No more answers. His mouth clicked shut at once, ears pinning to his skull in a beat. Cernan's golden eyes sheepishly sought those answers anyway, as if they might be found on the man's face or in the dirt at his feet. His jaws clenched, frustrated, confused. Insistence burned in his throat and on his tongue, but if there was something the prince was good at, it was containing himself. A couple of breaths passed from his hot lungs and Nate spoke again. This time the boy's ears crept up to the sides, resting there like wings. Scared? 

Still feeling the pressure in his teeth, Cernan's expression softened and he managed a labored, stuttering nod. For a while, the boy had been absolutely terrified, watching that thing swing at his family; his heroes. Somehow, he'd acted anyway, finding that he feared for their safety more than he'd feared the deadly power of the bear. Being a bystander had hurt just as much as the horror he felt when the boar attacked Nate on that fateful day too. When it came down to which feeling he detested more, helplessness was easily the answer. Still, the lake child's golden pools flicked upward toward Nathaniel's green, feeling some bit of shame in his gut for admitting it outright, and to the man he'd admired so long for defying that very emotion. Of course, Nate had to already know, but confessing it himself was another pain entirely.