Wapun Meadow the needy eat man-mades, they wear phony clothes

hoping for @Averna <3

the scent was faded, but she knew it. astara paused from rifling in the soil, her nostrils glistening as she parsed the scent of loam from cold and snow -- wolf.

averna.

the nightshade slung her head low to the ground, tracking with a buzzing sense of anxiety. if it was true -- if it was her -- where had she been?

She had stayed here for some time, even though the voices called her east. Her meeting with Powergirl had grounded her somewhat and it had made their whispers wane for her to be more present in this land. She would go east -- but not yet.

Just as her paws came into motion, the priest saw the dark visage in the distance. The spirits were all around her, swirling, screaming. Large pale ears perked forward and she looked upon the wolf that she had grown up beside.

Thief.

The word was hoarse and it rolled off her tongue fondly, tone nothing like the word itself would imply. The priest stood and looked at her counterpart, feeling oddly complete.

astara followed the scent like a bloodhound, hungry -- thirsty -- desperate. it was her. it was averna. sister. blackfeather. the other half of her disfigured and lonely soul.

the blackbird's strides drew longer, an excitement rising in her blood as at last, scent was cojoined with sight. there before her, as ethereal as a shimmering ghost, was the blood astara had believed she had lost long ago.

thief. astara's expression broke into a guilty, happy grin. she sprung upon averna with a fury of wagging tails and kisses, brushing her head affectionately along the ghost's cheeks, ruff, flank. where have you been?

For just a moment night and day approached and looked upon each other. Thief's steps quickened to betray some of her enthusiasm and it was not until the priest's single word -- Thief -- that her counterpart's steps quickened. The haze of whispers lifted as though a veil from before her eyes had been lifted. This -- this was what they had been leading her towards, this was her destination and now they allowed her to slip back into the mortal world for a bit longer, for her paws to be grounded again as a serenade of kisses was thrown upon her face and nips were everywhere.

The gestures were returned in kind, albeit a bit less brusque and rough as her dark counterpart's; hers were more nimble and in some way ethereal, ginger touches that sometimes missed a stark sign that she lived only partially in this mortal world and in this mortal husk of hers.

The priest wondered where her sibling had been but it did not matter much right now. Her tail whirred and her lips showed a rare smile. So this where spirits lead, said the priest in her broken language, for her tongue was not as practised as that of most of the wolves that lived on the outside more. She looked upon her counterpart and wondered what had taken her away from the forest and towards these lands. Was it the spirits, too?

the spirits that had guided averna as if she were their charge, had done very little guiding for astara. the voices the nightshade had done everything within her power to observe were elusive -- the door to their whisperings infuriatingly shut. astara had tried  -- more than once -- to commune with her departed mother, her wandering sister -- and each time, the attuned instruments she had used simply stared back in silence.

astara stepped back, her tail low and expression suddenly serious. had it been the voices, or had it simply been fate? astara had tried only last week to gain insight into the spirit world via a powerful token (her mother's hipbone) and had saw nothing. had averna sensed it?

averna had been gone a long time. would she like astara now? would she like the life astara had made for herself, would she like the things her sister had done, and most importantly, would she accept merrick?

The excitement died out, and the priest did not miss that it was on point with her words. Her counterpart took distance and looked upon her with a serious expression. The priest could not quite grasp what was going on in the dark wolf's mind or heart; they had been apart so long, and besides, the priest had always been much more apt at speaking the language of the spirits than that of the mortal wolves around her. She did not affiliate with them as much as with the unseen.

The priest glanced eastward, towards the walled valley up ahead that her dark counterpart had come from. The priest looked inquisitively upon her counterpart, silently asking the questions, but not pushing her sibling for answers should she not wish to share in any way.

She, in turn, had no worries about being accepted; she did as she was. The advantage of not having as much affinity or affiliation with the mortal was that she did not care for such mortal worries.

a silence crept between the two of them. old and familiar, and somehow, alienating and new.

astara found she could not read averna as well as she used to; and averna likely found the same.

for a long moment she searched the luminary depths of averna's gaze. she found nothing of great meaning, no forbidding emotion lurking in those silver depths.

and so, she pulled her gaze away and looked back to bearclaw, where averna had looked only moments before. she dipped her head once in her homeland's direction and then turned towards the valley, pausing only once to look behind her and see if averna was following.

she had much to show the spirit.

There was something foreign and yet relatable lingering between the pair of them. It was strange to see her after what felt like a lifetime apart. Yet it was also good to see her, and it was very clear to the priest that this, this was what the spirits had held in store for her all this time. They had lead her here so that she may be reunited with her counterpart, for whatever purpose they intended. That would show itself later, the priest imagined, and even if it did not then it would not matter.

Dark eyes met bright eyes and they stared at each other for a moment.

Then the dark Thief turned towards the walled valley up ahead and the spirit followed her dark counterpart's lead to see where she may lead them.

in that customary quiet, astara lead averna to the singular entrance of the claw.

each step closer, she felt an affirming feeling settle around her. this -- this was meant to be -- and finally, her sister and her life was clicking into place.

at the stony entrance a singular rock rose, the lone bastion signifying bearclaw's sole entrance. astara paused here. she had always fancied that rock important, powerful in some way -- and glanced to averna to see if she noted the granite column before she threw back her head in howl for @Merrick.

What it meant was unclear. The priest had not forgotten the girl who had asked her by her side, but though it was tempting it did not feel like now was the time for that. Now was the time to do her own thing and to figure out where the spirits wanted her to go. This, that much was clear, but did it mean that what she wanted and what she needed here was a new home? Did it matter where she officially belonged? Not to the spirit girl, not really, but she knew that it mattered to the mortal wolves. And was there any other option than to join the place where her dark counterpart roamed?

Pale eyes stared at the tall rock by the entrance to the valley. There was something spiritual about it, and she lingered attention upon it for a moment, at least until the wolf that she summoned to arrive.

merrick arrived late as ebony seeing this tag SMH and with the remains of a skinned rabbit hanging from his jaws. it had died long after he had caught it; the boy relished the anguish that had sweetened the meat and bit through a legbone as he approached the pair.
his blackbird stood close at hand; nearby, a ghostly-pale creature who smelled strangely of his rook and reminded him somewhat of the woman as well. perhaps it was thei mutual silence, eyes trained upon him.
he went to his lover first, growling a greeting and pressing the last of his kill to her chest.

astara's gaze roved approvingly over her sister as she noted the primal energy surrounding the rock. it was important, as she suspected -- good.

soon, her bear came with a kill clutched to his breast. astara's tail waved easily as merrick met her, brushing the ragged kill along her chest. she stepped back to flank her sister, gaze serious and yet, full of a rekindled energy.

now, things were falling at last into place.

He appeared at last -- a dark beast with some ruddy notes to him to distinguish him from her dark counterpart. Most notable was that one of his eyes was missing, though it did not go beyond a simple observation for the priest. The way he carried himself was with a pride, and it was well deserved considering he had managed to kill not long ago. Her pale eyes observed him upon his approach, watched how he walked and how he carried and how he clutched the prized kill between his teeth.

Just as the other watched her, so did she watch him. As he greeted her dark counterpart affectionately the priest watched the two and their interactions. Her disposition was neither affectionate nor hostile, instead maintaining a neutral expression. It was hard to gauge what he was, truly, and perhaps that was why she was so studious. The spirits told her nothing of him, shying away as if he was in a world that they could never truly reach. They must have lead her to her dark counterpart's side, but what was he in all of this?

She was not so sure it mattered, truly.

Hello, she said, her voice hoarse and raspy, unsure if he spoke the language that so many in this world did. She spoke a degree of it, had studied under Maegi and others. She did not yet know his name, but time would soon tell it to her, or at least one iteration of it, she was sure of that.

he was intrigued by the pale one, titillated by astara's nearness. "hello," merrick answered, hearing the tell-tale creak of an unused voice. 
colorless as his rook held the secrets of the night, to her very eyes.
opposite children who did not use their voice, who did not have a voice.
merrick blinked, grinned, his tail cutting through the air in a silent welcome as this pale ghost scrutinized him as much as he might another.

now came the most important meeting of souls in astara's life --

she watched both as a hawk, or a shark underwater: would they find kinship in another? would they find enmity?

astara's posture remained in a lull -- eyes roving from one soul-tie to the other, waiting breathless for the verdict.

A greeting was offered, from a voice much less unused than her counterpart's or her own. A confirmation that he was different from Thief in ways. The pale priest understood that this wolf was important to her dark counterpart. The tail wave in greeting did not go unnoticed. Her own disposition remained intrigued though on the neutral side, tail remaining still. Do you follow spirits? she asked him with her rough unused voice, curious if he shared in her dark counterpart's fascination for them, or if Thief had since her departure from the Woods decided to leave them behind her. This man held more answers to that than any other.

"i follow the bear spirit of this valley," merrick answered. she was a person of great importance to his raven, it seemed, else the look in the fierce woman's eyes would be different. he wanted to ask if she did also, but it was more than apparent she would not have asked if this was not her path as well.
"they guided me here," he expanded happily. "and i think they led us to one another," merrick added, glancing to his lover.

you can skip me going forward if you want <3

astara read both her companion's faces, her tail swaying gently back and forth over her hocks in anticipation. this moment was the culmination of all important aspects of her life: her family, and the wolf she had made her family in their departure.

she would not eavesdrop or pry. leaving the two to their conversation astara climbed the rock marking bearclaw's borders and glanced west, surveying the fog as it rolled off of wapun in silvery wreaths.

He mentioned a bear spirit. She was not so aware of the spirits outside of the dark woods, where they came in many forms, but to her, often just energy. She wondered if this one looked like a spirit, or if to her it would also just be energy, swirling around, colouring everything around them in colours pretty or dark and grey. Only time would tell, when she would get to meet this bear spirit; or not, if all she continued to see were colours and, most of all, shades of darkness and light.

Her dark counterpart departed for a moment, climbing the rock, and it felt a bit as if a part of her was torn away all over again. But the priest had always been very much a loner. Even when her counterpart had first taken the bones of their mother she had fought to keep them in the dark woods, even though she herself did not necessarily intend to stay there herself. It was how she had been named Thief, but these days it was not a disgraceful nomer any longer, if ever it had been. They had always been close, the night and the day cub, but they had also always been their own wolves in many ways, and it remained that way to this day, time had proven. Where the night cub had found herself a pack and her Bear, the day cub had found very little. She had stayed for some time with a different assortment of wolves, and some of them had been able to ground her in some ways, their company pleasurable enough, but most of them had only driven her further into herself and into the realm of spirits rather than mortality.

The priest, too, glanced at the night cub upon her rock, feeling a tug, as Bear said that they had been lead to one another through the spirits. They guide us in many ways, she spoke. She thought of the caretaker for a brief moment, though she was not sure why. Perhaps because she was one of those spirits that guided them. Was it she who reunited the night and day cubs? She was unsure.

merrick watched this pale one closely. he could not assume truly what was in her head, but clearly they were not the details for him to know. he allowed as much space as he could despite his enthrallment. different by far from what he bore the corvid, merrick recognized traces of the same fascination he had once borne his sister.
her name he refused to even think.
only indra remained.
"are you one of them?" he asked on a whim. maybe despite her flesh and blood she was not altogether here. merrick longed to exist outside mortality, but because he could not, had made of his physical world a grave.
"do you see the bear here," he wondered aloud, "in my chest?"

Wolves asked questions because they could not live with not knowing everything. Ironic, considering one could never know everything. The priest was different in many ways. She held a lot of curiosity, but hers was not a curiosity for understanding. Hers was not to find all of the answers to everything in the world. Much of her fleeting mortal life and much of her soul felt as though it was about the complete opposite; it was about finding all the questions. All of the questions these mortals had, all of the mysteries they pursued. It was interesting. Their souls and psyches were interesting.

His question was among the more interesting she had had. Many others had seen her a spirit or ghost, and she had often said 'yes' to their inquiries, played along. But not often did they pose this question after already assuming her a mortal, after already assuming her a wolf. Not often did their questions come later.

It was a complex question, not one that bore a simple yes or no. Sometimes it seems that way, she said. It was probably the most straightforward answer she had given anyone in a long time.

His next question was very straightforward too, though the answer not so much. When she looked she saw many things, but most of what she saw was not very picturesque. The answer to that question is more -- For a moment she mulled over the word, for the words of the mortal world were not her forte, -- Difficult than should be. She did not sound content about the word difficult, but she could not grasp the word for complex at that time. They tangle, often. The colours, the shapes, the shades, the worlds, everything. It was too hard to put those sort of questions into words, no matter how simple their answers might seem to those who existed in the mortal world.

they tangled. he could agree with that, for often the lines between this world and the next got muddied for him, too. he would not have trusted the ghost if she had claimed to see it. merrick did not even see the bear, only felt the pressure of the energy within his heart, his gut. but it had led him from a dead bear to a place of their living, and he was connected to the valley through his own blood.
he let out his breath.
they knew one another, and had for some time. merrick did not know what told him that, though perhaps it was the distant icecapped coldness he interpreted in both of them. "do you have a name?" his raven did not, but the boy had many of his own, most of them only the nameless wild sweep in his breast when she was near.
"come with us."

Her words seemed to make some sort of sense to him. She nodded when he asked if she had a name, though she did not offer it. Instead, she offered: We both have names, but we do not use them as the wolves do. It sounded perhaps as if she and Thief were not a part of the wolves there, but that was not entirely true. It was just how it left her mouth. She was not sure how else to explain. Thief, of course, did not speak at all, but the priest herself who spoke had never introduced herself by her own name to anyone. She did not intend to start it now.

So instead of offering a name -- Spirit, Ghost, as she might have when she was younger -- she simply smiled mysteriously and somewhat playfully and then as nodded when he had said, Come with us. For now this would be where she stayed -- and time would tell if it was where she was intended to stay.

last for me! <3

merrick's tail waved. surprisingly to himself, he had no inkling to ask after the names beyond the initial point. he knew his raven as his heart had titled her. he would know this spirit in a similar way. a cackle; he cast the blackbird a passionate look and sauntered onward.
more blood for the bear. more powerful a  heartsong to be bound to their forest and old stones.
lead lead lead them all to the heart of ursus, the sanctuary the devil and his bride had built.

me too <3

The fact that he did not ask confirmed something for her. Maybe that she was ready to belong, for just a bit longer, again. She was not sure she would stick around for very long, for though both the spirits and her mortal soul seemed to connect her back to Thief throughout the course of their lives her whispy nature often kept her floating everywhere and nowhere, not stuck to one place; but for now, it was good.

She followed, content for now.