Auris of the Thousand Names: A Weaver's Chronicle

Bearkiller

"Grandmother!"

Bloodsinger turns to Auris, wolf-fur cloak swirling as she clasps it about her shoulders, and Auris catches the edge of it.

"Why are you leaving?"

"It's my turn for the hunt."

"Can't you stay?"

"No, Aelid, we all need to take our turns."

"Can I go?"

Bloodsinger laughs.  "No.  You're still too young."

"I am not!"

"What have you seen, three winters?"

"This will be my seventh."

"Oh my, you've been around longer than I thought."

Auris grins, chest puffed with pride.

"You can go in a year, then."

"...But I want to go now..."

"You could go with one of the Woundweavers, help them collect moss and herbs—that would be in the woods."

"But I want to go with you..."

"Oh, is that it?"  Bloodsinger's expression softens.  "You know it's not very interesting—lots of sitting still, and being quiet..."

"I can sit still and be quiet."

"And you'll only get to watch."

"I can do that."

"And you'd better get the Chieftain's permission."

Auris hesitates, and grins, running from the room.  "Amaa!"

❂

The adults are all hunched down behind the bushes and trees, weapons at the ready, waiting.  Auris glances around, but there's only the wind—or, is it the wind?  She tilts her head, listening.  Yes, that might be something.  She moves carefully toward it, watching her steps like how she was told so as not to make a sound.

The whuffling noise gets louder the farther she goes, and she takes care to hide herself behind the trees, moving from one to another.  Eventually, she peers around one, and sees not more trees, but the great shaggy coat of a brown bear.

The bear rears up on its hind legs, placing its front paws well up on the trunk of a tree, sniffing the air, searching for something—but whatever it's looking for is nowhere to be found.  It pushes itself back from the trunk and falls to all fours with a heavy thump.  As it moves its head this way and that, still sniffing, it occurs to Auris it seems nervous about something.  She continues watching, fascinated.

The wind shifts, and the bear raises its head, pauses, then looks directly at Auris.  A low growl emanates from its throat.

Auris freezes.  She steps carefully out from beside the tree, maintaining eye contact with the bear—and she growls back.  The bear's growl grows in volume, and Auris matches it.  It rears back on its hind legs, growl swelling to a roar—a sound which Auris returns in equal measure.

Rustling and hurried footsteps mark the arrival of the adults, who quickly set about making a din of bellows and clashing weapons.  The bear's roar quietens, until, with a grunt, it turns away, falling to all fours and lumbering off between the trees, disgruntled.

❂

When the party returns, and the fruits of their hunt have been passed off to be dressed and cooked, Reddawn finds Auris and Bloodsinger together, the younger hanging from every word of the elder as Bloodsinger regales her with yet another heroic tale.

As she brings the story to an end, Bloodsinger meets her daughter's eyes.  "...and now, I think, there's time for one more tale.  Your daughter is a fearsome one, Reddawn; the fire of her bloodline burns bright within her—ey, now, my little bear-killer?"

Auris laughs delightedly, clapping her hands, Bloodsinger's great wolf-fur cloak slipping away from her shoulders.

"Bearkiller?"  Reddawn starts forward, reaching for her daughter, but Bloodsinger forestalls her, one hand out as though she could physically soothe the fear in Reddawn's eyes.

"All ended well; never fear."  She resettles the cloak around Auris, and Auris clasps it about herself, her gaze never once leaving her grandmother.  "We chased it off before anything happened.  But my little Aelid was ready to become Bearkiller, hm?"

Auris nods with all the certainty she can muster, and Reddawn laughs, half in relief.

"Yes, she stood before that beast without a fear in her heart, and let forth a roar to match its own—even to exceed it, such was her challenge!  She'd have wrestled it into submission, I have no doubt," Bloodsinger says, eyes twinkling with brilliant amusement.

"You two will be the death of me," Reddawn murmurs, scooping Auris up in her arms, cloak and all, and planting a kiss on her daughter's forehead.  Auris laughs at the attention and tilts her head up to return a kiss to Reddawn's nose.