Bearclaw Valley whatever it takes

With both of them then interested—willing, is more like it—he continued walking, leading them towards the river. From the bank, he picked out a spot where the ground underwater was raised significantly so that the could cross over onto the island; it was a familiar path for him, having visited a few times already. It was close to the center of the island where the bear had made a home for himself, though there were few recent traces of him being there—something that Alexander didn’t really like, having never understood hibernation or why bears did it.

No matter, he led the pair towards the mouth of the den, but didn’t travel any further in; nor did he say anything, currently disinterested in actually speaking to Arthur. Besides, waking a sleeping a bear? Didn’t seem like a good idea, even to Xan. So he just stood there, letting them look for a bit before a shift in the bear’s sleep had him ushering them away and back to the other side of the river—he wasn’t scared, just a bit spooked, as well as conditioned from being shooed away from Arthur as a child. His actions also kept him from saying something stupid like I told you he was harmless, when they were back on the riverbank, choosing instead to part ways for now. It was with a quick bye and belated enjoy exploring that he set off on his own, heading towards the treeline.

It was time for him to find something to bring back to Arthur, just in case he’d accidentally woken him up.