Great Bear Wilderness your eyes so big

yeah, i was. he thinks about saying it hesitantly ...but if he does, if he shies from the truth and beneath his father's stern gaze atausiq fears he'll never be seen as a man. his gaze flickers to hua then, her presence minimized as he focuses on his father but far from forgotten. mom didn't agree. atausiq points out quietly but then shakes his head. it didn't matter. vespera was all water under the bridge and atausiq, for better or worse, made his decision. leta had been upset and mad at him ...there was no telling how greyback will feel at the end of this but regardless, atausiq would be able to say he stood by his decision and accepted the consequences he assumes hang on the coming fringes.

the praise, while secretly tucked away to keep coveted close to his heart later, is skimmed over in the here and now. while i would love nothing more than to make it up to you and mom and easthollow ...i've made my decision, he tells greyback, trying to accomplish that whole 'man to man' vibe. what kind of man would it make me if i went back on it? it is offered as a rhetorical question; for he has long since figured out that loyalty was more than to someone else. 

loyalty also meant sticking to your own decisions and accepting what may come as a result.