Dragoncrest Cliffs they make us war

Eljay felt pretty awkward as he waited for the rest to arrive, trying hard to ignore the Heda's gaze heavily upon him. He was glad when others arrived, greeting them with flashes of smiles before turning his gaze back towards the earth, his stomach twirling. He wished that Wildfire would return already so he might not have to feel so uncomfortable here; in part, he'd come here for her, after all. He thought briefly of Ty and wondered how her pack was doing.

Finally others arrived and Eljay was glad for it when the Heda started to speak... But not for very long, for she soon mentioned her concerns regarding Wildfire's absence. He felt a pit in his stomach, feeling terrible that Wildfire hadn't returned and also feeling terrible that he had selfishly felt bad about it for personal reasons, when she might be hurt or worse.

When the Heda glanced around after saying she did not know where the Caldera was, Eljay felt her eyes upon him and wondered briefly if she thought that he knew. Eljay had never left the Caldera before his journey here, and he had pretty much forgotten in what direction he was travelling half a day after leaving. The only things he had to go on was the territory in relation to other things, such as Lake Rodney and The Large Mountain To The North. What was it called again..? The Mountain Mommy Had Gotten Hurt At. That was pretty much all he knew, but there were many mountains around here and none of them looked like this one. He also hadn't climbed any mountains (for he thought them scary following mommy getting hurt) and had followed the oceanside all the way so he had no idea how relatively easy the journey could be or how relatively short the way to the Caldera was in relation to how long he had been out in the wilds.

Eljay listened to the silence, wondering if he should say something about not knowing how to get to the Caldera. He was glad when the Heda said he should stay back to work on his health at first, thinking that maybe she would appoint someone else to go to the Caldera, but then she said he should go for a trip to the Caldera, which caused panic for all sorts of reasons. First and foremost that he'd have to go back to the Caldera, which he had left without even saying good bye. He wasn't sure if he would be able to resist just staying there forever if he'd go back, and he obviously wasn't any better than when he had left, so how could he face his parents?

Then he realised that he also didn't know how to get there at all. His journey here had taken about a month and he had swerved a lot. He didn't even remember the exact route he had taken here, so how would he ever get back? "I..." he said, his voice breaking up a little from being nervous. She'd asked him if he was up for it, and he wasn't, but would she think him ridiculous for the reasons why? "... I don't know the way back to the Caldera at all, I... Sorry." He looked away, licking his lips nervously while he waited for the answer.