Whitebark Stream when that strange shape drove suddenly betwixt us and the Sun [mtr.]

He watched her take a backward stride, and the shame came swift to accompany his refusal of her advancement. The memory of her admission only days prior was vivid: she longed to be a mother again. As her solemn gaze remained on him, disappointed, Artyom questioned if their budding friendship could ever recover and felt concern over the extent that Dawn might go to reach this goal - with or without his assistance.

Dawn gathered herself, unwilling to turn away. She spoke again, touched on his sore spot with words by exposing his weakness. He'd told her what he wished to experience, how his heart longed to pair with another and mean something. It was what he believed he deserved, just as Dawn did. On she went, attempting to reassure him.

Him, she said. Only him.

Artyom blinked, tongue pushing anxiously at the back of his teeth as he considered how to respond, wondered what it was she meant. Was she suggesting that they use the season to bind them to one another permanently? Asking for him to take her as his mate? An ultimatum came, then, which heightened his anxiety; the last thing he wanted was to lose her.

"I will not deny that I have considered making attempt to court you in future," the gilded ranger told her softly, honestly, as her eyes held his. He took this opportunity to search their liquid bronze depths, hunting for a hint that she sought to lure him with false promise, but he didn't think want to believe her capable of deceiving him. "It just... I did not want for it to happen this way."