Chapter 95: Run Like Hell
Stahl turned back towards her nephew and answered the previously reserved fox with a sense of pride that he had actually gotten those words out without his voice faltering.
"Ah... So... It is about a certain white wolf then?"
Rust looked away in embarrassment but finally nodded ever so slightly. Stahl chuckled just a bit at the confession finally coming out as she gave what advice she could.
"Well... I think we can both agree that I don’t really understand how their head works... But usually, the best thing to do in that situation is to just tell them, no matter how hard it may be, to get the words out. Make a bit of time to get them alone, maybe somewhere special if you can really plan for it, and just tell them how you feel... You can try giving them a small gift, but don’t go too overboard at first. Even if it doesn’t go how you plan, that’s really the only choice we have sometimes. Trust me, bud, love is always weird at first."
Rust cracked his own smile and spoke a bit before getting to his next question.
"Thanks, I guess... I mean, I don’t know if that actually helped, but it did give me an idea. I’ll accept that answer... For clarification, does a full set of armor count as too much for a first gift?"
Stahl laughed at her nephew’s brazen jab at her gift to Aster but knew the fox was just giving her a taste of her own medicine. The cub HAD been raised by wolves after all. Rust looked at his auntie one more time as he finally spoke in his most serious tone yet.
"Last question... Please don’t take this the wrong way... But will you tell me the truth about Aster? I know there’s a lot that doesn’t make sense... I like him, he’s a good uncle, but it’s sort of scary not knowing sometimes. I want to know if something bad could happen, I want you to treat me like I’m an adult on this... It worries me because I know how much you like him. It can wait until after all of this, but I want to know too."
Stahl took a deep breath in and let out a heavy sigh. Yeah, she had been expecting that one for a while. Rust was sharp enough to know some things weren’t adding up. Even Stahl worried about some of those darker tellings...
But the she-wolf agreed with the fox. It was high time he learned. She wouldn’t reveal the full details on the darker parts, or things like Aster being a king by birthright, but she would tell the fox.