Bearclaw Valley God knows I've tried to be kind

his gaze narrowed slightly towards her implication of his unwillingness. he may have had reservations about the idea, but that didn't mean he was any less keen to prove he could earn a place in the valley. 

i'm not, he grunts, tone albeit a smidgen harsher than he'd meant it. but it's better to hope nothing goes wrong. when the time does come, we will be one body short to tend the valley.. and if I am gone, that is one less for the valley and you.

and she spoke another name. one that she might send in his stead. maybe it would have been better, but he still wasn't interested in giving up the task she'd initially chosen him for.