Duck Lake illusion; diverted

toad had gone off to look for her.
avicus was gone; he could hardly breathe to think of it.
merrick had gone in a tight circle and come back to the edge of the lake.
now he looked for @Astara and @Aventus, the bearblood in the wood.
the last of it; a sharp intake as he called for them,
and in it, we should go to seek her, you and i

He did not look for his sister.

She would return, or she wouldn't. He would still be here, stalwart bear-prince. He expected he would stand above her in title and loyalty alike for his devotion, and she would know that the weakness was hers, and she would not eye him with hunger in her eyes again. Then he could put aside the suspicion that she meant to kill him one day, and the silent urging that he must kill her first, and then they could be united as brother and sister once more.

He did not look for his sister, but he did spend time outside the territory, and he did heed Merrick when the dragon called for him, loping across the snowy meadow on strong limbs and thrusting his muzzle upward to yip a response. I come.

bearclaw's bruin called into the wintry air; a summons for his remaining kin.

astara turned from her search in wapun, coming belatedly upon the snow-strewn tracks of her son. aventus' single yip allowed her to locate him fairly easy, though she was several minutes behind the two.

did merrick blame her for their daughter's absence? astara's shrewd gaze cast over the dark countenance of her rook, careful and yet full of some untold emotion.

when merrick blinked they had arrived, his son, followed by the raven shadow. he roughly brushed aventus' shoulder with his own, pressed an anguished kiss to the rook, for in her he found solitude, not blame.
"we should leave for a time to search." his voice was a rutmarked hallway of emotion, tangled into one strangled thread.
the cyclops-gaze shifted to the tall and silent neophyte. blessed of the bear; unworthy as merrick was, he had been given so much.
were they wrong to search for avicus? had she been sacrificed to the great maw for a purpose?
contemplative. "and if we do, does he come with us? or stay here as prince?" merrick asked of his corvid. she would answer in her own way; his flanks drew a breath.

The boy's flanks billowed as he drew to a halt in the snow, measuring his sire in his silver eyes and then averting them respectfully. Although he was his full height now, and more wolf than his father, and possibly capable of testing him, that bone-deep fear of Ursus' patriarch remained intact. Astara arrived shortly thereafter; he turned his gaze upon his mother, softer, and parted his lips in an easy pant.

He didn't think he liked the way Merrick spoke about him like he wasn't there, but Aventus had nothing to add verbally. His eyes rested on his dam, curious how she might respond. In their absence he would be as their king and they would all answer to him, or at least that was the fanciful notion that blossomed sudden and greedy within him.

astara had no contemplative thoughts about the beargod's whims in this moment; she was consumed only by the thought her daughter was missing and possibly under the jaws of harm.

she tilted her head towards merrick's gentle kiss, observing him solemnly as he drew away and spoke of his purpose. astara could not help the way she turned to aventus then, studying him as if he were before her for the first time.

he was more than half a year old. many, if not all, of his features had lost their puppyish softness, replaced now by something lean and fashioned for killers. the pack would respect him, astara believed -- he was a good son, steadfast and strong.

she closed her eyes softly, lowering her head to concede to merrick's idea. if she was to leave bearclaw on search for her daughter, she trusted the best place for aventus was home under the guard of the bear.

he nodded at her silent words, and then shifted toward aventura with a knowing look. he too appraised the boy, saw his strength and the bloodgleam of his eye.
 "it is time to take your place as prince of ursus," merrick said softly, solemnly. "what do you say?"
for the bearwitch there could be only one whim, but he was filled with interest to hear how aventus would respond.

Aventus could read the intent behind his soundless mother's glances as readily as though she'd spoken them out loud. Merrick only confirmed it with his words, and their son miraculously mistook the meaning as a proclamation that he would now lead with them, and he straightened his spine and stood with pride. He, the bear prince.

What must I do? he asked, glancing between them for some kind of instruction on how to lead with them, and what to do in their absence. It didn't bother him that they were leaving without him. Aventus knew they would return and had no reason to worry about them, and either they would bring Avicus back and she would be lesser than him, or they would not bring her back and she would be dead. No longer any sort of threat to him, either way.

prince of ursus.

she'd never had a way with words, but her rook did. astara stood before the two of them, eyes gleaming with savage pride. it was a shame her daughter was not here today as well -- but perhaps if avicus had not gone missing, aventus would not be presented with this opportunity so soon.

she remained still, observing the exchange between the two. impressed by her son's willingness, astara turned to merrick to gauge his answer.

"kill."
aventus was not far off the mark — while evien led as their bruin-leaf, merrick was happy to consider his son even so early for the mantle that wore heavy round his own neck. and the rookish queen loved the boy; her pride in him was apparent always.
"and be ready for anything." 
there was, of course, always the possibility that the ruling pair would not return,
but merrick had faith in he and in she and in them.
"evien is a good mediator. but do as we do," and he glanced to his nightshade, "and listen to yourself." aventus was in need of training, of conflict, of strife; what better way than to immerse him now.

Merrick's instruction was simple, and incredibly muddy to Aventus. He was confused, but did his best to mask it with a determined setting of his jaw. He was absolutely prepared to kill, but how was he to find a victim while he remained in Ursus as prince? He analyzed his sire's words again, melded them together, tried to understand what it was the dragon intended, and then realized—

He must kill Evien.

The healer had nursed him back to health after Nyra, but why else would Merrick mention the healer but to hint to his son what he must now do? The "but" only served to solidify this misguided notion. Evien was a good mediator, BUT, thought Aventus, he was not the embodiment of ursine ideals. That was meant to be Aves' place. Listen to yourself. Well, he was listening now. He nodded to his parents and said, I will. While they were out searching for Avicus, he would whet his young appetite for blood and craft a weapon of ambition under Evien's guiding eye.

To slay the Bruin-leaf.

kill. be ready for anything.

sound advice for the parents, but to a wolf still wet behind the ears like aventus, astara wondered if his inexperience would lead him astray. youth had a way of polluting common sense -- even she often felt her impulse get the better of her.

she had no idea aventus' mind had turned to evien in such a light. and even if she knew, would the crazed nightshade stop her son? perhaps merrick's beargods whispered to him, planting the seeds of tender growth in his brain. to kill, to be ready for anything --

to trust ones' intuition.

a powerful thing, that confidence.

astara remained still, studying the faces of her family in quiet thought.

merrick likewise had no idea of the darkening pall beneath his son's young hide, but pride made all blind, and perhaps in some destitute, wordless part of the ragged boy who still hunched within merrick — perhaps he saw in aventus the wine-black welling necessity to draw first blood himself.
indolent to a fault when it came to any self-examination, the serpent unwound its coils behind the bruinking's cyclop's stare, shifting between his most beloved time and again, until he smiled and sighed, looking to the princeling.
"i am going to go with," and here he looked to the blackbird, "as far as the mountains. if you must go over them, i must come back." ursus had many enemies; he would not leave their son behind if donovan should suddenly return full-throated for revenge.
and merrick knew — he had hope — his ravenqueen might understand, though it tormented him to say aloud something against the very grain of his nature.

What passed between them now was not for Aventus; his gaze drifted between his parents for three long seconds before he turned to retire to Ursus. He had a lot of thinking to do, a lot of planning. It would not be easy to slay Evien, not least of all because he owed the healer his life.

But Merrick's word was the bear's will, and Aventus heeded both the one-eyed dragon and the ursine heart of his pack. The former, out of fear; the latter, out of reverence. His gratitude for Evien could not eclipse either of those duties, but it was with a grim set to his jaw that he returned home to plot his next steps.