That tone brings back layers of uncomfortable deja vu, from childhood to adolescence onward. Whenever he tries to remember his uncle, the voice gets mixed up in his head with Myr's, lecturing him on some moral quandary as if Vandelin weren't the elder of them.

It might be enough to make him combative, under other circumstances, though it's familiar enough by now that he can usually brush it off. It's just the chill settling in the pit of his stomach from that look of Kit's that keeps Vandelin stonily quiet now in response. Why had he said that? It's none of his damn business whether some guy he barely knows runs off on an injured leg to get mauled by a bear; he shouldn't be pretending it is at all, let alone sounding more invested than he is just because Kit's easygoing enough to make a convenient punching bag for his frustrations. Let everyone he likes go sally forth and get themselves killed for totally preventable reasons. See if he cares.

He holds up his hands as if to pacify them both, though the gesture has no small hint of insolence to it, and he knows damn well Myr can't see it anyway. "His timing is his own business. I'm just saying."