Swiftcurrent Creek but anything is preferable to the pain

they went far today, fielding the snow that melted the brighter the snow became. merrick searched for the frozen ribbon of water in the distance, but presently turned toward @Aventus. bruin-jaw in ursus. the pride that swelled his heart was almost as if he had become new-made in leadership himself.
"what has the bear said to you?" the bearking inquired at length, turning single eye to seek out over the horizon.

Nothing, Aventus grimly thought, keeping his eyes fastened in the distance.
One day, he might have to come clean about things. He had prayed to the bear spirit and the bear spirit had answered, directed its child to do his bidding; that was all. Whatever mysterious voice Merrick could hear whispering to him was silent for Aventus. Before the bear and Evien, he was not sure he believed in it at all.
Now he certainly did, but how to tell the dragon of Ursus that he could not hear? Better to lie than to fess up and be stripped of his newfound authority, especially when it benefited him so.
Ursus will prosper, he said, keeping intentionally vague about precisely how. Our enemies are few, and weak.
That much was true, he thought. The Saints were no concern, having not shown their faces in some time. Easthollow was scattered. Aventus did not know the status of the other pack, the one living in a valley not unlike Bearclaw, and decided he would soon find out. They could be taken care of now that their closest ally was gone, if they remained at all.

merrick was freed of any linger suspicion when aventus spoke; it was a bleak pleasure that crept to his lips and made them into a baleful twist as he stared out over the creek, at last. 
"how best should we seek blood when our enemies have fallen?" merrick's single-eyed was half-lidded; he did not turn toward the bruin-jaw, wanting to keep the weight of his expectation from coloring an answer. 
raven-mother, corvid-wife; merrick had no such expectations for her; she surpassed him in all regards and he worshipped happily as her second-most;
aventus had become third, but merrick saw in avicus the toppling.
he was quiet, granting aventus the place to speak.

Aventus considered the question placed before him, keeping his eyes trained ahead while he chewed on it in silence. Admittedly, he had never been as nosy about his parents' business as his sister. Perhaps that made him a weaker candidate for standing alongside them, though he was egotistical enough to think it did not matter. Still, he wasn't completely ignorant.

Easthollow was gone, but they were not the only enemy.

Legion, said Aventus, what of them? There was comparatively little known about them next to Easthollow, but he knew they were no allies. Others to harass, possibly. Which brought to mind another group, one whose name he pronounced with a sneer: The Saints?

They seem to have disappeared, but gnats only hid in the winter. Hid, and survived. When might they crawl up from the ground again to present their throats to Ursus?

the saints. 
merrick watched as aventus lit with some inward darkness. it piqued the unfatherly character in him that might see such bleak energy as a challenge to his own. but he did not believe it was so. the respect with which he was treated by his nightfall son pleased the coywolf. aventus was a fitting bruin-jaw, but his hungers and wants must be honed.
"the saints." he breathed out, looking upon the snow. "your sister went after that white wolf," merrick commented in the next, though a flick of his tattered ear toward his son meant to gauge the reaction of the boy.
"how would you deal with donovan?"

She failed, chirped Aventus' mind, which he shut away behind sealed lips. He was beginning to suspect that Merrick did not see Avicus for her faults and disloyalty the way that Aventus did, and if he wasn't doing a particularly great job at figuring out what he wanted in his life, he was learning how to read his parents.

No point mentioning any of that to his sire. It would be overlooked, or he would be chastised again for seeing his sister's pointless pursuit of Nyra as abandonment.

Donovan. Aventus did not like that man. Never had, and likely never would. There was something rotting in the way he spoke, below the veneer of honey. Even if not for Nyra showing up on their borders after disrespecting his mother, Aventus would not have liked the Saints. He couldn't claim he was sorry for the dissolution of that ill-fated alliance.

But how to deal with him? That, he didn't know. Donovan was as slippery as an eel, and probably twice as vile as one. The boy had no idea, but he nevertheless suggested, lure him. Get him into the valley and he would die. Assuming he came alone, which would never happen. That was the part he didn't really know how to deal with.

the mind of something with sharp wings and sharper teeth. merrick saw now the amalgamation of himself and astara in the simmer of aggression that aventus had retained. had he known the boy's thoughts about his sister, he might have sought this to be a teaching moment — but — 
"we are small now, bruin-jaw," he reminded. "i do not doubt that we could kill him. only that he must be alone."
a low flare of his nostrils. "the time for children to be born has come. he travels with his leadership. he will not leave his lands unattended, but he will leave them." the beginnings of a further plan starting to kindle beneath his fur.
his redgirl and rogueboy; hm, hmm. what to do there; and for all his power, merrick could not see into the near future.

The boy bobbed his head. He felt that Ursus was small, but mighty, and more than capable of felling the great Donovan. But perhaps Merrick was right: they could only hope to do so if they caught the man alone, and Donovan was not the sort of wolf who traveled alone.

A boastful man with an arrogant air, but always surrounded by his pack; a coward at heart, thought Aventus, who valued solitude in a way. He knew his father wandered alone and invited trouble often, and loudly. A better wolf than Donovan could ever hope to be, Merrick.

He added nothing, only tilted his head at his sire in a silent question. If Donovan would leave, but not alone, then what hope had Ursus of dealing with him? Merrick was far more clever than his son. If anyone had the answers, it was he.

donovan. did aventus know what had gone on between them? he hoped not, though the darkness of this bemused him. "he will come if i invite him," merrick said placidly, unlike the glow of felfire in his remaining orb.
a blink. "there might be children in ursus this year. your brothers and your sisters," merrick said pointedly. he would not have such sprung upon his unnaturally made son, fearfully, powerfully; he meant to impose upon his eldest now the importance of their bruin-blessed lineage. "if i make bait of myself for kynareth, if i am incorrect, it falls to you to keep ursus alive."
the true weight of the bear's jaw.

Aventus turned his head to observe the glint in his sire's eye when he spoke again of Donovan, but he had no inkling of the former goings-on between the striped leader of the Saints and the red-ruffed leader of Ursus. Better for Merrick, truly, for Aventus would not have kept that knowledge from his loyal dam.

A sinister and jealous serpent coiled in his belly at the mention of siblings. Would they, like Avicus, seek to kill him one day? Would they come out weak and pathetic, like the two boys Astara tried to burden them with? Would they be as prey to him? He couldn't say he liked the idea of them, but their mention kindled the beginnings of a plan in his mind, a plan to place him firmly ahead in their eyes, so they would not show him disdain like his fiery sister.

Ursus will live, but you will not fail, he said at last, strongly, firmly. He was young and inexperienced and had taken the rank by duplicitous means, but Aventus was confident enough in himself to believe he could take Merrick's place if needbe. Only if needbe. There was still a fervent flame in his breast for the dragon of Ursus, such that he could not imagine attempting to take it if not necessary.

aventus doused whatever stirrings of doubt had threatened his father's mind. merrick straightened with a look of pleasure. "i do not plan to fail. not for many years." unbeknownst, he considered adjacently, inside his mind, how these new children might be made to better respect their elder sibling.
"you have learned to listen to ursus," the bearwitch commented glibly.
"spar with me."
there was a moment only for a grin and glow of lantern-teeth before he was unexpectedly rushing the boy, hoping to pin upon him the importance of a second's fluidity.

He bobbed his head silently, considering what his sire had said. It wasn't true. Aventus didn't know the slightest thing about the needs of Ursus, though in the coming days, he would begin to understand more. He would surely begin to formulate the idea that he was better for Ursus than he currently gave himself credit for, and simultaneously worse for it, for he had not earned his seat.

Not in the way that would garner respect, though for those who had not witnessed Evien's fall, it should make no difference.

Merrick's strike was unexpected and came out of nowhere, a brief demand that scarcely had time to flit across Aventus' mind before his sire was moving. A split second to admire the wiry twist of the coywolf's body before it collided with his own, throwing him off balance in an instant. Aventus lacked the fluidity his father expected. His pursuit was the shadows; this was his sister's realm.

He was bowled over with an alarmed yip. A foolish rookie mistake. In half a second's time, he switched gears, snapping his jaws toward Merrick's face in an effort to ward the Bruin-witch off long enough for him to regain his paws.

teeth, slicing through the air a hairsbreadth from merrick's remaining eyelid. he laughed loudly, riotously, and allowed aventus to rise, backing and backing, circling to the left and to the right, steps a churn of sneaking movements until he arced in another violent snap toward his son.
this time, this time he hoped that aventus would be ready, for in the second he meant not to show mercy as he had the first, and this showed in the hotburn of his last eye.

Aventus scrambled to his feet in the space left by Merrick and was given only a split second to steady himself while Merrick paced before the dragon drove forth again.

Aventus didn't hesitate this time, throwing his head lower and cutting toward the side of his sire's face. This time he went for Merrick's blind side, utilizing his understanding of weaknesses. He would catch Merrick's teeth in the process, but he hoped to exchange blow for blow, throwing his thin shoulder forward to try to force a buffer in the process. He was not the sort of fighter to dart in and out unless he was fighting as part of a pair or trio.

One on one, Aventus was inclined to greet violence with violence, never backing down.

teeth caught indeed, but aventus was swift, and his own fangs connected sharply with the roundness of his sire's shoulder. a flash of redfire pain then, the scrape of tooth upon flesh.
it enlivened him, the reminder that he was mortal.
this, merrick's true strength: to embrace all the physical that had ever befallen him in service to the bears.
aventus' shoulder struck his own but merrick stood firm, swinging sidelong and meaning to strike the other with his sharp hip.
all of one's body employed in the pursuit of victory.

There was no time to even wince against the bite of Merrick's fangs in his flesh, nor to savour the victory of seizing his sire's in his own jaws. The Bruin-witch was quick to adjust, swinging his body around in a manner that made Aventus' jaws ache for trying to hold on. By the time his sire's hip connected with his flank, Aventus was forced to release his hold, but not for long.

The boy was quick to aim for the side of Merrick's nape instead, driving himself forward with the aim of grabbing his father and shoving him over.

aventus twisted with a grace that merrick envied. long months of tedium in ursus had compromised him, the bearking felt. this incensed him as much as his son's teeth seizing for his hackles. merrick sidestepped as jaws knifed pain through his flesh.
he followed momentum; merrick surged forward against the tight pull of the bruin-jaw's grip, propelling upward with corded hindlegs, meaning to aim crown up as he twisted. foreleg lifted, the other steeling into a bar against the earth.
merrick, a comma of whiplash kicking and a low guttural threat pouring from lungs.

Merrick was far more clever than his son, whose lack of experience shone through now. His father was a wicked blade whetted by the darkness that took root in his heart where feeling withered, urging him to wield his pain as a weapon unto others. Aventus had nothing similar to draw upon and spent far too much time sneaking about, and far too little honing his body. A chipped ax, clumsily fashioned by an apprentice whose wandering eye did not yet appreciate the beauty of the forge.

Merrick's pirouette was as unexpected as the previous swing, causing Aventus to growl out his frustration when he was wrenched for the second time into a compromising and painful position. This time, the boy set his hind paws wide and attempted to wrench backward on the flesh he held, a little too forcefully for a regular spar, betraying his temper as he sought to force Merrick back under his control.

here it was, the anger of his son. merrick felt the pull in his flesh, the puncture of the bruin--jaw's teeth. he laughed loudly, mockingly, a father allowing his spawn to at last topple him.
merrick struck the earth and lay there fondly, his single eye searching for aventus.
"when you are angry, you will misstep with beasts far larger than us both," he instructed, tongue lolling.
along his skin, a welling bite.
the coywolf was pleased, flanks lifting and falling as he sought his son's stare.

If Aventus ever had to reflect upon his sire, he would never call the patriarch of Ursus paternal. His childhood was rife with reverent fear of the man and even now, he was puzzled rather than compelled by the relative ease with which the Bruin-witch fell to the side. He drew back, nostrils flaring as he wrestled for calm, and curled his tail deferentially against one hind leg.

The grit of his teeth was audible, and he pulled back a forepaw, dragging chipped nails through the loam. Merrick was right. A larger beast would seize Aventus when his temper became his folly, and he could only think of Nyra then. That was exactly how that had happened.

Show me how to defeat them, he requested, silver eyes touching Merrick's golden one earnestly for half a second before he averted them to the side again. Respect, always, for his sire.

the beauty of his son's eyes was savage, haunted; merrick felt so strongly the rush of pride and of trepidation, in that aventus would replace him.
father's heart and killer's blood did not wish it to happen;
but the bear spirit knew it must, knew that merrick must pass into another iteration of himself as aventus entered this one.
"again," and he stood to his feet.
he would spend hours honing the bruin-jaw, until all of him cramped and grew filled with soreness. learn how to use one's greater weight against them, learn how to fall, learn when to fall, when to roll aside, to use all of their lithe smaller stature.
to embrace even the greatest agony.
it was their way. the way of ursus.