Sun Mote Copse You can stand me up at the gates of hell

His lips pinched together. If it was just him—just Peregrine, Fox and a handful of able-bodied adults—he wouldn't hesitate to uproot and move on somewhere else. Okay, that was probably a little bit of a lie; it would be difficult to leave the caldera. But it was a moot point. They had young kids and Finley was pregnant (if she hadn't delivered in his absence). There was just no way to relocate without risking the little ones' lives. In the end, it might come down to taking that risk as the lesser of two evils. The thought made his chest constrict.

"What's keeping you here?" he wondered after introductions had been successfully exchanged. His voice sounded almost accusatory in his own ears. In a way, he envied anyone without a pack or family right now, as it gave them the agency to up and go. He simply couldn't do that. But Peregrine would sacrifice everything—including his own life—for his family and he would never trade them for the world, even now, so in that way he did not envy Arturo at all.