Ravensblood Forest [m; read-only] i swore i had a heart

Posting with permission! :)

In her downwind hiding place, Bazi recoiled with surprise and disgust.

It should have deterred her, but curiosity drew her to the sound of the battle. She crouched in a thicket (mercifully dotted with delicate white flowers that went some way to disguising her fur) and waited to see the results of the scuffle, hind legs coiled like springs beneath her small body just in case.

After that, everything happened very fast. The bear emerged victorious, raging through the undergrowth and into the depths of the forest. The silence left by its departure was filled by a high, piteous mewl that broke the Creek wolf's heart - but before she could do anything about it, she spotted a familiar figure. The warden of Horizon Ridge was well within view - but Bazi remained where she was, curious to see what Björn would do. For the longest time, she heard nothing but the orphaned child's quivering cries.

When it happened, she didn't know what else she had expected - for Björn to raise the cub as his own? She knew it would have to die - at the back of her mind, she knew that. But it wasn't the babe's execution that frightened her, it was the context. Suddenly, the male looked into the empty gloom of the forest, and murmured: "Father. Accept this sacrifice to ensure my success and victory in what you have asked of me. It is yours, Odinn, to grow big and strong in the hall of Valhalla."

Bazi stared. Sacrifice. The mere mention of the word brought on a wave of nausea. There was nothing that Shar-Kali abhorred more than ritual sacrifice, and she had gone to great pains to ensure her children grew up with a pathological fear of it. Bazi's reaction was near biological. He had sacrificed a baby - a defenseless, new life! Suddenly, it didn't matter to the Creek wolf that the baby had been a cougar; the same species that had wreaked havoc on her own pack. It didn't matter that the cub had been orphaned, and would have died anyway. That was natural, and sacrifice was decidedly not. She held her breath, waiting for Björn to move on. By the time he did, Bazi's eyes were hot with tears and anger.