Bearclaw Valley b

Their views were similar, it appeared, though not identical. Whilst she looked to stones for guidance, his family sought the words and ideology of their ancestors; they were connected to their ancestors as deeply as a mother to her child. When one died, they were honoured, and their soul assisted until a new place in the world was found for it. When children were born, they were bestowed with the names of those that had come and gone long before them, and oftentimes treated with the same degree of respect as their namesakes. “An embodiment of life lost…” he repeated, thoughtful. “It sounds as if those stones are special to your family.” The concept itself was special and worthy of appreciation, he noted.

Unsurprisingly, she responded to his telling of the past with questions and remarks of her own—along with the addition of insight into her mother’s life, though that bit brought the traces of a frown to his lips. “I don’t believe she understood,” he said. “Scarlett hadn’t had the greatest life growing up. Her family was not kind to her and she hadn’t been given the opportunity to develop any true, strong relationships with her siblings. They were cruel to her, all because of the way she looked.” Which, back then, he hadn’t fully understood. It’d taken time for him to realise just how awful her childhood had been and to respect her views as a result of it, but that respect came too late and his ignorance at the time was harsh.

“Some women can do what your mother was forced to,” the man continued. “But some cannot. Scarlett’s heart was bigger than any wolf I’ve met, even to this day. She was kind, she was trusting, but she was not equipped to lead a pack alone, and especially not during her pregnancy. She needed the support that I was supposed to provide but… I wasn’t there, and our numbers were few.” Under normal circumstances, with a large family and pack backing them, perhaps she would have been fine; this he wanted to believe, even with the knowledge that an army wouldn’t have made a difference. It was his presence that she’d wanted, and he had let her down.