Silvertip Mountain aspersion

sorry for tagging u both five million times, this one is actually to respond GOSH <33

merrick had gone to ground following the scouting mission of his oldest son — and the formal expulsion of his youngest daughter from the annals of ursus.
he had measured. he had weighed. and he had not been available for the bruin-jaw's report.
after a long communion, merrick emerged. snow had begun to fall when he finished bringing the three heirlooms to the surface world.
they sat upon a wide strip of bark at his paws. 
evien's skull. the old pelvic bone. and the newly exhumed skull of astara.
whatever his son might reveal, merrick felt that the bear had started to step onward.
he tilted back his head and called for @Arielle and @Aventus to attend him outside the cave-mouth.

It had been a while since she had seen or heard from Merrick, but she had resisted the urge to seek him out. Something had told her that he needed to be alone, and so she had given him space.

When the call came, she had been among the willow trees, taking cover from the sudden snow fall. She had been near the basin, and the forest was closer than her medicine den. But she would not ignore a summons from Merrick. 

She arrived to find him sitting among remains. One skull she recognized as belonging to Evien, but she didn't think she had ever seen the pelvic bone before. Her eyes then found the other familiar skull. Her stomach lurched, but she was careful to keep her expression even. Astara's empty sockets stared back at her, and she suddenly worried how this would affect the prince. He rarely brought up his mother, which told the healer there was still a lot of unbearable pain there. She felt helpless to stop whatever was about to happen, though. She was stuck between her loyalty and respect for Merrick and her deep need to protect Aves. 

She took a seat and finally lifted her gaze to the bear king. Dipping her head respectfully as she waited for Aves to arrive.

Aventus looked up from the cache he was digging, ears twisting to meet Merrick's howl. His breath rose from his nostrils in a sigh, curling away on a plume of steam. He glanced once at the pair of pikas he meant to bury there. The probability of some hungry coyote or raptor swooping in to snacth them while he was away was high, but it was a chance he would have to take. With the news he had to deliver, it was best not to risk Merrick's ire by taking his sweet time getting there.

With a huff, the Bruin-jaw left the cache, scraping his hind paws every ten steps or so to remind himself of the way back. When he arrived, Arielle was already there and seated. He hastened in beside her, but found he could not sit down once his eyes found the bones.

Evien's skull and the old yellow pelvic bone were familiar sights. Those would not have bothered him. What did was the second skull, still fresh and white. Aventus stared into the empty eyes and felt his jaw clench. He could swear he could still see the indigo there, swirling like a lone, wild flame in those sunken pits. He swallowed once and willed himself to look at Merrick instead. Was it desecration to do this to his mother, or was it worship?

He knew he needed to tell his father about Nyra and Moonglow, but for the time being, he could not form any words at all.

merrick did not miss the way that arielle sat gracefully before him.
nor did he find aventus' expression unremarkable. he saw the faint bob of his son's throat.
the raven queen bloomed beside him in a miasma of dark shadow. once more, she was a vision only for the bruin-witch. merrick drew such strength from her presence; it suffused him as he glanced between the pair.
"our bruin-jaw believes you have earned the rank of bruin-leaf, arielle." his single eye was not warm, but for a moment the man did not seem so limned in hardness. "i agree with him. you may choose your own title, but you have become part of ursus' very core. this should be reflected."
he looked down at the bones. he felt the corvid woman's beautiful eyes warm upon his profile. "we are finished here. it is time to depart." but he had not yet chosen a destination. 
it would come in the words he knew best to hear. "we will each carry one of our relics. they are part of ursus."

Arielle watched the prince closely when he arrived. She saw the tension in his face when his gaze found his mother's skull. She saw knot of emotion move down his throat. 

Merrick's voice pulled her attention from Aves, only to have her gaze slamming back on him when the bear king told her that he thought she deserved a spot equal to them. She was touched. She had never had even the slightest suspicion of his thoughts on the matter. To know the prince thought that highly of her made her heart feel like it might explode. 

To add to that, Merrick agreed. She turned to the bear king, as he continued to speak. She was so surprised by it all, and nothing she thought to say felt like enough. She could feel the bear more than she ever had before; it filled her with peace and reverence. 

She was honored but the word wasn't right. Arielle stood. Bruin-heart, she finally said, clear and confident. That she knew beyond any doubt. The title had immediately sprung up in her mind, as if the thought weren't her own. 

Merrick wanted to them to leave the mountain, and she knew Aves had expressed a similar idea to her recently. But the bear king didn't say where they were going. He instructed them each to carry one of the relics, as he had called them. The healer's eyes moved over each piece of remains.

Her choice was obvious to her, and she suspected Merrick would carry Astara with them. Silently she moved towards the skull of the former healer. She swore she could feel a rhythmic hum move out from the skull, across the ground, and up her legs. The feeling remained until she grasped the skull between her teeth. She looked first to Merrick and then to Aves. She had chosen and she was ready.

Aventus suspected they would present the title to Arielle here and now, but could not have guessed Merrick would call him out specifically for suggesting it. He could feel Arielle's eyes on him when Merrick proclaimed it. Heat crept up the back of his neck and climbed to the tips of his ears. He kept his gaze trained on Merrick, who might sense rather than see the flush of embarrassment in his son. There was nothing to be embarrassed about. Arielle had earned this and deserved to be recognized! Yet he was all the same.

The title she proposed was fitting, he thought. Arielle was very much the heart of Ursus, and as dear to Aventus as Evien had been to Merrick and Astara. The two Bearclaws were the cold stone of Ursus, though Merrick infinitely moreso than Aventus, and Arielle was the fire in the hearth to welcome them home. He spared a fleeting thought for how Val might fit among them if he proved strong enough to remain.

He thought to ask where Merrick meant to take them, but glanced sidelong at Arielle and decided to hold his tongue. There was a good chance Merrick himself didn't know where they were going. If Aventus had the opportunity to steer them toward the valley, he would take it. He watched Arielle as she selected Evien's skull, thinking it was also fitting that the new Bruin-heart should bring the former Bruin-leaf home. Aventus knew without a shadow of a doubt that he could not handle carrying his mother's head, so he scooped up the pelvic bone in his jaws, trying to keep his tongue from touching the wizened old surface.

To whom had it belonged? He might never know the truth of that.

beside him, the obsidian feathers whispered. merrick felt her warm and unseen against his shoulder. his peripherals were scorched by the intensity of her indigo gaze. if the corvid chose now to show herself, he would understand. the moment was powerful, made moreso by his quick notation of how arielle looked at aventus.
bruin-heart, she said, voice strong and resolute against the chagrin of her counterpart.
merrick's ragged mouth quirked with a quick smile. "bruin-heart."
the two chose their talismans and he nodded with approval at each choice. merrick did not know to whom the pelvis belonged, only that it had been sacred to the ursus figurehead.
he ached for her now, even as her ghost wrapped its sable warmth around him.
you will lead us,
merrick stood to his paws. he lifted the skull of astara.
shortly he would lead them and val from the mountain. their steps would turn sharply east, but it would not be until the sunspire's end loomed that merrick would realize where the corvid queen meant to take ursus.