Bearclaw Valley and to do such a thing for such a being?

toad had never been far from ursus, but now he had gone. the details had come in hushed whispers; merrick had watched the boy depart with something like melancholy roiling in his heart.
he dragged himself to visit the little pebble children, who were toddling now. this somehow only bored merrick , and he departed almost as soon as he had come.
chaotic running along the edge of the borders; he cut inward to the well-kept medicine den, and threw himself worriedly upon the grass, wondering where @Evien had found himself.

He had not expected the leader to be in his den when he returned to it that afternoon, but there Merrick was, splayed out on the floor like it was the end of the world. Evien set the celandine he was holding on the ground and approached the coywolf, a smirk growing on his maw as he made to flop down onto the other boy's back. A demand for attention, and perhaps even an attempt to cheer him up.

the scent of some flowers, and then evien's weight was sprawled over his spine. merrick grinned, shifted comfortably beneath the doctor's warmth. "is this some sort of experimental procedure?" he chuckled, arcing round to nip at the air, as evien was too far for even a teasing connection.

Evien nosed through Merrick's scruff and pressed his muzzle to the man's ear, a smile growing on his lips. "It could be," he mused, passing his tongue across the crown of the coywolf's head. "To cheer you up." The healer stepped off a little, so Merrick wasn't fully pinned beneath him. He could leave, if he really wanted to. "Is it working?"

merrick felt a shiver course through him, despite the melancholy pallor. instantly he wondered at the pursuing nature of these suddenly affectionate gestures, and grew filmy and titillated with surprise. always the hunter, merrick; always the click of teeth in the night.
a sudden wariness stole over him, but he veiled it from view, refusing to shift evien away yet.
"it's working. slowly," came the slow purling in his throat.

Evien did not want anything from Merrick - not really. But it was nice to have him here, like this, relaxed and content. Normally, Merrick was so unpredictable and oftentimes frightening. The feelings in Evien's chest were much the same, though had dulled into a kitten's purr as he lay with the bear wolf. 

"Want to talk about why you came here?" he asked, relaxing back down when he wasn't immediately rejected. Still, he settled alongside Merrick this time, rather than atop him. "Is something wrong?"

he was worried about toad, in an objective way that lacked any discernable emotion. but he did not in this moment have the words; merrick swallowed and shifted against evien. a sideways glance with his optic side. "i don't know how to forgive her. i never wanted children, you know that. but —"
a sigh swelled through his flanks like a khamsin.
"i love her. and i want to — i wanna forget about it all. i want it to be like it was." wistful; no pragmatism in this dreaming moment.

A pause then, as Evien considered his words. He'd never really considered Merrick to be capable of something like love, and the thought was bizarre and perhaps a bit cruel. But it was nice to know that he was able, and if he could love anyone, Evien was sure it would have been the dark female. 

"I... don't have a lot of experience in love." He had experience in almosts. Fields had been an almost. A could have been.. This, right here, was an almost, but not quite. "But I think, if you really loved her back then, you can still love her now. Even if things are different." Life changed and adjusted and you had to move with it, even if it was hard. "Does she know you love her?" he questioned, tipping his head to the side as he regarded the coywolf.

merrick lay back what was left of his ears, considering it. "we don't ... speak, as you know. no need for words." not with her. never with her. even the thought of his blackbird filled him now with a melancholy desire, and he shifted restlessly. "she has been the only one i trust." truly, truly trust, not the weakened pie filling of lies told from one lover to another. perhaps that was the sum of his ability in love — those who grew close enough to touch the copper piping where the bear's heart should have been.
"yes. yes, i think she does. i do. i —" 
something like that.