j- bees?

Nerves found him as he waited, and he began to pace among the burned bracken. If the Bay stood as it had, would he be welcomed? And what if it had fallen? What if the storm had killed and scattered them, or a neighboring pack had wiped them out? What if he had made a mistake? The waiting was killing him, and he was pleased to see that he didn't need to wait long.

Charon arrived, bigger than when Aesop had last seen him but unmistakable. "Charon?" he said, laughing his disbelief. "Look at you, holy shit. You grew up." Charon's question sent him stumbling, mentally, and he finally stood still. He dipped low, a response more instinctive than conscious. Charon's posture didn't mesh with Aesop's memories, and that was unsettling.

Even more so was Atreyu's arrival, just after Charon, missing a leg from when Aesop last saw him. It seemed that he had come home, only to find it changed. "Uh. Hey," he said evenly, for lack of any other response. "Yeah. I came back." He scratched at the ground with one paw, uncomfortable. "I came home. Leaving was a mistake."