Fallen Tree Cove call me your favorite

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. 

The boy answered as he thought he would, affirming the feeling. As though any sane wolf would feel anything else in the face of a beast like that, with those it loved directly in the line of immediate danger. Nathaniel wanted to be sure he knew as much.

"I was too," he confessed earnestly. "No one wants to fuck with a bear. But it also terrified me to see you and Neha so close to it, to see your mother dodging blows that could have been life ending. Bravery isn't the absence of fear, Cernan. Its not letting that fear lock you up and keep you from doing what needs to be done. You showed bravery, son, perhaps more than I would have at your age. Don't ever let fear make you doubt yourself. You've overcome it once, now you'll always be able to do it, understand?"

He held the boy's gaze for a moment, before his pale green eyes dropped back down to the treasure at their paws.

"The claw. I... thought it could be a reminder. I just. Want you to be the best you can be, Cernan. Don't let life get the best of you," like I did.

Then he started pedalling backwards. That was all he had, and if it wasn't enough... then he was so sorry but he couldn't just keep hanging around like this. A decision had been made and he needed to act on it.

"I have to go. Goodbye, Cernan."