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

any budding defiance val planned was vanquished immediately by the way aventus came for him; his gait slinky and eyes chilling.

the eyes of a killer.

merrick had been a killer. his mate a killer. his children killers. val felt this salient point held against his throat like a sharpened fang. aventus too, was a killer.

he cowered beneath the leader’s pinning stare, wounded worse by the way aventus addressed him. coward. go back to your family; insinuating then and there that ursus was not his family and never had been.

Val’s stomach twisted in grief. it broke his heart to go against aventus’ command, but val knew who he was — and he was no pup killer.

he wanted to say something poignant, like point out how it took courage to stand for one’s conviction amidst a sea of contrary views — but it would be time wasted, and frankly, he lacked the presence of mind to form any sort of articulate counterpoint. aventus had already discarded him, his voice thundering down through tumbleview like the ominous snarl of a storm.

first, it was bernadette who thought him a fool. that had hurt, but who was she to know? val had buried that scathing thought, and it hurt a little less. now it was someone val cared for deeply calling him a coward. those words ripped open a disparate wound in the boy who had never felt his pieces truly fit. arielle’s gaze, laced with a confection of contempt, served to cut him down further.

the hour of val’s reckoning drew near. was he a killer? or was he a coward?

he looked to those around him and felt his legs shake. fuck that. val knew who he was, and now it was time for the rest of the world to know too.

he tore after aventus, sending a howl into the air for indra to run, and run very fast. no! he begged, each step growing more desperate. i won’t let you! aves, this isn’t right!