Bearclaw Valley We started livin’ in an old house

"well," merrick mused before he lapsed into silence. if what bishop said was true, then he himself was in danger, so close. a blink of single eye closed the coywolf's features for a moment; he sighed and tilted his head to one side, ragged ears angled softly toward his companion. 
the twitch of the auds upon his friend's head at last drove the canny bearking back; bishop was damned, and merrick did not know how to help him. but neither would he pull away, nor run away; he only padded at a distance from the heavy jaws. "go into the mountains," he urged, indicating the smudge of grey upon the horizon. "learn to be alone until you know what it is to be whole again."
the words, somehow, torturous to say.