Great Bear Wilderness a flock of birds

Charon followed Atreyu's lead and sniffed, trying to figure out what was down there. If it was really just water, he wasn't sure it was worth checking out. Sure, maybe some day they'd need the info, but getting down looked near impossible and Charon wasn't looking forward to getting hurt. He might've laughed and challenged Atreyu if they weren't here on serious business, and if he hadn't recently got hurt. As things were though, Charon wasn't exactly strutting around calling Atreyu a chicken — he didn't much feel like getting hurt himself either.

"You're right, probably not the best idea," Charon said. He felt disgruntled that they couldn't explore it further, but maybe it was just another dead end to prove this wasn't exactly the place they were looking for. Charon really figured they should just explore elsewhere — if Atreyu felt up to the journey — or go home, but he didn't want to be the one to suggest these things, because another part of him wanted to explore further, if not only to spend some bonding time with his friend in the present tense situation.