Wheeling Gull Isle i hate the air he breathes

He couldn't imagine having a commandant as your father, a father as your commandant.

He has other things to worry about.

Daniil understood the gravity of desertion. He didn't know how Mereo handled such infractions -- but the fact that it was the commandant's son would surely complicate matters further. For now, and perhaps for the foreseeable future, the boy would be without a nation, without parents. The sword of Damocles hung over his disgraced head; Daniil squinted at the glare coming off of it.

The eagle son slumped into himself, a boyish gesture that finally belied his age.

Rest in Sweetharbor. Rest, and you can return to Mereo. Your father will welcome you, because that is what fathers do.

He sat so that he could see the boy eye to eye, his tail beating slowly against the soil.