Bearclaw Valley raspberry cigars

@Chacal <3

stillrift was a slice in the surface of the earth. merrick carefully trod the slick edges, leading æsilfír down into the entrails of the world.
the sides were high, but not so tall as to swallow them from view. snow fell gently down, though less of it reached the floor of the rift. prey-bones, old and chewed, littered the ground. it was an ugly place, and yet merrick loved stillrift, loved how his voice was magnified here, twenty feet below the eye of the gathering storm.
"my mate saved me. it was with her unwavering support that i was able to come back to this place and take it for myself. i was born here," he told the new skeptic, settling to his haunches. "aventus was born here. and now if ursus has earned it, he and arielle will bring a third generation into existence here."
"but my — my mate. she was the power behind ursus. she united us. we killed and we fought others endlessly for this place." the shadow of stone fell across his face again. "i would not be who i am today had it not been for her neverending devotion to our creed and to the bear."
merrick paused to give æsilfír a humorless smile. how was that for an introduction to their cult?