Late night, everyone revelled joyously over music and fresh whale meat, dancing the entire night away. Everyone enjoyed themselves in fine ale next to the high fire, the men chattered amongst themselves and jested with one another, while the women froliced near the fear in dances. Drums beat loudly, drowning the winds that subtly rose. Every so often, however, Nukilik would shoot darts with his eyes towards Aput’s way, a silent threat to them.

Morning came, waking Aput with chilly galestroms abating from the oceanfront over their small village. Late morning sunlight roused everyone in the village. Aput squinted through the glares of sunlight that breached through holes in his roof, he moaned as he raised from bed. Stretching as he walked out, he saw a few other early risers already hard at work as they gathered belongings before the strong winds took them away. He rubbed his temples tiredly as he walked across to check in on their guest, he hoped that she was not annoyed by their little celebration last night.

Something was noticeably wrong right away when he approached her door, it was slightly cracked open. He stepped inside and found out that its dweller was not present, she disappeared at some point after he had left her yesterday. His blood boiled and immediately sprinted across the village to where his brother lived, bursting inside the one-roomed hut.

Nukilik immediately pounced onto his feet with rifle in hand, aiming it at the doorway where Aput stood. For a moment, he thought that he was going to be shot, but Nukilik lowered his weapon upon realizing who was at the doorway.

“Don’t do that, Aput!” Nukilik yelled.

“Where is she?” He demanded.

“Where’s who?”

“Don’t play games with me, Nukilik.” Aput approached and grabbed his brother by the collar, lifiting his half-naked brother from his bed.

His wife that slept soundly woke up from the brotherly conflict that was happening, her bewildered eyes darted back-and-forth in confusion. She pulled up the sheets to cover herself, she wanted to speak up but decided to keep out of this situation in silence. Nukilik slapped his brother’s grasp on him away, pulling the sheets offf and getting out of the bed, he towered over his brother angrily.

“You stop with the games, brother. Have you gone rabid?” He shoved him back, with every bit of aggression being deliberate.

Stumbling a few steps backwards, Aput stood his ground and clenched anrgy fists. “The woman, what did you do to her?”

“Her? You're talking about her?” Sighing and pressing against his temples. "Of course you'd be talking about her." There was genuine confusion in Nukilik’s voice. His coarse black eyebrows wrinkled.

“Well, what do you have to say?” Aput demanded. Stepping close to his brother, they were inches from physical touch, and inches from a physical altercation.

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Nukilik scratched the back of his head. “I’m assuming she’s missing, otherwise this is childish ranting of a drunkard. Whatever the case, I have nothing to do with her brother. Rest assured, you have my word to that much.”

Aput’s clenched fists loosened. “Fine then. If you had nothing to do with it, Nukilik, I will take your word for it.” Turning to leave the hut, he pressed a hand against the doorframe.

“Good riddance, another problem has been purged from our humble community.” Nukilik turned around to head back into bed.

“I will look for her.” He declared deteminedly.

His older brother stopped in his tracks, he whipped around and this time he was the one holding the brother by the collar. Pressing close to him. Fumes of anger expudiated from his nostrils, eyes narrowed in a burning rage.

“Why? You know what she is.” He hissed lowly so that no one else could hear.

A small crowd was starting to gather outside, curious about what was going on.

“I have to. For Erina’s and Bailey’s sake.” He confessed.

Nukilik’s grip loosened. There was a sudden understanding between the two, and there was now an understanding that there would be nothing but a disconnect between the two. The older pressed his forehead against his younger siblings. Nukilik knew of everything that Aput had gone through, and he thought that they have come to a common understanding. Nukilik realized that he was clearly wrong, Aput was still fixated on the past and would not let go. Yet, what he was doing was reckless, Nukilik knew that Aput could find himself in a situation where he would be very hurt.

“Brother. Let the past be the past, you cannot project your past onto this woman. She is not one of us. What happened to Erina and Bailey, that was not your fault, no one could have seen it happening. Don't think you are the only victim here, we all loved them dearly, they were family to us too. Please, for their sakes, let them go and remember them as they were. This woman, you need to do the right thing.”

Peeling away from his older brother, Aput stepped back away from his brother. “I have to.” He repeated simply.

He stepped out of the door, regretting that he had barged in there to begin with. Nukilik walked up to the wooden frame of the hut, glaring down his brother as he left his space. Everyone was staring at him in confusion, not understanding what had happened between the seemingly close brothers. They began to gossip amongst themselves, curiosity was piqued as they tossed out theories what it was about.

Uncertain where to begin, he started with the basics. Clothing himself in warm and thick furs. Then gathering needed supplies to last for a few days if need be, and he went to the shed that housed the only snowmobile they had. Meant to be used only for emergencies or their bi-monthly trip to the district, he considered this to be the former. All the gear was strapped into place along with an extra full gallon of fuel. Igniting the engine, it roared to life and sped out of the shed. Outside his brother awaited arms crossed, he was still shirtless and shoeless despite the abating wintry winds.

With nothing more to say to his brother, Aput slipped on his snow goggles. He rode a lap around the village and found a track that separated from the village, without a doubt it belonged to the woman. Nukilik trailed him while he inspected the tracks, judging her direction of departure. Nukilik grabbed the handles of the snowmobile, gaining Aput’s attention.

“Brother. If you leave in search of the beast, that thing that isn’t even human, I will banish you from this village.” Tightening his grip even tighter. "Please, don't make me do something that I don't want to do." He urged his younger brother.

Aput revved the engine and slipped through Nukilik's fingers, leaving his brother behind alone in the snow.