The sound of claws cutting in to the dense clay, echoing up and along the cleft of stillrift, might have been unnerving for how closely it resembled the sound of nails on a chalkboard.
It was as if something was digging a grave.
When Indra came away from the darkness and sat back, covered in mud and dirt and with at least one claw upon her forefeet chipped and bleeding, she looked upon what she had done and smiled.
In the dirt was etched a fake altar. There was a large divot in the center and smaller ones fanning from the corners, arranged in the way she had seen Arielle's altar from before. It was messily cut in to the dirt and didn't look all that impressive - or identifiable, really - but she was pleased with it.
Within one of the smaller divots she'd placed some dried flowers she had found (more like the withered caps of some weeds), while in another was a smooth stone she had unearthed during the work: white on one side, dark on the other.
Mama, thought Indra as she looked upon the flower.
Brother, with her red-rimmed eyes upon the stone.
it was time to test the children once more.
his blood. their blood. our blood.
this time merrick did not call to indra; he descended into the rift where she was kept and allowed his single eye to adjust to the dim light.
she sat scarlet and straightbacked before a crude iteration of a surface, swept with specific items.
the man did not speak. he sat in the darkness behind indra, looming close with a calmer simmering to him, one of curiosity and reverence for the odd spread before the captive girl.
She thought herself a clever thing.
To anyone that came upon her this was only a stone in the dirt, or some useless dry flower from a useless weed; who would care that they were equidistant, or of some significance to the girl? They were not mind-readers. It was her secret.
Indra did not know she had a visitor. She should have expected eyes upon her always but, being alone for long stretches, she had forgotten. Her eyes were locked upon the largest divot in the center which held no gift at all; she had not yet found anything to place there.
Satisfied, and with the determination of the innocent, she turned -- only to startle upon noticing the eye in the dark. Her body tensed inward, and as swift as Indra's eyes found Merrick's they looked down and away, having lost any fire.
ah; snuffed out. merrick's implacable scar-ridden face did not shift beneath its ruined surface. but the serpent shifted black coils behind the dilated pupil.
"what were you doing?" the bruin-witch murmured, voice as conversational as the rest of him did not match. he moved closer to indra, inspecting the unknown details.
what did she scheme down here in the dark?
He had noticed something. She couldn't tell what; but something about what she'd built here was worth the question.
Jus' playing,
she answered. Swallowing some of the panic that his presence brought her - which she didn't understand, given how well he treated her. It was like some part of Indra knew who he was, even if her mind fought against that knowledge.
The... the flower, is for the lady, the one who visits.
It wasn't entirely the truth but each symbol could be for multiple people, or anything, or nothing.
The stone is for the man. He... brings me things.
Indra's face grows warm and she doesn't know why. She blames it on how nervous she feels.
"why did you pick that for the woman and this for the man?" merrick did not shift. he did not touch the objects. and he did not look toward indra.
he wanted to hear her reasoning. he expected that she spoke of arielle and aventus. but he would not yet confirm their names.
the gloom went on. the silence loomed.
The girl dry swallows and looks between the objects, thinking as quickly as she can. Her head hurts, her belly wants to rumble but doesn't have the energy; they keep her alive here in stillrift but she has become lean.
The lady... is pretty,
which is true, if a bit simple-minded, and she likes... dead things, and these are dead.
The flowers were partially withered when they had been picked, with the dirt beneath them drinking away the rest of their life over time.
The stone is dark on one side, like the man is dark.
she motions at the stone which is bisected around the middle by another shade of gray as she's described, but it isn't perfect, there's quartz marbling in one corner.
The gray is like the rabbits he brings me.
The corners of Indra's mouth twist in a bashful little smile she cannot help but express. She tries to swallow this down too, hide this, as she looks to the dirt again.
he knew this truly to be the ones he had figured before;
indra elaborated and now merrick did look at her. she was caked with the bone-dust of this place, but the girl did not seem so tormented. "each wolf in ursus has their own place. each of us sheds blood and welcomes the dead."
he did not miss the smile and took it to mean she was becoming settled. "your brother does not want a place here. do you?"
The warmth she'd felt budding in her chest was immediately gone, as he mentioned her brother. The thought that Abel was here somewhere had not even entered her mind;
But you knew he was here, you saw him. You heard him crying.
She blinked and watched Merrick with wide eyes, unsure of how to feel. Elation, knowing her brother lived, paired with some sour note that was at war with the rest of her.
I can talk to him.
Indra blurts; it isn't a request, and she knows it is not her place to make demands. She can only take what they give her here, and sucks in a breath of surprise for herself.
Her lip trembles. I—If that's.. okay, I mean.
merrick hummed. "i'm afraid that if you're not yet committed to the bear, he will not be either."
but his blink was soft. inviting. "what would you say to him, indra?" the bearwolf glanced back to her soft objects, her markers for his son and daughter-in-law.
they were blood, after all.
and it was high time that indra learned her family.
He didn't say no.
But she didn't know the right words either.
I...
another lump in her throat.
I could tell him about the bear; to not be afraid, because... the bear saved me. And it protects you -- us. It is a friend.
She would say anything if it meant seeing Abel again.
It didn't cross Indra's mind that he might be sent out of the valley to die, and so her attempts to appease were more light-hearted, childish notions.
"i like that." merrick's voice was a caress. "but you speak for ursus when you say such things. they must be felt. they must be meant. or else it is a lie."
his voice hardened.
"do you know what will happen if you lie?"
his remaining eye waited upon her face.
I like that.
If the man was happy with her, things would be better. He'd taken care of her for weeks now; Abel too, and it couldn't be for nothing. They had to find their way back to one another. Indra could do that. She had to make this work -- there was nowhere else to go.
I won't lie,
she answered, resolute. I won't. Lying is bad.
A little frown creased her brow. As strong as Indra's voice became as she said this, her haunches quaked.
"lying is bad."
merrick's lips spread into a torn smile.
"tell you what, indra. you talk to the bear for the next week or so. i'll work on abel. and then —" he shrugged. "i'll let you decide what happens."
the man was straightening, turning away. hope was only available at the whim of the bear.
Indra didn't know how to talk to the bear, but she would try. Her eyes lit up with hope and then she was nodding, at first with gusto, but then slow - then not at all, because the action wrattled her dehydrated brain.
The man turned to leave. The girl watched him go, then when she was alone, she returned to observing her own little altar and gave a sigh of relief; she was glad that he didn't ask too many questions, and thought the truth was somehow hidden from view.