Bearclaw Valley a seminar about whether or not deer feel pain or are just sad

merrick was dead. a column within val cracked, toppled by the bearking’s mortality. within val little eddies of conflict played.

he had been terrified by merrick. that fear was very real — it was the physical chain that tethered him to ursus. still, he had loved merrick and looked upon him unquestionably. merrick had been the first thing close to a father figure in val’s life, and while the madman could not have been described as paternal towards val, he had instilled a sense of fearful worship in the boy.

but he was dead; his cruelty forever banished to the dirt which now held him. val felt relief, sorrow, horror, and anger all at once. relief that the unraveling madman was now put to rest. sorrow that merrick’s soul, however twisted, died in torment and pain. horror to see that merrick’s cruel edicts lived on in his son, who val had always looked to as a friend: he saw friend no longer in aventus’ steeled gaze. anger; anger that merrick had been taken from them, that the world was so full of malice, that those that followed the bear would never find peace.

in val budded an awakening. he started as aventus’ command registered. kill them. val looked incredulous — first to aventus, then to arielle. why wasn’t she saying anything? his gaze widened as he realized each of his peers accepted this ruling unilaterally. not even stryx raised her voice against the unspeakable.

and then ash, the wolf he least expected to support such a command — she was already running. val hoped, in his darkly upending heart, that she was not streaking towards abel now to lend his blood to the snow.

what?! they’re kids. val said disbelievingly, knowing that if he spoke up now he would forever be in contempt of the bear.

he was unworthy of ursus and he had known this all along. the bear had spared him, not because he was one of them but because he was beneath them — the bear did not trouble itself with the maggots beneath their feet. they’re your blood too! if you kill them, you are just continuing the cycle! val pleaded, voice twisted by the betrayal he felt knifing his pounding heart.