Bearclaw Valley what rhymes with nantucket?

@Nunataq

The air felt chilly, but not quite uncomfortable. Piper padded through the valley with a solid pacing, trying not to allow herself to slow or fall behind the limit she had set for herself. The speed she adopted was causing her limbs to tingle, but she felt as though she needed it. If she wasn’t careful, she was likely to slip back into the darkness that depression offered her. The thought that Lucas still hadn’t returned was enough to make her ill; still, she tried to find him.

No matter what she attempted to occupy her mind with, there was something that continued to pick at her. She kept returning to what Indra had said. It wasn’t like him to just leave, but instead of giving her hope, it cast a dark cloud over her mind. Those words were correct; Lucas wasn’t the type to just disappear to leave his family behind. Which meant that someone had lured him away.

Piper stopped and pulled her head upward to feel the chill of the wind against her face. She forced a steady breath to fall from her lungs. She did not know how she would weather this storm.

It got colder with every passing day and Nunataq was forced to stop her nightly outings in the Wapun meadow and seek warmth in the den together with Indra and other siblings. She spent her days either around Bearclaw valley or in the immediate vicinity of the territories, most of the time on her own. These days adults did not pay much attention to her and she used her time as she pleased.

Today she had found a dead bird on the borders and found the smell so delightful that, instead of gobbling it down on the spot, she rolled in it. And this she was doing now, savouring every moment, when Piper came into her up side-down view, and she greeted her with a happy bark.

The bark reached her before she caught sight of the dark-masked sister. If it hadn't been for the familiarity of her voice, Piper would have bristled at the sound of it. Instead, she jumped slightly and focused her attention on her sister with a lackluster smile. Nuna had been doing well to keep track of the comings and goings within the pack. She was quiet and determined in her ways; traits that Piper wished she had possessed earlier in her own life. It was nice to see that they had quite the mixing pot when it came too the group of children.

Switching her direction, the Redleaf girl turned toward her sibling and began padding in that direction. Once she had closed much of the space that was between them, Piper offered a more appropriate smile and flagged her tail. “Hey sis,” she greeted in a soft tone. Knowing that her sibling had not adopted the ability to talk, the firecracker tried to make conversation simple, or ask questions that only require a yes or no answer.

“You haven't seen Lucas out there, have you?” she asked.

The rest of the world seemed to find it a peculiar that one wolf in a sea of verbal-creatures was different from the rest. And it did not occur to anyone that the said wolf did not feel worse for it and was rather confused, when people kept insisting on trying that bubbling nonesense on her. Either in a form of long sentences that made no sense to her and bored her, or shorter ones with the same results.

Therefore she did not reply to Piper's question and even if she had been able to, the answer - why bother now, he has been gone for such a long time now - would not have been the one they wanted to hear. She grinned at her, while still lying upside-down, then rolled to her belly, sprang to her feet and shook her coat. With this little ritual done, she approached her sister, eager to sniff out, where had she been and what had she been doing without Nunataq.

It was peculiar that Nuna didn't talk; at least, it was to Piper. The young Redleaf girl valued the sharp snap of her tongue more than most things. It didn't make sense to her that her sister would choose to be silent. To her misunderstanding, it was a choice. In fact, it was one that was frustrating the fiery girl to the point of breaking.

The stress had gotten to be too much for her. Searching for Lucas had drained her of her spirits and made her lash out when she didn't intend to. It was not what she intended when her sister approached her with a curious sniff. She bristled, and her eyes snapped toward the dark-faced girl with a fury that burned from within.

“Why can't you just answer like a normal person?” she demanded, immediately regretting her decision.

While Nuna was pretty flexible with good manners, when she communicated with other people, she did not tolerate the same liberty from others, when it involved her. Therefore Piper's stance, tone and vibe was translated as being very rude and challenging.

And no one treated the brown cub this way, when her intentions had been only friendly and good-natured, and did not get an appropriate response. Nuna's  body stiffened, she retreated a little, looked her sister sternly in the eyes and bared her teeth at her in warning. Watch it!

Piper was upset. It should have been evident by then. Her eyes had welled with tears and her ears had flattened to her skull in a matter that suggested she was about to blow her lid. Nothing that Nunataq could have done would have prevented the meltdown that was taking place. The young Redleaf had not intended to hurt her sister's feelings, but she did not know how she was supposed to go on with how she felt.

“Just stop it! Stop! I can't do this right now,” Piper barked, turning her face away from the bared fangs that had been shown to her. This wasn't an attempt to make herself the top dog. She already felt as though she was; she felt aged beyond her six months of life. It was pride that had forced her to conceal her face from Nuna.

She did not want her sister to see her cry.

Oh, come on... not you too... Nunataq sighed, when her attempt to reprimand was met with Piper almost going into a fit (or so it seemed). All of the adults had been consumed by this dark cloud of sadness, tension and anger ever since Lucas had disappeared. Nuna had gone through her own period of obsession and mourning, but she had recovered quickly and expected her family members to do the same. But with exception of Merrick and that strange dark male wolf, who kept stalking her, they just could not let go and move on.

She did not hate Lucas for disappearing - she had put him on the shelf next to all of the other people that had come and gone in Nuna's life. But she truly resented that demon, who possessed everyone else, who therefore made her life in Bearclaw valley miserable, who made her go out and seek attention, friendship, love and mentoring far beyond her home. Who had spoiled every, single thing that had been good and great in Nunataq's life.

And for a moment she did not see Piper, who was about to cry, in front of her. She saw an embodiment of that dark, rotten and wretched thing. She was not going to have this any longer. Time stilled around her, her gaze became dark and focused, and with a low menacing growl she attacked Piper, intent to drive the demon in the ground and exorcise it once and for all.

The young Redleaf girl was no stranger to the demon that her sister saw. It seemed as though that dark spirit had found a home in the firebound's rib cage. It had nestled in there without her permission or her knowledge, and it had stolen away the parts of her that had once enjoyed the pleasant companionship of her siblings. Instead, she had found herself driven and fueled by whatever it was that had taken control.

Piper didn't know that Nunataq had aimed an attack at her. She had been foolish and turned her attention away from the dark-faced girl. It was not until she felt the blunt force of her sister's body against her own that she realized she was being thrown to the ground... and she did tumble. The firebound felt the wind leave her lungs as soon as she landed.

She felt the force of her sibling against her frame and she began to thrash herself. There was little thought in what she was doing; she needed to be set free. The young Redleaf did her best to roll and aimed with her hind paws to drive her nails into Nuna's undersides. Her teeth snapped and reached for whatever she could get a hold of. Anger fueled her, and her surprise had created a dangerous blender of a young woman.

Nuna had managed to take the demon by surprise. It fell to the ground after the first hit and she wasted no time to reach for it's scruff and keep it down there, until she figured out, what to do next. But no such time was given to her, because that damned thing began to respond to the aggression that had been aimed towards it, thrashing, kicking and snapping. She managed to avoid most of the hits, though one did jab her sharply in the stomach. However, what ticked her really off, was a painful bite that tore the skin open and drew blood.

She roared, retreated a little and then went for the beast's face. No inhibitions this time, the bite was serious and intended to maim, tear and cause as much pain as possible.

One kicking limb had found a mark, but it didn't seem to slow the attack. A snap of her teeth had found flesh and she tugged away, feeling the tear that it made. Something in her regretted that and she paused in her wild attempt to flee. This was a horrible mistake to make.

Nunataq seemed to back up for a moment just before she pushed herself forward and found purchase against the young Redleaf's muzzle. Piper snarled, feeling the sharp fangs of her sister sink into the tender flesh on the bridge of her nose. She yanked her face away, forcing the attack to cause more damage. Her eyes welled with painful tears and she tucked an arm beneath her for support before she flung her body upward and aimed to knock her attacker off of her.

Nunataq felt her teeth tear the skin, graze against the bone and the salty taste of blood in her mouth. Instead of calming her down and taking a step back to realize, what she was doing, it had an opposite effect. The fire racing in her veins already, flared up and the urge to get rid of this damned creature got even more ferocious. She realized that her strength was equal with Piper's at this point, therefore after the russet girl managed to shake her attacker off, Nunataq rearranged herself and now stood in front of her sister with a lowered head, bared teeth and tail lifted in a display of dominance. Every muscle in her body was ready to spring and attack again. One menacing, deep growl followed the other. The message was clear - get lost or else!