Bearclaw Valley [m] go back to sleep

after they left the rise, sobeille headed south. there was so much of the world to see, and she a thirsty adventurer that drank the sights and the smells with naive fascination.

she told chani she would not stray far, but that was a lie. a path brought her down through the valley, into a rolling meadow that ended abruptly with a fortress of stone. it reminded her of ankyra sound; of the teeth-stone that hung down from the cavern in an eternal grimace.

the entry to bearclaw may have been the extent of sobeille's journey, if she did not recognize a scent within it. intrigued, the girl set up a small howl and then invited herself in -- a risky endeavor, but one a girl without boundaries was confident would not be received poorly.

she walked down the redpath, a small furskin with the bones she'd discovered along the way held in her jaws. nearby, something screamed -- and when its voice faded, sobeille sensed an echo that would not go away.

sobeille was drawn to it.

she came upon a dark girl with a rousing blaze of sienna on her back. before her was the clinically sliced body of a hare. its fur was wet with matted blood, the viscera within exposed. sobeille could sense the thudding heartbeat as it faded, reverberating in consecutively longer pulses until it stilled forever.

she looked upon the small organ and marveled its intricacies. for something so vital, it was hideous -- rubber-grey and mauve red, with veins and arteries wrapped around it like choking vines.

you ever wonder what your own heartbeat looks like? sobeille asks of the feral child -- unafraid, and sensing a kinship that went deeper than simply blood.