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

Indra was afraid to move or do anything. This had to be another test - from the sounds of the lady's voice, the final test that would determine her own validity when facing the bear; yet there was a boy here trying to stop her. What could she do?

He told her to run. Owl-eyed, stealing glances through the dark to where Arielle lurked, Indra wished she could see a way through to her, and let out a nervous whine - and then lunged haphazardly through the dark towards the cave mouth.

It felt like she had gone back in time. A dark, sinuous body blocking her path - and then another one further back, eyes bright despite the darkness, voice crooning.

Indra remembered the voice that had reached out to her in pieces; the scars on her neck and shoulders throbbed as if awakened to the memory fragments. Merrick had said the bear had saved her - and as Indra stared upon the scene unfolding before her eyes, it was stiched together by these remembered pieces.

He's lying, don't listen, just keep going.

Indra heard this as if Arielle had called it out to her - but it wasn't her. She knew that voice didn't fit here. It came from over her shoulder, further along the corridor of the cave, and Indra snapped her attention back to it, horrified.

You better hope i die or i'll make her pay for this.

There was another body - old and gray - which merged in the dark with the boy. Together with Val, within Indra's overwhelmed mind, it gave the boy more bulk. Indra felt vulnerable; she watched his shadow thicken up, coagulate, and knew in her heart that it was the bear come again to save her.

This - this was the test! The bear was here with her. It said to run; she had to run! Indra sprang to life, bolting from the mouth of the cave where the wolves had gathered and finding her way through the dark; she had been left here a long time, she knew this space better than anyone else by now, and she knew there was a way out, emptying to another part of the rift; then she only needed to go up, and away, forever.