Stone Circle circle of stones

Nikai smiled when Valette started about Alya. He was glad to hear that she still lived at Moonspear — so he assumed, considering Valette'd ben able to find her — though his face fell when Valette said that she'd lost a sister and that her other sister had been attacked, and yet another missing. Nikai frowned sadly and said, "That's a lot to process..." Though there was at least light in the news that her mother was pregnant. It sounded like she was holding up well despite it all, even though Nikai was sad that she wasn't able to visit right now.

"Mom, I..." He faltered a little, trying to find the words but finding it hard. All his life Nikai had fit into the box he thought others needed. He'd only ever thought about what he wanted, but he'd never acted on it. He had always been there for Valette, for the pups, for Keoni, and wanted to be the best version of himself for them. But now that he was getting older Nikai found that he wasn't really sure who he even was anymore. It was hard to express what he wanted and needed, as he instantly felt guilty considering it, but he knew he had to find himself somewhere along the way and he needed to do it by himself. "Do you think... Would you be sad if I left Easthollow?" He knew that the answer would be 'yes', so maybe it wasn't a totally fair question. "I've been feeling an itch in my paws for so long. I promised Keoni we'd travel together, but it's too late for her now, and I never got to fill in that promise. I want to see the world and learn about me, but I don't want to leave you out in the cold." Nikai looked away, feeling guilty about even asking such a thing of her. He knew it was unfair to more or less leave a decision like this in her lap. Maybe he should just make the decision to go and be done with it. But the last thing he wanted was to disappoint her or leave Valette with a bleeding heart after she'd already lost her daughter. He knew his leg would complicate matters, but, well, maybe when it was better, or when he'd learned to sufficiently enough get by on three of them.