Bear's Sovereign Oath

He was supposed to go out to check the fishing traps. How on the gods green earth did he come back with a baby?

Nikolai was only 18 when he came across the young cub. The large grizzly shifter had only just reached his birthday not even a few days ago, yet he already had big plans ahead of him. Building his own cabin was supposed to be at the top of that list.

Yet his mother had requested he go check the fishing traps so they could start stalking up on smoked fish for trading. Even though he didn't need his ax, he brought it with him anyway to the river.

keeping his ears on alert he hummed one of his mother's lullabies he enjoyed under his breath as he reeled in the traps. just imagining the plump juicy fish inside made his mouth start to water. he could just taste the rich fattiness of the river trout and the occasional salmon that graced his path.

Nikolai wiped some of the drool from the corner of his mouth as he pulled up the trap revealing a nice haul of about seven decent sized fish. Quickly delivering a skilled blow to the back of the fish, he loaded up, making sure to reset it, moving on further down the river.

He repeated the process five more times along his favorite river before he came across a new sound. one that was neither river nor the occasional stray wolf in the wrong territory. No, it was more like a weak crying. Rather he could call it a whimpering.

The young adult carefully hung his catch in a nearby tree, just to make sure no one got it, before investigating what the sound was. The crying took him to a tree that he was familiar with, as he had played in the large knots and holes when he was but a cub.

"Hello?" he called out cautiously, "Is there anyone here?"

he almost jumped out of his fur lined boots when the crying got more desperate as soon as the creature heard his voice. easing forward, he placed a hand on his ax. He remembered that panthers could mimic sounds especially of child crying.

"You are in grizzly territory, turn back or you will have to face the council for trespassing on private owned land," he continued cautiously.

Despite the warnings the crying continued, yet it was the smell that hit his sensitive nose first. the smell of a very used diaper and dried blood.

Nikolai wasnt a stranger to bloodshed, by no means at all, especially the lifestyle his clan led. Yet with the smell mixed with that of stale milk and a used diaper his ax was forgotten on his hip as he hurried his steps.

it wasnt hard to pinpoint where exactly in the tree the crying was coming from. Since before he was born the tree grew in such a way there was almost a hidden alcove just inside the trunk that always made a good hiding spot. he remembered using it a lot to hide his fish and other snacks from his friends. Yet today, in that same alcove that used to hide his snack was a small baby.

he had no idea how old the child was, even better how the child got there in the first place, but he knew he couldnt just leave the child there.

taking a single foot hold up to anchor himself from falling over he reached in and pulled the child up by the scruff of their clothes. it was the only good reach he could get on them. once he had a good grasp he adjusted his hold and pulled the child closer despite the protest of his nose.

mumbling a quick prayer in his mother tongue he gave the child a good look over.

it was a small child, not exactly newborn yet young enough to still depend on their mother for comfort and milk. short reddish hair almost like his own yet not as curly, with red puffed cheeks from crying. the child's clothes were caked in dirt, bits of tree bark and dried blood patches. yet from the exhausted way the child was wailing the blood didn't belong to it.

with a slight panic the young adult thought for a moment before haphazardly cradling the child against his chest as his only thought to calm the crying down. looking around, he didnt spot anything on the ground or anything to indicate that someone had been near.

retracing his steps he grabbed the basket of fish, the other traps would have to be checked much later, and headed back home.

By the time he got back to the large cabin the child had dulled down to a whimper, curled up into his chest and fallen straight asleep.

before he could even touch the handle, the door swung open hitting him square in the nose,

"Who didn't change their child's...," his mother couldn't even finish her sentence when she heard the grunt of pain from her son, "Nikolai, what is that?"

Nikolai stumbled back a bit dropping the large basket of fish to grab his bleeding nose, "Ma," he let out a curse as he assessed the damage to his nose, "I found this kid in one of the old trees by the river, there was nothing around and it smells foul."

His mother, Galina, quickly took the child from him looking the poor thing over.

"I'll ask the details later, go and run some hot water into the bath and see what linens we have. then go next door and see if Yelena has any extra formula we can use for now," she started barking orders, her motherly instincts taking over even though it had been some time.

Nikolai didn't complain, just shoved a scrap fabric up his nose to niche the bleeding and did as his mother commanded. He knew all too well than to go against what she said. there was a reason she was the chieftain's wife and respected by others.

It took about an hour to get the child fully cleaned, reclothed and fed. by the time they had finished Nikolai's father, the chieftain of the grizzly clan, had returned to quite the surprise.

the older grizzly shifter usually had a stoic, strict look on his face, but the red-haired child in the basinet definitely put a new look on his face.

"What is this?" he asked his family as he hung up his hunting belt in its usual spot, "Last I remember Galina we taught our son to be more careful than this."

"Pa, he doesn't belong to me. I found him in the forest while gather fish. In the big tree by the split in the river, right on the edge of the territory line," the young grizzly huffed, trying to explain himself multiple times was starting to get on his nerves.

"But he looks like you, are you sure it wasn't one of the girls from the neighboring clans? Is it even a grizzly?" Rurik sat down in his large chair staring at both his equal and his son then to the sleeping infant in the old bassinet.

A groan escaped the younger man, "Pa, you know that I wouldn't lie to you, there's fish in the smoke house that needs to get cleaned if you need to check."

His father waved him off, "no, no, you've been too busy the past few months to sneak off without me noticing. A bit too much of a stickler actually,"

Nikolai could hear the chuckle in his father's chest at his own statement. he couldn't quite tell if it was a bruise to his ego or not. his eyes fell on the child finally sleeping easy in his old bed.

what exactly were they supposed to do with a child they found out in the woods? there wasn't someone who could just take in a grizzly child in the village and the closet town was at least an hour away. from what they were able to tell, most of the orphanages in the area only took herbivore shifters. any carnivore shifters were located in the city, for weird reasons.

He knew the nearest city was at least a couple hours away, but he only went on urgent business. the grizzly looked from his parents to the small child and back again.

His mind was racing, thoughts going over and over in his head. One thought stayed in his mind, since he found the child, he would raise the child. It was only right in his head.

"Ma," he interrupted his parents as they were discussing options on what to do, "I can take him."

Galina almost dropped her cup of tea she had brewed earlier to calm herself down. in fact she might have to pour herself another one.

"You're just a baby yourself!" she protested, "What makes you think you can even take care of a baby with no experience?"

He could really only shrug, "Pa, I found him. I feel like it would be best that as the one that found him, I take responsibility and raise him myself. I even came up with a name."

Nikolai was pretty confident in his answers, despite the looks from his parents. He may have only been eighteen but that was old enough to care for a child. Besides he had his parents to help, how hard could it be to raise a child?

"I think, I'll call him Henry."