Stavanger Bay all this time

Charon was both glad and a little anxious when he found out that Thistle Cloud was about. He still wasn't sure what he was going to say to her, exactly, and he hated the feeling of anxiety. Charon hadn't been scared of many things in his life, and the last time he'd felt like this had been on the day he had turned nine months of age, when he had waited for Thistle to appoint him Beta. He didn't feel like he needed her approval now, being all grown up... Or that's what his conscious mind tried to tell himself, anyway. He'd never admit out loud how much Thistle's opinion mattered to him.

Thistle didn't seem mad, smiling when she saw him, and Charon licked the bottom of her chin to show that he still respected her. Words usually came easy for the yearling, but now he found them faltering. "Look..." he began, his brow knitting together into a frown. "I didn't mean to hurt you, or whatever. I just didn't expect you to get mad about this, because to me it felt like the big solution to all our problems. And you'd been so..." Charon squinted his lips, not sure what words to pick, as he wanted to pick them carefully. "I guess I got kind of used to making the decisions because you were in so much pain. I thought you'd be happier this way." When he said this, his ears folded back, and it was written on his face that he wasn't sure Thistle would appreciate his choice of words, even if he meant no harm by them. He didn't want to take them back or apologise for them, however, because no matter how painful they might be, he thought them true. I guess I was wrong, he thought bitterly to himself, but he couldn't bring himself to say those words — that would be a little more painful to Charon than he could handle.