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“Looks like it. They probably froze at some point, but they still smell nice.”

I held the container up to his nose for him to smell, and when he nodded, I smiled. “Good, huh?”

“Definitely. Too bad we don’t have any honey.”

We’d have to wait until spring to go look for honeybees and hope to find combs along with them.

“It’s gonna taste good with or without.”

I set the pot on the grill and grabbed three cups, one for each of us.

“How’s he doing?” Papa asked, sitting down on the tree trunk.

I sat down next to him and shrugged. “He seems sad. But at least he’s eating. I’ve never seen him like this.”

Depression was the first thing that came to mind after realizing he wouldn’t come down from the treehouse for more than a day, but what did I know?

“Me neither. I just know that his mood changed a lot when it was only him and I.”

“Really?”

Papa nodded and turned his head toward the treehouse with a sigh. “Some days he was talkative and relaxed, the next he couldn’t look at me without shooting me angry glares. And then there were days on which he only came down here to eat. No way I could talk to him in those moments.”

“So you never asked him if there was something wrong?”

“How could I? He either ignored me or told me to be quiet. He was disrespectful toward me quite a few times. Biggest reason why there was tension between us.”

I couldn’t believe Fennec ever being disrespectful toward Papa, but then, I had seen them fight just days ago when we walked back to camp after the holidays.

“Has he ever tried to hurt you?” I asked, surprised by my own words.

Papa was quiet, and when he didn’t reply, I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat in a matter of seconds.

“Has he?” I croaked, scared to hear the answer.

“He’s been aggressive toward me before, yes. Pointing his knife at me or pushing me. It’s not easy to talk about it, but I guess that’s why I asked you if he’s ever tried to hurt you.”

“He never has,” I assured him. “I’m sorry, Papa.”

He shrugged and smiled at me, then he reached over and grabbed my hands. “I know I told you that I don’t know what’s wrong with him, and that’s true for the most part. But his brain’s not working right. I can tell by just looking at him while he does certain things. The emptiness in his eyes when he kills an animal is the same as when he was aggressive toward me. There was no regard whatsoever, as long as his needs were met. He has little concern about other people’s feelings,” he said quietly.

Papa’s words made sense, but it was hard to believe, seeing as when Fennec looked at me, his eyes were filled with passion and love.

“Have you ever done or said something to him that might’ve angered him?” I asked, not wanting to hurt him as my words could’ve been taken as an accusation.

Luckily, Papa didn’t.

“If I had, I surely would’ve apologized to him the second I realized that I did. I love him, and he knows that.”

I knew too, and no matter what was going on between the two of them, or whatever the reasons for their fallouts were, I would never point a finger at either of them.

“We all have flaws. Some more than others. But we can’t make people change who they are just to accommodate ourselves,” I said quietly, squeezing his hand in mine.

“That’s right,” he replied with a smile, pulling me into a hug.

I hoped that Fennec didn’t hear our conversation, but even if he had, maybe it was best for him to hear it.

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