"@Vesta."
merrick said her name far from the ears of the captive, his voice low but pride hot in his step.
"we have neighbors, somewhere near."
the palpable ugly glee in his remaining eye suggested that merrick was one of the reasons a homeowner might buy a ring doorbell.
The red-nape woman stopped mid-step as Merrick approached, ears perked as he mentioned they had neighbors somewhere near.
Tilting her head to the side, Vesta looked to the southwest and back to her Bruinking, gaze inquisitive.
What would you like me to do?
merrick chose not to speak of the mission he intended to hand aventus. instead, he turned his eyes to the glacier bordering their world.
"there is a grave in that snow and ice."
"no ground is hallowed without ursus."
He said nothing of a mission, which made Vesta's brow furrow a second before Merrick spoke further.
The red-nape woman tilted her head the other way, as if simply waiting for her bear king to say more.
"the bear bones, inside the cave. take three of them, and lie them in the snow. i will allow you to choose the pattern."
"whoever buried their dead there did not account for ursus."
"but they will now."
He wanted her to, in a way, bury their dead god?
An interesting want, she supposed. But one she wouldn't wave away, in her earnest to be baptized in blood like their bearberries would be.
She nodded once, turning her gait for the cavern of crystal and pausing mid-stride once to see if Merrick would join her.
Are you coming too?
he had meant only to send vesta and stay where he was bound, but he ached to leave.
and yet he could not leave his raven unguarded in her state.
"i will help you to carry a second bone as far as the glacier," merrick said softly, before collecting a piece of ursine scapula and looking toward the red-nape.
Vesta too, then, grabbed a bone. A thick rib or something, but still.
And with Merrick, then, she would walk with gaze for the glacier of which he spoke.
Her tail swayed softly behind her.
his plume answered, and together they began to traipse toward the glacier. merrick, who had long kept consort with his silent blackbird queen, had no need for words. he was comfortable to walk with vesta, to dart his single eye toward one interesting detail or another.
how glorious their world here was.
The rib of the long-gone personification of their God felt light in her jaws, and Vesta made silent note of this.
Perhaps she just had strong jaws, but truthfully, she expected such a large creature's bones to be heavier.
In silence, still. By choice and not, Vesta allowed her gaze to travel as well as she and Merrick made for their hallowed ground to bury the bones. If he asked, she'd definitely try to move the entire skeleton.
Loyalty - such was her way.
last for me! gonna make them an updated one <3
and loyalty was what merrick meant to reward.
happy to move in silence, the man and the red-nape traveled, bringing scourge to the gravesite in the name of their god.