"asperas is gone."
in merrick's favorite room beneath the cold earth, two new items graced the shelves.
evien's skull sat silent as ever upon its plinth. but merrick was speaking to the headpiece of his blackbird queen.
the madman had separated it from her spine. and now she was with him. her eye-sockets glowed with the fervency of her living days. 
merrick's glum mouth began to warm and to curve.
"she is like your sister."
merrick had never known the world of the melonii. astara had been suffused with the blood of ursus upon her black wings; she had transcended her own lineage.
his shining eyes prickled sharply, painfully with tears.
"i blamed her. and apophis. for taking you. i am not sorry for it. our oldest son — well. he learned first how i can be." far beyond mercurial.
there were still remnants of fading black fur clinging to her cheekbones. her teeth had not yet yellowed. merrick felt he could still see blood upon their tips. he himself had never washed her blood from his own withers.
"she is gone her own way. forsaken ursus. and the bear. she called me a betrayer."
he swallowed. the gesture hurt his throat.
"i have named @Aventus my heir. our heir. he ah, well. i think — do you remember @Arielle?"
"he thinks she should be bruin-leaf."
he glanced slyly at his wife. they exchanged one of their knowing and fond looks. 
"oh. i brought this too." he lifted the darkened pelvis she had always carried, and set it alongside her profile. 
"i want it for — our red girl. if she ever comes back."
merrick's voice cracked. he caught himself into silence for an unmeasurable amount of time.
he turned his head toward evien and was surprised to see that it looked to his dilated eye as if green had begun to pour out of that silent skull's mouth. this miasma was visible only to merrick. he stared at it for a moment and then his cyclops'-gaze stirred with knowing. 
"you think we need a bruin-leaf." the verdant smoke billowed in one eye-socket. merrick nodded. "i had already said yes. but —" he looked at astara now "— it's good to have the votes of confidence."
merrick straightened.
"we will avenge you. i will build you a new tomb upon their bleeding bodies."
the bear-witch breathed.
"i love you."