Heron Lake Plateau Who do you love?

Of course she'd ask that question. Blackbear had been anticipating it, but the truth was, she still didn't have an answer ready. The truth was that she hadn't really meant to. She'd gone on a trip and gotten lost, and there'd been so much time spent wandering, wasting time at the creek when her family had been right there, and then finally finding out from a stranger that her father had died while she was away. And it hadn't been any of that, specifically. It had just seemed like too much by the time she'd reached Round Valley, and had run into her aunt again.

She remembered Sunspot telling her there was no shame in it, but somehow, Blackbear couldn't quite make herself believe the words. And she couldn't stop the mask of grief from falling over her face, or the shame that was leaking through all the cracks in her carefully constructed armor.

"My dad..." 

But she stopped there, feeling awful for trying to use that as an excuse. She hadn't left because of Daddy's death. She hadn't even been there.

"I'll go. I'm sorry to have wasted your time," she said, her voice somewhat choked. Her eyes skated past Tegan as she spun away, unwilling to see the expression on his face. Blackbear took off as quickly as she could, planning to put as much distance as she could between herself and her problems before the day was done.