Dawnlark Plains What does this mean?

he laughed, again shaking his head. "i didn't sign up for any of this, really," he pointed out, looking wryly over at her. "when i came to morningside, i had no idea what to expect. i just wanted a home for the winter. but you all are my family, now. it's my duty."

aditya gave an easy rolling shrug of his shoulders. "and if it's only until the pups are weaned, i'm sure i'll survive," he teased, eyes glowing. in truth, he was excited for the new challenge. for moons, he had been itching for more responsibility here. he hated that the opportunity came cloaked in the shadow of grayday's death, but if his father-in-law were still here, he'd be rooting for aditya, right? grayday had been that kind of man. 

he gave pema a gentle nudge of his nose to her shoulder, a sort of "chin-up" gesture. in the wake of everything, his good humor was returning; he needed to keep everyone's spirits afloat. "we'll be okay," he repeated, smiling but his eyes calmly serious. "we'll come out of this even stronger than before. grayday would have wanted that."