Redsand Canyon viriliter

crowfeather took back his words.

and then he extended them again in the form of an explanation. 

the shadow pulled at all of germanicus. there was at last great effort in his face. there was more than the barest shadow. crowfeather would see it now.

"never apologize for it." his voice was almost a rasp. the eagle cleared his throat and looked away. "it was not a burden to hear those things."

germanicus searched himself for any vestige of regret. he was ready to excise it and cast it out of himself. 

what had crowfeather thought? what had he hoped?

this was the life he had chosen. and at his side was not the shadow. "i told myself it could not be." it was an allusion to the first time he had noticed the ways in which crowfeather looked at him. "and then i made it so."

this was an admission of cruelty, a soldier's brisk and objective decision to change the course of his own life rather than stray into the unknown. even with the one before him now. his heart thudded. "it was selfish. i chose what i felt was best — for us both."