Bearclaw Valley never bet the devil your head

<3

the bear brought you back.
merrick stood in the doorway of the medicine den.
first aventus had lain here, and now avicus.
their names beat in his blood; he knew the atoms in their marrow and knew his breath belonged to them also.
something backward of the peverse violence of his bond with indra —
his daughter's red fur blurred before his single eye; which he closed with a breath.
in the next wave of wind through the snow, the narrow shoulders of the bearking were disappearing with his thoughtful step.