Bearclaw Valley beloved physician

did he know? did he fight, before he died?

Avicus stares at the skull, gaze fixed on the cavernous holes where his eyes once were. she has seen bones before, of course, but it's surreal to examine those of a wolf she knew. 

does the bear haunt him in the afterlife, as the bear haunts her every dream?

each night, she sees the hulking shadow, rising from the corner of its mountain den. smells the foulness of its breath and feels the claws against her flesh. 

but its eyes are what remain with her the most. small, beady, devoid of emotion.

were those eyes the last thing Evien saw?

she wonders, as she observes the skull (she dares not touch it for fear of Merrick's wrath), why the bear had chosen to spare her, but take the healer. 

Evien had remained within its domain longer. he knew the religion that her father and brother clung to. he had given all of himself in service to Ursus, and now was buried beneath the earth here.

but he is dead, and Avicus lives, and she wonders if she has simply been lucky—or if it is strength, fate, (or both), that has granted her this second chance.