Bearclaw Valley whiskeyteeth

official moving thread for ursus <3 @Aventus @Arielle @Val

they had cut directly across the mountains;
into the valley;
and when merrick at last saw the familiar stone walls of bearclaw valley rising full and staunch, it seemed a weight lifted from the bear-wolf.
bruin-jaw and bruin-heart and skeptic with him, merrick found the single path into the mouth of the valley and breathed with delight and with relief.
and then his voice boomed out, resonant. defiant. 
with them they carried the pelvis bone, the skull of evien, and the head of astara.
the bearwolves of ursus have returned.

As they journeyed through the mountains and towards the valley, Arielle couldn't help but hope they were returning to the first place she had come to know Ursus and its wolves. 

So when they paused at the stones and the valley's only entrance, relief spread through her veins even as her heart picked up with excitement. The healer wondered if the prince had spoken to his father about his idea to return here or if the bear king had brought them here on his own. Either way, she was happy to be back. 

She gently placed Evien's skull down at her feet and touched her nose to Aves' shoulder. She smiled up at him, knowing he would be happy to be here as well. 

Then the call from Merrick had her lifting her muzzle to the sky and releasing her own. The sound was soft but steady and spoke of her contentment to be home.

three bears and an idiot rolled up to the redpath; it sounded like the start of a bad joke, but really, it was exactly how val felt as they finally came to the origin of ursus. he was relieved he had not been tasked with holding any of the grim artifacts. more than once, he had inadvertently glanced the way of arielle and the skull in her mouth -- and to his utter horror, he found it stared back.

merrick's voice was the first to climb high over the still valley. arielle's followed, and then came val's. he was not good at many things, but he was a singer; his songbird cry twirled and weaved around the voices of his pack, climbing ever higher into a sky ringed by pale cirrus.