Bearclaw Valley There is nothing more lonely than an action taken quietly on your own

Hope you have time for a thread, and hope it's cool I assumed Aventus found Merrick in this post! If either isn't okay, let me know!

In the aftermath of Evien's bloody demise, and Merrick's confusing reaction, Aventus brooded. He tried to tamp down the pain in his chest when he thought of the chocolate-furred healer by absorbing himself in other tasks: pacing around the boulder or running after a crow or scraping the valley's bottom for easier prey. Anything to keep thinking about the healer. Evien had been kind. Evien had told him he wasn't in trouble, even when he should have been.

It was done, and it hurt, and he didn't understand.

Eventually he searched for the dragon, collecting his thoughts and silently rehearsing what he must say. Merrick had wanted this, so he didn't need to feel nervous, but he did anyway. It was that familiar bone-deep feeling that his sire would burn the world, him included, at any misstep. And utilizing the bear instead of his teeth was certainly that.

Father, he bid when he found the man and ghosted forward, looking reverently upon the red-brushed back of his sire's neck and lowering his head accordingly.

yes & yes this is great <3

merrick meant to keep evien around.
regardless of whether or not the physician had left them  — merrick had grown even more untethered in the wake of the scarlet death, and had questioned strongly the reality of the corpse — the bearwitch knew the man deserved remembrance. and so he soaked the fur from the decaying head, felt the bloodblack grit beneath his teeth as he helped this along in swatches.
he could not bear the sight of evien's beautiful empty green eyes, and yet they faded the slowest, leaving merrick tortured.
the tread of aventus did not move him.
the bruin-dog stared down down down into the motionless unblinking stare of the physician, which had only begun to dissolve.
"well," merrick whispered, to evien, not to his son. "your body is stored in this valley. you can come back. whenever you want."
a muscle jumping beneath his eye.

Any other wolf would have been unsettled by the sight of their father speaking to a disembodied head, but Aventus merely stood by and waited. Still he did not understand the task that had been set before him. Ursus would be weaker without its physician. Or perhaps it would be stronger; perhaps the bears would bless the valley and no sickness or injury would come, rendering Evien's services moot.

Aventus could not pretend to know these things. He lowered his head and shoulders so far into a bow that his chin brushed the snow. Father, he repeated, giving his tail a nervous flick. I have done as you asked, but... It was not my teeth.

Belatedly, he realized he had not stolen one of Evien's teeth. I commanded the bear, he said softly, fervently.

merrick did not take his stare from the empty sockets of evien's head as aventus began to speak. his son was reverent. brief.
the bruin-witch still did not stir.
the serpent uncoiled behind his eyes with a hiss.
"ursus does not control the bear," the man at last uttered in a monotone. sweat prickled beneath hi fur despite the cold, for a lashing anger was choking him.
"this place was built for the bears, with their blessing," merrick snarled, rounding on his tall, beautiful, cold-forged boy. for a long moment he stood staring at the heir to this all, unless avicus wanted it; heir to the secrets of bearclaw and the spirit that beat forever in his sire's breast.
pink tongue slid across the ridges of his teeth. "what have you done?" icebound. toneless.
testing.
what if it was true?

Ursus may not, but Aventus assuredly had.

Merrick's snarl was a clap in his ears that made him duck his head lower. He had only ever done as his parents wished of him; what cause for anger? He nervously wet his lips and fidgeted his paws, laying back his ears submissively and loosing a quiet whine.

I have done only as you commanded, he breathed, I prayed to the bear, and the bear killed Evien, as you wished. He chanced a glance upward, and would boil with rage and jealousy if he knew his sire's thoughts on him and his sister.

I am ready to take my place, he announced, lowering his gaze. Wasn't that what this was all about? Do as we do, they had said, with Evien's name in their mouths, and he had done as they did to prove that he was worthy to stand beside them, or so he thought.

kill him, the serpent urged. he seeks to corrupt ursus.
but aventus had never been anything less than dedicated. he had shed blood. he had followed in the steps of the bear. and now he had killed through the ursine soul.
but why evien?
why had the bear spoken through his son and not merrick?
had he lost his way?
it was the secrecy of the thing mingled with the sensation that his starlight time was coming to an end — he could not deny that the bears has chosen aventus. it was only because he did not understand for what purpose that he was resistant.
merrick released the tension of his body. it was not for him to question. he had not wished for the physician's death, and yet it had been demanded all the same. taken, all the same.
he looked upon the face of aventus for a long moment, then ducked his muzzle close. "what about your sister?" the bear-king whispered into the dark ear, for he must know the truth of that, regardless of what the bears had chosen.

Aventus felt his gut twist with sour fear for the length of time that Merrick's singular eye was trained on him. Fleetingly, he thought he might have misunderstood his parents' desire that Evien be put down so Aventus might take his place through blood. His sire's anguish was real. That made things confusing. If he wanted Evien to die then why did Merrick mourn so greatly?

He remained unflinchingly submissive as Merrick drew close, but his sire might catch the stench of reverent fear from his withers as he pressed his tail against his hindquarters and snatched his ears down. Aves expected teeth in his neck, but the Bruin-witch offered a whispered question instead.

Avicus left Ursus, said Aventus lowly. The bear punished her for leaving and deemed her unworthy. And if that was not enough of a reason why Aventus deserved to rise over her, he added, she wished for my death.

aventus' fear pleased the ripple of coils behind the cyclop's-stare. they ceased, and he cooled, magma beneath a gentle breeze of obeisance. how could he be uprooted when he was worshipped? when terror had turned to reverence in his children?
"long before you came to be, a woman gave a toe to the bears here. tore it from her foot with her own teeth. her blood and health mattered not in her devotion."
his eye was unblinking.
"your sister left to correct a debt against your mother. that is what i believe. she followed after the white wolf."
merrick trusted that aventus would know of whom he spoke.
"do not think ill of your sister. she was given a task different from your own, and she will correct her debt to you. for our family and for ursus, both of you are necessary."
"that is what you have not learned about the bear spirit. it shows one thing to you and something else to another." he lifted his chin. "you have earned your place with us. you have been granted its attention." pleasure filled the remaining eye. "i will name you our bruin-jaw. it is yours for the taking."

He listened, but did not like what Merrick had to say. Aventus did not believe that Avicus had left on a mission from the bear, for if she had, she would not have returned wounded by a bear. But he held his tongue. If she sought to take his place in addition to his life, then he would simply have to put her in hers.

It wasn't that he hated his sister, just that, as the more intelligent and superior wolf and a true loyalist, he was better than her.

Thank you, father, he said, brushing the snow with his nose. I serve Ursus.

"i know you will do well." a small part of merrick wondered if he would unleash a specific type of hell upon earth by handing power to aventus so young, but he dismissed it. the bear had wanted it, and now the bruin-witch had granted it.
there would be a rift between brother and sister after this, he suspected, and decided that if there was another brood, he would rear them far differently. he had been an only child. he had been raised incorrectly. 
now aventus and avicus burned bright near the throne of ursus, and aventus had ascended closer. but merrick meant for them both to have such birthright.
"hunt with me," he urged in a low voice. "we sing your praises this day."
he tilted back his crown, telling ursus in @Astara, @Avicus, @Averna, @Ashlar, @Solaria, and @Karst that the bear had made his son prince finally inside the valley of claws.

He felt the flush of pride across his face and down his neck when Merrick acknowledged him, and fought to keep an unbidden smile from twisting his lips. It was too soon after Evien's death for smirking and celebrating, he felt, but as his sire commanded, he would obey.

A hunt, he could handle. It wasn't his forte, had always been his sister's domain, but that wasn't to say he was hopeless at it. He could hunt as well as any within the valley, perhaps better than some, but worse than Avicus. Nevertheless, no son of Merrick and Astara would ever go hungry from lack of skill in killing, and he streaked along after his father when they began to move. He lifted his voice to join Merrick's, a lower and quieter sound intent on bolstering the Bruin-witch rather than drowning him out.

The crazed idea of hunting an Easthollow straggler crossed his mind, so strongly that he nearly turned toward the meadow where they might be found, but the faltering was brief. Plenty of prey to be had in the valley, and plenty of time for hunting Easthollow curs later.