Moonspear why does everybody say it like that?

The moniker was like a swig of acid and Njord felt the immediate reflex to retort. Yet… only a long-winded sigh whistled from his nose.

How could he argue the dead look in Quennell’s once shimmering goldenrod eyes? The trauma of the attack affected them all in different ways. Njord, Meerkat, and Stingray found their footing despite it all. However, it appeared Quennell struggled with his own labyrinth and had become ensnared in an oubliette along the way.

The redtail recalled the words of other young men. Rhaegal had searched to find himself. Argent, too. Once upon a time, a younger Njord swam across the sea. Perhaps Quennell was on his own journey.

“Ah’m so happy tae see you alive, ruadh,” Njord said as he laid down with the boy. He would never utter the name bearcurse. “When ta bear came, we couldnae find ye... or Swordfish." Njord frowned, unaware of what transpired between the two boys. For all he knew, the fact that Swordfish was not with his family would be shocking news to Quennell. "Where did ye go?” The light color around his eyes knit together with concern.