Bearclaw Valley distant stars come in black or red.

skipping avicus with permission <3

there was an audience around them -- galena, rosina, orson, evien, fraser -- but astara only had eyes for her bear.

her terrible, proud, beautiful bear.

he flung their child to the side -- reflected in that hellish orange of his eye was a burning enmity astara had never withstood before. her fur rippled on end, her skin feeling as if blanched in bracing cold.

she could not withstand the fireshow of merrick's singular burning eye. astara lunged, a terrific snarl sounding like a bullet-clap in that small rock-strewn cairn.

together, they had made something tangible and finite -- and he would unsow it all. could he not see past his piggish insecurity? could he not see that his only woman had borne him two lasting, eternal tributes to his spirit-clave?

astara's stomach sunk as she flew to him, fangs bared to drive him out. he had instilled in her the most volatile of pain by sowing her with his seed -- and now, he wished to undo it all a day too late.