Dead Empress Backwater perhaps the worst is that i ever let you go

Chan couldn't help a small, sad smile at those closing words, so they wouldn't worry.

"Parents never stop worrying. That's something no one can control, and it comes from love."

In fact the distance had likely very much made that concern stronger, especially in the manner Kateri had left, but just as Aquene couldn't help but think every moment of her children, not a single one of them should be expected to hold themselves back in life because of that. That was always a problem for a pup's caregiver, not the child themself, in Chan's opinion. His own actions throughout his life likely spoke to that...

"Did... you really feel you had to leave so that they could be a family, or... was it too hard to deal with such an immense change?"