Bearclaw Valley They'll cover the hills with their sweet flesh and soft nails

To the valley she went, on the trail of a sister who always seemed to wander. @Athalia; her scent was fresh here, a winding path through unfamiliar land. Amneris was uncertain; perturbed; hurt, even.

Why did she leave?

Why here?

Her nose was low to the ground as she idled along the trail. Amneris saw no reason to rush; she never did. Her sister was here, of that there could be no doubt. It was only a matter of time before she found her.

For now, she kept her eyes trained ahead.

Athalia liked it here.
In the canopy of balsams and between the fork of treacherous mountains is this valley, this place the darkspawn had begun to camp out in on the days she could get away. Detached as she was from her family, in rare lapses of judgment, she occasionally sought them out. To have company; to have something to look at. She tolerated it and at times even thought she enjoyed it, the coexistence.
Mama, however, was gone. Again. And she did not understand why it made her feel so — empty.
It is Athalia who finds Amneris on this day. She slinks out from what remains of the dogwoods and greets her sister with a squeaky whuff, a flash of salmon pink knocked from between her lips. Come with me!

Amneris did not mind their mother's absence so much, if only because a mother was a concept entirely inconsequential to the girl. She recognized Mira as other. But Athalia, Ashkova, Athamas — they were like her, and thus far more important than any of the others. Athalia most of all. It was this similarity which led her here. Here, alone, only the two of them.

She blinked hazily at her sister's appearance, greeting her with a slow, serene smile as if they'd never been separated. Athalia beckoned to her. Amneris was content to follow. Her gaze drifted from her sister, however; taking in the trees and the sky, the darkening of clouds above them which she had begun to learn promised rain. Oh, she did love the rain...

Athalia had something to show her.
She lollops in a zig-zag before settling on a solid straight line, tail dragging behind her. Every now and again she glances behind to search for Amneris.
Going, going, and then a sudden stop, head lowered, ears swivelled forward; she stretches her spine before she leaps up with a big, feverish bark. Look!
Entwined with the last of summer's blooms are the skeletal remains of an adult wolf — intact, save for the head.

Amneris trailed after her sister as if in a fog, her own movements fluid and unhurried even as Athalia zigzagged and leapt and barked. Every so often her attention would drift back to her. Largely her gaze remained fixed to the sky. Perhaps it would not rain after all. The clouds were not as thick as they'd been.

When they reached their destination she finally pried her attention away from the heavens. She looked on the bones for a long moment, then to Athalia. Then the bones, again. A wolf. The remnants of a wolf.

She slid around the skeleton in silence, brushing her pelt over clean ribs and spine. Tufts of dark fur clung to it as she drew away, and Amneris reached out to pluck a bone of her choice from the pile. She wrenched it away from the rest and held it proudly in the air for Athalia to inspect.

Surely Amneris meant well by her desecration of the bones, but Athalia, upon witnessing the removal of what could have perhaps been part of an arm or rib cage, fell quickly into dazzling horror. Her lips peel up into a snarl as a big wave of russet fur bristles skyward. Put it back!
To make matters worse, Amneris sought to rub herself all over Athalia's treasure. She stomps unceremoniously through the fescue and pauses as she begins to clamber over the pelvis as gently as she can, oh-so careful in her footing, and does the only thing she could think to do:
Piss herself all over the skeleton.
All the while, she stares, thoroughly vexed, to her sister with a look that could only say one thing. Mine.

Amneris was unperturbed. She clutched the shoulder bone close and watched Athalia dispassionately; she'd already claimed what she wanted from the skeleton. The rest — her sister could have it.

For the remainder of the day she would parade her new possession around Bearclaw Valley, never letting it out of her sight lest Athalia steal it away and soil it like she had the rest. Amneris remained possessive over the bone for days to come, until it felt as if she'd made it clear that this one was hers; perhaps the only thing she would ever deny her sister.