were never said aloud back home? The peace he found with him in their nest and with the People around the fire, the passion Red Riot pulled from him, the change Katsuki saw not only in Sweet Cloud, whose quiet moments

and sad eyes were rarer now, with the People, but the change Katsuki saw in himself - less explosions, more independence, more companionship - anything.

What could he bring back to tell Red Riot all the things he wanted to say, but did not know how?

Three weeks had passed and Katsuki had not yet claimed a kill - despite being actively involved in many hunts and regularly working with the butchers.

He had settled on one of the dappled hearts, with their great antlers, as his quarry - and they had only come across one.

White Monkey had bloodied it with a thrown javelin, but it had escaped - one of their few failures in the hunt. No one (aside from White Monkey and Katsuki) was especially disappointed about the hart - some years they wouldn't bag any at all.

Katsuki had seen one now - albeit briefly, and with a bloody leg - he knew nothing else would do for his alpha. The size of the harts, their liquid eyes, the shadows of their hides, the sharpness of their crystal horns, and the sweetness that everyone said was inherent in them

The problem was - aside from the fact that harts tended to lurk between the edges of forest and plain & the fact that they were incredibly fast & the fact that they were too nimble to be tripped & could only be trapped with great luck - was there were so many omegas on the hunt.

There had been only a half dozen of them when White Monkey got his lucky shot - and Katsuki got it into his head that to track down the hart for Red Riot, he had to go off on his own.

So he flushed with shame when he went to sneak off with his water and some dried salmon only for Walking Shadow to call out to him.

"Fire Eyes - what are you doing?"

Katsuki stopped himself from cursing and told himself he could outrun Walking Shadow if he tried to stop him.

"I'm going to hunt down a hart," he said, and tilted his chin defiantly. "You can't stop me."

Walking Shadow quirked his head, bird-like. "Why would I stop you? You are grown. If you want to go, you should go. But why are you going alone?"

"I - I didn't think you'd let me go."

"We are not boat-men, Fire Eyes, we do not hold People back if they need to do something. But you don't need to go alone. You have never hunted hart before, take someone with you."

"My mate had no one to help him when he brought me the bear."

Walking Shadow rolled his eyes - Katsuki thought he might have picked that up from him - and snorted inelegantly. "The Red Riot had years and years of learning and hunting and practice with People before he brought you that bear. Help is not always what you think it is. But if

you want to go off like a jackalope in the night, go ahead. But if you want help, Thunder Ghost caught a hart last year & three years ago. He's quite good at guessing how they'll move."

"Thunder Ghost?"

"If I wanted to bring back a hart to impress my mate, I'd talk to him."

Walking Shadow turned back to the stars, and Katsuki stood still for a moment, looking at the far-off edge of the forest - where he thought the harts would be - and then toward the low fires where a few omegas were still awake.

Katsuki started moving.

Thunder Ghost had a lot to say about hunting harts, most of it just delighted that Fire Eyes was asking /him/ something, although he calmed down after Katsuki cursed at him and walked away the second time.

Once he's calmed down, he tells Katsuki to get some sleep - they'd have to head out before sun up to reach where meadow became forest to track down the harts. There were a few days left.

Katsuki was surprised when Thunder Ghost was the one to wake /him/ - he didn't even expect to sleep properly after he spoke with Thunder Ghost and learned they had to leave before sunrise.

He hadn't needed to wake this early since the morning of Mina's mating ceremony.

But Thunder Ghost was there, and ready to go, so Katsuki picked himself up with his mating robe thrown over his shoulders. Some water, some food, and his javelins completed his kit, and they walked toward the first breath of the sunrise.

As they walked, Thunder Ghost nibbled on dried salmon and bannocks and hummed to himself. Katsuki was too busy looking around for /any/ sign of a hart, and thinking that he was minutely closer to Red Riot with every step - with his feet and with the hart.

"Stop fretting about it, Fire Eyes. We've got a ways to go yet - we need to look for the tors near the forest. They'll be there."

"How do you know one'll be there?"

"Oh, there'll be more than one there. It's early in the season. There's not many places to find fruit now."

Thunder Ghost had them veer slightly south (slightly farther away from Red Riot, although Thunder Ghost didn't notice Fire Eyes' frown) and pointed toward one of the cracked and stacked stone boulders that dotted the land as it began to rise from plain to hill.

"The little red ground berries are the only things out this early - it'll be weeks till the tree fruits come in, and months before the other berries. And the best place to find the berries is in the shade of those tors. Might take a day or two for them to show up."

"If you know when to find them, why don't you get more of them?"

Thunder Ghost shrugged. "Not worth it to go after one or two harts when you could take down twenty or thirty aurochs in the same amount of time. Maybe for a betrothal hunt. Sometime special. Or if you get lucky."

"And you just get lucky every year?"

"Not every year! I like the berries! It's a good place to find them, and you need a lot to actually do anything with. They're /tiny/."

Thunder Ghost put his fingers less than a thumbnail apart.

"So you're just coming with me to get berries?"

"No! I want to help, we're friends! The berries are just a bonus."

"We are /not/ friends, Thunder Ghost."

"Don't be like that, Fire Eyes! Of course we're friends. You'll bring me water during my heat, won't you?"

Katsuki grunted his affirmation.

"See, friends!"

Katsuki doubled his speed in an attempt to get away from Thunder Ghost, now that he knew where they were going, but Thunder Ghost just laughed and loped after him.

The walk to the tor didn't take too long; they were there before the sun was up and Thunder Ghost looked around carefully at the base. There were plenty of the little berries around, and that was a good sign.

"What now?"

"Either up the tor to watch for them, or stay down low."

"Which one's better?"

"Are you a better shot going down, or going across? Pick where you want to aim from. And remember, their legs are tough - go for the stomach."

"I know - I saw White Monkey."

Katsuki sucked his teeth. "I'll stay low - you go up."

Thunder Ghost gave him an exaggerated boat-man style salute - probably Tall Spine's teaching - and began pulling himself up the tor where he could see for leagues.

"I'll signal you if I see them. Stay up and out of sight - they're fast!"

That day passed slowly - with no sign of any of the harts. The sun came and went and Katsuki's mood got worse and worse, huffing in the dark as they slept on top of the tor. The advantage of not being on the ground was not balanced out by the wind, and Katsuki was in a foul mood.

They had napped on and off in turns throughout the day, and built no fire so their eyes would adjust to the dark, but for the most part, it was a miserable day and a miserable night. Thunder Ghosts' attempts at being cheery fell flatter than usual.

They napped again in shifts through the night, just in case a hart should come by in the darkness, although Thunder Ghost assured Fire Eyes over and over that they were not nocturnal.

Fire Eyes wouldn't risk missing one.

Finally, almost a day after they had arrived at the tor,

Thunder Ghost hissed and nudged Katsuki awake, pointing toward the next closest tor to them, and the dappled grey shadow that browsed around the base in the first light of dawn.

Katsuki scrambled down the far side as carefully as he could, sitting silent.

He was crouched above a patch of the berries that tangled over each other in the grass around the door, still shadowed, and hoped that if he was still enough, the hart would come close - close enough for him to be sure of his strike.

It seemed like even the tor itself was holding its breath as Katsuki waited for his quarry to approach.

The hart was . . . large. Larger than he had expected - half the height again of an aurochs before the antlers that glittered in the red sunlight. The hart's crown was like nothing Katsuki had seen before; frozen water that sent rainbows crashing over the ground.

Covered in dappled greys and spots of black and white, the hart would disappear in the forest for all its size. No wonder they were difficult to hunt.

If Katsuki was the Katsuki of seven months ago, he would have backed down from the size of it - but that Katsuki wasn't here.

He gripped the javelin tightly as he watched the hart browse its way ever closer. Had Red Riot felt this tense when he was on the betrothal hunt? Had he felt that this was a tipping point between the status quo and something greater?

Red Riot's had been, of course - it was up to alphas to impress omegas with their skills, and all this would do would be to make Katsuki happy, and maybe Riot, too - but this would be Katsuki's first kill, and it would be for Riot. It felt like the start of something new.

When the hart was close, almost close enough to touch, and arched its neck down to reach for the berries, Katsuki launched himself and his javelin toward the hart.

For one heartbreaking second, Katsuki thought the javelin would not pierce through the hart's hide, even with all his weight behind it - but it did. Through the neck, where the blood ran strong, and Katsuki could claim his first kill.

It took a few moments for the hart to realize it was dead, reacting in pain and shock and bellowing. It threw itself backwards and reared up, yanking Katsuki along with it, bugling and throwing its head back as it bled. Then, all at once, it stopped, and sunk to its knees.

The javelin hadn't gone deep enough to make the death instantaneous. As Thunder Ghost began his descent from the tor, he was more worried about Fire Eyes than cleaning the hart.
Fire Eyes hadn't let go of the javelin when he ought to have, and had hit the ground before the hart.

Part of the hart landed on top of him, and Katsuki let out a pained lungful of air. Thunder Ghost ran to him as soon as he hit the ground, hauling him out from under the hart's chest.

"You didn't need to get hurt to impress Red Riot," Thunder Ghost said, panting with effort.

Harts were /heavy./

"He'd probably be more impressed if you hadn't gotten hurt."

"Shut up, Thunder Ghost," Katsuki wheezed. "Fuckin' hurts."

"Yeah, well, you just had a hart fall on you."

Katsuki's injury made things more complicated; he couldn't butcher his own kill.

Thunder Ghost couldn't do it himself, and he couldn't haul a hart back to camp by himself, and Katsuki would not hear of leaving the beast behind now that he had slain it.

So Thunder Ghost walked the two hours back to camp to return with help.

It took eight omegas to put the hart on a travois and haul it back, Katsuki grumping because he was not allowed to help, only walking along with his ribs wrapped. Walking Shadow was sure they were bruised, and he wasn't allowed to do any hard labor.

Someone had explained to the rest of the hunting party what Katsuki had wanted with the hart, because as he was set to slicing up the meat very fine for drying and smoking, all things that were from the hart went seperate from the rest, even the crystalline antlers.

Meat and pelt, antler and bone, entrails for fertilizer, it was packed seperately. Katsuki wasn't allowed to do much of the work while he wheezed, but his bethrothal hunt was packed safely, and he watched over it while smoking meat for the next week until the moon was small again

Then the omegas packed their tools, and the bales of fur and meat and returned to the canoes to paddle upstream and head home.

There was too much to carry; some jars and the larger bones were buried and left for next time the People passed to dig up and bring home, and the canoes sat low in the water. Katsuki's ribs ached at the end of every day with paddling, but there was no room for him to just sit.

The omegas that had hunted in the forest and in the marshes joined them bit by bit, and the same calvalcade that had lifted their voices on the journey downstream did so again on their way upstream, heavy with food for their families.

Soon, they would be home.

The moon had grown full and round, and then slid away to nothing, and that mean the omega hunt was over. They would be home soon.

Not soon enough for his younger sons, who spent their days working on their lodges and cleaning, digging clay and cutting wood. They worked together nearly all the time, as they had before they were mated, and from what Fat could hear, they talked of nothing but their mates.

Helping each other with roofing - talking about their mates' hair. Helping each other line their fire pits - talking about the way they cook. Washing out the nests before the omegas return - talking about how much they miss Sweet Cloud and Fire Eyes.

It was nice to see his sons so happy, even if Mountain Hare started swearing everytime they opened their mouths, no longer even waiting for them to say "Fire Eyes" or "Sweet Cloud."
It was normal for mates to miss their omegas during the month long hunt.

Even now, while they were taking care of Sweet Cloud's jackalopes, plucking away the loose fluff for spinning, they were trying to figure out how long it would be before the omegas returned, and when they could expect their mates back home.

"They left four days before the new moon, and it's been three days /since/ the new moon, so the hunt's over. They'll probably be back tomorrow."

"But they're carrying a lot more weight now, and it might have taken a day or more to load the canoes, so it might be 2 or 3 days."

"But they'll be looking forward to coming home, so they'll be working hard to get back faster."

"But they'll be tired and pushing themselves farther will slow them down."

"No, they'll be here tomorrow. I'm sure of it."

Neither of them were right.

It took the omegas a full five days to paddle back up river, moving the smoked and dried meat and furs through the portages, carrying jars of fertilizer, the bones, the horns, & the teeth that could be used, and the single set of crystalline antlers

There was not a lot of forewarning. Stone Mouth was repairing the netting at one of the fishing weirs when he heard the first hint of singing, and finished his knots before jogging back to the lodges to let everyone know.

Almost everyone - except for Sun Eater, who was at eight months and spent his days curled in his nest - swarmed down to the riverbank where the omegas would land. They would help with unloading the supplies, of course, but most of them were eager to see their loved ones.

Iron Son and the Red Riot were at the front of the pack, watching for the fluffs of pink and straw-blonde that would be the first sight of their mates.

Dozens of canoes came up, beached and were unload quickly, alphas and betas and omegas all working together.

There was mass chaos, and although everyone wanted to be reunited with their families and mates, the canoes had to be pulled to dry land and the meat put away first, omega's given hands to pull them up and alphas and betas taking armful after armful back to the lodges.

Hound Dog had his pack ready, each hooked up to travois to be loaded with bales of fur, and even the children took jars of fertilizer to be buried in the gardens and fields.

The morning was gone before people finally had time to hold each other and speak.

When they finally found each other, Katsuki was holding one of the crystal antlers from the hart, and had the grey dappled pelt over his arm, and Red Riot did not even stop to look at it, just bent over and kissed him, slow and warm and wet.

"Fire Eyes, my Kats-u-ki," he said moving away for a second so they could breathe before diving back in. "I have missed you, so, so, so much."

"Red Riot -" Katsuki was cut off by more kisses.

He tried again "Eijirou-" but Red Riot was too busy kissing him & holding him tight.

Finally Katsuki had to push him away bringing up the hart's fur and antlers to show him.

"I hunted a hart, for you - to bring you. To feed you." Katsuki choked for a minute, and then asked, "Do you accept my hart? Do you accept me?"

The Red Riot swooped down to kiss him again. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, my Kats-u-ki, thank you. I will accept anything you give me, always, forever, my Katsuki. You have my heart, forever."

Riot lifted his mate then, and Katsuki dropped the crystal antlers to hold him back.

They broke, when they fell, but no one noticed, especially not Red Riot and his Fire Eyes. They were too engrossed in each other after more than a month apart.

Later Red Riot would be proud, and Katsuki would be upset about the antlers, but right now, they had each other.

And that was all either of them really wanted.

End of A History Writ in Water: Book One.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed! I am always open for questions about this AU, and more will come - eventually!

Final time: Link to the top, "chapters," resources, etc. https://gswthreadcontents.carrd.co/