Bearclaw Valley You, of course, should always chant when you wash your hands

Now came the Bruin-jaw, feeling at once the same as he always had, and entirely different, too. Under a warming morning sun, he experimented with a swagger that mimicked his sire's but didn't achieve the same comfortable command. He switched to a measured, intimidating prowl in an effort to match his dam, and felt unsatisfied with that, too. Both his parents conveyed their places in Ursus effortlessly.

Shadow-forged as he was, how was Aventus to match up to them? He slipped back into a familiar smooth lope and hugged the stream on his right side, moving jauntily into the lower forest. Nothing about him suggested that anything had changed except the way he held his ears pricked forward and the way his tail bounced above his hips.

her son's pawprints wound around the lip of a stream, prints perfectly imprinted in snow aglow with morning light. astara coursed after.

how did he feel, newly appointed as ursus' bruin-jaw? to what ends had his life changed, would the trajectory of his life change, with this new title?

astara wondered if he felt as she had felt, or if he shared merrick's innate hunger for power -- astara had never vied for leadership as a yearling, but now that she had worn the crown once, she was profoundly naked without it.

he would notice her presence soon, astara was sure. she had not missed how aventus had dutifully practiced his stealth. in many ways, he would surpass her -- one day.

 will delete if desired! Just smack me lol <3

 


The quiet woman had been making her usual rounds, exploring, getting familiar with the territory. 
Seeing the shadow-yearling and one she had only seen during the elk hunt, with hate-filled indigo eyes... 
Solaria watched them with curiosity from a respectful distance, then, she let out a muted chuff in greeting as she approached, stopping a few body lengths from Astara and Aventus with a deep, respectful bow of her head to the both of them, ears slanted back to recognize the royals before her. 
The fire-brand first, indirectly met Astara's gaze tentatively with a bow and a few slow wags of her tail, not trying to look her full on, as a show of respect, but still looking at her - trying to say hello in a way that she could without a voice. 


Then to the new Bruin-Jaw, she offered another bow, and a few small licks of her lips as extra submission, tilting her head to the side some in an effort to communicate:
Congratulations!
Her congrats was genuine, but she didn't fully expect Aventus to be able to read her meanings so quickly as Merrick had. 
Astara might be able to, given she was also mute, and this itself ended up comforting her doubts. The new beta was most likely used to reading voiceless meanings! 
Still, Solaria remained submissive in posture without cowering or rolling over.

Today, Astara remained his superior in sneaking. Aventus was not aware of her at all. He remained wrapped up in his thoughts, with the burbling water masking any sound she might have made. He would have remained oblivious to her, if not for a curious silvery glint that caught his eye in the water. He stopped where he was, peering at the winking light in the shallows, and craned his neck toward it...

Only to whirl around when Solaria chuffed, revealing Astara's proximity to him in the process. He blinked once at his dam—how did she come up on him so silently?—but then turned his attention to the newcomer. He knew she was a newcomer because the only time he had ever seen her was when the pack hunted the bull elk, but she did a good job of conveying it with her body language, too.

It felt weird to him to receive such a display, but it also satisfied some primal part of him that expected that level of respect by virtue of his birth. He gave his tail an easy wag and let his posture and rigid ears relax a little. Still, she was new, and he was eager to test out the bounds of his newfound authority.

So he came to stand over Solaria, jostling into her space with a clack of his jaws and a round-eyed stare despite the wag in his tail, as though to see how much lower she would go to appease her leaders.

always welcome! <3

another wolf came to their meeting by the stream. astara studied the pale dove, noting the thin line of russet that draped across her spine. merrick's opposite, in a way.

this one seemed speechless -- a rarity among their kind. astara's ears swiveled in interest as she watched solaria display a multitude of gestures; first, submission in the form of a bow -- followed by a wordless second bow and several passes of her tongue.

astara received solaria's display with hardly a change to her posture. perhaps wrongly, the blackbird felt such things were owed -- and in exchange, seemed to display no gratitude for solaria's attention.

instead her gaze trailed to aventus, who stood closer and made to stand over solaria --no doubt testing his boundaries and his newfound title.

Solaria knew her place well, without having to be reprimanded. This?
This was entirely new to her, in some vicious way. 
Still, as the youth came into her space and stood tall with clicking teeth, she easily melted into the ground with a submissive whine, rolling to show her stomach to him and wagging her tail slightly as it came between her thighs. 
The firebrand knew she had no respect here yet, so she put up with it. 

The silent dove felt determined to earn it, somehow. Someway. 

Some day. 

But until she earned it, she continued to whimper mutedly and keep her gaze averted from Aventus' own.

Aventus was pleased to find that Solaria knew her place in Ursus, and relented his display the moment she melted to the ground. He took several steps away from her, granting space once more, while the wave in his tail became more fluid. He peeked at his mother for approval, pretending that praise wasn't what he sought by looking away just as quickly.
The stream captured his attention once more with another flash of silver, causing a giddy playfulness to creep up his legs. Aventus was playing a dangerous game lately, convincing his sire he heard the bear as Merrick did, but underneath the act he was still childish. Buoyant. Not in the outward fashion other kids were, but deep inside, suppressed.
Maybe that was why he whirled around to face both of them, forming one point of a triangle created by their bodies, and dropped his chest to the ground, tail flung high and whipping back and forth.
Some time later, body heaving with laboured breaths from play, he parted from his mother and their curious new mute companion.