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“We are in greater danger without you.”
How could that be? Should they become as strong as they once were, they may fall prey to another challenger, and then what? What if Arthur lost as his father had lost? At least it would not be due to grief, as the wife such as he had would not grieve him but for lack of progeny. As to that, need he dance around a flame like a heathen to call the child down? He dare not ask Ben; he’d never hear the end of it. And why was Ben so keen to have the sleuth reform? Did he wish only for a place to stow his family? He would not stoop so low as to follow the old ways—
“Do not dare to tell me you are looking for a reason to leave,” he snarled.
Ben looked up from sweeping ashes. “What?”
“As the males do in a sleuth. Seeing to the succession and then wandering far and wide in search of fresher game?” How dare his brother! “Are you looking to play away?”
As a rule, Ben was slow to anger; when he did choose to express his rage, he did it in an instant. He exploded out of his clothes and into his bear, Arthur a heartbeat behind. Down on their fours, they faced off, rumbling with rage, and threw themselves at each other.
In the shadows, a creature lurked and bared its teeth in glee.
***
“…and then slide your left leg out slowly—very good, Tarben—and if you can touch your forehead to your knee? Well done!” Having never executed a full court bow, Beatrice gave instruction as best she could by recalling those which she had received. “Oh! And rotate your right wrist, as you would stir a pot of soup.”
The girls had taken to defiant curtsying like birds to the air, with Ursella surpassing her sister in execution. This lit a fire in Bernadette, whose stubbornness called Arthur to mind.
“In future, Tarben, we shall supply you with an excessively lacy handkerchief. It makes the wrist twirling far more effective. Now rise, slowly, slowly… It is equally important to show that you rise at your leisure. Oh, children, I am so very impressed.” Red-faced, they beamed up at her and then treated her to a battery of hugs. “Charlotte, will you not try?”
“Far be it from me to rob you of your signature move,” she said over the cries of her children’s insistence. “I suppose it is of your devising.”
“Oh yes,” Beatrice said. “It was a way to yield without yielding during my first marriage. Or at least in my mind.”
“I do not understand.” Bernadette frowned.
Beatrice looked to Charlotte, who nodded. How to explain this to a child, to be truthful without being too explicit? “Once upon a time, a young lady was married to a not-very-nice man,” Beatrice began.
“A beast even as we would deem him,” Charlotte interjected.
“It was not entirely clever of her to be so bold,” Beatrice continued, “but the young lady discovered that if she gave excessive tribute, she defied him by appearing to be very obedient. There was none to gainsay her nor to criticize such deference, and so the lady won a small victory each time.”
“The lady ought to have called upon a knight to rescue her!” Tarben stabbed the air with an imaginary sword.
Beatrice stroked a hand over his head. “Even I as a human was aware none may separate a woman from her mate.”
“He was not your mate,” whispered Ursella.
***
The men’s hard work went undone as the bears fought. Ben’s creature was smaller than Arthur’s but rangy, and a history of fraternal fracas kept him canny. The trunks of the fallen trees scattered once more as they wrestled over the ground, the smaller branches flinging about like shrapnel. Fresh scars were slashed on the standing trees, and several shrubs fell foul of their battle until Arthur pinned Ben, teeth gently closing over his throat.
Ben yielded but was a past master at doing so falsely. He relaxed enough to convince Arthur he was done fighting and then threw his weight up and around until they rolled through the underbrush to the nearby brook. A mighty splash and Arthur drew on hisdominatumand both Changed back to their manskins.
They sat in the shallow water in silence until they broke into a fierce spate of splashing each other. The sun ducked behind a cloud, and they desisted at once.
“Holy Odin, this is freezing.” Arthur contemplated Changing back into his fur.
“You say that every time we land up in here.” Ben looked cheerful enough about it, considering what had led them there.
That was his brother through and through, never one to hold a grudge. Unlike… “Do you recall—”
“When you chased Charlie into this stream?” Ben roared with laughter.
“I’ve still got the gouge she gave me, I vow.” Arthur rubbed his earlobe. “Does it not weary you? The battling and the fighting.”
“This is play, brother.” Ben splashed him once more. “It is our custom to express our essential selves in such a way.”
