Bearclaw Valley devotion

A smaller shadow followed in Averna's wake.

Aventus thought he was becoming a pretty accomplished little sneak. Maybe the grown-ups noticed him and pretended not to, or maybe they didn't. Either way, his confidence in his ability to go unseen grew and grew, and he skulked along after the adults with increasing frequency.

His aunt wasn't unfamiliar to him, even if Aventus had spent no appreciable time in her company. The words he usually reserved for family, therefore, found no place on his tongue for her. No greeting as he peered from a shadow at the altar she approached. No sound as he suddenly scurried forward and grabbed at the inticing length of avian intestine splayed on the rock, body half twisted away as if to preemptively avoid an imminent strike from Averna.