Bearclaw Valley what you need is a sweet caress

backdated to shortly after sobeille’s thread with Druid, if that’s ok <3

sobeille could not keep the manic woman from her mind. she wandered back north, realizing she recognized the trail as it sped out into wapun.

athalia.

her scent here thinned to nothing. sobeille sniffed at a patch of grass that held the ghost of the bruingirl’s memory.

athalia lived in the stony fortress ahead; but as sobeille neared, she found no trace of her.

sniffing at a curiously large stone that marked bearclaw’s entrance, sobeille looked longingly in — but did not trespass.

Brine.

Ameline smiled as she caught the scent of the ocean on the wind, though it was mingled thoroughly in the scent of wolf who also smelled of woodlands and fen. It was the scent of Sapphique that steadied her approach; she had no need to charge when she regarded the sea witches with respect.

It wasn’t until she saw the girl’s dark mask that she actually realized who it was that had come to her borders. Her brow lifted; the child had been haughty, bold. She wondered if much had changed.

You’re far from the thea now, daughter of Thapphique.

before, sobeille had been nagged by a familiar scent she could not place. now she recognized it — her brow lifted as bearclaw’s eminent stalwart met her.

a long time ago — a life time ago — ameline had humored a mouthy, rude miette near the tangle. sobeille wasn’t that girl anymore - and she could see that ameline had changed too. aye. she sniffed the air between them cautiously. i be lookin’ for athalia.

No comments on her speech, which was appreciated. That same taunt now would likely earn her a more severe lesson in manners; it would have been unbecoming of someone Sobeille’s age to be so petty. She had grown up, Ameline noticed. Ameline approved of the change.

The girl’s association with her daughter came as a surprise. She tried to remember if Athalia had mentioned the girl- and it was entirely possible- but a good portion of her recent life had been consumed by a solid case of baby brain.

She might be around, Ameline informed her. She knew her daughter often hunted and patrolled- but was occasionally quite private. Come in to the valley with me, we’ll thee if we can track her down.

sobeille wanted -- more than anything -- to follow ameline into the mouth of the beargod coven. but as she leaned forward, a whisper snaked its way around her throat.

me thinks it's --- mother, athalia had whimpered. the image of athalia cowered there burned in sobeille's mind.

she shook her head. d'you be her mother?

The question caught her by surprise. Ameline turned, to see the girl eyeing her with a sentiment that she could not place. Without taking the time to consider any other options, she turned slightly, tilted her head, and then nodded. 

"Yeth," She answered. "Why do you athk?" 

Something about the question seemed important; out of concern for the girl she very much considered to be her daughter, she answered with the only truth that she considered to be important.

so this was ‘the mother’. sobeille was not a warm person by nature, so the coldness she felt radiating through her spine remained undetectable.

she wedged her tongue against the roof of her mouth. did you try to kill her? she bit back the accusation, exhaling slowly as she rearranged the contextual clues as they presented themselves.

an’ where her brother be?

Her brother?

Ameline tilted her head to the side in surprise, but squinted her eyes. These questions weren’t conversational, nor were they innocent. Ameline thought the girl came to them, hinting at some knowledge that she had, but withheld. 

Of Athalia’s brother, Ameline knew very little. 

I didn’t even know Athalia had a brother until she chathed him off. She said. Ancelin had been there, and had witnessed Athalia’s distress. I’ve never theen him, but he ain’t welcome until Athalia thaith tho.

She clicked her teeth together. If Sobeille was perhaps a friend of his, then she might deliver the message.

sobeille took this in, mind churning around the information she’d been drip-fed. athalia’s speech had been so stilted, it took a fair bit of mental gymnastics to disseminate her words.

the mother didn’t know about the brother? sobeille did not understand this; does a mother not know how to count? was this not athalia’s true brother?

she shifted, looking around ameline as if expecting someone else to arrive any moment. finally, her gaze found the older female.

did you kill her?

Whut? She grunted, as if punched in the stomach. Kill who? She asked, one ear flicked back at the ridiculous notion. 

Sobeille’s calm expression led her to assume that she was talking about either Athalia’s sister, or her birth mother- more likely, the former. Her thithter, Amnerith, went travelling about a few month ago. She said, with a pang of regret. She missed the girl, and hoped she’d return. Haven’t theen her thinth…Wait- She said, stiffening. Have you theen Amnerith? 

Was this the bad news she’d been dreading?

there were many things sobeille would discover she was good at in life - one of them was measuring the veracity of stranger’s emotions. she was still just a student, but the way ameline’s expression fell seemed too genuine to be crafted.

this confused sobeille; athalia had been earnest. ameline seemed sincerely worried. something was inconsistent about this narrative.

no. she did not know this sibling. she steered the conversation back on course, to the direction she felt it needed to go.

athalia said her mother is trying to kill her. deadpan gaze held ameline unflinchingly.

Her breath fell, ragged with relief. She’d not realized how much worry she still carried on Amneris’ account. She breathed in, and shed the tension from her shoulders, working her jaw slightly after realizing that it had been clenched-

Only to clench it again a moment later. 

She squinted, glaring at the girl now who made accusations that made no sense. Naturally- she had to pan through every recent conversation she had had with Athalia to make absolutely sure that nothing she’d said had been offensive but a death threat? Highly unlikely. 

What worried her even more was that if this was true…Why was Athalia telling strangers that her mother had it out for her? No. It couldn’t be true.

Her gaze darkened. Yuh lying, She said. She stepped closer. You were a pain in my ath the latht time I thaw you, an’ honeyhtly? Thith kind of foolishneth ith enough to make me want to thay that you needta thtay away from my daughtuh. I’m her mothuh, She emphasized, baring teeth toward the one she now believed was a bad influence on her girl. I would nevuh harm huh, an’ you need yuh learn not to try an’ thplit familieth up. I’m her- 

She paused. 

Mother.

But not biologically. 

Fear gripped her. Her pupils narrowed to bare pinpricks, turning her eyes into bright, silvery-blue pools.

But…I’m not her biological mothuh… Realization began to dawn, along with its potentially terrible promise.

Was Athalia’s biological mother trying to hurt her? Had she returned? 

Oh god, She breathed in a whisper, now turning a pleading look to the girl. Her ears shifted back in an apology. 

What did she thay? Hath her mother come back? Pleathe- I’m thorry for what I thaid- I jutht-

She needed to keep her baby safe. It was all she could do to keep calling out an emergency warning for Ancelin, so he might know as well that their daughter had a target placed on her back.

sobeille expected reprisal. her words were provocative - and ameline responded accordingly.

sobeille withstood the first of the bear-mother’s gritty rebuke, eyes flat even as the bitter tension of anger fractured, broken down into needling worry. the niggling piece that would not fit into any slot fell into place with a click.

that single word — biological.

sobeille could not help the narrowing of her accipitrine gaze. there was nothing left for her to say after such an outburst. the tentative trust between them had been an illusion, and now that it was shattered she wondered if the bruingirl’s corpse laid somewhere in the valley.

she took a step backwards. she could not unsee the unpredictability.

another step. the space between them widening. there were things here she did not know. she needed space to digest it. time.

time to figure out if this was theatrical or real.

sobeille turned around and broke into a trot away from bearclaw valley’s fang-toothed entrance.

She stepped back- not because Ameline had threatened to make her unwelcome, but because of the desperation with which she had clamoured for answered- or so she thought. No, pleathe, wait! She said, in as pleading a voice as she could manage. 

Another step back, and then the girl turned to trot away. Ameline was confused- if Sobeille was Athalia’s friend, surely she’d want to help but-

She bristled as a new conclusion came to mind- the same one she’d had earlier.

The girl was lying. 

If she was ever Athalia’s friend, she would have helped, right? 

Ameline did not stop to consider that the yearling might think that she was lying. That she had murdered her daughter. She did not stop to think

And broke out into a canter, determined to shake either the truth or the dishonesty out of the sea witch.

the three-beat staccato of footfalls rustled behind her. sobeille considered bolting — but she was not a fast runner, and ameline knew this terrain better. sobeille was outmanned.

she spun back around, teeth bared save for her missing canine. if she was to fight for her survival, she supposed it would be life’s bitterest irony that it would happen upon the threshold of bear-worshippers.


you gonna kill me too, ‘mother’? sobeille challenged, the fire in her gaze disguising the brief flare of uncertainty she felt. ameline was more muscular, and arguably more seasoned. sobeille’s best chance was to run.

She gained on the girl, but had to slam on the brakes in a maneuver she’d learned not long ago from a trespasser to avoid bowling straight into her when she swirled around. She skidded and ended up cat-walking forward on her two front feet for a second until she thumped her hind paws back to the ground. It wasn’t nearly as smoothe a move as the one the loner had pulled, but it wasn’t like she’d practiced.

Of courthe I’m not gonna kill yuh, She growled, baring her own curved fangs. But if you don’t feth up an’ tell me what the fuck you’re talking’ about with thith “mothuh murderer buthineth,” I am gonna tear a thtrip off your pretty pelt an’ uthe it to wipe the shit off my children’th ath-eth. She spat. Whatevuh you know about Athalia’th birth mom, an’ the pothibility of her comin’ to hurt my girl, I need to know. But if you’re jutht here to lie an’ thtir up shit, believe me, I’ll report every bit of thith trash to yuh mothuh an’ I doubt very much she’ll approve. 

She quieted her growl, and clicked her teeth together impatiently, giving Sobeille a moment to choose.

ameline stopped abruptly, her maneuver causing a ripple under sobeille's skin as she watched her cat-skim the ground. she prepared for teeth, waiting for ameline's words to end with the punctuation of fang to flesh. her heart thrummed - a strange species of excitement somehow calming the torrent of thoughts in her head.

sobeille found it preposterous she would lie or make this all up. as if! all she knew was what athalia told her. and she told her that her mother was trying to kill her.

a teenage scoff lingered on her lips.

you be t'inking i be lyin'? her agitated tail flicked lion-like. go ahead an' tell my maman, sobeille countered, incredulous. she know i be true. all i know is dat you be de one athalia sez is tryin' to kill 'er.

sobeille's claws curved into the earth, prepared to run.

She wanted to believe that Sobeille was lying, but her defiance made it even more difficult to tell. Ameline had not been bluffing in her threat to expose Sobeille to her mother, but the threat dissipated as soon as Sobeille accepted that as a possible consequence. Ameline glared deep into the gaze sunken into the dark mask, and felt her eye twitch.

Sobeille had bested her.

'all I know is dat you be de one Athalia sez is tryin' to kill 'er.'

Trying? 

It implied an attempt had already been made. Her eyes widened. 

Sobeille looked as if she was about to bolt. She would, if Ameline did anything stupid. 

"I'm not tryin' to kill her," She said slowly, squeezing the words out on a warm breath. She hoped that in the steadiness of her voice, she might convey her sincerity. "I would nevuh hurt her- whether you believe that or not- but she hath a mother out there thomewhere...Her brother already came an' found her, an' knowth where she ith, an' she chathed him off...Pleathe- if she'th in danger, I need to know. An'..." She paused. "She truthted you enough to tell you. But yuh not here to protect her, I am. If her mother'th already been to the valley, I need to know." 

Not many female wolves had come to the valley, which left her with only one, glaringly obvious suspect.

Arlette.

a new wave of steadiness came to the bear-mother. sobeille measured it distrustfully.

at times in sobeille's life, it had been easy to lie. it had come to her as natural as catching fish.

and at other times in her life, it had been easy to disguise her emotions. this skill too, came as easy as killing for your meal.

she wondered if this woman was a master of such things; but the outburst thumbed holes into that illusion.

perhaps this woman was what sobeille was shaping up to be in a few years if left unchecked: artful manipulator of feelings, master of conveying only the singular vision they wished to be seen.

another step back. another hard scowl.

i tol' you what i be knowin'. sobeille said, wondering when the next hammer would fall. mebbe you are not de mot'er you t'ink you be, if she be comin' to me wit' her secrets.

She shifted, defensively. The grimace showed a gap in her teeth which drew Ameline's eye for a moment before she looked back into the burning embers of the yearling's gaze. She jabbed at a newfound wound without reservation- and considering the fact that Ameline had exposed such a vulnerability in hopes of getting more information, she became outraged when her effort was thwarted. 

She wanted to snap, mar the girl's face, shatter the mask with a rake of her claws. She exhaled a slow, hot breath.

"An' you keep no thecret-th from your mother?" She drawled skeptically. If Athalia had a secret, she told herself that she was keeping it to keep her parents from flying into a fury. She pulled back, feeling proud of herself for not giving into her impulse. "Thankth, for telling me," She said. Now, she thought, she had the higher ground- after all, the secret Athalia had shared with Sobeille was no longer a secret. Would their friendship be rattled, now that Sobeille was no longer a trustworthy confidante? 

She might not need to tell Sobeille to stay away- if Athalia found the trespass so unforgiveable, her daughter would do the work for her. 

"I'll look aftuh her." She said, with a nod of her head that she hoped might conclude the interaction.

sobeille would deserve any incoming hit, but it never came. she watched as ameline’s warring emotions coalesced across her dark face — in the end, restraint won out.

did she keep secrets from her maman? the thrust of the ball back in her court had sobeille considering this; there were things she simply did not tell mireille, because she knew her maman would worry. did that count?

she did not trust ameline, and so, without any reservation, turned and ran. sneaky as she was, she had no designs to infiltrate later. something didn’t add up — either athalia was lying, or ameline was — and sobeille suspected the latter.

as she looked up out of the valley westward, she tried to assemble the juxtaposing thoughts that jumbled around in her head. one: was athalia dead, really? and how did she feel learning things? she understood the right emotion to feel was a deep sense of sadness; she’d witnessed it in the eyes and face of her kin when death visited sapphique — but she did not feel this. she felt something ugly and inalienable; the way she might feel if someone stole her meal, times ten. athalia was hers — not anyone else’s — to take, and this injustice flamed in her heart and quickened her step. athalia had shared something in common with her — learning she was robbed of this common ground caused a smoldering in her breast.

the first tentative seeds of vengeance were laid in her mind as she returned back to sapphique.