Stone Circle she holds the hand that holds her down

When @Bjarna was awake again, Sanja gave her a good bathing. It satisfied an untouchable part of her to be motherly, and she did not question it. She tried to bring up more of the stag but by this time much of the meat Sanja had left in her belly had been digested; she found she had to eat much more than usual lately, but this too went without question.

With the child roused, she set about showing them around. Her main goal was to leave the aspenwood and head for the meadow, as she knew the carcass of the stag would be there. It was a risk, though. The man from before, who had hunted it and traded with her, might have returned for another bite - and that was not someone Sanja wanted to see again so soon.

When she came upon the stag body it was alive with flies. A raven had taken the stag's eyes. The belly was open, as something large had come in the night and eaten some of the choice meats... But there was enough left over. Sanja nosed at Bjarna's cheek and murmured a few familiar words -- hungry? eat? -- and then sniffed around the stag body, motioning to it.

bjarna, as she was now, was dawned in a new life that morning.

a good cleaning for the first time in weeks. some mud stains lingered, of course, but she seemed otherwise clean for it now. the leanness that riddled her body showed easier with the damp fur that clung to her.

she may have looked wolfish if not for her face.

now they traveled some more. which was a bearable task after sleep, feeding and cleaning.

bjarna had not cried since arriving.

and nor did she need to hear the now familiar words more than twice to plunge into the meal. teeth working away at the some of the meat that had been ripped away. softer parts favored more than others. her tail whipped behind her for this gluttonous moment.

she removed herself from the carcass, but found herself enraptured by a bone.

she began to tug onto a rib, grunting for the hard work of it all.

The stag had been healthy. The only thing to bring it down, besides dumb luck, was the dark-faced man. Sanja knew she was fortunate to have encountered him; without his help she would not have made it to Bjarna.

But think of the cost. Some part of her ached with the deeper knowledge of her sacrifice, which she now chose to ignore with a shake of her head.

The child tugged at a rib. Sanja watched them struggle and then moved in to help, waiting for a moment that Bjarna took a break so that she could insert herself. She grabbed the bone closer to where it joined the spine and violently thrashed one way, then the other, to loosen the connection.

Then she sank back on her haunches and motioned to it. Well? Try again. Sanja wasn't going to solve all the world's problems for her; but she did make it easier.

she was oblivious to the turmoil of mother bear.

the world of bjarna was new and glorious and so different than the shadow of the bear. here she had the light of mother bear and the blessing of the stag.

she flopped onto her rear.

then watched as mother bear moved to grasp at the rib, thrashing and tearing. but not yet did it break free. she was prompted to try again now and she did so with a renewed outlook on things.

her head whipped just as mother bear's had. oversized paws pressed against the other rips and with a final crack it broke free. and she met the earth with a sudden thump onto her back. but this did not bother her one bit.

she stared at mother bear with the rib in her mouth still.

Bjarna tried again, and came away with a roll. She fell to her back and lay there for a moment, during which time Sanja tried not to fret; she knew she had been resilient as a child, and expected as much from this girl. Bjarna was odd-looking and perhaps weak from her abandonment, but she had lived somehow. A fall would not break her.

It did break the rib, though. The child held it in their teeth, pinned by the curve. Sanja praised her with, mjög gott! And she made a show of bouncing closer, with her tail wagging.

The words might be lost, but the feeling prevailed. Even in this strange place Sanja could communicate the basic sentiments.

bjarna heard the words.

felt their meaning even more, really. the way mother bear bounced and the way the words had been spoken. she tried to mouth them back around the bone. dropped it briefly only so she could loudly declare mother bear's words back to her.

gott! gott!

bjarna had not known if she had felt this feeling before. the wave after wave of good feelings and warmth. such a thing had never been before now.

she scooped up the rib bone and presented it to mother bear now. her paws tapped beneath her in a feverish dance.

The girl was well fed now, and happy. She had a toy she had earned for herself. Sanja was glad; it felt good to do good, and better than that, to be in a place so far-away from the bad people of the world. The kill site of the stag was slowly shedding its negative feelings as Bjarna's presence replaced one bad memory with something else, something good.

Sanja laughed; it was more a dance than a sound, an exuberance that briefly dwelled within her core and had to be expressed. Soon enough she was tired, though. Her heavy belly strained her hips.

She took a few moments to catch her breath.

From the meadow, if someone were to look precisely enough, they could see one of the seer stones against a backdrop of distant trees. Sanja saw this now as she oriented herself; it would be a good place for the bone, she thought, but without a way to stay this she could do nothing - and besides, it was not her offering to give.

For now she settled beside the stag's body and took her time breathing, hoping she had not strained herself too much.

mother bear settled, so did baby bear.

bjarna mimicked every thing that was done. from the language to the actions. she was still so young, she was still learning core things that should have been taught to her by now. but none of it had been.

so she became a mini-me to mother bear.

with a new idea in her mind, she set the rib bone at mother bear's paws.

returned back to the carcass and began to work away at another rib. on and off in short bursts, only helped by the beast that had opened it up before them. soon enough another rib would be set free, but for now it was a tiring sort of task.

she mumbled some of mother bear's words while she worked. babbling to pass time.

The travel between one side of the territory and another had taken a lot out of Sanja, who had paced herself as best she could alongside Bjarna. Taking some of her stress out on the rib bone had helped ease some of her bad feelings, but served to sapp the rest of her reserves; so now, when Bjarna set about attacking the ribs a second time, Sanja could only watch.

She eventually found a way to lay down upon her side. It was a struggle to get there; it would be a struggle also to rise, but it was all worth the relief. Laying directly on her stomach was a pain that Sanja had learned to avoid days ago.

One day she would not be sick, she thought. Either this would continue to grow inside of her and kill her, or it would go away on its own - she had no knowledge of her own condition or how to treat herself.

At least the girl had been found, and was doing well. That would keep Sanja going for a while.

when her jaws ached, she pushed with paws.

soon there would be that crack against and she'd find herself too exhausted. plucking the bone and returning to mother bear — who seemed rather tired by now. which was well and good with bjarna who had exhausted herself by working away at the body of the stag.

without second thought she curled up alongside the swollen belly of mother bear. hummed the tune she had been given the night before as she gnawed on the newest rib to her collection.

bjarna knew love in a way parousia had never.