Silvertip Mountain Outside the night wind keens and wails

merrick wondered why the taggerung volunteered his stories so readily.
behind many things did he sense a trap. it was not so with these tellings. it felt as if the other man reached more deeply into a hidden hat of details, feeding merrick as he sat with slowly-filling belly and heart.
the bear chose fairly. unfairly for a wolf, but with as much integrity as a bear deserved. they ruled the world, after all; had they not whispered this to merrick? each place carved out by their paw, their claw, their jaw.
ursus existed as a monument to such power.
"carog had the greater strength. but wolves are cunning. it is through this deceit that we are less than bears."
merrick was inscrutable, thought he looked toward the taggerung to see how the sayer might react — and to hear the next part of this tale.