It had been a while since Resin's death, but somehow it still seemed like it had happened yesterday. Avantika was aware of the passage of time, of course. But it didn't change anything. She still patrolled the borders almost 24/7, spinning her metaphorical wheels and trying not to think. She was hiding from her emotions. Otherwise, it was sure that they would destroy her, like an explosion, shattering everything she held dear to the wind. She was less volatile. There was just a cool, frightening emotionlessness. Detachment. That was all she had left. But she had adapted, however rough and temporary the adaptations were. She had figured out a way to keep breathing and keep her heart beating even without the woman who was closer to a mother than anyone she had ever known. The woman who was her mother. She hadn't birthed her, but the wolf who did never exactly took up the charge, so someone had to. And now she had left her, just like her birth mother. Kaata urged Avantika to go still. From her place high above the surface, the hawk warned "Bear. Grizzly bear." She obeyed, pushing down the gnawing sense that the beast could hear her pounding heart. She could see it easily on the open plains. It was pretty far away. She could probably walk on by it as long as she didn't go any closer. But she couldn't stop staring at it. It was outside of the pack borders by only about ten feet. Was that enough to be worth attacking? She didn't want to kill it. She wasn't that kind of girl. But... But. She couldn't just walk away. Why did she always have to be the afraid one? Making up her mind, she snarled loudly, making sure that the bear heard her. Anyone else around would be able to hear her too. She charged and the bear came up to meet her. "Avantika to Kaata telepathy" "Kaata to Avantika telepathy" "speech"

"Eska"

It hadn't been long since her mother had died and each day that passed was easier than the one prior. Perhaps it was because she hadn't known the woman. Yes, two years of her life had been devoted to hunting Resin down, but she hadn't known her. The beast that she'd seen salivating and snapping its jaws in the dungeon... that hadn't been her mother. So she tried to push it all from her mind. Some times it ate at her, but Ulric had been there to work through the sorrow with. Eska... was incredibly thankful for the man.

Eska ran patrols daily. She passed wolves here and there, but generally she liked to work on her own. Today, as she ran the path around the plains, a commotion pulled the woman's dark ears upward. Sulfur yellow eyes scanned the horizon and she could just make out the shapes of a wolf and a bear. It seemed that the wolf was getting rushed by the ursine. Since the beast had stepped over into Hallowed land, it needed to be taught a lesson.

Throwing her weight into her paws, the long legged woman crossed the grassy plains quickly. Without hesitation and without slowing, she threw her body to the side, her shoulder and ribs slamming hard into the ribs of the grizzly with the dull thud that only bodies can make. The beast groaned and sucked in a deep breath to fill the lungs that had been devoid of air. It then turned its attention to Eska and she danced backwards a few steps, leading the beast back out of Hallows territory. She cast the briefest of glances towards the girl and gave a nod before walking backwards. The bear followed.

As Avantika was raring up for the battle, another wolf inserted herself into the situation. She couldn't tell if she was happy to have the help or not. Regardless, it wasn't like she could remove the other woman now. She'd thrown herself quite bravely at the bear, to her credit, slamming against it with a thud and earning a groan and its attention on her. She then moved back, getting the bear to follow her out of Hallows' territory. Avantika didn't know what the woman's nod meant--was it just a simple greeting or a "you're welcome"?--but she felt cheated. She'd wanted a fight. Her brain was all ready, and then, so quickly, it had been denied closure on its desires. This stranger had denied it closure. Avantika was generally mild-mannered with strangers, but now her anger had overwhelmed her normal nervousness. She wanted her fight: her adrenaline, her distraction, her escape. She lunged forward at the bear, jaws snapping at its legs and occasionally landing a hit, even though it was now out of Hallows land. It was close enough. "Speech"

"Eska"

Eska couldn't begin to fathom how the girl was feeling and, honestly, it didn't matter. It was their duty as members of the pack to lead all threats away from the rest of the wolves. The girl could take her anger out on the bear all she wanted, but she would do it outside of pack lands.

With the bears attention on her, Eska led the ursine towards the border. The young fae darted in and snapped at the bear, earning another groan and a spinning swipe. Eska did the same, her teeth snapping onto the fatty folds of bear skin on the opposite side. The creature was getting confused with attacks coming from all directions and began moving more hurriedly away from the wolves. Eska would have been fine with letting the bear go, but she had a feeling that the caramel colored girl would want to go after it. The brindled woman could feel the emotion rolling off of the girl. So, to keep the child safe, she would follow both her and the bear.

The other wolf attacked the other side of the bear, making it run away even faster. Okay. It didn't really matter that the beast was outside of pack borders. Avantika didn't need an excuse to fight. She wasn't a hunter by occupation, but she supposed she could try to kill the bear and bring its meat back if she could. The pack always needed more food. She would continue to chase the bear. Avantika was definitely irritated by the other wolf's insistence on continuing to follow her, but she still had too much politeness to say anything about it. Even though it felt like the world was ending with Resin's death, she was cognitively aware that it wasn't, and she couldn't make someone hate her, given the likely chance they'd have to interact with each other again. She snapped at the bear's hind leg. The anger in her felt itchy and huge with no place to go. She didn't know what to do with it. Eventually, she gave up. She probably wasn't going to be able to kill the bear, and it was fast. She was tired of chasing. She glanced at the other wolf and raced off in the opposite direction. She better not follow her. -Exit- "Speech"

"Eska"

Teeth and claws bit into the bear both from Eska and the angry girl. In time, the beast turned and ran, realizing that it would receive more than a few bites if it stayed. As the bear ran, Eska gave chase, giving the ursine one more bite to the rump for good measure. A reminder to stay away from Hallows territory.

Stopping, Eska watched the bear disappear into the trees. Only then did she turn her attention back towards the girl, but she was already stomping off. Perhaps Eska would make an attempt to seek her out later to see if she was okay, but for now she would let her go and hopefully blow off some steam. Fighting the bear would have done that, Eska imagined, but it needed to be done away from pack lands. With a shrug, the brindled woman continued her patrol.