Bearclaw Valley they think of her as heartless, but she wasn't heartless

set for tomorrow morning <3

there was a melancholy in the valley that merrick did not truly understand. he knew lucas had gone away, and that was enough to sadden the youngest bearclaw child. and stigmata, mommy's friend, had never come back. fraught with the weight of things he did not understand, merrick prowled into the woodland shadows.
he picked his way along a footpath, craning his head to stare curiously at the birds he had only heard a thousand times. of course merrick was listening to see if they too were sad, if the veil of sorrow that had fallen like a hush over his home extended to creatures who had not known lucas.
a fieldmouse darted almost beneath one large paw; the boy lunged unthinkingly and gave a resounding snap. the metallic salt of warm blood drenched his bottom lip; the boy's eyes widened, sunlight glinting along his budding chestnut hackles as he froze and attempted to decipher what had happened.
a momentary shock followed by the full-throated crowing of a newly minted hunter.