Stavanger Bay and every minute gets longer

When Mordecai finally said that he was brave, Charon was glad at first as he'd been after a little praise all along. However, he took the second thing his uncle said as an insult and felt caught out on his lie of being alone. It was almost as if his uncle knew that he hadn't been alone in defeating the monstrous dog, even though he had just said he was. "Well, I did chase it off alone," Charon said with a snarky tone in his voice. He hoped that would be the end of that discussion, as he had no desire to pursue it further. He hoped that Mordecai would just take his word for it this time. He had no idea that Mordecai was actually trying to make a positive remark about Charon chasing off the monster this time, and wasn't accusing him of anything.

The fact that Mordecai had no mate or children only made it more unbelievable to Charon that he had other obligations that made it unable for him to visit the Bay and his nephews sooner. "Oh," Charon just said.

Usually Charon had lots and lots to talk about, but now he found himself falling into an awkward silence, not knowing what to say to his long-lost uncle. "Is there more family I don't know about?" he asked eventually. Maybe some of his other relatives were a bit more socially adept. Maybe there were more brothers - or sisters. And maybe his mother had siblings that were still in the area, too.